Priming for Spirited Training and Movement Example

• If you’re new to LMA, start with our table of contents

Defining terms

Before we begin describing our priming process, let's define some terms so we can all be on the same page.

Priming: Preparation for action; smoothing the surface for stability and retention; forming the foundation to build from.

Warming up: Preparation to respond to a dynamic environment.

Play: Dynamic physical movements that explore space and the player's abilities.

Game: A form of play in which rules create a dynamical system that fosters skills, perception, decision-making, and adaptability. Other players are games within the game, each with their own set of conditions and variables.

Fight: A violent confrontation.

Spar: Preparation for a fight or a sports fight.

The LMA approach

We deliberately use the term "sparring games" rather than say "sparring" or "fight" because we use various rulesets, and the practitioners adapt their gameplay to various rules. In LMA, there are no styles or techniques, leaving little to instruct. There are only rulesets and practitioners to adapt to. We orient our thinking to the environment rather than the actions. The game is the play environment.

A game is a set of conditions that determine the gameplay, skills, and strategies. The various rulesets are the games. Adapting to dynamical games fosters adaptability.

The concept of "game" also frames sparring around fun and safety. It's just a game, not life or death. It's meant to be a fun learning experience.

Liberation Martial Arts training is not a violent confrontation, nor is it practice for one. The games are the destinations. Fun and enjoyment are the point. People don't play table tennis to prepare for tennis. They play to enjoy table tennis. Likewise, practitioners don't play our games in preparation for something else; they play to play. They're not training LMA as a substitute for something they enjoy even more; they're directly engaging in what they enjoy—that's why they keep doing it. The beauty of LMA training, however, is that it can apply to many other activities. That's the benefit of training rather than why you train.

Transferring our wayfinding skills to something unforeseeable, like a violent confrontation, is not the goal of LMA training, nor is ending up in violence by design. Instead, the violent confrontation was an unfortunate and unplanned outcome. Making that the goal is to victim blame—that you brought it upon yourself. Violent confrontation as the end goal implies you voluntarily sought it out. These are not the frameworks for our liberatory approach.

Making something outside your control the goal has many problems. This is only obvious once you stop thinking of this training framework as a given and unpack it. (Question all your assumptions about learning.)

The game is the goal; enjoyment is the outcome, and it's what keeps people going. Consistency and constant gameplay build proficiency. Doing anything well requires proficiency. Being good at self-defense or sport isn't about memorization of techniques and fear; it's about proficiency and self-regulation. How you decide to transfer your LMA proficiency is your autonomy. We cannot prescribe that for you.

This understanding and consensus about what you are participating in is an essential part of priming. We don't want one practitioner doing tennis while their partner thinks everyone is doing tennis in preparation for baseball. Returning to "similar doesn't mean the same;" doing a similar activity with different approaches, expectations, and understanding will lead to conflict, accidents, and injury.

The Liberation Martial Arts approach starts with better self-regulation and ease, whether for mobility, movement diversity (physical therapy), or spirited training.