Lessons from My Masters 30: Observations - The Grandmaster Chronicles - Part II

“If at first, you don’t succeed, try doing what your instructor told you to do the first time.”

                          --Anonymous

I recently saw this meme on Facebook and I thought it was awesome! This simplicity of this statement is the essence of what the Grandmaster tries to get across to folks through his teachings. I always think back to when I first began the art and how Grandmaster Carron would call me over and point out things that John was doing when demonstrating in front of the class.

“Hey Al, come here… now look, see what John did there? See what his feet are doing? See how his body moved? You need to pay attention to that!”

                                --Grandmaster Tim Carron

I remember it like it was yesterday. I guess I had been doing the art for about a years and I guess Tim felt I had learned enough to begin to appreciate the subtle nuances of John movement.

The slight shift in the hips, the weighting and unweighting of his body from one position to another, the sinking and rotating of the body and the shoulders. All right in front of me, right in our faces. John says it all-of-the-time as to what he’s doing, he shows it all of the time and people miss it (more on that later).

Now the way I saw it, if I was impressed with Tim’s movement, and he was impressed with John’s movement, then I needed to be paying attention to what the Hell John was doing when he was demonstrating things because as Tim use to tell me and I’ve said it before,

“When John is in front of the class demonstrating things you need to be paying attention because he’s giving away gold…”

And you know me, I’m all about free gold!

With Tim it was always, watch what he’s doing, see what he’s doing, did you see that?

Always observing, always looking.

In my last installment, I discussed how John like Musashi through astute observation, experimentation, experience and lots of training discovered the essence of what it was that allowed him to do things that seem to transcend what his body was capable of.

In the last installment I asked two simple questions:

1) Is the art a system of fighting that teaches you how to move better?

Or…

2) Is the art a system that develops you through “universal movement” that allows you within your body to make almost anything work?

This idea of developing your body through the concept of universal movement I believe is the key. I’ve had a number of conversations with the Grandmaster on this and I remember several years ago we were talking where he basically said, that when he’s moving with people it’s not so much that he moves from say point “A” to “B”, but that it is “malleable”. Meaning that as he moves there is “change” within “change”, “movement” within “movement”. This is that “adumbration” that I keep talking about, that ability to gain that foreshadowing of movement through the “Shadow Impression”, to go to where the puck is going to be and at some point eventually “becoming the puck” where you are influencing the action of the other actors. This is why when he moves it has that "dimensional feel" to what he is doing, where it seems like he is everywhere and nowhere. In other words, it is “bizarre” to say the least.

Now, as I stated in so many words in my last installment once again I want to reiterate while I discuss these things I also recognize that there are things that John does. That in my view are inherent to John because he moves within the principles based on how his body can move. In other words, he does what he does the way he does it because it’s the way he has to move given his body type, structure, etc.

The reason I have to point this out is because there are some things that I’m sorry, that John does that only John can do, the way he does them, because you’d have to be exactly like John, along with having his experiences “good or bad” to fully understand why he does what he does the way he does it when he does it. It’s because it’s personal to him and shaped by his knowledge and experiences and living within his body.

While I try not to get too caught up in the whole body type thing. You have to understand your body and what you feel you can do in it and your body type has a direct correlation to how you can use the principles, how you think about them, and what you need to do in order to make things, be them punches, kicks, etc. work.  This, in my opinion, is what really separates Guided Chaos from all other arts. In most other arts (like 99% of them) they try to conform people to a structure rooted in techniques where the techniques may not be suited to their body type or suited for the situation. This is why in certain arts it seems as if the vast majority of people that are good at them seem to conform to a certain body type. Well… Yeah!

So in order to compensate for this, they create more techniques. The problem is at a certain point there are just some things depending on the body type you have that you just can’t do. I’m sorry but if you’re 6’0” feet 200 pounds, you’re probably not playing Defensive Line in the NFL I don’t care how good you are. Why? Because you can’t coach size. Sorry but life’s not fair.

[As a side note: football is an excellent example of this where due to the "overspecialization" of the sport, they have literally selected out, different body types of human beings for the different positions. In order to play the sport at the highest levels. No other sport where everyone has to play on the field as equals are the physical differences more pronounced than in football. Which is why linebackers and defensive backs avoid getting blocked by offensive linemen. It is a mismatch you cannot win. I could go on but you get the point.]

Yet… when it comes to the martial arts we want to act like this shit doesn’t matter. This is crazy talk! So, for example, if your art focuses on striking techniques those who have long limbs or are taller tend to have a natural advantage if your art is mostly grappling naturally those whose body types boast a lower center of gravity or have wider bodies have an advantage. And obviously there are exceptions to this but even in those people they generally possess some well above average physical talent that enables them in some cases to excel since they are able to catch people off guard. The sport fighters get this which is why they have enough sense to divide people up by weight. Not perfect but with all things being equal in terms of the rules you can’t do it any other way.

Why is this important? It’s because now when you look at the Masters of any given art, I don’t care what it is if you watch how “they move”, how they do techniques, how they flow when moving with people. They are doing something else. While they may be doing the same techniques, what they are doing and what everyone else is doing is a different thing. This is because their body’s move differently. It’s that simple. As I’ve said to acquaintances of mine who do other arts who are very advance I’ve told them in so many words something along the lines of,

“Well you’re basically doing the same thing that I’m doing within the structure of your art, you just don’t know you’re doing it so you’re not able to take it to its logical conclusion. You don’t know what you don’t know. So you’re not able to transcend technique. If you were you would actually be doing things more along the line of how I’m moving because you would come to many of the same conclusions. I’m just saying. Think about it? I don’t throw any strikes you don’t know how to do? It is because I focus on developing my movement, and my body within a set of principles of movement versus techniques where I have a greater range of freedom to employ the same strikes from places you can’t even fathom. As long as I move within the natural range of motion within my body I can do anything I want and hit with power from virtually any position. I do what I do well…?  because I can. For me, the only limitation is what I’m capable of doing within my body within the laws of physics and human physiology. You see there are two things here, there’s how the universe works and then there is what we have in our heads. Now if what we have in our heads is in line with how the universe works, bringing peanut butter and chocolate together, balancing The Force and all that stuff. All is good! But if that shit you have in your head is not aligned with how the universe works you need to get the Hell over yourself and get with the plan.”

And therein lies the rub…

John tells people, shows people, demonstrates with people all the time, but for various reasons they can’t get over themselves, so they struggle. I know the feeling because I go through it too. My attitude is,

“It’s not my job to convince you of the truth you either accept it or not. It’s not about what I want or what I like to do it’s about the way the universe works. If you don’t like it? Create your own universe and then you can make the rules any way you want, now if you create a false reality in your head be advised that the rest of us are not obliged to follow your stupid rules. So, until you can actually create your own universe with galaxies and all that jazz, my suggestion is if you want to improve you had better get with the program.”

The other thing I always try to get people to understand is don’t try to mimic John, try to understand the principle, the concept, the "context" behind the Five “W’s” when he is moving. This bizarre movement, this bizarre feeling as I alluded to before is something that when teaching students, I try to cultivate in them. The reason is as I said before how John moves in his body is also based on how John moves in general and yes there is something to be said for talent. So there are things he does that even he’s not aware that he does, and he can’t know because they are happening on a level that it is not possible for humans to know, and that’s not just John it’s anyone he just happens to be doing the thing that everyone wants to be able to do that’s all.

On Thinking Versus Over Thinking

Okay, I really need to clear this up for folks because this is getting ridiculous.

So, let me start off like this. For those who are martial arts aficionados, this is arguably one of the most famous martial arts movie dialogs on planet earth. The scene from Enter the Dragon where “Lee”, Bruce Lee’s character is teaching his student “Lao” and he makes the famous statement about feeling versus thinking.

“Bruce Lee: It’s Lao’s time.

(Lao walks up and bows)

Lee: Kick me… Kick me… (Lao throws kick) What was that? An exhibition? We need emotional content. Try again.

(Lao throws another kick)

Lee: I said emotional content not anger. Now try again… with meaning.

(Lao kicks again)

Lee: That’s it! How did it feel to you?

Lao: Let me think… (Gets slapped on the head)

Lee: Don’t think Feeeeeel! It's like a finger pointing a way to the moon…

(Slaps Lao on the head)

Lee: Do not concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all of the Heavenly Glory. Do you understand?

(Lao smiles and bows deeply and gets slapped on the head…. Again! WTF?)

Lee: Never take your eyes off your opponent even when you bow.”

You know, I’ve seen this movie like 90 times and I still had to go back and watch this again just to make sure I got the dialog right and for the first time, I realized that Bruce Lee hits this guy like three times on the head. What a dick!

The reason I bring this up is because even within the art of Guided Chaos there is much confusion over what a person should when training with John be focused on. Like Lao, they overthink the problem or they see John do something and then they instead of absorbing the essence or concept he’s trying to get across they “concentrate on the finger…”

I was recently talking with a student about this because he wanted some clarification over something that John had said in a class. And that was on the issue of thinking when practicing. And I told him while not directly saying it he’s talking about not “over thinking” whatever you’re doing. This is why when he has you work on a skill you want to just focus on “that thing” and nothing else and if possible to “lose yourself” in what you are doing. For those who’ve played sports or done high-level training, you’ve experienced this and if you haven’t too bad because it is a way cool feeling. It is a feeling where all that you do is effortless, everything falls to your will, where you seem to be able to do no wrong. And if you strike people it feels like you merely touched them but to the person, you hit it feels like you smacked them with a shovel. I’m all about. it. 

So, let me clarify the issue here, it is not possible to not think! Period. You cannot, not think! Even the act of you reading this is a form of thinking, when you speak it is a form of thinking, when you walk, drive, run or whatever, it is a form of thinking, when you flow it is a form of thinking, when you “feel” it is a form of thinking. You cannot, "not" think! It is not possible! It’s just not how our bodies work nor can you separate what you do in the body to what you do in the brain. All this “mind-body/body-mind” nonsense is all just a bunch of bullshit where people are running around trying to sell books. It’s just you.  The problem is most people don’t know there are a number of levels in which people think and they are confusing their conscious thoughts with the processes that allow us to do a million things in the body without having to consciously focus on them nor can you be aware of them. This is the essence of training to the level of unconscious competence.

This is the essences of Mushin Mind, The Zone, the Flow State, ZaZen. Where I believe the phenomenon of Tachypsychia resides. But in order to get there, you have to do a thing long enough to reach the level of unconscious competence. There is no magic to it! The problem is most people don’t want to do a thing long enough to give their body a chance to develop a skill to this level. They want the “secret” when the secret was always available to them all along. I don’t pretend to fully understand it I just know it to be true, and frankly, I don’t care as long as I know how to do it and train to it but most important of all teach it to others.

Anyway, this student sent me an article that delves into the issue of “not thinking”.

The article, “The Best Players Rarely Make the Best Coaches - Why those who do can’t teach”, by author Sian Beilock, who also has a book called "Choke". The author uses many examples and tells the story of golfer Ralph Guldahl. According to Beilock,

“…Ralph Guldahl who won the US Open in both 1937 and 1938 and then the Masters in 1939. He was, at the time, one of the best players in the world. Then he wrote a book, "Groove Your Golf" - a how-to guide for the beginning player. Guldahl never won another championship again”.

She basically goes on to state that because he “wrote about it” he lost his game. It’s actually a pretty good article but unfortunately, sort of like the leap in assumptions that Malcolm Gladwell made in “Outliers” (i.e., the 10,000-hour rule) whether intentional or not, she missed it even though it was right in front of her.

I will explain…

When I am teaching something or when John is teaching something no matter what the explanation. The truth is we are only telling you maybe the five or six things or whatever the number is of we know we are doing for sure. The reason is there is a level of “thought” that is outside of our conscious awareness. So, while I can tell you how to “Ghost” on people or how I “Isolate in space” or “disappear” in front of people (yes that’s right my Master taught me many, many things). What I can’t tell you are the 84,582 things my body is doing because in the time frame it happens it is not possible for me to know it. I can also tell you that many things that I do when people ask what I did when I did it. I’m only telling you what I did “after the fact” because I know based on how I moved in relation to the other person’s body/movement. I couldn’t have accomplished it any other way. In other words, I’m rewinding the movie and I’m telling you maybe the four or five things or whatever the number is that I know I had to do for sure. Make sense?

What the author missed in her explanation was that when Guldahl, went back to playing his game after he wrote the book, instead of just playing like he always did. He was trying to do the thing “he thought he was doing” and not “what he actually does when playing golf”, which are two different things, based on what he had written instead of just playing his game. He over thought it, he got in his own way, the adumbration, the savvy, the flow, the subtleties that allowed his movement to be “malleable”, it was all still there but by forcing his body into a box that he thought he had to adhere too, he screwed his game up. So instead of allowing himself just "play golf", he tried forcing a square peg into a round hole and when it didn’t fit he doubled down and pushed harder. I see this in folks all of the time…

Anyway, getting back to my point of bringing up that article, the reason teaching or writing what they do fucks up the great ones or the people they teach is unless they frame it right. They really do not know what it is they are doing when they do what they do. In other words, they are teaching not what they do but "what they think they are doing" and as I said, the two are often not the same. Because it’s not possible to know all of the things you are doing especially as your skill advances. There’s just too much going on and you don’t want to know because this is the level of unconscious competence you seek.

This is why when you are practicing something whether it’s throwing strikes or doing Contact Flow you just want to focus on that thing you are doing at that time, to allow your body to learn how to refine it. You don’t want to get in the way of the natural process your body goes through to develop the skills, the savvy to do it. This is that thing we call in sports or music called “touch”. You cannot develop your touch if you keep interfering every time you’re about to have a breakthrough. Every mistake you make allows you to learn from, which allows for further refinement. Which is why it’s okay to make mistakes when training because you now know something you didn’t know before… “what does not work”. From there it's just a matter of learning how to use that information for improvement.

Changing While Striking – Adapting on the Fly

Okay, let’s look at this. 

Now, believe it or not, while moving it is possible if properly trained to adapt and actually change the strike on the way in or “as you are throwing it”. The reason most people cannot do it even for some in Guided Chaos is that they will not move slow enough early on to develop their body and practice Contact Flow properly to learn how to recognize when another person has changed. And to make the changes in their body to accommodate where they have to go in the future to make it work. (i.e., going to when the puck is going to be).

So for example, below in figure 1, let’s say you are throwing a strike but your attacker starts to move to your right. If you keep throwing the strike in the direction you were throwing it. If you continue on the same “track”. You will miss since you are still throwing the strike not where they are but where they were. 

So what you want to learn to do is, as soon as you perceive that their body has changed (figure 2), you want to change the direction you are throwing the strike and throw the strike to where you now feel through your sensitivity they are going to be at a point in the future (figure 3). This is what I was talking about in the previous installment when discussing recognizing the "Nexus Point" of when you need to change. 

Now, let me just say for the record, because it needs to be said, probably no one over the years has written more about this art than I have and I can tell you it has “never” interfered with my ability. Ever! The reason is in spite of how much I write or discuss it, it's because I understand everything that I just said above is why I can “talk the talk” and “walk the walk” at the same time without fail. This is why students hear me all of the time when I teach them a technique say to them, “it’s just a thing” don’t fall in love with it, don’t chase after the shiny object”. Like Lee admonished Lao in Enter the Dragon about looking at his finger instead of where he was pointing, “…or you will miss all of the Heavenly Glory.” You need to focus on the essence, the principle, the context otherwise you get lost in the minutiae. 

You Don't Know What You Don't Know (and you won't know it until you know it)

“To develop a complete mind: Study the science of art; Study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.”

                                                  ― Leonardo da Vinci

Now, with that said as I appear to speak out of the other side of my mouth at the same time you also need to be able to understand how a thing works. Because "you don't know what you don't know", and unless you're told, taught or see it demonstrated, and then practice it. You do not know!  You need to know enough and be told what things are in order to train to them. It doesn't have to be "War and Peace" but you as a practitioner need to know what they are. I'm sorry but if you are not told how a thing works it is damn near impossible to ever learn them. Because once again you don't know what you don't know.  I sort of liken this to when you first learned how to drive a car. If your father just tossed you the car keys and told you to have at it... well? He might as well hand you a bottle of whiskey while he's at it because the result is probably going to be all the same. 

As I've said numerous times in class, there is a school of thought that thinks the Contact Flow exercise is "magic". And let's face it there is a way cool quality to it once you get the hang of it where it appears that way. That through the ability to "listen" to another person's body, to gain the Shadow Impression, that adumbration, and cut off their movement before it becomes a problem. In a sense is almost like a type of "precognition". There's no other way to describe it. So I get it, but the truth is it's not magic at all it's just one of a bazillion ways our bodies work. But if you practice it "wrong" or as an instructor "present it wrong" you can foster bad habits in people and basically for lack of a better term, "fuck them up in their body". Oh yeah... I've seen this...

My point is while there are a million things that cannot be directly taught because there is no way to describe them, in those two, ten, twenty or whatever number of things a person needs to know in order to develop their body,  they need to know what they are and then be allowed the opportunity to practice them or else (as I've seen). They will never, I repeat never develop them and I don't care how gifted they are. You can have all of the potential in the world to be a great artist, boxer, musician or whatever, but until you do it, it is not happening! But that also means you need to know what it is in the first place. Remember, "If you can't see it with your mind you can't see it with your eyes".

My point is you need to find the "balance" in all things. Guided Chaos is well... an art but there is also a science to it and you cannot separate the two because the principles of the art are not magic though they may at times feel that way. And like DaVinci said,  "Study the science of art; Study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.”

Knowing Without Knowing

If you ever saw the movie, "The Man Who Knew Infinity", it's about Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, (don't even ask me how to pronounce this guys name but I dare you to try and say it fast three times) who grows up poor in Madras, India, but due to his brilliance in math earns admittance to Cambridge University during World War I, where he becomes a pioneer in mathematical theories with the guidance of his professor, G. H. Hardy. If you watch the movie one of the problems that he had in getting his work published in the prestigious journals was the fact that whenever they would ask him how did he arrive at the correct conclusions by just looking at a math problem he would answer, "I don't know, it just comes to me..." and therein was the problem to his getting published in the journals. While his professor believed in him, without being able to "prove out" his work as far as they were concerned it was nothing more than a parlor trick. Well eventually he was able to show his work but it took much effort because it's like asking Michael Jordan how he dunks from the foul line. Like the tag line for his shoes, "Just Do It!"

I’m of the belief and this is just my opinion like Srinivasa Ramanujan, that John does not know "specifically" how he became who he is, outside of the obvious things he’s developed within the principles he’s devised, I don’t think it’s even possible. And that’s anyone for that matter. That’s like asking LeBron Lames how he became so good in basketball, sure there are things he can tell you about drills he’s done and hard work and all that but the truth is, he doesn’t know for sure. What, you think the other 449 players in the NBA don't know the same fundamentals?  They may know them but they don’t make them LeBron James.

This is important to understand so I'll tell it like this. One day I was working with John under "The Wisdom Tree" and I'm going to share something here with you that if you just get this, it's going open up a whole world of ability you never thought possible. 

The Holy Grail of Contextual Movement

So, we're working out and John is trying to explain to me basically what I've been trying to explain in this entire Blog Post he said something like, 

"When they change I change, no matter what it is. I usually don't wait but nothing's ever perfect so when they change I change and I don't hesitate to go in. Always unavailable I'm just never there. Now how you do it it's really not that simple you got to kind of play around with it, experiment and feel it."

And then he paused because he could see I had that look on my face like he owed me money or something, and said, 

"You know I don't know what else to tell you, you just have to find it within yourself..."

Bam!!!

And just like that, right there, an "Atom Bomb"...

The fucking "Rosetta Stone"...

Folks I have to tell you, I waited a long time to hear those words. But it was not just those words but "the context" in which he was teaching me that made it all make sense. My mindset toward my training, my outlook, my thoughts in how I moved or thought about moving, would never be the same... (this, by the way, was long before he would use the word "malleable")

This! Folks can only be seen in your mind, for without the context you're just moving for the sake of moving (as many often do). You see a lot of folks just want the answer. They don't want to think, they don't want to figure out some stuff through the principles on their own. They just want the answers to the math test. Or they just want to "mimic" or "regurgitate" what they think is going on instead of trying to understand it. But memorizing a set of facts without understanding them or where they derive from, without critical thought. Is just cramming for the test the night before hoping to pass, but the day after "poof", you turn back into the same dumb ass pumpkin you were before. The point is you have to develop some wisdom about this sort of thing and seek the deeper meaning. Even in the body... I mean, you do want to win the battle right?

So, based on what I feel or perceive, when I move through the principles when I teach through the principles when I strike through the principles when I focus through the principles when I experiment through the principles, do drills, exercises or whatever it is. As I "Zen Out" in whatever I am doing. I am always trying to find it within myself. The essence, the adumbration within my own body, the ability to change when they change in the body, the ability to change before they can change in the body, the ability to cause them to change the way I want them to change in the body, the ability to change what I feel I need to do in the movement in the body without thought. I am always trying to find it within myself. When I strike, I strike nowhere... because based on their actions I find it within myself. I can't always control my enemy but I can as close to 100% percent as possible learn to control me. But you can only do that, finding that control, those "choices", by developing yourself to find it in yourself, "within yourself".

I know this sounds a little esoteric but it is the truth, and since I've discussed how the universe works numerous times you need to just get with it. Too many folks want John to give them the definitive answer, but the truth is in some things the answer is "there is no answer" because some things you have to find within yourself and that's all there is to it. 

My point about John is there are far more things he knows and does “in the body” than he can articulate because he really does not know how he does many of the things he does thus the discrepancy in his abilities and all others. This is why when he turns it on you cannot follow what he’s doing. It’s simple if he doesn’t know where he’s going to go next you sure as Hell can’t follow it. Because he knows it in the body.

It's not in the things he does that we know he does but in those things that neither we nor he knows what he does or how he does it that gives him such a significant advantage over everyone he comes across. 

I remember having a conversation with John once because he was concerned he was not working with me enough and I told him something like, 

"Listen, John, you could teach me everything you know but at the end of the day there are things that you know that you are taking to the grave and that's just the way it is, and that's okay. Your job is to ensure we understand how to do and teach your art on the most fundamental level correctly. If you do that you've done more than enough for us."

Now, this stuff here is just my opinion and not a bunch of suck ass stuff. Through so much trial and error, he has somehow developed himself to become who he is. There is only one John Perkins just like there's only on Jim Brown. It is because I can actually observe it from the outside looking in at what he's doing (to a degree) with his body within the principles. As well as understand how people actually learn is why I can discern on some level what the Hell is really going on. But there is something else and this is what I think is the real dead giveaway and is something I learned from Tim on how to read John when observing John in action. 

Think about it. as I’ve said many times before using this quote by Wayne Gretzky,

"A good hockey player plays where the puck is, a great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be."

Every good hockey player knows how to play hockey but what Gretzky is talking about here is not so much a technique or set of skills that you can model, but a different way of thinking about how he employs his skills in the body. 

This is the part of John's ability that I do not think people get nor do I think John even fully appreciates it. It's not so much what he does as much as "how he thinks" about what he does, and why he does, what he does, "in the body" that separates him from all others. 

The problem is, and this is just my opinion because he has developed these things in the body to the level of unconscious competence. As I’ve said to him in the past, he forgets that at some point whether through direct teaching from his father and uncles and other instructors along with astute observation and trial and error as well as lots of real-world experience, etc. He went through the stages that we all go through when learning whatever it is we learned how to do. John has learned to do what he does where "he knows without knowing". It's all like riding a bike, swimming or driving a car for him and beyond that, there is no explanation nor any way to describe it. Easy to say and I know hard to do but none this less true. In other words, the explanation is "there is no explanation". 

The bottom line is when people are training with John they have to meet John halfway and read between the lines and definitely stop looking for the silver bullet or telling you what you want to hear. Because some of this stuff does there is no explanation for it, it just "is". 

Hopefully, this is of use to you and how in the future you will go about your training, 

As always thanks.

LtCol Al Ridenhour

Senior Master Instructor

GUIDED CHAOS

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