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"The Real Sixth Sense"
One day a young samurai
approached a revered teacher of swordsmanship and begged acceptance as a
student.
"You must do everything I ask you without question." The teacher warned.
The samurai agreed without hesitation.
"Hai." Said the teacher "Go to the Dojo and walk along the edge of the
Tatami by placing one foot in front of the other."
Perplexed the samurai did as he was told but after a week of this
practise, he became impatient to pick up a sword. After the tenth day,
he could take no more and angrily questioned the teacher when they would
begin serious training.
"Very well." Said the teacher. "Tonight we will begin serious training."
That night under a full moon, the teacher took the Samurai up into the
mountains until they came to a deep and narrow gorge. Spanning the gorge
was a fallen tree.
"Here we begin training." Said the teacher. "Cross over the gorge."
"But the tree is too narrow." Said the samurai.
"It is much wider than the edge of a Tatami." Replied the teacher.
The Samurai jumped up on the fallen tree but as he began to step forward
the dim moonlight and the sound of rushing water beneath him seemed to
pull him off balance.
"I cannot cross." Said the Samurai.
"Well then, how can you expect to master the sword when haven't yet
mastered walking?" Said the teacher.
Japanese Folk Tale
At first glance, the above tale, like many such `teaching tales from the
Far East, illustrates a simple lesson in humility. However, a deeper
meaning to the story is revealed when you ask the question, why couldnt
the Samurai cross the gorge? The answer is that the Samurai hadnt
mastered his sixth sense.
Before modern medicine, man generally recognized that he had five
senses, sight sound, touch, taste and smell. The so-called sixth sense
was thought to be an extra sense hence the term Extra Sensory Perception
or ESP. It is now known that we have three other senses, balance,
proprioception, and a sense of direction. Anything paranormal would have
to be moved down the list to the `ninth sense.
The story indeed teaches a lesson about the sixth sense, balance. The
ability to master ones senses and control perception is an important
skill underlying every other. In the case of the Samurai and the gorge,
it was his inability to master his perception of balance that prevented
him from crossing.
The sense of balance is one most of us take for granted, yet in the
traditions of every martial arts discipline, mastery of balance played a
primary role in developing fighting skills. One reason is that in battle
the greatest strategic advantage lies in mobility. For the martial
artist, mobility requires both strong legs and excellent balance.
To master balance, one first needs to understand how the sense of
balance is accomplished.
How We Sense Balance
Balance is controlled by a combination of three senses; the vestibular,
vision, and proprioception.
The sense of up and down is provided by the vestibular system located
within the inner ear. It consists of three semicircular hollow tubes
that are set at angles to each other. These tubes are filled with liquid
that flows through the tubes depending on head tilt and movement. Lining
the tubes are hair-like nerve endings that, when stimulated by the
movement of the fluid, transforms this motion into a neural signal. This
provides information on the position of the head, telling the brain when
the head is tilted forward, backward, and side to side, similar to a
carpenter's level. While the vestibular system supplies information
about head position, it does not communicate the overall positioning of
the body itself. This information comes from two other sources: vision
and proprioception.
Vision tends to dominate and override all other senses including our
sense of balance. You can test how much vision influences your balance
by first standing on one foot with your eyes open, and then with the
eyes closed. Most people will begin to lose their balance with their
eyes closed. However, vision is not essential to balance and in certain
situations, its input is detrimental to performing complex physical
movements. Gymnasts, acrobats, high platform divers, and martial artists
must train their nervous system not to rely on the eyes for balance.
For example, I was talking to one of my professional dancer and figure
skater friend, she advise me that when performing their
pirouettes(spelling??), focus their eyes on a point in the horizon. As
their body spins, the head and eyes remain focused on that spot until
the neck will not twist any further, then the head turns around quickly
ahead of the body and again focuses on that same spot. If you allowed
the head to spin in tandem with the body, the overwhelming visual and
vestibular sensations would cause immediate dizziness and
disorientation. (Notice young children spinning and falling to the
ground.) The same principle is needed to execute a spinning kick or hand
technique. The eyes must focus on the target, while the body feels it
way through the movement. I call this "spot checking"
This feeling your way through a movement is done by the third sense
involved in balance, Proprioception. (Also known as the kinaesthetic
sense) This sense is the result of the combined information the brain
receives from the Golgi tendon organs. These are sensors within every
muscle that measures the amount of tension each muscle is exerting. This
information enables us to sense physical movement and posture, as well
as how heavy an object is, or how hard to throw a ball. It is also the
sense of being `in' your body.
Information received from all three senses is processed and directions
are sent to the various muscles groups to maintain balance. Therefore,
we know why the Samurai could not cross the gorge; he could not suppress
his visual input over that of his proprioception that caused him to lose
his balance on the log.
Training Methods: Balance
Now that we understand how balance is accomplished we can learn ways of
improving it. The following exercises are aimed at improving the sense
of proprioception while reducing the reliance on visual cues. In
addition, balance training works the bodys stabilizer muscles. These are
smaller muscles that refine movement and are responsible for what can be
described as grace and fluidity.
Three Point Balance
Again, with the help my my professional dancer friend, this exercise is
similar to those done in modern dance, ballet, figure skating, and
gymnastics. While standing on one leg, bend the other leg and raise the
thigh upward so that it is parallel to the floor. Hold this position for
the count of ten. Still keeping your thigh horizontal, rotate the thigh
out 90 degrees to the side of your body, hold for a count of ten. Then
lean forward and bring the leg behind you in what ballet would term an
Arabesque?? and hold for a count of ten. Repeat with other leg.
Gradually increase the length of time you hold out the leg until you are
able to hold it for one minute. When you are able to hold it out for one
minute then repeat the same exercise, this time with the raised leg held
straight.
Finally, practice the same movements but with eyes closed. If you can
accomplish this with eyes closed and without losing balance you will
have mastered this exercise.....i could not do this with my eyes
closed...quite difficult actually.
Walking The Beam
Place a ten foot, 4" x 4" or equivalent, beam on the ground and walk
across it each day. When you are able to walk across the beam without
the least loss of balance, close your eyes and repeat. For the next
stage, raise the beam off the ground a foot. When you feel comfortable
crossing at this height with your eyes closed, raise the beam higher
still. When the beam is six or more feet off the ground, and you can
easily walk along it, you have mastered this exercise.
If you dont have a place for the beam you can always practice walking
along curbs if you dont mind the strange looks it attracts.
Singular Leg Squats
Hold one leg out 90 degrees and grab the foot with your hand. Keeping
the knee straight, slowly lower yourself into a squat until your
buttocks rest against your calve. Then stand straight up again. These
exercises require both excellent balance and leg strength.
Varied Terrain
In China and rural Japan, much time is spent training outdoors, in the
parks, along beaches, and in the mountains. These varied conditions
improve balance and stability to deeper levels than the uniform flat
surfaces we usually train and spend our working days on
All martial artists should train under different terrains and
conditions. By expanding ones experience with varied conditions, one is
better able to react and move under a greater number of combat
situations. Practice your forms and drills on hills, along the beach, on
rocky ground, in the snow, and during a rainstorm. The first thing you
will notice is the incredible strain this puts on the legs spurring the
development of stronger leg muscles. One also learns to move more
perfectly balanced since the ground is often unreliable being either to
slippery or too entangled to allow any degree of error.
While we all love to perform the acrobatic, the dazzling, and the swift
movements, in the end, like the old masters that came before, we find
ourselves returning to the beginning, struggling to master the first
skills we learned as a children, the simple skills of standing and
walking.
Respectfully,
Maurice A. Gomez Sr.
American Kenpo Black Belt
MAX Dojo American Kenpo Karate Studios
www.maxdojo.com
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