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Mizu no kokoro. The phrase
conjures up fond memories of the many long days at the spent at Elmwood
dojo with the Shihan and Mrs. Sue Arel in the early 1970's. The Shihan
utterly amazed me by showing Sue and me one particular use of mizu no
kokoro: the unbendable arm. Sue had the trick a few weeks before me.
Shihan invited me to try to bend her arm. I could not do it despite a
significant strength advantage.
The underlying principle behind mizu no kokoro, which is really a state
of mind, is to calm the mind and minimize our reactions to distracting
influences. Picture the surface of a pond, free of waves and ripples,
hence the name-- literally "mind like water." On a still pond
the slightest movement of a fish or even an insect near the surface,
even at the edge of your vision, would be immediately evident. With the
mind cleared of the myriad distractions that cloud our perception and
judgement during combat we can sense our opponent's intent clearly,
allowing us to ignore the feints and other distractions that disguise
the opponent's true intent.
The unbendable arm is not the secret. Rather, it is a
"non-technique" that uses the same principle: avoidance of
conscious control of the muscles in the arm enables the martial artist
to make the arm in essence just like that of a dead man. Clearly, rigor
mortis, the physiologic effect present after death, prevents muscle
movement; and so also does the feat of turning off conscious control of
the arm
Holding either arm outstretched but bent slightly upwards at the elbow
with the hand, wrists, and fingers loose and flexible, is the only
physical requirement of this feat. A good mental picture to adopt is
that of a fire hose carrying a strong current of water. We don't want a
tight bend or tension in the arm or wrist. In this analogy such a bend
would constitute a kink in the fire hose and throttle the imaginary
flow.
Next comes the "non-technique." Quiet your mind. Mentally
disconnect your mind from your arm. Now allow a friend to attempt to
bend your arm by placing his palm downwards on your arm just above the
elbow while attempting to push upwards on your wrist. Almost anyone will
succeed in this feat for a short period of time, perhaps one half to one
second or so. The beginner usually fails once he reacts to the pressure
on the arm and tries to help by resisting movement with muscle
tension.
Only by resisting the urges to react to the impulses that come from the
arm under stress can one succeed with this task. Herein lies the
connection between the unbendable arm and mizu no kokoro. Once mastered,
the technique can be used at will to frustrate even the biggest and
strongest opponents. My first New York dojo was located next to an
Italian restaurant frequented by some extremely large and very strong
construction workers. One especially huge guy heard about my
demonstration of the technique and came in to see for himself. I
stretched out my arm, attached to my svelte 170 pound frame (that was
then) and allowed this brute to attempt to bend my arm. He tried to do
so from every conceivable angle. He stood on a chair; he tried to
"press" my arm as a weight lifter would, but to no effect. I
did elect, on his fifth try, to slap out and call an end to the contest.
Remember this: while your arm might not bend, it can break.
More than just a dojo trick, the unbendable arm can actually be used in
combat as a delaying tactic when faced with multiple opponents. Proper
use of strategy demands that we establish the more imposing threat. That
done, we can use the dead arm, outstretched as an obstacle to the less
threatening opponent while the immediate threat can be dispatched with
our remaining arsenal of weapons. I demonstrated this with Senseis Rob
Robert and Scott Cohen at a recent private workout. Indeed, when faced
with these two opponents, the decision is really tough. I went with size
and offered the dead arm to Mr. Cohen while taking on Mr. Robert first.
It worked well enough that Mr. Cohen asked me to write this article.
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