Nagare:Flow

At class last night we explored the idea of riding whatever movements came up as we moved from lock to throw to strike. A common theme in my own short martial arts career is the practice of flowing from moment to moment without any preconceived notion of what might happen. There are a couple approaches to fighting
one of them is strategy: where a person or group learns as much as can be learned about the landscape, provisions, and strength of an opposing group or person. This often needs to be done quickly where we only have a second or less to assess the situation before we must act. When the information is gathered and weighed the strategist will then attempt to bring about an opportunity to use his strengths and at the same time negate the strengths of his enemy. The other method is "riding" where a person has no strategy but trains his body and spirit to sense what is happening in the moment, an example of this is the story of the kung fu master who coaxed a bird to his hand with seed and then kept it captured by letting his hand sink every time the bird attempted to push off to take flight, the story says he had the bird for years. this method is a lot like walking blindfolded in strange territory where every step is taken as it is, and the body moves from step to step in the present moment. I don't really think any of these methods are better than the other but mix together in some mysterious way.