Training Mechanics
I made a recent post in the 'More Basics' thread. And decided to honor Buddy by taking my thought and starting my own thread.
What I stated was:
"Sure the mind is locked on body mechanics, but only until those body mechanics become an inate systematic response that the body can perform on its own, without thought. Once this is acheived I believe the mind should then focus on breathing. And just like body mechanics, it'll focus on it until it becomes second nature to breathe at the right times.
As soon as both are acheived, the mind may be released altogether, and you may react accurately, and without thought."
Allow me to expand on my reasoning for placing body mechanics and breathing mechanics in this particular order.
Perhaps it's just the Tai Chi in me speaking for all of my martial arts, but I'm a firm believer in timing. Inhaling as I contract, and exhaling as I expand. But timing during an attack gets deeper then matching the breathing with say...a punch. Timing gets more complex still, because one should also be rooting themselves accordingly before the strike.
So lets see what we have now, and in what order:
1. Foot placement (rooting)
2. Striking (we'll say a punch in this case), with breathing
One can not properly time their breathing (which should be based on body mechanics), unless you have proper body mechanics.
Lets say you chose to work on your breathing practice first. And you train, and train. And you get it to an artform you are absolutely confident in. You then chose to move over to body mechanics. But as you're doing body mechanics you find that you had incorrect footwork, or you weren't pivoting properly during your punch while you were practicing your breathing for all that time. Instead your once comfortable breathing, no longer keeps a proper flow with your new mechanics. For months you were used to breathing while you felt your right foot facing to the left during your punch, only to find your foot should really be facing forward.
Now, you pretty much have to retrain yourself in an aspect you had originally trained so diligently in.
In the end however, it's still a "To each their own" scenario. What works for some may not work for others. But this isn't MA class, this is a forum. Which brings me to my next question.
Views?
-Mike
"If you do not wish to grasp the thorn, you should not crave the rose."