EVERYDAY CONFLICTS

 by Phillip Starr

Martial arts isn't just about simple hand-to-hand fighting; it's much more than that and much more than a form of exercise. One of it's virtues is that it can be used to handle everday conflicts. In a class of intermediate students, I would ask how frequently they became involved in physical conflicts. The usual answer was maybe once a year or less. But when I asked about the frequency of becoming involved in a non-physical conflict, the answers came back as approaching an almost daily frequency.

If their interest was wholly on physical self-defense, I recommended that they carry firearms; it doesn't take long to become proficient with such a weapon and God knows it's a whole lot more effective for self-defense than a martial art can ever be. And they're cheaper, too. To become proficient enough in a martial art so that you can adequately defend yourself will require several months of rigorous training, which is very time-consuming and can be rather expensive. A shotgun is even better; nobody picks on someone who's carrying one of those! But...firearms are useless in dealing with non-physical conflicts, which we encounter with considerable frequency.

Advanced martial arts practitioners can study their chosen disciplines to better understand how they can be effectively applied in dealing with non-physical forms of conflict (the most common type of conflict by a very long shot). For instance, in the art that I teach (yiliquan) there are 8 main tactics (called “shapes”, each of which has a distinct name), which are ways of dealing with attack. These are not techniques; rather, they are bodily movements that allow you to penetrate the opponent's defense perimeter so that an effective counter may be applied.

Four of these are performed by “changing the point of focus.” That is, when the enemy attempts to strike or grab you, he directs his attack to a certain point in space where his intended target is located. If you change the distance of that point, you have “changed his point of focus.” For instance, when your foe tries to punch you in the face and you step back a bit or forward, you “change his point of focus.” You have altered the distance, which renders his technique useless.

The other four tactics rely on evading the attack so that it misses its mark. If the opponent strikes and you step forward at an agle, you have evaded his attack while simultaneously penetrating his defense perimeter (which puts you within striking distance).

Each of these “shapes” are studied in minute detail over time. Each has its own rhythm:

• Broken Rhythm: striking after the enemy does, but before he can deliver a second strike.

• Mutual Rhythm: striking at the same time as the enemy.

• Preceding Rhythm: striking before the enemy begins his attack.

Japanese stylists will recognize these three rhythms as go-no-sen, sen-no-sen, and sen. And each one requires an adjustment to your timing (the moment during your bodily movement when your technique is delivered), which also requires an adjustment for distance (because distance and timing are the same thing).

Only after mastering a given “shape” can a student begin to understand how it can be applied to non-physical attacks. This requires a good deal of introspection and time.