The Body-Mind Connection:
Published 5/27/2016
By Spencer Sensei
In the seventies I was training in Shotokan, and for the first time I was seriously training. In my prior attempts to learn marital arts, did not really have any commitment, so my attendance was hit and miss as was my focus. The only thing that I had learned from my past experience was that karate meant hours of learning how to walk funny, block funny, and punch funny. Growing up I had more fistfights than I could count, so this James Bond secret fighting arts stuff intrigued me just not enough to train seriously. When I found myself in that Shotokan class something clicked, and I knew I would be training in karate the rest of my life. The only problem was that after several months of training I was not getting any better. This was the first time I experienced the body-mind disconnect.
I watched the other more experienced students blocking and kicking with what I thought, at the time, was pure perfection. The longer I trained the more I felt my strikes and blocks were clumsy and awkward. My real nemesis was that blasted back leg round-kick. Try as I might it looked like a cross between a side-kick, front-kick, jumping-jack, and a wounded duck. What I did not know, was that once I began to realize that my kicking technique was awful, it meant that I was beginning to make the body-mind connection. You cannot begin to improve until your mind understands what perfection looks like.
I had been in athletics my entire life, and sports seemed to come naturally, but karate was a new way of moving and felt alien to my body. My natural athleticism was of little value in this pursuit. I could not overcome my lack of technique by God given talent. In my mind that kick would never improve, and sadly I came to the conclusion that I would never be able to throw it correctly, so out of frustration I decided to quit. My belief was that I just didn’t have what it took to be a good karateka. The body-mind disconnect was getting me down.
After losing heart, I ask to speak with my instructor at the end of class. My intention was to thank him for his efforts and tell him that I was quitting. I was convinced that I could not do what others in the class seemed to do so effortlessly. After class I told sensei Smith that I was just not getting it, even after working the last six months, and explained that I should probably find another hobby. He smiled and said, “You are at a crossroad. I’ve seen the improvement in your technique, and now your mind can see the difference between good and bad movement too. Your mind recognizes the imperfection and will begin to improve the kick, and soon your technique will be performed correctly and without thought.” “You can quit,” he continued, “but I would give it a couple of more weeks.” Never one to give-up easily I stayed, and miraculously all my techniques began to improve along with my balance and confidence. He was right my body and mind began working together.
Ironically after mastering the back-leg round kick in Shotokan, a couple of years later, I changed systems and began training in Tae-Kwon-Do. Tae-Kwon-do is almost exclusively comprised of difficult acrobatic kicking techniques. The body mind connection made from learning the back-leg round kick enabled me to learn those difficult kicks more easily. In fact, my first black belt was in Korean martial arts. Ironically, I would move again to another style and spend the rest of my life training in a system that did not emphasize kicking. In the beginning the back-leg round kick was a killer to perform. Through repletion, I made the body mind connection. My first sensei never talked about the beginning student’s learning curve. The philosophy at that time was instructor say and students do. Four decades later I now understand that without rewiring the brain and making the body mind connection I could have never master even the simplest of karate techniques.
This body-mind connection is often referred to as muscle memory, but there are martial arts instructors that are irritated by that term. Many times, they will state things like muscle cannot have memory, and from a purely physiological standpoint they’re correct. They will also make statements like muscle is only muscle it does not have the ability to think. Today we refer to this metamorphosis of the physical and mental as the body-mind connection. Whatever you call it does not matter as long as you understand the concept and know that without it you cannot chew bubble gum and walk at the same time.
The body-mind connection is made through rote training. Many students become bored with their training because the do not understand that through repetition their brain is learning to accept new norms. Each stance, block, and punch is repeated and corrected, so the body tells the brain this is what it feels like to be in the proper position when the technique is executed correctly. It is a slow tedious process, so the student must discipline them selves to work through the boredom. As a student you must fight through the tedium and go to class when you do not want to, so you can grow and strengthen this connection.
Kata is a wonderful tool to enhance the body-mind connection. Going over and over a kata engrains the movements into the subconscious mind to the point that the kata can be performed without thought. This translates into being able to execute a series of self defense moves without thought. Learning a kata can take time; the movements are slow at first as the mind thinks through each step. Little-by-little the kata speeds up and it seems to get shorter. That is when the body-mind connection is being cemented. Eventually power can be added to the kata once there is no fear of forgetting a step, and visualization of bunkai (application) can begin. Until the kata is performed without thinking there is a body-mind disconnect. This disconnect can range from small to large. If you’re running through a kata and seem to get stuck at one point, there is a disconnect that must be overcome. Some students overcome this sticking point by closing their eyes and flowing through the movements while others spend sweat currency to cut the grooves deeper in the mental record. You cannot truly learn kata until the body-mind connection is in place.
Kata was the substitute for the written word pertaining to empty-hand martial arts. Countless self-defense techniques are contained within a single form. Experimenting with and looking for the best translation of the self-defense techniques, passed down in these unwritten records, should be the goal of every serious student of the martial arts, but before translation can begin there must be a solid body-mind connection. Once the body-mind connection is made the karateka can visualize the application of the series of kata techniques, so each time the kata is performed the response to a certain type of attack is practiced and reinforced. Now the body-mind connection moves from simply memorizing a group of postures or movements to being able to dispense a counterattack without thought because you have performed this counter-offensive hundreds of times in the practice of your kata. By not applying bunkai to your form you are simply going through meaningless motions and are wasting a body-mind connection that could save your life.
There is a book that serious instructors of karate should read. It is the story of a Korean karateka that had a birth defect. He had a severe body-mind disconnect and could not perform many everyday functions, so it would seem that learning and mastering karate was outside the boundaries placed upon him by family, doctors, and his own village. Because of this body-mind disconnect his self-esteem was nonexistent, yet through the practice of Tang-Soo-Do he not only overcame his debilitating birth defect, he went on to become a top notch instructor, Phd, and author. The title of the book is “Inside U” by Grandmaster Byoung Yu. One of my challenges as an instructor is to recognize the body-mind disconnect in my students and to not let them become too discouraged. I am not always successful, but that does not mean I stop trying. Occasionally I get a student that has a severe body-mind disconnect. It is hard for them to see other students pass them up, but if they continue to practice hard, the body-mind connection will be made. As an instructor I must be patient, and as a student they too must be patient and wait for nature to take its course. A real instructor steps up to the challenge, while a mediocre instructor will push the wounded bird from the nest, they do this because these students are not easy to deal with, and they will rarely, if ever, stroke your ego. Seeing one of these difficult students succeed makes all the headaches worthwhile. Karate instructor was not meant to be an easy job. Where would Byoung Yu be if his instructor cold not have seen beyond the young man’s body-mind disconnect to his potential greatness. As an instructor I must help my students’ battle their dragon or resign myself to watching them leave my training hall mentally defeated.
There are two steps to mastering karate. The first is to learn the martial science. Martial science is the basic blocks, strikes, kicks, and kata. The second is bringing the kata to life by understanding the self-defense contained within each form. Neither can happen if there is a body-mind disconnect. Eventually the advanced student should be able to move from one series of situational self-defense in one kata to another series from another kata to meet a specific type of attack with the proper counterattack. When these bits all fit together you are truly experiencing the martial arts and have left the realm of martial science. You are no longer confined by the learning structures imposed upon you by kata’s creator. This free flow of counterattack, without thought, can only happen when the body-mind connection is in place.
Once the body-mind connection is made through the martial arts, it will begin to manifest itself in your everyday life. This is a benefit form karate training that is simply overlooked. Your balance is improved, so as you get older you are less likely to fall and be injured. In my thirties I took a bad spill while biking with my oldest son. As I was falling, I simply rolled out of the impact and when the tumble was complete I was standing on my feet. Had I not have learned how to take a fall; I could have been badly injured. My son was simply impressed by dad’s apparent agility. The body-mind connection improves driving, typing, and all practiced mundane ordinary experiences. It does not however improve your golf game. At least that has been my personal experience, or maybe I just stink at golf. I would rather blame it on the body-mind connection.
The body-mind connection is not metaphysical nor is it voodoo. It is implying the way we learn. In the old movie “The Last Dragon” the hero believed that true mastery of the martial arts was signified when one experienced a golden glow all over his body. Creating a strong body-mind connection will not bring on any glow; it will however make you a better martial artist, and if you do experience a glow, it is most likely from the headlights of an oncoming car, so my sage advice to you is get out of the street before you get ran over.
Train hard and be encouraged