Doc
Senior Master
My perspective, but definitely not my material sir. All props go to my teacher.Personally, I think that its a worthwhile area to study. While I'm far from an expert, there have been many times, without really thinking about it, that I've done a technique and struck a point, during my block or a strike. Reading the article, this is covered much more in depth with Docs material.
Another misconception is nerve applications and "pain compliance." Are there applications that hurt? Absolutely, but that is not the goal of all nerve applications in the perspective I was taught. Once again that is the Okinawan/Japanese interpretation.I think they're also a good less lethal alternative. If you can target a nerve and deaden the arm, more along the lines of pain compliance, that may be a better option compared to breaking someones nose or doing something where the damage will be more visable and possibly more severe.
According to Mr. Parker, "Any application that is wholly dependent on pain to be functional is doomed to failure." He often spoke of manipulation arts that do this, and why their effectiveness is limited in real applications that must overcome resolve, natural and artificial chemical induced immunity, and natural unusually high pain thresholds. Most people have various levels of pain thresholds, making it virtually impossible to know and execute the appropriate level of "pain" to force simple physical "compliance."
Most misunderstand the "study" of nerve strikes. I was taught to train body mechanics and proper targeting with the appropriate weapon matching the body posture. When this is done, the "pinpoint strike" is not as essential in study. This was Parker's method, and I assume it was Ark Wong's as well, as Parker translated, expanded, and extrapolated material for me I didn't understand.
The Chinese created and therefore understood the method that "excited and activated" particular nerves to create physical effects that had an exponential effect on subsequent strikes. These activations do not require pain, nor is pain the goal, even though many of them do "hurt" in most people. I have a student who virtually feels no pain. He has gone to the dentist and endured 6 hours of drilling, and dental work and can fall asleep in the chair. The techniques have the same effect on him as everyone else, even though he doesn't feel any pain. He still experiences the "Physical & Mental Disassociation," (P.M.D.) knockouts like all the other students.
It is the Okinawan/Japanese interpretation that requires this extreme precise targeting and opted for the extreme "power" perspective in lieu of specific knowledge of martial posture execution in their training and study. The Chinese Methodology, is a much more difficult area of knowledge to acquire, and traditionally has been generally less accessible.
My own students don't study nerves, they study proper execution, and methods of manipulations creating the posture for the strikes they intend to use. The nerve application becomes a vicarious benefit to proper execution, and the techniques are functional regardless of "nerve efficiency." The more mechanically skilled and knowledgeable they become, the more the degree of "nerve effectiveness" rises without the necessity of concentrating on that aspect. While they may be hard pressed to name all of the nerves they use, they understand the body mechanics, the posture, and the methods necessary to be effective, and that's all the matters. If it also happens to hurt, well that's all good to.