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This was the 11th training day, or session, for practitioners RT and RF. By day 11, expectations have been set, and theory, embodied cognition, awareness, breath, perception, self-regulation, mobility, and movement diversity have been introduced. From that scaffolding, we develop dynamic perception, awareness, self-regulation, and movement. In other words, we first learn to self-manage and perceive, then learn to do it in motion. Static skills do not automatically become dynamic.
During these 11 sessions, they're developing concepts of community, partner-focus (as opposed to self-focus/self-conscious), games as rulesets, safety rules, scaling, and sportspersonship. They have acquired and been using safety equipment—which they need for safe, spirited training. The point of the equipment isn't to create harm but to prevent it.
The practitioners have also been introduced to the concept and game of tree sapling (integral to LMA), where they learn to absorb blows. This is a pivotal period during which practitioners not only develop the skills but also the confidence to absorb shots. When practitioners feel safe and know their partner is also safe, they feel secure to explore. During exploratory play, we want the focus on exploration and little else.
Rather than direct (colonial) instruction, they learn everything from the conditions. In Liberation Martial Arts, there is no style and there are no techniques, only rulesets. Rather than a singular martial art, we're teaching a learning approach that we're applying to martial arts, but really, it can be applied to anything. Part of that includes adaptability and problem-solving that can be applied to any martial art with a ruleset, most physical activities, or just engaging with your world (e.g., parenting). In an open learning world, you don't instruct, you let learners explore. The instructor doesn't lead because there is no instructor—the learner leads.
If you tell them precisely what to do, what is there to explore? How can they adapt or problem-solve? What is left for the practitioner? Direct instruction also assumes the instructor is always right, but they aren't because instruction is static, whereas the play environment is dynamic and contextual.
Since there is no style or technique, there is nothing explicit to instruct other than the game rules. We foster wayfinding (problem-solving), and practitioners dictate how they move. LMA is ultimately the art of adapting to any ruleset.
Everything you see in the video, the practitioners learned on their own through guided exploration. Learning is self-directed, partner-guided, and conditions-informed. I design the conditions, explain the rules, and organize the partners, but once gameplay starts, I only intervene when I think something is unsafe. Everyone understands learning is messy, and so long as they're within the ballpark and they're not hurting themselves, each other, or breaking any rules, they're free to move as they please.
Practitioners are not a fixed point in time; where they are now is not where they will be in the future. This awareness creates ease for all practitioners and training organizers. Since there is no coach, there is also no anxious, overbearing coach. Everything is always chill.
A lot of micromanaging and perfectionism come from a lack of trust and faith in the practitioners. If it's a top-down environment and the coach thinks lowly of the practitioners, they will think lowly of themselves and each other. It's a rotten environment. However, if the soil is fertile with trust and faith, that's what's normal for the practitioners, promoting growth. It's self-fulfilling.
Despite RT being 250 lbs. heavier than RF, by day 11, I can trust them to explore safely. RF trusts RT, and RT trusts himself. Since they both know how to scale, they can engage in spirited training and gain from each other. Since everyone goes through the same process, knows the same rules, and has explicit consensus over them, they feel safe.
Since the LMA approach is about ensuring each other's safety and growth, there is mutual trust. RT already has the control to go with any practitioner of any size, and RF feels confident to go with anyone without intimidation or second thoughts.
You don't expect practitioners to look as polished as pros this early on. But what you already see that's pro-like, perhaps that only coaches can appreciate, is that they already have poise and composure. They know how to pace. They know how to give and take. They're free from distraction and attuned to each other. They see the shots coming and react and even attack off of them.
RF, in particular, does not overreact to shots. Her perception of intensity/impact is not overexcited but just right. Rather than power, RT is thinking about shot selection and volume. They don't flinch, they don't close their eyes, they're not timid, and they're rooted. They're both jockeying to control the center of an imaginary ring. What we call "the pitch." The best thing about this training is that they're not thinking about any of this. They're just having fun.
Since practitioners learn from the conditions and each other, I organized RT to train with RF because he had a habit of uprooting himself and losing his balance. Since RF is smaller, he automatically planted himself down. I didn't have to say a thing. Just from the change in conditions, RT no longer uprooted himself.
Coaches can yell all they want and try to break practitioners' habits by badgering them, but it's not like practitioners do those things coaches don't like by conscious decision. They don't know they are doing it, so how can they stop something they're not even aware of? The behavior is happening automatically. Trying to create change by triggering self-consciousness, especially belligerently, will cause the practitioner to choke. Not only will they return to what is automatic, but they will also be unable to learn anything new because there is too much internal noise.
Thinking about what you are doing as you are doing it all within the confines of working memory and limited bandwidth is overwhelming (and impossible during a dynamic situation). It's anti-flow. You can't pay attention to anything else. That means blocking out anything irrelevant to self-monitoring, like learning or doing the task well. If you're a quarterback thinking about your throw as you are doing it, you will not only be worse at your throw but also won't see an oncoming tackle. A self-conscious performer becomes a worse performer. From a training perspective, not only are you not learning, you will regress.
Constant instruction and criticism are toxic and reactionary to the practitioner and the training environment. The problem is not with the practitioner but the coach and the practice. The Liberation Martial Arts approach to change is to change the conditions. The practitioners feel empowered, and the training environment is enriched, not poisoned.
Something you might not have noticed about the video is that the practitioners explored from both orthodox and southpaw without batting an eye. It's all the same to them. It's dynamic movement and perception. What's been seeded since day one is that whether it's from left to right, front to back, offense to defense, or orthodox to southpaw, there is no difference, and there is no gap.
What you see in this video are the initial sketches that will later become refined art.
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LMA Day 11