The secret is not just one thing, it is made up of several different aspects. Part of the secret is that they know that they can be beaten on any given day. They work as hard as they can to enhance their chances of winning. Professional fighters train up to eight hours a day in the weeks before a fight. They work hard and continue to improve their skills. Oh wait; there is the other part of the secret, hard work. They want it more than the other guy, so they work their tails off in preparation for a contest.

How does this fit in with self defense? The advertisements are a sales gimmick. They want your hard earned money, but cannot deliver on their claims. I do not believe that any martial art is the total answer, including Shen Chuan. I have never seen the one technique that will win every time. I do think that every system has something to offer, whether what to do or what not to do in life. I think that part of the real answer is realizing that you are responsible for your own safety. Knowing this you need to work hard at what you are doing, be it martial arts, exercise or your job. If you want to survive a fight for your safety, you have to work hard to make it happen. That does not mean you have to spend your whole life training and working out. You just have to work hard when you have the time to train. It is better to train thirty minutes a day at full blast than to do nothing.

I believe that hard work is the most underrated "secret" out there. In today's world, everyone wants the quick and easy solution. Nobody wants to put forth the effort required to advance or improve in any aspect of their lives. They look at life as if they were owed everything with little output from their own efforts. I see it often in my martial arts classes as well as the classes that I take to improve my skills and chances. I often have people come to the school and leave after a few classes, because it takes some effort on their part to improve. I have seen people come to a Brazilian Ju-Jitsu class and walk out after realizing they would not be Gracie level after one class. It takes sweat and effort to become good at anything, but many people are not willing to make the effort. I recently earned my 5th degree black belt, it was not given to me just for showing up. I am happy to have earned it, but I am proud of what it symbolizes, years of hard work, years of sweat and toil to learn as much as I could.

I apologize if this is more of a rant on a soapbox then a real essay. I believe in hard work to get anywhere in life. I believe that you are responsible for your safety, not anyone else. I also believe that I am responsible for my own failures and accomplishments. It all comes down to the ability to work hard to reach your goals and desires. I have a long way to go as I have not met mine yet, so hopefully we can take the journey together.

After the discussion was over I went back and reread our discussion and came to the realization that this would benefit others who may have had similar questions, yet did not ask them. So I ran it by Professor Lansdale and we decided to print the discussion in it's entirety, and with Mike's permission in a sort of Question and Answer format. Mike's questions and statements will be italicized while my answers will be in normal type.

Hey, just thinking about what you said last night. Did you say we should give some tension and take it away (shotgun analogy)? I was thinking it's best to just be completely relaxed and blend more with the interception and then drop your weight into it.

Thanks, Mike

Close. What I said (or meant) is that when I shoot I lock everything in tight (meaning getting a good shoulder lock to stock, good lock on cheek to buttstock... they call it welding).  The welding can take as long or as little as needed in shooting, depending on the situation. It's instantaneous in Shen Chuan. 

Now when it is time to sight and pull the trigger there is an "in breath", then a release and hold at the bottom of the breath, as the trigger is tickled. At that moment, everything is relaxed and fluid. There is that moment in time when only the bullet exists... not me, the trigger, the firing pin nor the gun. A structure was built during the weld, but it is not rigid at this moment. It is merely a platform that won't move, disrupt or interact with the bullet path. This refers more to rifle (hunting/sniper) shooting. 

In MA (more specifically Shen Chuan), that's the moment that an interception happens. You've made contact with the offending digit and your structure instantly welds to it to give the attacker a minute sensation that you "blocked hard". Well we don't "block hard". With us there was only the minutest of contact (this is the point of blending if you've come to understand that yet). Just enough that he "thought" it was enormously rigid and he believes he's in control. In that split second that he believes he has you, by the sensation that he feels, that is when you relax to the point that you "disappear" from his senses. This is where we tell you to "drop your hands", or "don't set him back up", "don't reground him" or other little analogies that mean don't give him something that will allow him to regain his senses on you. 

The great thing about working with Jared is that he'll take your dang head off if you screw up. That means you get a committed, real life punch aimed square at your nose. Something that allows you to "know" the concept is working. Or in a worst case scenario, that it didn't work at all... 

As he threw the punch at my nose, my interceptional movement to his arm was essentially a "reach". Not a muscle driven "axe" sent out to chop it off. That relaxed. You have the time.  

The next point in time is when my hand "got in touch" with the fold in his arm above the elbow. At that point there was a "destruction" as I struck him hard enough to hurt, and disrupt his initial thought process (i.e. to bust my nose). At that split second (minute tension and blending), my "destruction" went limp as a noodle and my hand dropped. What did his body do? He lost all sensation in what he "thought" was going on, and literally fell into my arms (which is the void you hear us discuss. Nothing exists there). As he was falling into the void, literally on top of me, the other hand came into play and caught him with the money shot. Which was amped up exponentially, because (1) it was super relaxed which gave it allot of speed, and (2) he was literally falling into that void with all of his mass and energy that he had put behind that punch, only to find no contact at the end of it. And with Jared, that's a hell of allot of energy! A 90 mph crash instead of a 55 mph crash, between a Porsche (myself) and a Mack truck (Jared).  

What else didn't happen after that point? The rest of the technique we were doing. The initial precision and brutality of the first contact ended the threat and I didn't get to do the other 20 strikes that would have made it look awesome. Which is what we always hope for anyway.

There is allot of advanced concept/principle and theory behind those few paragraphs. Some of it I know you already understand. Some of it you have an inkling of what it is but no way to apply it yet. And some of it might have flown over your head like an F22 Raptor kicking the afterburners...LOL.  Take what you can from it. If I confused you more, ask for clarity. If you have anymore questions, don't hesitate to ask and I'll try to break it down further.

One last thought... I said "minute tension" allot. That was an effort on my part to use your word, tension, and to simply say, give him enough "sensation" that he "thinks" there is enormous tension. After all that was said, you are correct in that you should be relaxed, blending and dropping. But it amps it up, and his brain must register that there was tension (when there really wasn't much), so that his brain remains committed to the initial thought. That being to bust you up, and that it believed it just accomplished it.

I'm glad you were cogitating on the lesson. The mark of a true student!... bjw

Okay, couple of things. 1st I feel pretty comfortable with getting off line (probably the most important thing, right?). Of course, we are learning new techniques, I occasionally focus more on the technique and not getting off line! Definitely a bad habit to work on. I think a lot of that is a function of thinking too much. What am I going to do after the interception kind of thing.

Like I said... alot of that was way beyond your level, so don't sweat what you're not grasping yet. #1 is always get offline, no matter what the technique.  After you intercept, your arm becomes a lead weight. You don't care that his arm is there. You just want yours to take on Mars gravity, as you let it fall/relax.

My problems/concerns are around how you give someone that "minute tension" without becoming tense. Now, I tend not to try to have any tension or strength in my arms as I intercept a punch (good), so I'm not giving the attacker anything at all (very good... you're giving more than you think when perfectly relaxed). Thus, I'm not getting that balance disruption that you were able to get (not yet). So, how do I do this? Drop my weight/mass/being/intent (whatever keys YOUR brain. My brain keyword is intent) (not muscle tension) into my hand as I make contact (yes)? Should I be relaxed 1st and then drop my weight? 

You should be relaxed from the time you "reached" out to the attacking appendage. The only point that will NOT seem relaxed at your level is the point of contact, which should have that bite/snap/destruction, and then go relaxed again.

If I reach out and STOP a door from closing, I stop it with tension at the end of my extension... Hard style karate. If I want to "pop" it back open before it ever closes, I reach for the door and "trampoline" it back open, never intent on stopping it. As I touch the door (that is the attack and where the strike would actually be), I don't try to continually "push" the door back open, I just "pop" it back open. After I do that, I don't walk thru with my hand in the air. It falls to my side perfectly relaxed (blending/relaxing/weight all come together here). Also, as you did the "pop", doesn't your weight (your mass) back it up, or help it, or fill in that void? It pulled you thru the opening door in a sense? The extent of what had to back it up relates to how much the "pop" needed to achieve.

Yeah, I tend to want to understand how/why things work. I'm not a learn my techniques as I can kind of person. I just want to be good at the basics/fundamentals (one reason I attend Wed. nights). I think if you have the "concrete" base as Prof. Joe said last night, everything else will take care of that.

Dang right it will. The whoop ass comes from Joe's base/fundamentals. That is what you are learning right now, at your level (with little windows like I threw at you last night). And those extra classes with Coy show, because you are getting what we are discussing here. I know because he does the same with me in our one on one stuff.

Most of what we discussed is above your level. But I just gave you one of those "windows to the future", because you asked and because you're smart enough to gnaw on it till it makes sense. Don't sweat what you can't grasp right now. What I wanted you to do last night, as a purple belt, was three things: relax the arm you fired to intercept Jared's arm... don't stop IT, let it come to you and intercept (2) AFTER your destruction/interception, which WILL have tension/bite/structure for a split second, relax to the point of your arm falling to your side (carrying his in the process from its weight) and (3) don't over think it, because you get tense when you "try" to make it work and over think it.

One thing I've found, Shen Chuan is maybe more mental than it is physical. THANKS AGAIN! Mike

There's allot of truth to that. I don't know that it's "more" mental, but it's a huge part of it, especially at higher levels. Look at the upper levels. There is not one of us that's not smart, or heavy thinkers. Look at the degrees and/or IQ's of the top tier. Shen Chuan is an institution of higher learning. It's not the falsely interpreted hard style of say, TKD. We both came from TKD, so you know I'm not putting it down... Heck, we both have our sons enrolled in it... but we both know a low block wasn't a low block! Professor, in the beginning and continuing to this day, and the top tier of his students for that matter, have spent allot of time picking this stuff apart. So now y'all are reaping the benefits of that struggle. You won't understand some of it till you've been thru grade school (the low ranks), middle school (the higher ranks), high school (the first dans) and then college and graduate school (high dans). Heck, we're working on our PhD's and still learning every day.

Oh... and exchanges such as these, that put theory and practice into words that help to understand. Hopefully!

Billy Jack