People relate fighting to aggression. That is correct. They relate fighting to anger, rage, hatred. That is also a true idea. Why then those who are trained are in most cases calm persons?
The pursuit of domination is a natural instinct in a fight. The rest is the skill, the ability to have control over the listed above. This is taught through sports and martial arts; maintaining control over oneself and the source of emotions, to draw strength from them in a fight and not to let them overpower the body. If you let your emotions go wild, your body will burn out quickly and you will be left in doubts. Fear will take control over your body and you will start defending yourself instead of imposing initiative. Of course, if you manage to finish the fight by then, that’s good. But what will happen when the opponent survives the initial impact and turn out to be tougher than you thought?
Fight is a game. You play to win. Cheating of the opponent is part of the game. Faking emotions, fatigue and weakness is part of the game. The faster you read your opponent, the more points you earn. It is worth knowing that fighting is a hard work above all, and emotions drive and fuel it. Fighters who are considered as „lion hearts” are in fact those who accept failure as part of the game in which they participate. They are not afraid to suffer it, hence they have the courage. They start again when something goes wrong. Not giving up is a continuous work, going back to the beginning of the action. Indomitableness of the spirit. As long as the fight continues it can be won. There is always a possibility of knockout or tap-out, even when you are far behind with points.
A defeat can be caused by lack of skills, but it is the character that defines a warrior. Accept that you can lose – you cannot direct a play in which you do not play alone. But reject the possibility of withdrawal until the clock is ticking.
Our game is not only about being in control over negative emotions and turning them into fuel. It seems that the goal is to achieve the most positive emotions in a fight, like euphoria, joy, satisfaction. It sounds absurd to someone who has not been once on the edge of a physical trance, when thinking does not work, only instincts. Such condition is typical especially for runners and endurance athletes.
In Japan martial arts are inseparably associated with ZEN, a religious state of concentration and mindfulness, when thoughts flow through us without evoking emotion, and our body has an enhanced response time. In western countries people speak of FLOW, a free flow of the state of consciousness, or a mystical, peak experience.
When the barrier of muscle pain is passed, repeating the sequence of movements characteristic of the sport one can achieve a state of pleasure close to euphoria. We enter into a physical trance, thanks to which we are more efficient in a fight. But first it requires achieving a high level of skill through hard work – the movements must be remembered not only by brain, but also by the body. When a fighter stands in the corner with his hands down and avoids punches of his opponent by rotating around, although it seems crazy and it’s hard not to believe, he knows exactly what he is doing. When Thai boxers are standing in the middle of the ring and throw punches and kicks at one another, they don’t feel pain, and the combination sequences of blows escape the eye of an average spectator. When a jiujiteiro tumbles the opponent on the mat, constantly attacking, confusing him so he does not know where the ceiling and the floor is, it develops a wild joy which feels almost like a trance. When a MMA fighter in the cage constantly switches between stand-up and ground fighting, strike blows and go around the opponent at the same time, attack legs, seeks a way to make him surrender, jumps to his feet and starts from the beginning, you get the impression that he does not suffer fatigue, that he is a machine.
The fight take place on two levels. There is one against an opponent and one internal against yourself. Negative emotions can drive you if you can control them, or burn you if you release your demons off the leach. The highest level of mastery is to achieve a state of flow when you don’t think, only react, and pain does not mean anything.
Fight. Constantly increase your skill until you become a master. Strive for achieving physical trances, states of liberation.
Feel freedom.
Love what you do.
