A punch must have several items if it is to be effective. It must be focused on a precise spot in space. It must be empty.
You heard me right, a punch must be empty. Most people know that the word Karate means 'Empty Hands.' Most people have assumed, from this, that you won't be using weapons, but they are wrong. What the phrase really means is that the hand has no mass, that it is actually empty in a physics sense.
Striking with no mass is an interesting sensation. Taken to its purest and highest elevation, it means that you do not feel the strike, and this is possible. This would mean that you are actually outside the body and throwing the body, like a big freakin' ghost would throw a rock.
On other levels it means that you don't experience the feeling of weight. Why can a child run under a table with no effort, when if you bent your legs and did the same thing it would take tremendous effort? Because the child hasn't realized the concept of weight, yet.
So how do you achieve this sensation of no weight? You achieve it through training the mind. You train the mind by training the body, and you train the body by making it do forms.
People who speak slightingly of forms haven't done them sufficient to see what happens at the end. When you master a form you become lightly removed from your body, and you gain, and lose, different perceptions when it comes to motion. It is very interesting to do a form and feel the whistling sensation of being an object thrown through space.
This is a pleasant sensation, and yet, when done in a strike, it can cause extreme damage to an opponent. Simply, he doesn't have a defense for something that seems to defy concepts of time and perception, and which has become part of the whole universe. This, just to let you know, is what happens when you experience the feeling of mind of no mind, Mushin no shin.
In the end, let me tell you that you must practice feeling no weight, but when you strike, your body is going to weigh the same, and then some, to your opponent. Just because you have taken your mind off considering weight doesn't mean that the weight isn't there. Actually, it is even more there, because your opponent is going to have greater consideration for incoming weight when it moves ever faster and without any consideration for his...safety.
You heard me right, a punch must be empty. Most people know that the word Karate means 'Empty Hands.' Most people have assumed, from this, that you won't be using weapons, but they are wrong. What the phrase really means is that the hand has no mass, that it is actually empty in a physics sense.
Striking with no mass is an interesting sensation. Taken to its purest and highest elevation, it means that you do not feel the strike, and this is possible. This would mean that you are actually outside the body and throwing the body, like a big freakin' ghost would throw a rock.
On other levels it means that you don't experience the feeling of weight. Why can a child run under a table with no effort, when if you bent your legs and did the same thing it would take tremendous effort? Because the child hasn't realized the concept of weight, yet.
So how do you achieve this sensation of no weight? You achieve it through training the mind. You train the mind by training the body, and you train the body by making it do forms.
People who speak slightingly of forms haven't done them sufficient to see what happens at the end. When you master a form you become lightly removed from your body, and you gain, and lose, different perceptions when it comes to motion. It is very interesting to do a form and feel the whistling sensation of being an object thrown through space.
This is a pleasant sensation, and yet, when done in a strike, it can cause extreme damage to an opponent. Simply, he doesn't have a defense for something that seems to defy concepts of time and perception, and which has become part of the whole universe. This, just to let you know, is what happens when you experience the feeling of mind of no mind, Mushin no shin.
In the end, let me tell you that you must practice feeling no weight, but when you strike, your body is going to weigh the same, and then some, to your opponent. Just because you have taken your mind off considering weight doesn't mean that the weight isn't there. Actually, it is even more there, because your opponent is going to have greater consideration for incoming weight when it moves ever faster and without any consideration for his...safety.
About the Author:
Al Case has practiced the martial arts for 40 plus years. You can learn The Perfect Punch at Monster Martial Arts.
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