NON-RESISTANCE

 by Phillip Starr

I know – you’ve all probably heard it before; “don’t resist force with force”, and all that sort of thing. Martial arts such as judo, aikido, taijiquan, xingyiquan, and many other martial disciplines stress this principle but Hino sensei is on a much higher level of understanding and skill. Hino Akira and Kuroda Tatsuzan, two Japanese martial arts geniuses, have taken it to a whole new level.

For instance, when someone grabs your wrist (or whatever), what is your natural response? It is to tense – maybe even just a little – the seized limb, right. You may not actively “resist”, but there’s still some tension brought to your arm…and what is the opponent’s natural response? To further tighten his grip and/or to pull you; to further control you by restricting your movement. All of this happens in less than a second; you might not even notice it.

And if you try to step or move in any direction (or even strike with your free hand), you opponent will feel it through your captured arm. And he can then apply counter-measures easily.

Try it and have the aggressor close his eyes so he can’t SEE you do anything, but he can easily tell when you’re moving and usually in what direction.

Not so with Hino or Kuroda sensei. They relax their arms and shoulders and are able to move WITHOUT THEIR OPPONENTS BEING ABLE TO DETECT IT THROUGH THEIR ARMS! That is REAL non-resistance! They can easily apply joint twisting techniques, throws, and various strikes without their opponents detecting any “telegraphs”, such as tension in the arm or shoulder, etc. It all happens without any warning.

Imagine if you trained so as to be able to do this – in taiji, your skill in push-hands would soar! When your partner pushes at you, he’ll feel…NOTHING. It’d be as if he’s pushing air! The same idea holds true for aikido, judo, and even karate!

But first you’ll have to learn how to truly relax and NOT RESIST; how certain movements affect and create tension in various parts of your body. You have to study this very carefully, in minute detail.