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The Orthodox Fighting Stance: The Deeper Why of It, Part 2 by Mark Hatmaker

 


[I heartily encourage a reading of Part 1 to gather all the threads that lead to this point. While what follows is valuable and useful information—context sets the cognitive hook. You can read Part 1 here.]

When we left off we were asking the following questions.

ONE-Why when engaging in power-based or stressed based tasks [combat, competitive sports, power-contact tasks] do we place the dominant hand/foot to the rear as opposed to advancing the “good side” forward?

TWO-We also implied the “Hidden Question”…

When we “retreat” the strong/coordinated side to the rear we are also placing the dominant eye to the rear, in essence, further from the targeted opponent/task before us—why would this seemingly sub-optimum gaze placement be a “good” idea?

THREE-Why is it that this “good side” to rear stance seems to be a human default and not a later tactical “choice?”

That is, humans default to this position before any training comes along and says “This is the right way to do it.”

To Answer These…

We begin with a definition and then proceed to neurological science and then finally to art studies.

THE DEFINITION

Allocentric: Having an interest or focus on other people and objects rather than oneself, or a frame of reference that is independent of the observer's body. 

In short, external focus—attention is shunted from internal states [egocentric thinking] to humans, objects, environment.

The benefit of allocentric attention in combat is the same as one finds in the skilled performance of an athlete in any endeavor: the ability to “turn off” thoughts of the self and constant performance evaluation and take up more cognitive bandwidth with the opponent or task before us. “Getting out of one’s head” or, in old school sports parlance, “Avoiding a case of the yips.”

We hear just this concept echoed in Samurai Bushido mushin.

Mushin translates roughly to “No Mind.” It does not mean a state of stuporous thoughtlessness, rather it is a state of mental clarity and calmness free from conscious thought, ego, and distraction.

Mushin and allocentric thinking still involve focus, still involve thinking but…it is outer-directed thinking.

Mushin is echoed in Comanche ‘mak’u meek’u,” Indian acitta, and various states described by Knights Templar and Christian mystics of the medieval period.

Now, you may be asking, “What the hell do these ancient practices and a modern definition of this internal state have to do with stance?”

Well, it seems that just as Samurai, Comanche Warriors, Knights Templar and Warrior/Religious Orders the world over sought to clarify the mind to “get out of one’s head” so to speak, one of the most useful tactics to do this was in the mere act of how we position ourselves to the world.

THE NEUROSCIENCE

Kenneth Heilman of the University of Florida in Gainesville has conducted a series of experiments to show that the left and right cerebral hemispheres exhibit different attentional biases.

That is, our normal physiological biases [the unconscious decision to step the dominant foot to the rear for example] combines operations at both the sensory-receptive level [allocentric or egocentric options] and the motor-activity level [our coordinated actions in response to the allocentric or egocentric view of the world.]

Certain visual “skills” of our right hemisphere become highly relevant to allocentric processing and coordination.

Notice the hard emphasis of the word SKILLS.

The science demonstrates what mushin, mak’u meek’u, and other ancient warrior traditions stumbled upon: That by hacking into certain inherent cognitive constructs, we are not merely utilizing the inherent properties of our neurological anatomy, we can improve that property. Moving a natural tendency from a baseline performance to an advancement thus rendering it a learned skill.

The implications and ramifications here are remarkable. If you’re not aboard yet, stay with me as this next bit sinks the linchpin hook.

But First Another Question: The Big Question

“What are the conditions during which my right hemisphere’s normal sensorimotor mechanisms are so biased that they can attend, and perform, with greater efficiency?”

There are two conditions.

Condition One

When the visual target is located up to the left and stimulates your left upper visual field.

·        In other words, once we place the “good foot/dominant foot” to the rear and tuck the chin slightly for good defensive position just as warriors armed and unarmed have been doing for millennia—we gaze at our opponents via an upper left visual field.

·        By gazing in this manner we engage the sensorimotor allocentric bias so greatly that we can attend and perform with greater efficiency.

Condition Two

When this left upper visual target is located off at distances increasingly farther away from your own reaching hand.

·        In other words, fighting distance plus dominant hand/reaching hand to the rear multiplied by the left upper visual field effect we are intuitively maximizing greater allocentric attentional focus, streamlining performance and increasing efficiency.

·        If we then overlay training—making conscious choice to use the orthodox stance [the inherent stance] and tweaking it to maximize the allocentric cues we then increase overall efficiencies in both physical execution and cognitive perception.

Further Implications of the Orthodox Stance Feedback Loop

·        The propensity for mushin in everyday life, that is, “calmness of mind/spirit.”

·        A predilection for allocentric meditation practices/behaviors.

·        A gravitation towards Honor Culture—association that are less egocentric.

·        How the combat training may lead to these directions and conversely how the “sedate” side of Warrior Training dhyana, zazen, Comanche Suakhet’u improve combat via increased dendritic connection in the allocentric centers.

·        What “Light Sourcing” can tell us about increasing combat speed and allocentric environmental awareness.

·        What the Old Masters of Art knew that these Old Masters of Combat knew.

We’ll hit all these in Part 3.

As for Training Materials Historically Accurate, Scientifically Examined, and Viciously Verified in the Comancheria Living Laboratory, well, see the following resources!

Resources for Livin’ the Warrior Life

The Black Box Store

https://www.extremeselfprotection.com/

The Indigenous Ability Blog

https://indigenousability.blogspot.com/

The Rough ‘n’ Tumble Raconteur Podcast

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2fTpfVp2wi232k4y5EakVv...

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