Combat-ish

A friend was watching one of my black belt tests.  "It looks like you're hurting them sometimes but that they're cooperating with you a lot of time."  Movies make it look like anyone can be hit, kicked, shot, and stabbed then maybe jump up and run a marathon I guess.  Everyone is supposed to walk home from training.  Testing is verifying training, but it is still training.

Nik Wallenda, the man who walked the tightrope between two buildings in Chicago simulated 90 mph winds in his training.  "I want to make sure I've trained harder than what I will experience during the walk."  No doubt, he built up to this.  

I have heard some martial arts teachers talk about training more harshly to be ready for the dreaded phantom "street."  It is valid - to a point.  Who wants their daughter to take a Rape Prevention class where the instructor is going to be harsher than any rapist would be?

While more groups are talking about "More Realistic Training", everything we do in any class now is fake.  Training is different from doing.  Training is learning.  

I can train to assist with Ebola patients without being exposed to an Ebola patient.  The training and simulations let me learn lessons from other people who faced more danger than me, and maybe paid with their lives.  I can take my CPR and ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) and not have a patient die during training.  

Flight simulators are safer for pilots, and planes (and passengers) than "on the job training."  The old joke:  "If at first you don't succeed, so much for skydiving," need not apply to training for combat.  The majority of martial arts students will not be in a life-or-death situation, and even when they are, dialing 911 is still a better idea.

Even worse for people who are training for life and death situations, training injuries can make them less likely to succeed in an altercation!  Damage a joint.  Movement and flexibility become impaired, cardiovascular training becomes more difficult.  Training stops.  Maybe pain killers, fatigue, and depression start messing with my head.  Injure a leg; running away or dodging an attack is more difficult and maybe impossible.  Lost time at work is lost income, lost income is less disposable income for classes and maybe even other more vital daily needs. Stress becomes an ugly spiral.  Ironically, I become much easier prey.

And, it's not just about combat.  I couldn't spike an IV bag or unit of blood with a broken thumb, and I couldn't do chest compressions nor was I able to safely help a sick patient to the bathroom for months after an elbow injury.  My freelance editor wife lost days of income from a stray fingernail in her eye.  These were training injuries.

Imagine writing a qualifying exam after getting a concussion, or writing a paper after breaking fingers.  A detached retina, or a corneal abrasion, or a pulled groin muscle can serious hamper a law enforcement officer or a soldier in their ability to perform their duties.  Imagine a surgeon who gets a broken arm as a consequence of "recreation."

The people before us developed methods of training an aspect of combat that wasn't combat itself.  I develop my flexibility, strength, cardiovascular health, mental focus, my ability to strategize, my familiarity with a tool or an environment, my reactions to stress; and then I become a better fighter and hopefully a better all around person with a higher quality of life.

Stand Up

In Aikido, Seiza plays a huge role.  Standing at the start or end of class, or doing a standing bow is something associated with weakness.  "He has bad knees, He's overweight, He's injured."  The student is embarrassed, and a little shamed.  Instructors have the choice of getting up and moving around whenever they want to, and beginners are given some leeway usually.  I've written on the Diamond Pose (the Yoga name for Seiza) here, and I posted a video, mostly on ways to warm the body up for this posture.

While of course O Sensei practiced Suwari Waza and Hanmi Handachi Waza and sat in Seiza, he also stood.  There is a lot of documentation on the waterfall in Iwama, and how O Sensei would stand there daily for extended periods of time.  National Geographic has a documentary by Josette Normandeau, a Canadian Aikido student who has travelled extensively.  She is introduced to the waterfall around 16:15 by Hitohiro Saito Sensei.  Her description echoes that of this consultant who also spent time practicing Misogi, or ritual purification, in this waterfall.

One thing both accounts agree on this the cold.  Many cultures have practices related to immersion in water.  Advocates say this leads to a higher level of mind and body connection and greater physical abilities.

Shinto standing practices have been around for a very long time and these were advocated and revived apparently by Omoto-Kyo and Deguchi.  These practices fell out of favor or weren't fully embraced by some students for a variety of reasons.  For one thing, O Sensei's religious leader was imprisioned, and known for treasonous and anti-war rhetoric - not all of Ueshiba's students shared his religious beliefs or openly dared to be associated with Deguchi.  For another, standing meditation is boring and painful with little overt connection to combat ability (though armies the world over make soldiers stand at attention for long periods, and have for centuries).  Some martial artists reserve this as a secret teaching for select students.

In Chinese martial arts, power standing or Zhan Zhuang is a common adjunctive practice; or even the primary practice in the case of Yiquan.  When Bruce Kumar Frantzis writes he believes O Sensei was exposed to Baguazhang, I think this one of the things he is referring to - some Baguazhang schools make heavy use of Zhan Zhuang as Frantzis' lineage does.  Whether or not O Sensei ever had any contact with any Baguazhang practitioners, he did practice standing and would have all the physical changes associated with people who practiced Zhan Zhuang with regularity in his body.  I have heard that one reason O Sensei was different from his students was that his students separated his martial practices from his religious ones.

All of this is in addition to the usual benefits meditation is known for:  increased ability to focus on tasks, improved memory, improved clarity of thought, improved impulse and emotional control.  Improved ability to perceive, analyze, and learn.  These benefits can be achieved sitting in Seiza, but also in other postures or even in motion.

There are few schools with a solid curriculum for teaching power standing, and I learned most of what I do from Shifu John Painter.  I had Aikido and Taiji teachers who had me practice standing, but there was minimal feedback and instruction.  I learned what standing could be from a student of Juilong Baguazhang.  Check out the Gompa if you are interested.  

Mostly, I want to address this article to people who don't feel they are practicing Aikido unless they are able to sit in seiza for prolonged periods of time.  I know students who only meditate in seiza, and only define meditation for themselves as involving Seiza.  Travel and injuries cost them so much more distress as their meditation has to stop.  The mindset seems to start with, "Seiza is Aikido, nothing else is."  Only meditating in Seiza also means that the mental benefits of meditation don't readily carry over into regular practice; what doesn't carry over into regular practice doesn't carry over into life. 

When I went for my Sandan test, the examiners came up beforehand and asked if I had knee problems or could sit in seiza.  They anticipated that I would be injured as a result of training for a few decades (they weren't wrong, but I did do the kneeling portion of my test).  Seiza is a valid and powerful practice, and a piece of our Aikido history and Japanese culture.  Seiza is not always healthy, and kneeling can be done to excess making students old before their time.  Standing is an alternative and adjunctive training method that is historically relevant to Aikido.  You can still practice Aikido when you cannot sit Seiza.  You may find there are enough benefits to convince you to stand more often!

(Of course I sit seiza for teachers, and to start and finish every class.  I do believe Suwari Waza should be practiced at least weekly.)