TRY NOT!

 By Phillip Starr

Many years ago, I was giving my basic presentation of qigong for my class while an old friend (who was a psychology professor that I'd met while I was still in college many years before) looked on. He was visiting for the weekend and was a practitioner not only of Shorinji Kempo, but Taijiquan as well. I had given this presentation dozens of times and the whole thing was burned into my memory. One of the first things that I introduce is known as the “unbendable arm” in aikido circles and I explained how it is to be done before I finally told the students to “get a partner and do it.”

My friend, Dave, asked if he could address the students before they began practice. Of course, I agreed. He spoke to them, repeating many of the principles that I had previously mentioned. I was a little confused. Then he instructed them, “Okay, get a partner and try it.”

And they all FAILED!

None of them could perform the basic unbendable arm exercise! I'd taught this many, many times, even to non-martial arts groups, and they always succeeded! What was wrong? I explained to Dave that this had never before happened. He chuckled and told me that he was responsible; he wanted to teach them a lesson, He called the students over to him and explained what he'd done.

“When your instructor finished explaining the principles, he just told you to “do it”, he said as he smiled and looked at me. “But I changed that”, he continued. “I told you to 'try'. And when you 'try' to do something, that implies the possibility of failure. The human brain will always take the route of least resistance; the easiest way. So you failed.” Then I told them to get back on the floor and “do it.” And they all immediately succeeded!

I think I learned more from that lesson that anyone else that day. When I told them to “just do it”, they did it with no problem. The problem occurred when the word “try” was used. It's a word that I determined should rarely, if ever, be used...especially in so far as martial arts are concerned. Years later, I'd hear Yoda (of “Star Wars” fame) utter his famous word, “Try not! DO or DO NOT. There is no 'try'.” Whoever wrote that script understood this principle.

Since that day, I've not used that word in connection with anything I really wanted to do, nor do I allow students to use it.