I think my favorite question to date about my martial arts school came from a young woman who rather sheepishly asked, "Do they... yell?" Here was someone who was interested in taking up a healthy hobby to stay in shape but she was terrified (TERRIFIED!) that she would be forced to yell in front of people.
I sympathized with this woman. As a young child the prospect of getting to scream your head off is rather inviting but for adults the only thing it usually invites is a fear of looking completely ridiculous. The movies and competitions I have seen with everyone shouting and trying their darnedest to look FIERCE have always come across as a little silly to me. As a teenager beginning to learn karate and suffering from voice changes to the extent that I was sure my own mother was embarrassed on my behalf, I loathed the part where my teacher told me to yell.
As it turns out, very few people are privileged to know the real reason sound is important in martial arts, even among martial artists who have practiced for decades. I asked one of my teachers why we yelled while punching and kicking and the response I got was something like "to intimidate your opponent."
"Weren't they intimidated enough when I punched them in the face?" [I never actually asked this, because back talk would have resulted in something... unpleasant. But I thought it ALL the time.]
Another of my teachers told me that the yell was called a kiai, and it was done to focus your power. Kiai, he said, meant "spirit yell" and was performed on lethal techniques. This at least sounded cool and so it was the explanation I went with for years. It was almost right, too.
It wasn't until I started studying pressure points and chi kung that I realized the potential sound offered, and what everyone else seemed to be missing out on. Turns out that kiai does not mean "spirit yell" at all, but is a combination of two words, ki and ai. Ki is energy, the same as chi in chi kung, and ai (in this case) can mean focus or harmony. A kiai is therefore a method of focusing your energy, or even harmonizing your energy with that of another person. There are a lot of ways to do it. A kiai does not have to be a yell, and in fact some of the most powerful kiai are merely a whisper, barely audible at all!
So how's it work? It's all about vibration, not volume. When you think about it, all nerve stimulus is a result of vibration of some kind. Sound is obvious; light also has a frequency and wavelength. Heat is just the result of molecules with more energy vibrating faster, and if you read up on string theory you might see matter itself as energy vibrating in a particular way. Everything we sense or experience is some kind of vibration, and kiai is designed to enhance this, for health or martial purposes.
Our nerves respond to vibrations of many kinds, but some nerves respond particularly well to specific frequencies and wavelengths that we can produce with sound. The Chinese grouped these nerves together in meridians and gave them a specific elemental quality. They didn't do this because of sound (it was actually by a nerve point's association to a particular organ or function), but it turned out that the right "elemental sound" would affect all the acupuncture points that correspond to that element in one of several particular ways. By studying this they were able to add sounds to enhance the nerve stimulation in their meditation, and they were also able to enhance the effects on their opponents in their martial arts. The results even a novice can achieve are quite drastic and well worth the study, but great care must be taken because overdoing it can have painful consequences.
Aside from elemental sounds there are chakra tones common to many types of meditation, as well as sounds to project energy from particular parts of the body and directional sounds. Directional sounds are simply vowel tones that project the body's energy in a particular direction. If you think about someone watching the trapeze ("Ooooooo! Aaaaaaah!") you'll see that these sounds are natural even though you may not realize why you're making them. The "oooooooo" (Not "Oh" as in "Ocean" but an ooooo sound like the "Choo choo" train noise) sound directs energy downward while the "aaaaaah" sound sends it upward. [This is why many of us will say "oooooo" as we stand on the edge of the cliff or some other great height. We are sending our energy downward to improve our connection to the ground so we don't fall off!] You can try this to see how it feels for yourself:
Hold your arms in front of you with the elbows bent, in a posture like you are about to lift something heavy over your head. Make sure your arms and body are relaxed. Now try lifting your arms and saying "aaaaaaah." Notice how heavy your arms feel. Repeat the arm lifting, but this time say "ooooooo" as you do it. Did you notice a difference? It is subtle, but your arms should feel heavier the second time. Try whispering the sounds and really focusing on feeling the vibration to get a better effect.
Not convinced? If you practice martial arts you can try this with a joint lock that directs force downward or upward. Experiment with different sounds (GENTLY!) and ask your partner how it feels. They should notice a difference. This will work with striking as well for downward and upward strikes, but since the sounds affect the nerves you have to activate a pressure point to access the nerves before it will be noticeable.
So, to answer that woman's question: Yes, we do yell. But it's not so bad. We also whisper. We do a lot of it but there's good reason behind it. It's healthy and it makes your martial arts work a lot better, and with that added level of focus and concentration I hope you'll find it's nothing to be so embarrassed about.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Is it Safe?
I get the best looks from people when they find out I practice vital point striking. There's intrigue that comes with a certain skepticism, and the internal conflict that arrives with the mutually exclusive desires to ask, "Is it safe?" and to not sound like somebody's mother. Even seasoned martial artists get antsy when you discuss how they can manipulate the nerves underlying acupuncture points to affect any organ or system in the body. It's funny to me that it's okay for them to practice techniques meant to break bones and tear ligaments, but a nerve that may upset their tummy is beyond their comfort zone.
So, IS it safe? Sure, if you're practicing responsibly and include the revival and restoration techniques in your training. There are plenty of things that can deeply affect the body in this martial art, but I have yet to hear of anything that couldn't be quickly corrected. To date, nobody has received any kind of nerve damage or died as a result of the kind of training we do.
But I'd like to go a step further and say that this kind of training is not only safe, but actually very healthy. There are two ways to look at this, from an Eastern and Western perspective, and both are very illuminating when it comes to concerns for our health.
From an Eastern perspective, the Chinese have long viewed sickness an excess or a deficiency in the Chi (energy) of an area in the body. This can be the result of some kind of blockage along the various channels through which energy passes, and many acupuncture and acupressure remedies are meant to restore the normal flow of Chi along these channels. Vital point striking utilizes the same points and energy channels as Chinese medicine with the intent to transfer energy through the strike. The effect is to flood the channel with energy, which is then forced through any blockages, eliminating them. This is not subtle and will cause a temporary imbalance that will certainly be felt, but with the application of the revival and restoration techniques, anyone who receives these strikes is left more "open" and healthier than they were before.
The Western perspective is less concerned with energy as it is with the nerves that underlie the acupuncture points. Consider that the body is meant to be used; exercise has proven extremely important in maintaining our health. It allows us to build muscle and bone mass, even into our "declining" years, and to maintain our cardiovascular system. All of these things; muscle and bone mass, and cardiovascular endurance, we will lose them if we don't use them. The same is true for proper nerve function. In the course of our modern lives, our sedentary postures and lifestyles take a heavy toll on our nervous system. The positions we place ourselves in while commuting to the office or seated at a desk all apply undue tension on a number of nerves and reduce their efficiency. The prolonged lack of movement denies our nerves the stimulation they would normally receive during exercise, or through the course of a more physically demanding day. These same nerves that are found under our vital points run through and control the function of all the major organs of the body, and their atrophy can have serious consequences. When we practice vital point striking, the effects of stimulating the nerves can be thought of as a workout for our nervous system. This not only increases the efficiency with which the nerves operate, but by extension it increases their ability to monitor and regulate the functions of our organs as well. The result is a healthier body that is better equipped to do what it is supposed to.
Safe? Sure! Even healthy? You bet. Of course, none of this means that you should smack just any spot on the body to see what it does. But with a qualified instructor a study of vital point striking can have a number of unforeseen benefits, and none of the harmful consequences that seem to worry so many people.
So, IS it safe? Sure, if you're practicing responsibly and include the revival and restoration techniques in your training. There are plenty of things that can deeply affect the body in this martial art, but I have yet to hear of anything that couldn't be quickly corrected. To date, nobody has received any kind of nerve damage or died as a result of the kind of training we do.
But I'd like to go a step further and say that this kind of training is not only safe, but actually very healthy. There are two ways to look at this, from an Eastern and Western perspective, and both are very illuminating when it comes to concerns for our health.
From an Eastern perspective, the Chinese have long viewed sickness an excess or a deficiency in the Chi (energy) of an area in the body. This can be the result of some kind of blockage along the various channels through which energy passes, and many acupuncture and acupressure remedies are meant to restore the normal flow of Chi along these channels. Vital point striking utilizes the same points and energy channels as Chinese medicine with the intent to transfer energy through the strike. The effect is to flood the channel with energy, which is then forced through any blockages, eliminating them. This is not subtle and will cause a temporary imbalance that will certainly be felt, but with the application of the revival and restoration techniques, anyone who receives these strikes is left more "open" and healthier than they were before.
The Western perspective is less concerned with energy as it is with the nerves that underlie the acupuncture points. Consider that the body is meant to be used; exercise has proven extremely important in maintaining our health. It allows us to build muscle and bone mass, even into our "declining" years, and to maintain our cardiovascular system. All of these things; muscle and bone mass, and cardiovascular endurance, we will lose them if we don't use them. The same is true for proper nerve function. In the course of our modern lives, our sedentary postures and lifestyles take a heavy toll on our nervous system. The positions we place ourselves in while commuting to the office or seated at a desk all apply undue tension on a number of nerves and reduce their efficiency. The prolonged lack of movement denies our nerves the stimulation they would normally receive during exercise, or through the course of a more physically demanding day. These same nerves that are found under our vital points run through and control the function of all the major organs of the body, and their atrophy can have serious consequences. When we practice vital point striking, the effects of stimulating the nerves can be thought of as a workout for our nervous system. This not only increases the efficiency with which the nerves operate, but by extension it increases their ability to monitor and regulate the functions of our organs as well. The result is a healthier body that is better equipped to do what it is supposed to.
Safe? Sure! Even healthy? You bet. Of course, none of this means that you should smack just any spot on the body to see what it does. But with a qualified instructor a study of vital point striking can have a number of unforeseen benefits, and none of the harmful consequences that seem to worry so many people.
Monday, November 9, 2009
First Impressions
In retrospect, I have been studying pressure points and how they affect the body ever since I started learning martial arts. "Stick your knuckles in his sternum and rub up and down. Hard. He won't be able to hold onto you like this." That was one of the first lessons I ever had in self-defense. Of course then, I didn't understand that what I was doing was affecting the nervous system, sending a signal that interfered with the body's motor function, weakening the entire body. I just thought, "It hurts and he lets go. Cool."
Fast forward ten years into my martial journey and you get to the point where I first witnessed a demonstration of kyusho jitsu. This is where things get... well, they get really interesting. Kyusho jitsu, I learned, translates roughly to the art of one second fighting. That sounded fancy, so I watched. In a gymnasium full of karate guys, white pajamas and black belts as far as the eye can see, there's a tall middle-aged man standing in the center, doing karate movements and talking about what they mean. He grabs a friend of mine out of the audience (because in karate circles telling you about something usually involves hitting someone) and asks the guy to take a swing at him. Hard as he can.
Now, I think I need to share something about this friend of mine before I go any further. You know those power lifting competitions on TV? The ones where a large strong man will lift something that belongs on the ground (say, a Kia Spectra) and toss it somewhere it doesn't belong (say, a second story balcony)? Well, this friend was a former Virginia state champion. Huge. Arms like tree trunks. Bald head. Goatee. Expert martial artist. Excruciatingly polite. You know, big scary dude.
Anyway, back to my story: The middle-aged guy who is going to tell us something about karate and this kyusho stuff (by hitting somebody) asks the largest and strongest man there (and probably within several counties) to haul off and hit him. Hard as he can. Cool. What happened next happened in a fraction of a second. I saw my friend take a swing, surprisingly fast for how large he is. I saw the middle-aged man move deftly to the side. I saw the middle-aged man fling his own arm across my friend's. I saw my friend collapse to the floor.
This guy was out. Cold.
This is the point where my mind does a double take. I believe the exact thought running through my head at that moment was, "Wait, what?" The middle-aged fellow goes on talking, like the most awesome thing that had ever happened to a karate nerd such as myself was completely normal, and demonstrating other things (i.e. hitting other people), each of which results in someone getting knocked out in equally preposterous ways. Each time I watch this I remember all of my childhood fantasies of using karate to perform superhuman heroic deeds, or at least knock people in front of me out so as to not have to wait in lines, and suddenly so many of them almost appear grounded in reality. If I had seen this when I was eight, it would have been better than Christmas.
As soon as the demonstration ended and people were beginning to disperse, I ran my way through a crowd of older and more experienced karateka (that's a nifty word for "people who do karate") to introduce myself to the kyusho expert and find out exactly how he was able to do things my brain still said he shouldn't be able to do. People just don't go out when you hit them on the arm. It turned out that the middle-aged kyusho expert's name was Ron, and Ron was gracious and friendly enough to talk with me a minute. He told me that he had used pressure points, and showed me the one he had struck on my power-lifting friend's arm. He even tapped me lightly on the point, which made my knees weak and vaguely felt like being electrocuted. Then he tells me the "trick" to this point is to strike it with a scooping motion, like forming a C as you hit.
For the next year, I must have practiced that C motion on that point during every karate class, every chance I got. Nobody ever passed out, but plenty of people felt their knees buckle and a few even ended up on the floor. It would still be a couple years until I began studying kyusho jitsu formally myself, and a year after that before I was able to knock anyone out.
Looking back to that first time I ever saw kyusho, and all the years of studying pressure points, chi kung, and acupressure since, I am amazed most not by what I have seen during that and many other demonstrations, but by how that initial enthusiasm has never faded in the least. My first impression was one of wonder and excitement and I still feel that way today. I am constantly learning, and the possibilities presented by what I learn are constantly expanding.
If this blog is your first impression of these arts, it is my sincere hope that I am able to convey the same excitement and wonder, and to instill a genuine curiosity in you. A lot of what I write about may sound fantastic to the unfamiliar, and at one point I couldn't have been more skeptical myself. But my curiosity at what I had seen has led me to witness some amazing things, and to meet some of the best people I know. It has been a rewarding experience for me, one I hope we may have in common some day.
Fast forward ten years into my martial journey and you get to the point where I first witnessed a demonstration of kyusho jitsu. This is where things get... well, they get really interesting. Kyusho jitsu, I learned, translates roughly to the art of one second fighting. That sounded fancy, so I watched. In a gymnasium full of karate guys, white pajamas and black belts as far as the eye can see, there's a tall middle-aged man standing in the center, doing karate movements and talking about what they mean. He grabs a friend of mine out of the audience (because in karate circles telling you about something usually involves hitting someone) and asks the guy to take a swing at him. Hard as he can.
Now, I think I need to share something about this friend of mine before I go any further. You know those power lifting competitions on TV? The ones where a large strong man will lift something that belongs on the ground (say, a Kia Spectra) and toss it somewhere it doesn't belong (say, a second story balcony)? Well, this friend was a former Virginia state champion. Huge. Arms like tree trunks. Bald head. Goatee. Expert martial artist. Excruciatingly polite. You know, big scary dude.
Anyway, back to my story: The middle-aged guy who is going to tell us something about karate and this kyusho stuff (by hitting somebody) asks the largest and strongest man there (and probably within several counties) to haul off and hit him. Hard as he can. Cool. What happened next happened in a fraction of a second. I saw my friend take a swing, surprisingly fast for how large he is. I saw the middle-aged man move deftly to the side. I saw the middle-aged man fling his own arm across my friend's. I saw my friend collapse to the floor.
This guy was out. Cold.
This is the point where my mind does a double take. I believe the exact thought running through my head at that moment was, "Wait, what?" The middle-aged fellow goes on talking, like the most awesome thing that had ever happened to a karate nerd such as myself was completely normal, and demonstrating other things (i.e. hitting other people), each of which results in someone getting knocked out in equally preposterous ways. Each time I watch this I remember all of my childhood fantasies of using karate to perform superhuman heroic deeds, or at least knock people in front of me out so as to not have to wait in lines, and suddenly so many of them almost appear grounded in reality. If I had seen this when I was eight, it would have been better than Christmas.
As soon as the demonstration ended and people were beginning to disperse, I ran my way through a crowd of older and more experienced karateka (that's a nifty word for "people who do karate") to introduce myself to the kyusho expert and find out exactly how he was able to do things my brain still said he shouldn't be able to do. People just don't go out when you hit them on the arm. It turned out that the middle-aged kyusho expert's name was Ron, and Ron was gracious and friendly enough to talk with me a minute. He told me that he had used pressure points, and showed me the one he had struck on my power-lifting friend's arm. He even tapped me lightly on the point, which made my knees weak and vaguely felt like being electrocuted. Then he tells me the "trick" to this point is to strike it with a scooping motion, like forming a C as you hit.
For the next year, I must have practiced that C motion on that point during every karate class, every chance I got. Nobody ever passed out, but plenty of people felt their knees buckle and a few even ended up on the floor. It would still be a couple years until I began studying kyusho jitsu formally myself, and a year after that before I was able to knock anyone out.
Looking back to that first time I ever saw kyusho, and all the years of studying pressure points, chi kung, and acupressure since, I am amazed most not by what I have seen during that and many other demonstrations, but by how that initial enthusiasm has never faded in the least. My first impression was one of wonder and excitement and I still feel that way today. I am constantly learning, and the possibilities presented by what I learn are constantly expanding.
If this blog is your first impression of these arts, it is my sincere hope that I am able to convey the same excitement and wonder, and to instill a genuine curiosity in you. A lot of what I write about may sound fantastic to the unfamiliar, and at one point I couldn't have been more skeptical myself. But my curiosity at what I had seen has led me to witness some amazing things, and to meet some of the best people I know. It has been a rewarding experience for me, one I hope we may have in common some day.
