open stance

[treelizard]

A friend of mine was telling me that what is considered the strongest stance in taijutsu is not a defensive or protective stance or even an offensive stance, but a totally open stance. Is this true in any other arts?

I thought it was pretty interesting, that being open is considered less vulnerable, possibly because you can move anywhere...

This also reminded me of something I've read, that in internal martial arts (or was it in samurai culture? i forget) that the ultimate stance is one that is still and not quivering. This in opposition to some Filipino arts that teach you to constantly be moving your weapon hand and/or live hand to speed up your reaction time...

Thoughts, anyone?

[BoarSpear]

A friend of mine was telling me that what is considered the strongest stance in taijutsu is not a defensive or protective stance or even an offensive stance, but a totally open stance. Is this true in any other arts?

I thought it was pretty interesting, that being open is considered less vulnerable, possibly because you can move anywhere...

This also reminded me of something I've read, that in internal martial arts (or was it in samurai culture? i forget) that the ultimate stance is one that is still and not quivering. This in opposition to some Filipino arts that teach you to constantly be moving your weapon hand and/or live hand to speed up your reaction time...

Thoughts, anyone?

Stillness, like a cat waiting to pounce...the idea being to own the space around yourself, when someone enters that space you hit whatever enters that space...This sort of thing isnt for typical hands up fighting or empty handed duels as i call 'em. The empty stance idea is that you are going to wait for the opponent to attack then EXPLODE into the attacker and disable him as quickly as possible...its purely a self defense idea, and NOT a sparring tool!!

Defense is not on the mind of someone using this set up, its a recieving posture, "come on in." the idea being to shift from being like the wind to a raging fire in an instant.


The wind posture works well on those who aint wielding a blade...the stillness idea will get you DEAD in a knife encounter. holding any part of your body exposed and still to a trained knife fighter is about the dumbest thing you could try...when its a punch or kick or a shot you can bump and evade or sprawl to control the situation. Thats fine empty handed, you can work from there, but against a blade...not so good...thats why the FMA people move constantly, its a different reality when blades are in the mix.

think about it this way, the wind posture works because no one is going to punch your arms when you hold them out to the side of your body, they attack your exposed groin and torso and face. Empty handed that works you can intercept the attacks...with a knife the exposed arms are targets, you wont try to punch them, but you'll damn sure slash them to ribbons.

[treelizard]

Interesting. It just struck me as so odd, probably because I'm always practicing having my moving metal/wooden shield as my guard.... But it definitely makes sense to move around that way purely from the standpoint of saving energy. Gets exhausting to keep your weapon moving constantly.

Boar, have you read this manual on five element fighting yet? Would be interested in your thoughts. I had the honor of meeting and training with Frank Smith (Sensei) at a Shinbikai gathering about a year ago. Skip to page 19 or something, it's long.

http://defensiveartsplus.tripod.com/DAP_Student_man.pdf

[BoarSpear]

Interesting. It just struck me as so odd, probably because I'm always practicing having my moving metal/wooden shield as my guard.... But it definitely makes sense to move around that way purely from the standpoint of saving energy. Gets exhausting to keep your weapon moving constantly.

Boar, have you read this manual on five element fighting yet? Would be interested in your thoughts. I had the honor of meeting and training with Frank Smith (Sensei) at a Shinbikai gathering about a year ago. Skip to page 19 or something, it's long.

http://defensiveartsplus.tripod.com/DAP_Student_man.pdf

i just glanced at it, its typical of the genre...IF you use it to grasp the emotional states of the elements its okay. I dont think much of the use of cycles for fighting though...you get into that and eventually one day you will "nullify" an attack from the teacher and the excuse will be the color you were wearing or thinking...

Once you MASTER striking, timing, angles, distance, wrestling and boxing and the FMA's and some BJJ then by all means learn the elements and cycles, find out which elements represent what internal organs, learn what frequency that organ vibrates at ....have a blast, but it aint EVER gonna effect the outcome of a fight to YOUR advantage.

[treelizard]

Yeah, I hear ya. Well I study five elements for fun as an herbalist and thought it was interesting how it corresponded to fighting, though I can't say I've found a lot of use for it.

One good use, though, is to be able to recognize one's own imbalances and how that might affect you in a high-stress situation, and then try to work on ways to control it before you get in that situation.

Unfortunately for me, that means I have to do a lot of zazen and go to bed earlier.

I do notice that the more open you are (call it chakras, meridians or just being open spiritually) the less it sucks when you get hit a lot (or taking cold water showers or whatnot). I've read studies that say the more you are relaxed the less injuries you have in car accidents, which is why drunk people often get out unscathed... something like trying to break a hose versus trying to break a stick. And part of that, uh, cultivating that state of relaxation/balance/etc. could involve balancing the elements. Or not.