intuition

[disgruntled]

inspired by Hatori's and eYoon's discussion, i want to ask:

How much do you trust your intuition? or how much should you trust your intuition?

[Hatori]

I trust my intuition quite a lot. I'd rather trust it and be proven wrong than ignore it and pay for my mistake!

[sirdarksol]

Not as much as I probably should. Being fairly analytical in mind, I tend to disregard "hunches" until I can verify them, often making such hunches useless due to the passage of time.

[disgruntled]

i have the habit of trying to over think things too. but when i do let go and block more instinctually it works out best. we do some exercises to try to help us trust our instincts in muay thai that i find helpful. but i what i find the most helpful is when we are only working on one technique, i have my partner use either side (NOT IN A PATTERN) and try not to think about predicting it. in reality i am just wating to see how their body moves... but it happens so fast it feels like i did it without thinking.

second question..... what do you think intution is?

[Hatori]

I believe that intuition is your body's own Self-Preservation Strategy kicking in to warn you if something doesn't feel right or you may be in danger.

[disgruntled]

yeah, i have a similar belief.... i see it as a natural instinct thing that we have just lost touch with.

[nmy66]

if you get good enough in martial arts can you just sense someone is there like in movies?

[Hatori]

During my training we used to do the following exercise to help with awareness. We would build up our chi and then, in a darkened room, we would take it in turns to stand in the middle and try to "sense" students approaching us quietly from various random angles. This gave quite interesting results.

[disgruntled]

that is really cool... what exercises did you do??

[Hatori]

Chi-stacking, qi-qong type exercises to get your energy flowing, diaphramatic breathing and then try to "sense" people approaching you. We did several lessons in the dark to work on your intuition and sharpening your other senses such as hearing. This also worked on your stealth skills by making you eliminate any noise YOU MADE - true ninja-stuff!!!!