Reviews from the Movement WorkShop

Two reviews that were posted about the Movement Workshop I held at FightClub.
Both Students captured exactly what I wanted to share.....

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Posted by Janik

The movement workshop showed me all the potential that we have that remains unexploited because of the fact that we don't move enough. That exercise you made us do of rolling all our joints (pardon the pun) really makes you realize what more there is to a particular movement or another.

Truly an eye-opener.


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Posted by Mark

There's two topics I liked, particularly because of their relationship to fighting.

First was the theme of never stopping combined with the concept of the "spring". When we reached the end of a particular movement and then allowed our body to spring back into motion, I found it was economical on many levels. Of course, there was a reduction of physical effort, but also mentally, the exercise became more about sensitivity rather than effort. You felt the boundaries of the movement and the capabilities of your body, and that dictated the outcome. You didn't have to "try" to do the exercise, it was allowed to happen.

Second was the work we did walking with flat feet. It was mentioned that this is precisely how we walk after we've slipped on ice and need to continue walking. We walk carefully, with our weight over our flat feet. There's a lot of humility in walking on ice. You can't go harder or faster, its usually too solid to break with a kick. Ice can neutralize you completely, and you are reduced to slowly shuffling across it.

Yet in both cases, the drills were great for fighting and actually seem to work together to form a balance. For example, the "spring" is a natural extension of continuous movement, but I like it because it adds a natural rhythm to your movement, a rhythm unique to you. This kind of sensitivity to the boundaries and redirection of your movement seems excellent for mass attack. At the same time, the spring can be a little wild if you take it too far. If we go back to the walking on ice analogy, the flat feet encourage proper structure and reduces the chances of overextending yourself (the basic concept behind slipping on ice).

Its not immediately apparent how to tie together these movements with the first seminar on breathing. At first glance they seem to be disparate... A lot of twisting movements for example are quite difficult to perform at the peak of the inhale and feel better to me on the exhale. There's clearly a relationship to the restriction of your chest. The natural restoration of posture however, leads to a natural restoration of your inhale. "Letting every breath" as it may be, is really one of the more effective ways to work with our body.