Effortless Technique

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

In a recent post, here taken I am sure out of context, it was stated, “The reason I practice and constantly repeat practicing until my technique look's as if it is perform effortlessly.” Now, I am sure that the author of said quotation had more meaning to go with it but in the written form as it appeared it lacked that greater explanation that would have led to a fuller understanding of what was meant, i.e., assuming that I actually understood what the author meant but until it is questioned we may never know. This is a particular issue with teaching by the written word or through video’s and often as it true of modern martial arts what is said in the dojo when explaining things.

I remember long ago another instructor came up to me after a session and said fundamentally that I talked to much, gave way to much information to which I politely disagreed. He meant that to remain true to the traditions of martial arts from the Asian theater we must be less vocal and allow the student to seek out and discover things for themselves to which I politely disagreed because that way of instruction is about their cultural system where shi-kata dominates and the expectation that observation and the demonstration thought the kata system (not just martial arts but socially in all disciplines in this society). We don’t live or even practice in such a belief system and our culture is vastly different. Americans need, want and must have such conversations to derive a full and complete understanding therefore helping along with explanations is critical along with other operant conditioning type instructions, etc.

Granted, trying to provide way to much information verbally often gets lost because humans only retain a certain amount but that is where true repetitive practice and study come into play because over time students will have these “Oh crap” moments where they will come to realize, “Oh, that is what sensei meant, I get it now.”

So, when I read the full statement with this one quote in it, i.e., “The reason I practice and constantly repeat practicing until my technique look's as if it is perform effortlessly.” I got a bit concerned that for those without more experience, training, study and understanding might “Assume” that to achieve proficient application of martial arts in fighting, combatives and/or self-defense you just have to practice a lot and repetitively and truthfully that “Just ain’t so.” 

Now, we can not assume that the student/practitioner knows and understands what “Practicing” means to its fullest such as knowledge of self-defense in modern society, adrenal stress-conditioned reality based training and actual use of said ability toward force levels and so on. The last thing any self-respecting, dedicated and morally driven instructor wants is for a student facing a violent situation to find that they cannot defend because they assumed that simply repeating a movement will actually make it work in reality. One of the reasons I write and teach with this in mind is I would feel awful if one of my students got badly hurt or died because I failed them in teaching the proper way. Knowing of the person who made this quote I feel they would have the same feelings for their students as well. 

Now, I also disagree that constantly repetitive practice along until my technique “Looks” as if I perform it “effortlessly” does not jell to well for me as to its viability in a self-defense or combative situation.  I believe a huge fallacy of most martial arts instructions is “Making it LOOK powerful” actually means its performance tends to look good but often means bleeding off of energy in the body in lieu of energy, power and force being transmitted through the body and into a target (another complete article all on its own here).  Most of those demonstrations are about looking good but violent the fundamental principles you need to achieve proficiency in such situations of conflict and violence. 

Effortlessly is also misunderstood because an effortless application actually is very hard to detect and maximizes the energy power and force transmission to where one perceives something but cannot put their finger on what that is. It also boils down to what one perceives as effortlessly because I don’t see to many article defining what performing effortlessly means. Just because it makes something assume that the performance is being done as if no effort is required does not truly define that effortless effort.

An effortless effort is a complex thing and explaining it will take another full article at a minimum but to actually know when you reach such a level is when you are in a violent encounter, often when you failed to actually use self-defense, and your effort results in all the physiokinetic principles such as structure, balance, centeredness, etc. align like the planets in the heavens and your attacker actually demonstrates how the body reacts when it is the recipient of all the power and force you can actually generate and transfer to that persons target. Even this explanation is limited and incomplete. And NO, I will not give you that excuse too often used that you MUST learn it hands on and in person with a qualified instructor ON THE DOJO FLOOR. When that happens I have seldom witnessed anyone actually convey it that way ON THE DOJO FLOOR.

I use a forum on a blog to demonstrate why meme’s and quotations are great learning tools but always require “Full and Complete” explanations, etc. to begin to understand. I call this site a Karate Koan like quotation where I provide comments to help explain but also say that continuous and repetitive study along with training, practice and mental/physical meditative contemplation over the life of study and practice are necessary to achieve a more enlightened understanding are REQUIRED. YOU CANNOT TAKE OR ASSUME THAT ONE READING OF A QUOTE CONVEYS ALL MEANING because that just ain’t so.

In the end, a caveat should be presented that with article and especially singular quotations must be accompanied by either a greater explanation as to meaning or that it requires that along the path of study, over time and with experience. Otherwise the meme or quote is just a neat thing to attack attention or make yourself look wise and enlightened.  

Effortless effort, looking a certain way, repeating practice are not the end all of martial arts study and practice. One reason it is something you can do for the long haul in life. It can lead you to many ways, many paths and many perspective preceptive views all unique to each individual either presenting or receiving. 

Bibliography (Click the link)

p.s. remember, like all this of this nature, it is true that "Effortless effort" is a part of overall training and practice but as to how that manifests is the hard part of it all and it is not what folks think it is …