John explains how it is imperative to go into a “no-mind”, experimental Zen state when flowing in order to derive the maximum benefit.
An overly analytical, literal, “technique-focused” mindset wrecks any combative growth, especially when teaching GC.
John will go into this Zen state when flowing without judgement and then will be able to analyze and explain afterwards what just happened.
If you analyze (or encourage students to analyze) WHILE flowing and teaching you will never make any progress in GC.
As a student you must “let go”, experiment and play while flowing.
As a teacher, do not continuously stop and correct the student along the lines of “Don’t do that, do THIS.” This will short-circuit any growth.
Teach by doing and suggest alternates but emphasize that everything changes, and nothing is set in stone, except for the 5 Principles of GC: Balance, Body Unity, Looseness, Sensitivity and Total Freedom of Action.
True development only occurs with the constant repetition (practice) of Random Motion. In this state, your subconscious does all the work and all the learning – something your literal mind is incapable of doing and performing under the duress and chaos of true violence. This is the correct way of storing critical information for combat.
You have to do this because you never know what the enemy is going to do or how he is going to move. Any other approach is a recipe for disaster.
Beginning with a blank slate instead of preconceived/classical notions of self-defense, John’s perspective on combative motion arose from his observations and personal experiences of real violence.
He noticed that looser, better balanced combatants usually faired better. Combining this with “random motion” training was key.
Always flow at the same speed. This is because in a real fight at maximum adrenaline velocity, you will both be going at about the same speed. If you flow slowly and your partner suddenly speeds up to make something “work”, it would be as if in a real fight one person could suddenly accelerate to 2-10 times maximum human speed – in which case they’d be Superman and no martial art on earth would work against them. This is why one person suddenly increasing speed in contact flow is useless and impractical and drastically sabotages development.
In sport there are rules, referees and weight classes to keep you from dying. In war, anything goes and you have no protections. Therefore, training for maximum randomness and adaptability is king.
You must learn to move under ridiculously unchoreographed situations all the time.
When you flow, you learn to FEEL in order to get information and learn how to be unavailable. This is why resistance is futile. Learn to feel pressure and non-pressure as well as direction and balance.
John got an early lesson in this in childhood by getting “pummeled” by his father and uncles while they trained him.
This is why patterned “yield and return” training in tai chi is just as counter-productive as choreographed techniques in most other arts because it drains improvisation and adaptivity right out of your nervous system from the very start.
You have to continuously move and adapt in such a way as to get out of their way while simultaneously entering and short-circuiting their movement while also remaining balanced.
You feel resistance from them, you drop and loosen.
For example, at 6:52, John feels resistance against his arm so he drops and isolates his shoulder while simultaneously entering to unbalance which “gyps” their game. However, Master Michael resists this unbalancing (because anything CAN happen) so John instantly adjusts by entering and unbalancing at a slightly different angle (upwards), “corkscrewing” around the resistance.
It is more important to get students to learn how to FEEL while flowing than stopping them to analyze and judge every tiny movement because “necessity is the mother of invention.” Keep moving and don’t stop too often.
Continuous weighting and unweighting between feet is essential for balance, dropping, power and being both Unavailable and Unavoidable. Balance Board training accelerates this.
Instructors should flow only slightly above the level of their students, otherwise their “computer” will be overloaded with stimuli it can’t interpret.
If the student falls into a pattern, help them break the pattern but not by replacing it with another pattern. There IS no pattern.
John relates several real-life stories illustrating much of the above, including trashing a kung fu expert with a garbage can lid.
When guiding a student, do it within the parameters of keeping them within the 5 Principles, NOT by correcting a specific movement and replacing it with another specific movement. This is tough to do because the student desperately wants a linear explanation of everything – which won’t help them.
Again, doing all the GC exercises as shown in our other videos while keeping to all 5 GC principles is the fastest way to learn. DO THE DRILLS. Do them on different terrain.
