From Knowledge to Intuition [Part 1]

“Like silent cinema, traditional forms in martial arts can become strangely captivating of the attention after a few minutes of looking at them, even if at first they seem ridiculous. This is the basis for modern advertising, which can be used in many ways. This suspense would create the needed for longing to learn. Practices of this kind when developed as an art can become mystical. As far as exaggerated martial arts forms go, like advertising it developed an awakening for something beyond what was being advertised. So deliberately holding back on the technicalities can become a way in to deep learning, if it is done with the necessary properly.”

Awakening

There are two main aspects of performance in martial arts. There is control over the process, and awareness of the process itself happening. Control of the process always involves a technical focus, an externalised engineering of the body to master specific skills and techniques. For example, we learn how to punch mechanically, before then injecting it with some energy and power. These skills can be done intuitively, or mechanically. For example, a blacksmith can forge a blade according to a step by step process, or they can do so without thinking much about it. They just do it without step one, step two, or step three. This is when they know it works, they would bet their livelihood on it. Similarly, martial artists can know how to do something so intuitively, that they bet their life on it working. This kind of confidence is different from bravado or arrogance, it is a kind of inner understanding.

In Martial arts, there are punches, kicks, throws, and other movements. Such skills are then developed into strategies and ways of acting more broadly after they have been practiced in isolation. For example, a boxer will practice their technique in front of a mirror, or using a heavy bag. They will go for step one, step two, and then step three. Technically they will then get the fist of it. The problem is, if you stay at this level, there is no life to it. So after some time its necessary to move beyond this step by step process. One way martial artists do this is to look to apply techniques to a competitive scenarios, such as in the ring for a competitive bout. All the separate movements become tied together. It is not necessary to have a competitive bout, because not everybody has the time or inclination. Competition sparring also requires planning, and a certain control over the learning process in order to develop how the gameplay plays out strategically. Do you punch first? Do you start the combination with a kick? These are all considerations the trainer and martial artist work through, often in laboratory like conditions.

Due to control over not only the learning process, but also the competitive arena, it makes sense to plan various outcomes in advance. For example, we know what punches to train and what they should look like thanks to the step by step technical information available. For the first time in history, we have huge access to so much technical knowledge and systems of practice which have been created . This is true in many fields. Take music for example. In order to learn the guitar you would have to have been taught everything from scratch in the past. All the rules would be built into you, unless you picked up up by ear. You wouldn’t know how to play otherwise. Nowadays, anyone can learn these things online easily. However, it is no longer clear what actually needs to be learnt as a foundation. There is so much out there. It is no longer about just learning the Beatles or twinkle twinkle little star. So it can be helpful to become truly aware of what you are doing so that you understand the learning process and what you want from it.

In the past, a fighter would have no idea when or where the combat would take place. The need to maintain constant awareness was high due to the fact that dangers were everywhere. There was also not much of a lucrative career in professional fighting. For example, in order to become a successful fighter in the recent past, you would have just done it for the love of it. This was true just a generation ago in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). There wouldn’t have been much other pay off. The money you got would be put back into training fees. It wasn’t like today where you would be hired by a famous gym and given a contract. There was no road map to success because they were paving the way.

The same need to improvise and maintain constant vigilance was true of guitar players. They wouldn’t know when they would get an opportunity, so they just played all the time for the love of it. They started fairly basic by todays standards. But the successful ones developed such an ear for music that they would intuitively know how to play when the time came to record an album. Some of them have what they call a “composers ear”, which means they see playing in the context of the whole song, rather than just playing a chord as its written.n Much of what they created on the spot later became a method. This is also true of martial arts.

Until recently, martial arts was difficult to get into. When I first started training around 17 years ago, MMA was hardly practiced in the UK. The average martial artists didn’t know how to kick unless they had been to a specialist. Now anyone who does martial arts can kick. This is good because knowing how to get into high energy states and use the body effectively can be hugely beneficial. We are no longer in an age of people selling away secret techniques. But, as I will show, the secret technique which is hidden in plain sight is awareness and long term progress, which today is on the decline in many peoples experience. For example, the constant barrage of social media content has contributed to making peoples attention spans too short to sustain awareness and attention for as long as in the past. However, this has always been the secret weapon in the arsenal of the successful martial artist.

Due to this constant need to work, the fighter of the past would need to maintain a constant focus on improvement and gaining an edge. Just as the musician needed to constantly practice their craft, the martial artists maintained a watchful eye on anything they could observe. This is still the case. However, it is often done in a technical way nowadays, often because the survival need which brought out the need to perform is somewhat missing. When the striving for self mastery takes a back seat, there is a natural tendency towards mastering the technical side of things. And if you inject a bit of instinctive energy into an attack, it can have some decent power. But this is not yet intuitive technique. In order to develop intuition, you have to take responsibility for the learning yourself, and then the technique comes after that. Instruction is great, but this doesn’t mean an outside factor is the cause of learning, the inner faculties of awareness and attention still need to maintain vigilance.

One of the consequences of technical dependency in training is the excessive use of performance enhancing drugs. When the love of training for its own sake has taken a back seat, or the constant threat against ones survival and is missing, stimulus is looked for elsewhere. Technical training has always had its place, but it used to be picked up during the process of seeking opportunity, rather than separately. For example, a fighter would engage in the process of learning their craft, which if they were sufficiently responsible for themselves, they would become energised and self made into powerful fighters. Today, this process is under threat, because everything is often mapped out in advance, which prevents the seeker in martial arts from establishing their own path. Once again, the availability of knowledge is an amazing thing, but it needs to become part of ones life if it is to be maximally beneficial.

Technical performance training is known to be boring and repetitive if done without engagement. When the body and mind are not engaged with the activity one is doing for a long time, lethargy builds in the system. So to maintain interest and build a career, many athletes have gone for performance enhancing drugs. Their day is not filled with being outdoors, mountain climbing, or living in treacherous environments any longer. These things in themselves are known to boost the bio chemistry of the body, so a deficit in this is enough to create a need to boost the system with drugs.

Martial arts practices have moved to the domain of technical control over the process largely. There are many reason for this. One of the main reasons for this technical shift is that due to modern technology and the resulting competition environments, which are based around many layers of rules and procedures. The other side of the coin is the intuitive approach. Successful performance is a question of balance between control and awareness, which involves intuitive knowledge about what to do. When an individual reaches the level of intuitive knowledge, action happens spontaneously. You can see this in many talented athletes, musicians, and other craftspeople. Ironically, what they have done spontaneously often gets bottled up and sold into a step by step process.

When it comes to performance, there are many factors, each overlapping and happening all at once, but a useful way of looking at it is to become more aware. What do we mean by awareness? Simply looking, looking without necessarily making an effort to memorise or comprehend completely at first. I’ve noticed that when teaching children, if I remain deliberately vague about what I am teaching, they are all eyes and ears if the situation is sufficiently engaging. This is because too much information and theory can reduce interest.

With a child like engagement, it is possible to remain attentive, constantly looking inwardly as your vision scans outwardly. You then don’t rely on the technical stuff, but if you are totally immersed it happens anyway. This is the reason for some of the obscure traditional methods in martial arts. For example, in the old days, the disciple would be taught nothing for the first year or more. They would watch strange theatrical displays which seemed over exaggerated like an old silent film. Like silent cinema, traditional forms in martial arts can become strangely captivating of the attention after a few minutes of looking at them, even if at first they seem ridiculous. This is the basis for modern advertising, which can be used in many ways. This suspense would create the needed for longing to learn. Practices of this kind when developed as an art can become mystical. As far as exaggerated martial arts forms go, like advertising it developed an awakening for something beyond what was being advertised. So deliberately holding back on the technicalities can become a way in to deep learning, if it is done with the necessary properly.