Fighting in the Darkness
Monday, July 20th, 2009The lights don't click on when you enter your house. You head for the circuit box in the garage, and you find out why the lights don't go on. A mugger flies through the darkness at you, screaming and swinging a club, and you are quickly knocked unconscious.
You think a fight will happen on a good surface with good lighting, so that you can see everything that is happening? You think the mugger is going to ring the front door bell and tell you to take your best karate stance because he want s to home invade you? You've been taking too many drugs, my friend.
The fight will happen on the worst possible surface with the worst lighting at the worst time. The fight will happen on the fresh watered lawn in your backyard under the stars. That mugger is going to pick terrain that gives him the best advantage, and the fight is going to happen when you least expect it
Fighting in the dark is easy, if you're willing to have a little fun. The first thing to do is just move around your house late at night. Turn the lights out, close your eyes, and work on getting past the furniture.
Pretend there is somebody there, shadow box, do your forms, and soon you will have developed an uncanny feeling for moving through the darkness. This matter of developing intuition is at the heart of the matter. You don't want to rely on your eyes, you want to just know where everything is.
Practice climbing a tree when it is dark, moving around your backyard like a ninja, actually building up to rolls and gymnastics. You can also set up obstacles, ladders up to ladders down, climbing over the house, learning how to navigate in pitch dark no matter what. When you get good, have somebody else set up the obstacles, now the game is going to turn unpredictable, and your awareness is going to have to turn up.
Finally, you must get friends to play with. Have the fellows you train with doing this with you, and start having wars. Two teams, both dressed in black, playing in the dark, remember to wear mouthpieces and practice relaxing when you fall.
In the end, it will be no big deal if a fight happens in the dark. You can have a lot of fun, and while becoming more aware and training yourself. You will have fun, be the ninja...and that poor mugger will run right into a box of fur and razor blades without knowing what hit him!
