Relax!

One tremendous thing that Sifu Dan has taught me over the years is basically to relax! Many times while doing drills or Chi Sao, Dan always noticed how tense I was being and would just say "relax"...That has always been a fairly difficult thing for me to do, but with his help, and the fact that it was said or told to me so many times (probably hundreds), everytime I get tense about anything, I try to recall his voice and expression while saying the word. It always works because I get into a relaxed state each time. Not that I would ever be attacked, but you never know? If it did happen, I am sure that this word would be the first thing I would think about. It has to help! Of course there are other ways to handle a realistic opponent, i.e., attacker. One way that I have come across comes from "Attack Proof" and is something like this; You are standing alone with your eyes closed, when you open your eyes, attackers are in front of you with broken bottles and knives. You close your eyes again (because it is imaginary) and imagine the most vile thing you can think of in front of you and that this vile giant (or whatever) is trying to take your child! You open your eyes and scream the loudest scream you have ever used and with both palms open attack the vile thing until it/he is in shreads. There are other methods and I will discuss a few of those in coming posts.