The Next form and/or style of ferocity that I want to
explore and talk about I like to call the Surfer. For me this is really the most rewarding
style of fight, when you have an opponent that can bring a lot of passion and
feeling and energy to the exchange. This
style of fight strips away the conscious level of reason and understanding and
puts you right in touch with your intrinsic ability to feel not only what you
are doing but what your opponent is doing, and to take it one step further what
they are thinking and about to do.
To put some explanation or definition to this style of
ferocity let’s look back at my beginning definition:
“ Acting with or marked by or resulting from great force or
energy or emotional intensity.”
In this style of Ferocity you are not “Leading the Dance”,
you are stepping into the Wave of your opponent and responding to their Dance,
feeling, and intent. Typically you move
to a close Measure and ride there, moving with effortless power, dictated by
the movements of your partner/opponent.
To do this you Must be able to feel and understand what is happening at
an intrinsic level. You must give up the
need for control and just be. When you
reach that moment of harmony in the middle of this encounter that is the moment
where you have opened up to a pure form of passion and emotional intensity, you
have matched your force to your opponents and for as long as that portion of
the exchange lasts the fighting, I find, is at its purest. You will find that sometimes in a fight like
this you will discover new techniques or movements that didn’t exist for you
before, they are born form necessity and because you were not holding back, and
acting without false beliefs they were able to evolve. You will also find that in fights like this
you give in to much to the flow and passion of the encounter and step too far
past the line and then you get a good definition of your ability…J
To fight with this kind of pure Ferocity you must be in good
physical condition because when left to their own devices your mind will ask
and your body will do, and if you do not have the strength or flexibility this
may cause an injury.
Now I find that to really get to that perfect place with
this style you need an opponent that can bring that level of passion to the
fight. Often times when you step in to
fight someone in this way and they are not up to the task the exchange becomes
more of an aggressive Hunter style.
Because you are so attuned to their movement you quickly smother their
efforts and end the encounter. On the
other hand you may try and Surf someone whose skills are better than your own
and when you give them this much energy they are able to become a much larger
wave, that in the end, you are not able to keep up with….But have no fear some
of the most Incredible and Fantastic exchanges that I have had I have ended up
being pummeled by the wave, but to have been able to stand there even for a
moment and experience the ferocity at that level was beyond epic and I would
never trade any of those losses for an emotionless victory.
Lastly don’t give up if you aren’t able to “Feel” the fight
completely at first. Everytime you tap
into that Feeling it gets easier and easier to find.
Octa
