I got several requests (on an off list) for this article which is
actually part of a Monthly QLK Newsletter

despite the title it is about adrenaline not religion

so if you are not into this please hit delete


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ZEN anyone?

You know I try to stay away from the Religious discussions because we
all know they are political hot buttons that no one really wins or
ever converts someone else to their way to thinking …

But if you are subjected to the e-mail boards - -I will say subjected
to "because" … well if you spend any time there you know what I mean –
then you know that every so often the subject of Zen and other
religious influences come up as the pathway to betterment of martial
arts .. and the claims of course abound that studying this path way Or
that one ... will allow you to keep calm in the midst of a fight thus
allowing you to use all your talents … and of course guarantee you
success

[{of course the other side of the question abounds also - that you
are helpless to the influences of adrenaline and you will lose all
fine motor control} …. Personally in my opinion BOTH sides are without
factual basis and waste your time.]

PLEASE Note that the definition of Zen I am using here is in the
BROADEST sense and is the common idea floating around out there – I
know that it has very little reality to the actual study of Zen .. in
fact the comments about most religions on the net have extremely
little facts about them and are mostly made by people outside that
religion and thus critical of them so the rarely know what they are
talking about but these comments (unfortunately) do tend to influence
people trying to find a way to improve their martial arts

So normally as I said I do not go there, but I do think there is – IN
MY OPINION a very important point to make and that is to examine
EXACTLY what it is that you are going to get out of bringing your
religious convictions into your practice of martial arts … because
that clarity will help you determine if in fact you are

IF by doing so you affect how you treat people – and by that I will
make the grandiose jump and state that I DO believe that it is for the
better – that it helps you walk away when you can - then I would agree
that it is a good thing… I would endorse any belief that allows that.

If on the other hand you believe that study of religious principles
will in themselves keep you mind calm during a fight … allowing you to
do better then I feel you are unfortunately in for a rude awakening
which is the point of this article because right now there is a wave
of nonsense on the nets endorsing just this concept. (It comes around
every so often … ) I wish that things were as easy as that but it is
not and such concepts only start people down a false path.

The fact is that mental reactions during a fight are a reaction thing…
natural and programmed. NOT a spiritual reaction and beliefs alone do
not control chemical reactions.

When certain triggers are pulled the mind and then the body reacts in
a series of PRE-PROGRAMMED reactions. For years people have called it
the fight and flight reaction – which is wrong because it is more
complicated than that – but see my previous post in the archives on
that.

So are we a certain victim to that genetic programming? Can it be
changed? Yes we are a victim but yes it can be changed … but what
most people do not know is that these reactions can only be changed
SOMEWHAT- and ONLY with the right training …

So cutting to the chase there are Physiologically things you HAVE to
do to change that programming. And Please NOTE the difference between
changing and stopping these reactions – which is a very important
point. You are not going to stop these reactions. They are HARD wired
into our bodies … however you can dramatically change how we deal with
them and this is what I mean by changing the programming because the
more you practice dealing with them the easier it becomes until that
training also becomes a learned response.

Unfortunately spiritual training does very little to change those
natural triggers. This is NOT a shot at religion because unfortunately
such actual religious training has other goals and rarely focuses on
physical training. Thus it is NOT DESIGNED to control these
physiologic triggers despite most people incorrectly believing that
you can control such by just remaining calm.- remember I said these
are NATURAL triggers

It is just that in order to stay in control you need to know that
there is more that needs to be done than just religious convictions –
and while I am all in favor of such beliefs – they in themselves will
NOT save you – physically- as I said above.

Now I have touched on this before but not as directly but for
reference go back to MY previous posted articles and look at the
comments and you will note that there is a CASCADE of events that
occur which start at recognizing that a threat is there … you don’t
even have to know what the threat is … but your breathing gets shallow
and your heart rate goes up and your eyes dilate and you start to get
tunnel vision. These are natural reactions and will occur … they will
occur before your intellectual part of your brain is even aware that
it is happening because these responses are a RFLEX that occurs
through the back (primitive) part of the brain by the time the
thoughts react your cortex

BUT those are the main triggers that are important to recognize … and
you must recognize these to be able to recognize these reactions to be
able to change the course of coming under the influence of adrenaline
– which is the chemical cause of all these reactions and also the
emotional state that will follow.

And the more of the hold that adrenaline take on you the harder it is
to overcome it.

But recognizing is not enough … believe it of not you are NOT going to
be able to simply wish it away … you must do something to offset the
adrenaline that has been released and then you can deal with the issue
that is putting you under stress.

First off breathe … deliberately try to take control of you breathing
and force slower deeper breaths – Also see My article on breathing.
Lack of oxygen – even a little bit causes anxiety which increases the
effects of adrenaline … so for several chemical reasons that all boil
down to good reasons force yourself to take slow deep breaths …

Force yourself to look around. Breaking the natural tunnel vision
helps the brain focus on other stimuli besides the anxiety-producing
event. In terms of marital arts you NEED to know your environment so
you don’t get attacked from behind, etc but many attacks

Force yourself to move – burn off the energy. This also makes it hard
for others to target you – a definite help, especially with multiple
attackers.

Force a plan … thinking and NOT allowing worry forces your brain into
productive activity which fight the natural reactions to worry and
degenerate into anxiety… there is an old saying Fear is the mind
killer (not my saying) … and that means all levels of fear including
the anxiety of naturally released Adrenaline … so if you force your
mind to focus on a plan – I suggest learning to take one step at time
- you will find that it is easier to both overcome the adrenaline and
to do what you want to do to combat the opponent. As a side note this
is partly why we (repeatedly) train on kata … not only to understand
what we are doing but to gives you steps you know in times of stress
that you mind can lock on to.

MOSTLY it really helps you to understand what is going on … thus if
you understand that the anxiety (and other symptoms) you are feel are
because of the PHYSICAL and NATURAL effects of adrenaline release, you
will function better and your brain will know that the effects are
temporary which allows it an easier time to put up with and over come
the symptoms of such.

The thing to remember in all this is that Adrenaline is natural … it
causes WELL known effects that are way beyond the so called flight or
fight syndrome but it is also controllable and temporary … so we can
use it (the adrenaline release) constructively to increase our
reactions or let it interfere with our functions … the key is in
understanding.

Thus while Meditation and the like is helpful for the baseline
feelings of peacefulness and actually a lot of health reasons it will
not help you in a stress reaction … sorry … however the steps above
will. Especially if you practice them.

I hope this helps.

take care and stay safe

Bruce




On Jul 9, 2009, at 6:20 PM, Tom Ross wrote:

> Hey Bruce,
>
> I for one would certainly like to see the article if you get a
> chance to post it!
>
> Much obliged in advance :-)
>
>
> Tom
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Bruce Miller
> To: sabaki@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 6:06 PM
> Subject: Re: [sabaki] Grappling/striking/pressure points
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Jul 9, 2009, at 1:46 PM, Tom Ross wrote:
>
>> In the spirit of hopefully getting a good conversation going i've
>> some thoughts as well.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Hank Prohm
>> To: sabaki@yahoogroups.com
>> Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 1:56 PM
>> Subject: [sabaki] Grappling/striking/pressure points
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Since it's been a while since we've had a good conversation about
>> fighting, let's back up a bit and review our common assumptions:
>>
>> 1. The basic paradigm should be: Move, block, counter, with
>> movement of the target always being a first priority. If you take a
>> look at kata, you will see that all of the "traditional" kata start
>> with these premises.
>>
>>
>>
>> *******No arguement here...however there are many who do not know
>> this, do not receive indepth instructions as to the potential of
>> their own forms and or are forced to figure things out completely by
>> themselves. Lacking any practical real world experience you must
>> admit there are some pretty far fetched things being taught out
>> there! :-) TR
>>
>> 2. Lumans First Law of the Martial Arts (Broken Bones HURT!) is
>> always in effect. The best application of a pressure point strike is
>> to hit the spot hard enough to activate the point and destroy any
>> bones in the area. This strategy guarantees that everyone is a
>> responder.
>>
>> ****No offense but i'm not completely sure on this one. I have seen
>> people continue to fight with broken bones and some pretty wild
>> serious injuries in the course of my career in law Enforcement. Sure
>> they felt likely felt pain afterward (whether they admitted it or
>> not) but the adrenalin and endorphins or sheer anger and
>> determination or what have you kept them going and only two I can
>> think of were on drugs. TR
>
> NOt true ... if you ever have to deal with someone that is high on
> drugs like Meth or PCP or is seriously mentally ill then you will
> KNOW (or learn) very quickly that this is not even close to true ..,
> many of these people continue to attack regardless of the pain they
> SHOULD be in - meaning that compound fractures do NOT STOP THEM
>>
>> 3. Properly done, using short power, knowledge of physiology and
>> anatomy, etc. a grapple IS a pressure point strike, is a hit. That's
>> why you spend all those years becoming an "expert" so that you can
>> use short power, fajing, internal energy and all that cool stuff.
>> This might seem like hocus pocus to the guys who've only been waving
>> their hands and feet about for a couple of years, but someone who's
>> been training for 20-30 or 40 years should be able to put his or her
>> hands on the their attacker and break their ribs without pulling
>> their hands back.
>>
>> **** I agree with whole heartedly in principle but to paraphase my
>> teacher, I think it's not the number of years one has been training
>> but the quality of the hours put into said training. I live not all
>> that far from a fellow (unnamed) who has spent many many years in
>> Karate and working and teaching pressure points , only to get
>> seriously embaressed on national geographic. So in essence I
>> respectfully agree with you Hank but i''l emphysize the "properly
>> done" part of your comments to others on the list. :-) TR
>>
>> Finally, a comment about how people react to attacks: I have been
>> in fights, under gun fire, in auto accidents and my heart and
>> adrenelin never go nuts until AFTER the event. I've never lost fine
>> motor control or an awareness of what was going on, the tunnel
>> vision they talk about. Only some people panic under pressure.
>> Others go into survival mode and have the panic attack afterwards.
>>
>> *****With all Honesty, ya know it's strange. I know it doesn't
>> sound Macho but I partially agree with the writer of the article,
>> and you as well.
>>
>> Speaking from personal experience. The first altercation I ever had
>> (I mean serious , not school yard nonsense) was as a young man in my
>> 20's on Rikers Island. I did in fact have tunnel vision.. I began to
>> notice that Incidents which just occured spontaneously didn't give
>> me enough time to think and worry about my safety. Those which
>> followed a long verbal discussion, heated arguement or threats
>> sometimes did. Strangely I began to notice as time went on, the
>> more I was forced into positions of having to use force the less
>> nervous I was. I became more relaxed and functioned more naturally
>> and smoothly, until it was only really an after thought and
>> sometimes not even then (as you mention) but it was a personal
>> evolution or sorts, if that makes sense?
>>
>> So personally I think it is a matter of experience and realizing
>> confidence in ones self and that they will come out of things ok,
>> that allows our brain to smoothly apply and utilize our training as
>> the super computer it can be, Or it could just be a lack of common
>> sense on my part! :-)
>
> Tom you are completely right .. as long as OUR brains can utilize an
> effective coping strategy it does not succumb to adrenaline ...
> however if you give the adrenaline enough time to build or after the
> episode is over ... well the adrenaline is there ...
>
> and yes repetitive training does give the brain the answer it needs
> at
> that moment in time ... I have and article I can post in a bit that
> explains more details about adrenaline coping techniques and why we
> sometime are not affected and other times are
>
> Bruce
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Tom R
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
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>>
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
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