TECHNIQUE; SUB-PRINCIPLE: Balance

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Balance is not just about keeping our bodies stable and able, it is also about achieving a balanced mind therefore a balanced body and by balancing the two we create a balance of the spiritual. This is how the book is divided, we want to achieve balance in self-defense martial arts by balancing the physical, the mental and the spiritual. 

Review the part dedicated to the ken-po goku-i, a terse karate koan like tome given to many fledgling karate-ka in the hopes the mind contemplates and meditates on such concepts and principles that it eventually drives karate and martial artist into a holistic wholehearted person who then can apply their knowledge and ability appropriately. Look at it as teaching a balanced set of life skills such as, “Attitude, coping skills, emotional intelligence, emotional self-regulation, both empathy and kindness, meditation, people skills, boundary setting skills, social intelligence as well as the hallmark of such disciplines, confidence, courage, and patience.” 

The physical requires proper balancing of principles to achieve our self-defense karate and martial arts oriented goals as would and should be expected if the conflict enters into the physical violence stage. The physical also requires we balance our actions appropriately to remain within the self-defense square, i.e., as example knowing when to go to stop an attack and when to stop or not-go at the moment when the threat, jeopardy, ability, and means are gone. 

The physical manifestations of balance rely on achieving balance by the way we apply that physical, i.e., breathing, another sub-principle, helps us achieve a balance in our bodies as well as our minds as it requires us to drop our center of gravity. Our centeredness also contributes in the same way while achieving balance in our posture keeps our body mass and weight centered. Balance of the entire body promotes superior movement, movement that has force and power. 

Our ability to move feely depends on maintaining balance. Imbalance bleeds energy and makes us work harder in lieu of transmitting maximum energy of power and force to the target. 

The mind remains balanced by not allowing intrusive thinking to dominate thus freeing up the lizard to run the show. It is also about controlling the monkey brain so that the human brain and the lizard brain can work together to get-r-done. The lizard brain will look to the minds procedural memory to find appropriate responses in any given situation so a balanced training program and model achieve proper programming. 

When can also achieve balance by the application of timing-n-rhythm, angling-n-positioning, posture-n-structure with a strong emphasis of not breaking the chain that achieves power and force when the physical is the only choice left after avoidance, deescalation, and evasion and escape.

Balance also comes from the effort to remain in the self-defense square, i.e., like the go and the no-go concept where we go when we have no choice then when the jeopardy, means, and ability of an attack ends, we end our “go.”

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