Quote:
Stefan Stenudd wrote:
I think he insists that he's always doing "tricks" - be it with very sophisticated psychological manipulations.
I have seen that TV sequence before, and I was impressed. Maybe what we do in no-touch atemi is to make use of the same psychology?
The human senses are quite refined, so it is often difficult to draw a definite line between what's "real" and what's not. We perceive reality through our imagination, so it is a strong power even when not supported by physical evidence - maybe particularly strong when not physically evident.
It's a pity that magicians don't give away their secrets...
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I agree. And what he does
is essentially a trick...whether he's distracting people so he can slip them blank pieces of paper in lieu of payment, or using massive flooding of embedded suggestions to get them to design a specific advertizement, or making someone effectively flinch while standing directly behind them. I just happened across this bit and it reminded me of the no-touch stuff some folks do.
Obviously in the budo context we have to be able to be effective in the physical context, but I think an often overlooked facet of budo lies within the psychological realm. I view what he does in this bit as an example of leading...in fact nearly everything I've seen of his seems to specialize in the art of leading people through their mind/perception.
My understanding of Aikido involves beginning with some posture (mental or physical) which has innate openings or qualities, which are in turn designed to entice somewhat specific behaviors. Walking down the street with full strides and an upright posture, with simple confidence (i.e. mental posture) tends to dissuade the opportunistic mugger a bit more than slouching and looking sheepish, for example. The same kind of thing is true for direct interactions. Our postures affect the way people interact with us, whether they want to hurt us or beat us at chess or whatever. In short, how we carry ourselves is how we attempt to lead the world around us and how connected we are (how good our musubi is) determines how effective our daily purposes are. In the case of this video, Brown intends to make someone flinch. It helps that he has a Wing Chun guy demonstrate a punch and that the guy hit says it hurt (I'm sure that was part of his leading process).
Anyhow, it just got me thinking about the possible value to no-touch efforts.