Lorel Latorilla

Good post, George.

What you're talking about here is "ki-ai" (as Ellis Amdur would term it) or "ki projection" (as Ushiro Kenji would label it). I have a few thoughts about this understudied phenomenon.

1) Although this is trained through 'breathing' dynamics in the martial arts, ki-ai can also be found in other disciplines. Ellis Amdur mentioned in another forum that charismatic politicians, psychotics, pick-up artists/seducers, etc. have similar skills that martial artists have as far as imposing intent goes. The traditional conception of a ki-ai is that of a spirited shout. However, this kind of ki-ai has the same function as 'intention'--you are imposing your will and your desires on the other person. With that said, an audible ki-ai also has its silent form. While different in form, the function is the same. A silent ki-ai also functions to dominate the will of the other person. So Barack Obama, pickup artists, Charles Manson who do not necessarily 'scream' to dominate the will of the aite, are 'masters' of a silent ki-ai or 'intent'.

2) Either people are not aware of such training in 'intention' or some people just lack the 'confidence' in their skills in a particular area. The former is just a matter of finding appropriate training and/or honest experimentation while the latter takes deeper work. For one to increase confidence and skills in intent, then the person needs a personal system where skills are trained and experimented with and are given feedback for further refinement. Once someone has enough good reference points built up from the individual's personal system, confidence increases. For example, a seducer can 'impose' his will on girls through trial and error, and by going to night clubs 3 days a week. He gets success, and more notches on his bedposts, his confidence increases, making him more relaxed, and more aware of his breathing patterns and psycho-physical organization (or lack thereof) and which type of manipulation (of these things) can best project intent and dominate the will of the other person. For a seducer, his confidence in his skills to bed women is the foundation for his intent skills. For the martial artist, it can be in his confidence in his body, or in his grasp of 'technique' or battle tactics that is the foundation for his ki-ai skills. What the best foundation is for ki-ai is another topic worth discussing.

3) If a person is tense, does that mean that the information/the energy you're projecting is 'drowned' out by an individual's tension/adrenaline? Perhaps "intention' or "entering" still requires a particular target; we're not just shooting in some random area in the aite's personal sphere. Our intents are pointing at something and that is the other person's intent or attack itself. Even if a person is tense, it's not as though he is without intent, he could have pure intent to attack. In that case, your intent goes into his attack and split his attack as it were. Or you can enter a person's defense and overwhelm. BTW, I have no clue how to do this and how to properly train it (other than experimenting with it of course), and is probably high level martial arts. Vlad and Mikhail even consider this (this is what they call 'psychic energy') as the highest form of skill in the Russian system.