Learn to recognize the moment the opponent’s movement changes – he will stiffen.

Vice versa, learn not to lock up but to release everything. This allows you to strike instead of block.

When you resist someone you’re susceptible to being unbalanced.

If you’re doing the unbalancing, do it in a direction not directly against their motion (Corkscrewing).

If you release continuously (as opposed to resisting) you get amplified opportunities to both collide (destructions) or Ghost in to hit.

While releasing, avoid over-traveling. If you are releasing correctly and efficiently you actually encourage them to over-travel which of course creates more openings.

You cannot develop this by planning; you have to learn to let go.

John demonstrates how he unbalances or hits while they are retracting or changing direction, yet he does it with little to no pressure because he’s allowing them to go where they want – but he won’t be there when they arrive.

John shows how when they change direction he gets behind (corkscrews) behind them and unbalances them easily. He takes out the slack without adding force. This of course requires highly trained sensitivity, which GC drills develop. Plus, you need to be moving your entire body while doing this so you’re never where you were.

This is not a duel. The linear mind gets caught. You cannot have a goal or a thought. You can’t even change the goal. Goals are anathema to GC.

The goal is to have no goal.

Your only thought is to kill the enemy (if your life is in danger) – because your training allows you to back off as necessary – a skill not developed in virtually any other art because in GC you are learning to deal with the NOW (reality, moment by moment) and to anticipate and change as necessary.

Again, hit from where you’re going to be, not from where you are, and of course all amplified by dropping.

Targets are rapidly multiplied by the principle of multi-hitting (stacked strikes using different or same tools off the same arm and body movement, aided by ricocheting, pivot-striking, etc.)

Obviously, multi-hitting is much harder for them to stop than consecutive single-striking.

Palm>collapses into elbow>unfurls to chop>ricochets to hammerfist, all with the same arm off 1 (or multiple, i.e. MLB) drops.

With all of the above and your constant “disconnected–connection” you are always disrupting their balance, either via direct shots, or – if your tool is not in an effective striking position, by pulsing their body (which interrupts their strikes) and spring-boarding into your own.

You can use all of the above to “pinball” (ricochet) off one attacker’s energy into another’s.

As John goes faster you can see his use of small Rocket Steps ricocheting and spring-boarding his roots and strikes into new roots and strikes like a pinball machine or jack hammer.

John shows how the ability to change your root easily at will allows you to disrupt the enemy’s balance – either with low kicks (as destructions or disrupters), stomps or simple uncomfortable (for them) foot placements.

With the arm (specifically here the hand) acting as an intercepting “antenna,” what looks like a “missed” block actually collapses into a devastating inward elbow to the throat.

John stresses the Psycho-Tango drill for developing creative/reactive freedom (see Companion 2 and Combat Conditioning videos).

By “not engaging” John explains that you never play their game – by directly stopping, grabbing, wrestling or blocking their movement. This is the nature of “Brand X” motion.

John clarifies that by “disconnecting” he means with obvious forceful physical touch. In actuality, you are always connected – either with super-light or Ghosting sensitivity or with heat or with trained proprioception where your subconscious has learned to process millions of past touches via years of contact flow and interpret and anticipate trajectories by filling in gaps between actual firm physical reference points.

To learn all this you need a skilled and empathetic teacher (like GC Senior Master Michael Watson).

All this subconscious training begins to manifest in your nightly dreams as well where it becomes reinforced in your nervous system in a way that regimented, patterned, choreographed arts cannot, because GC is rooted in subconscious training above all else.

And much, much more...