I am not often happy and outside of being in nature I don`t often experience pure joy. But it happened today, a breakthrough in my studies of the sword. It is truly a great experience to suddenly see something in a new perspective. I had been practicing cuts with a heavy sword, trying to perfect the angle of cut for different situations. I took a break and moved on to torso and leg muscle work, practicing generating power and torque. I was using hand strikes, knife edges similar to sword edge. And it hit me then that I had slipped into sword techniques, blocking at angles, using footwork to open and close distances, and naturally there is no difference in the movement of the body and mind whether I grasp a sword or not. There are only degrees of distance. Simply, I am utilizing all my muscles to be in the proper position to act, be it a punch, throw, cut or thrust. But I know this insight is only the surface. Im trying to think past this thought, trying to see connections that this could lead to. Some wild ideas:
-Is it possible to read in the rhythm of movement the opponents level, depth of skill, intelligence?
-Is it possible to build up torque in a wave fashion with just the slightest muscle movement?
-Can one develop enough sensitivity to read an opponents next move in the movement of the muscles in his feet?
-Is it crazy to assume one can outdo the speed of the arms and hands and dodge a blade using the muscles of the legs, feet, stomach and back?
-Just as there are basic stances, there are those stances that exist in every second I move. If I can comprehend the innumerable postures and balance one must take, how much more so will I be fluid and quick?
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