# Relaxation is the key



## Bill Mattocks (Sep 13, 2022)

Learned this (and relearned it, because I'm slow) with golf, bowling, baseball, and a couple other sports where people hit things. Trying to hit with all your might is less effective than loosening up, relaxing, and hitting well. It works in martial arts too. Relax and let things happen. Body mechanics will take care of the power.


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## Xue Sheng (Sep 13, 2022)

Welcome to Chinese Internal Martial arts.... and many other Chinese martial arts too.


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## Oily Dragon (Sep 13, 2022)

There's a great old Shaw Brothers clip about this.  I'll have to dig it up.

Something like basically " in a fight, if you stay calm, you win."

Some of the best advice I've ever heard.  I told a BJJ bud of mine that and he was like hell yeah.


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## Buka (Sep 13, 2022)

Rock on, Bill. Relaxing is the only way to train, to spar, to roll.


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## Oily Dragon (Sep 13, 2022)

Found some mood music for this thread.

Hope you like jazz.

Ramsey Lewis actually just died yesterday,
a legend.  80 albums, 5 gold records, 3-time Grammy winner.  RIP man.














						Ramsey Lewis, jazz pianist who revitalized genre, dies at 87 | CNN
					

Lewis spent nearly 60 years recording and performing original jazz music, striking gold in 1965 with the crossover hit "The 'In' Crowd." He died Monday at his home in his native Chicago, his manager confirmed.




					www.cnn.com


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## Bill Mattocks (Sep 13, 2022)

Oily Dragon said:


> Found some mood music for this thread.
> 
> Hope you like jazz.
> 
> ...


I'm sorry to hear that he passed. I have several of his albums.


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## Oily Dragon (Sep 13, 2022)

Bill Mattocks said:


> I'm sorry to hear that he passed. I have several of his albums.


I've snapped my fingers about a million times listening to his stuff.

That was just today.  My fancy smart watch can't count those steps.  Can you dig it?


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## Oily Dragon (Sep 13, 2022)




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## Jared Traveler (Sep 14, 2022)

Relaxing in an actual life and death struggle outside of a dojo, where someone is potentially really going to try and kill you, is the trick. This calm mind comes from establishing prioritize, and setting certain priorities above your own safety.


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## Gyakuto (Sep 14, 2022)

Bill Mattocks said:


> Learned this (and relearned it, because I'm slow) with golf, bowling, baseball, and a couple other sports where people hit things. Trying to hit with all your might is less effective than loosening up, relaxing, and hitting well. It works in martial arts too. Relax and let things happen. Body mechanics will take care of the power.I


I’m translating a book about Iaido and this morning I was working on the ‘paradoxes of Iai‘ the first being that the use of too much force slows blade velocity and makes cutting less efficient!


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## Holmejr (Sep 14, 2022)

Totally agree. Relaxation allows you to use full strength when need, even when it’s just a fraction of a second.


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## Oily Dragon (Sep 14, 2022)

Got it.

Mystery of Chess Boxing.  46:20

Kids wants to learn kung fu to avenge his dad, he finds a great teacher, who only teaches his chess for a month.

Right when he's about to give up..."the first virtue is to be calm, calm must be the basis of kung fu.  It's a mental discipline..."

Bonus points for the plum flower routine on bricks.  That is cool.

Warning, watching either of these clips might make you want to train.






The final battle is one of the best in kung fu cinema history.


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## Oily Dragon (Sep 14, 2022)

*"the first virtue is to be calm, calm must be the basis of kung fu.  It's a mental discipline..."*
_
*"To master this game, you have to be...very calm.  But also quick of wit, sharp of eye, fast of mind, slow of tongue, quick to see."
*_
*"Calm, and keep calm.  That's most important if you're going to win.  It's not easy to appear calm, but if you do, you'll win.  Calm is natural, remember that".*


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