Page 118 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

This is an overstated example of mental progr amming. What I di d he re is
observe and provoke a pattern of action/ reaction in my oppo nen t. He was muc h

bigger than me, so probably entered the matchup wanting to impo se hi s
power. I began by barely pressing against hi s wrist in the starting po sition.
Here he could have just neutralized my pr essur e, let it go , but ins tead he he ld
his ground, pushed back. I have engag ed his ego . He is already set up. Next I

went into the clinch with the big guy and pus hed twice witho ut any ambi tion
to move him. I just wanted to more deepl y inspi re our rhy thm of da nc e. He’s
big, I’m small. When I push, he pus hes back. If you thi nk abo ut wha t thi s
means, in that second in which he is respo ndi ng to my sho ul der pr obe with

counterforce, I am supporting some of his weight . I’m becoming one of hi s
legs. When I backed out of the clinch that first time, he felt very go od—he ’s
gaining ground, I’m unhappy—so he thi nks . I cont inue to ins pi re hi s pus h-
back mentality for a few more moments and then I retur n to the clinc h. Thi s

time, my shoulder pulse is very subt le. He do es not have to make a de cision to
push back, it just happens reflexively, but now immediately after my pul se, and
actually just before his response beg ins , I trigger into a thr ow tha t is ent irely
based on his approaching, programmed reaction. I empt y out my right side ,

which has the effect of removing the leg he is jus t starting to lean on, and I add
to his sliver of momentum with a conden sed, po tent techni que. He hi ts the
floor in a blur. Whenever these types of moments happen in the martial arts, it
feels a little magical. He experiences standi ng and then falling into a bl ack ho le

because our final exchange was all very subt le and perhap s invisibl e to hi s
conscious mind.
In actual martial play, these types of exchanges are much more refi d.
Imagine the condensing process of Making Smaller Circles applied to the

observation and programming side of thi s interaction. What can really ha ppe n
is that our wrists meet and I apply the tini est amount of pressur e conc eivabl e.
My opponent holds his ground witho ut his cons cious mind even realizing tha t
he has responded. He is already set up to be thr own with a one -two

combination because his reaction to the one is already predictable. I will move
before his two. Taking this one step further, if my first movement is conden sed
enough, it will hardly manifest phy sically at all. My two appear s to be a one .
At the opponent’s slightest move, I move rst.

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