brining your 'inner rage/fire' out while training/fighting....

[danielson]

kinda an unotrthodox question here


obviously when u start laying into something, u get fired up and u hit the bag harder etc....but in my particular style we are taught to bring our 'fire' up...

it may sound silly, but there are times i have been able to do this, and the feeling is awesome in terms of the power, reactions and speed your able to crank out, wayy more then usual

i think i heard something else on here about other styles meditating on a warrior figure or something, maybe in taijiquan....im not sure

but what techniques have you found uselful in bringing out ur inner rage, i cant do it 100% of the time and i would like to because it would be SOOOOO useful

 

[Thaibox]

Hehe, I find this topic intriguing as hell.

I've been taught several ways of achieving this. But, no tthat long ago I learned a meditative practice Ninjutsu practitioners call "the demon." I think this was one of the most influential things I've ever learned.

You have to have experience meditating before you can do this. If you can't enter a relatively deep meditative state then this can't happen.

Basically this theory is based around the creation of a creature that embodies all the desired attributes needed for combat. You must first visualize this creature(demon) and build it to your exact specifications. Your demon may have the following attributes...

Fearlessness
amazing speed
ruthlessness
focus
ability to not feel pain
incredible strength
An intimidating look that would scare the shit out of anyone
etc etc etc

You must visualize this demon utilizing these traits flawlessly under every imaginable condition. Larger opponents, multiple opponents, opponents with all types of weapons, etc. You must see him clearly excecuting techniques flawlessly with unblievable speed and precision, all the while showing no fear or hesitation. This must be continued for quite a while. I'm talking months and months.

This next part is the hard part.....
You now need to see this demon manifesting itself in you. Imagine yourself becoming one with this demon, to the point where it completely takes over your body and mind, and you become the demon. You are now the one executing flawless combat tactics in the form of this demon. This takes a long time.

The idea here is to create a type of post hypnotic suggestion. Like the hypnotist at a fair. When he says the word dog, some person starts barking loudly. Well, when you encounter a particular combat scenario, or simply feel the rush of fear in a confrontation, that is the trigger equivilant to the word "dog" and SNAP, the demon manifests itself in you providing you with all of the traits of the demon. You react. You have no choice but to react exactly how your demon would, just like the person has no choice but to bark. You don't think about it, it becomes instinctual.

I know this sounds out there, but it is one of the single most importat things I have ever done. It took me quite some time to develop my demon and have it work with me, but it works. Since I really don't fight anymore, I have been able to transfer this into my lifting. I can actually conjur that fucker up and lift insane amounts of weight because he can.

I had a gun pulled on myself and a buddy back east a couple years ago. The instant I saw the gun, my body was between my friend and the assailant, my left hand was going for the throat and my right hand for the weapon. My right hand grabbed the slide at the time of throat impact, hit a joint up and over my shoulder, then threw his coughing gasping body over me, hit an arm bar and had the gun pointed at his friend. At that point I realized that I had reinacted a disarm drill that I had my demon do a thousand times. I can actually remember seeing him do it, not me. It was fucking beaultiful. Only after I left the scene did I get any sort of adrenaline dump.

If you're willing to put in the time meditating and creating this, I promise you that you will be happy with the ability.

 

[danielson]

At that point I realized that I had reinacted a disarm drill that I had my demon do a thousand times. I can actually remember seeing him do it, not me. It was fucking beaultiful. Only after I left the scene did I get any sort of adrenaline dump.

If you're willing to put in the time meditating and creating this, I promise you that you will be happy with the ability.

btw im gonna ramble a bit in this post the really important stuff is at the end

this line had me going 'holy shit!!!'

i dont think its out there at all, i;ve experienced probably only a fraction of what you are talking about, and i was absolutely blown away by it, both in the gym and on the heavy bags/sand bags

my style of kung fu makes you try and bring up your inner rage and supress it during forms.....but i know myself (and everyone else) they can;t hit that point everytime, the only one i know can is the instructor

i know in my heartt though this is probably the single most valuable thing i could take away from an eastern art, the ability to guarantee your strength of will and let all the technique and power flow from that.

my instructor rarely does meditartion in class, and will only do it 1-1 as he says its quite dangerous to do it deeply as some people get trapped in the stance. im gonna learn or try and learn in a meditation class, and then try and self direct from there......whatcha think?


and great post btw

 

[Thaibox]

good idea D. My old instructor started me off with the basics, but I was only really able to get into it on my own. Its too much of an individual thing. I could find my own time, in a symbolic place and work at it the way I wanted to, for as long as I wanted to.

I'm sure what you're talking about is very similar or even part of the same. The demon can be used during training, be it the heavy bag, katas, forms, etc.

Over the last year or so I've let this ability slip and it has been dulled a little. I can't bring it out at will all the time anymore. I used to be able to to trigger it at will, it was great. Now it requires either an external trigger(fear, confrontation) or a little bit of focusing.

There are some good books on meditation out there that make things easier to understand and will help you empty your mind, relax right, etc.

 

[Thaibox]

Also, on a serious note. Be careful in the later stages of this. I've actually had a couple bad experiences as a side effect from this. My intention is not to make this sound like some powerful, mystical voodoo woodoo, but you are screwing with your mind. It is possible to program the mind, and thats essentially what you're doing. The mind is an extremely powerful thing, be careful my friend.

 

[danielson]

if u dont mind saying (and if u do, now worries) what happened? did u flip out on people by mistake? my main concern is i'm basically creating a demon in my mind and i wont be able to fully control it or something

 

[Happyastro]

Mental conditioning.

Martial arts/brawling/beating the crap out of someone is very similar to any skill, such as playing a musical instrument.

The first step is to condition your mind not to act instinctively, for example bashing someone senseless or waiting for a punch to be at hairs length from your head before you slightly move to avoid it; are not natural movements.
The human is instinctively programed to either run from a confrontation (leaving your back exposed 8) ) or to attack with blind aggression (lol which makes you a human punching bag to a trained fighter.)
These could be compared to learning a musical instrument; in the early stages there is a struggle to learn the proper sequence, as your fingers rougly vaguely grab at the strings.

The mind must be calm and confident and instinctive in carrying out the actions; take the simple task of walking down the street!! as a baby we had trouble crawling let alone standing up!!!, but since we have learned by trial and error we now walk perfectly lol and there is no need to meditate or go zen to do it!!
When you fight you have to be calm and clear as if you are having a walk; a dangerous fighter is calm, clear and confident.
Which leads me to my next point, you have to fight or spar as often as you can, every day if you have to, full contact as no holds bar as you can!!!
Your mind will be reprogrammed to instinctively learn from pain (getting wacked real hard for making mistakes) what works in a situation RELATIVE TO YOU!!, you may find that you have great hands or shins and it will predominate your fights.
Overtime you can FORCE your routine to be more well rounded by focusing your skills in other areas such as grappling, for example if you are a good knee and elbow person, why not add some pure boxing fights to round up your hands?

Remember if you know what is coming; (includes knowing the pain, yourself, your opponents) you will be calm, clear and confident.
The three C's are the keys to control and control is everything in a fight.

 

[danielson]

happyastro the points u make about polishing my technique are true because there is always room for improvement there, as there is in getting sparring experience

i dont understand it totally myself, but my sifu was referring to the chinese elements (why do chinese systems always have to be so complicated, but ya know earth, water, wind, fire, metal) and he would talk aboutyour fire being a way to channel a controllable rage, so you wouldnt just wail into you opponent, you'd have all the technique, skill etc that you;d need, but wayyyyyy more ferocity and power and raw rage behind it, so you wouldnt get tired as quick etc, you;d just keep on goingwith no fear, and no pain

 

[Thaibox]

No, I didn't flip out. But I would see my demon sometimes when I didn't want to see it(at really bad times). It would pop into my head when I was with my girl or simply talking to someone. I would have to work to get it out of there. I would be completely unaware of what people around me were saying because I was bothered by this. When it was in my head, I would think, damn...what if that fucker manifested itself right now? Would I do something bad? Thats a bad thought. Of course it never happened. I mean, I do control my own mind, but the thought was very disconcerning nonetheless. This thing represented violence and mindlessness, so obviously it was a great bother when it appeared under certain circumstances.

As long as you make sure that you give this thing very specific qualities, there is no way it would make you act in any way that you do not want to. You created it completely from nothing, and therefore you have total control.


Happyastro,
I've heard this summarized nicely before. Someone once related this to the human fight or flight response. Since fighters train and live in a world of fighting(and the understanding thereof) they have already made there decision to fight. With that decision already made, calm and confidence thrives. There is no internal conflict, therefore hesitation, fear, anxiety have no place to grow.

 

[Rial]

how long do u meditate for?