To Learn Something New, Understand the Underlying Principles

It may seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first. Miyamoto Musashi

No matter what you learn to do, it can be difficult before you actually know what you are doing. Think about it. Even walking and talking were difficult when you first learned how to walk and talk. Anything that is totally foreign to you will have a learning curve. Self-defense is no different.

When you first learn self-defense, you will learn to do certain things which are exactly opposite of what your natural instinct urges you to do. If someone is attacking us, the natural reaction is to step away from them. But that is not what you should do, at least not most of the time.

If you step backwards, it will be easy for someone who is moving forward to continue to move towards you. And he will be able to move forward much faster than you can step backwards.

Good self-defense training will train you to step into the attack, while simultaneously blocking and countering the other guy’s attack, or to step to the side, while blocking and responding. But when someone is coming at you with a stick or bat, moving towards him is not natural; you have to learn how to respond correctly.

In addition, you have to practice your response until it becomes a part of who you are, so you will respond that way naturally. If you simply learn what to do, but don’t practice it, you will revert back to what your subconscious thinks you should do; you will move away from the danger. You must reprogram your subconscious mind and your natural reactions.

This same principle applies to most things that you learn. While they seem hard at first, after you have it down, it simply becomes second nature. And when you are engaged in a physical confrontation, you must be able to fight without having to stop and think; you must be able to go into mushin.

Mushin literally means mind no mind. It is that mental state when your mind is not actively thinking, but is responding as it has been trained to respond. This takes training and practice. You have to reprogram your subconscious mind to respond as you want it to respond.

When you read wisdom of the past, always think about the underlying principle of that wisdom. Why is it true? How can you apply it to your life? It is the same with martial arts. Once you understand the underlying principles of what you are doing, it is much easier to reprogram your mind and your responses. Don’t memorize techniques, rather understand the underlying principles. Warrior up! Bohdi Sanders ~ author of MUSASHI’S DOKKODO, available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937884295.

Signed copies are available from: https://thewisdomwarrior.com/bookstore/.