ENTER THE MATRIX AND WATCH THE FULL VIDEO LESSON CAREFULLY:
Repeated viewings of GM Perkins’ movement while flowing with students yields tremendous insights into how to react properly; words cannot fully convey this but you will begin to feel in your own body what is effective GC movement.
►John explains what he wrote in his battle poem: "My blade moves like the softest breeze...Cutting the clouds of fear...Evading the clash of steel...Only to pierce the heart of resistance."
►Essentially it means Unavailable/Unavoidable, Ghosting, and more.
►He says the simplest self-defense is just to carry a metal spike at all times because it’s not an illegal weapon to carry [Note that this may not necessarily jibe with state and local laws so don’t take this as absolute fact].
►John compares the effect of his art as related to “Counting Coup,” an indigenous warrior training practice whereby if you can get tapped by feather on a stick without realizing it, you’re “dead” and defeated.
►The basic, devastating 1st level of GC (learned first if you’re pressed for time) is GC Combatives. Although it is somewhat similar to WWII Combatives, it has been modified and supercharged by GC Principles such that the more pure “GC” you can add into it, the more adaptive and versatile it becomes. This way you start with something devastating and then as you learn, make it more so, until it completely dissolves into pure GC adaptation.
►3 of the most basic moves in GC Combatives are The Fright Reaction, The CCUE (Close Combat Universal Entry), and The Prow (Chop/palm/knee). Note that for full detailed explanations of these, refer to the GC Combatives DVD/Matrix vid and The Attackproof Companion Part 2 (as well as our 2 books).
►John demos how clashing is ineffective and getting offline and Drop-hitting simultaneously satisfies the meaning in his poem "My blade moves like the softest breeze...Cutting the clouds of fear...Evading the clash of steel...Only to pierce the heart of resistance."
►John then shows the fault with stylized, patterned responses.
►With contact flow, you should constantly experiment, not with the goal of winning, but of learning about your balance, positioning, softness, sensitivity, etc.
►With CCUE practice though, you are going full “Yang” energy – BUT – as you get better, you can sensitively adapt within the motion as needed.
►For example, John then does a Prow against an attack but if you watch carefully, he adapts his rear arm’s elbow to accommodate and fend off the incoming strike.
►The enhancing GC principles of Isolating Your Balance and Dropping allowed him to modify the Prow as necessary. So, you learn the basic moves but they are not locked in – they are supercharged with power, balance, etc. Because GC trains you to hit from Anywhere to Anywhere with Anything with every conceivable type of improvised strike you can’t do that right at the start. But with training, you will.
►John contrasts the GC “Drop” step with the WWII “Falling” step, with the Falling step over-committing your balance which can potentially be taken advantage of.
►Practicing the Vacuum/Ninja Walks teaches you to step anywhere with balance and the ability to Drop. This also works against 2 attackers.
►John explains how in the beginning when you Fright Reaction you should drop as hard as you can (correctly of course—see the GC Combatives DVD) but as you get better, the drop can be more subtle with better timing.
►You want to learn to eliminate strength and over-movement.
►John demos devastating double drop-hits: 2 strikes off of one drop and 1 drop ricocheting instantly to a 2nd.
►John shows low kicks to shin, ankle, instep, inside and/or outside of knee cap. Note that he “splashes” with the kick (as opposed to following through with “over-travel” like in most arts), same as we do with hand strikes. John calls this “Keech Foot” (from the former name of Guided Chaos, Ki Chuan Do).
►John emphasizes the point that you move offline and hit: “Hit from where you’re going to be, not from where you are.” However, you must move as little as possible because a big move can be recovered from by the enemy and tracked.
►John demos a CCUE that has adapted such that he’s actually cranking on the attacker’s neck rather than chopping it – because that’s what was easiest in the moment.
►He then does an extended demo on several students how this particular CCUE adaptation actually uses the attackers own force against them by pulling the neck crank right into them as they resist.
►So even when you do the GC Combatives, you still have to have that characteristic GC Looseness, lightness and Sensitivity, which will allow you to adapt even these basic moves. Keep training, and you soon abandon all moves except for the ones you create spontaneously – the essence of Guided Chaos.
