Martial Arts Fighting Tip #43

You go into your house, and the lights don’t click on. You head for the garage and the circuit box, and you find out why the lights don’t go on. A mugger flies through the darkness at you, swinging a club and screaming, you are down and out.

You think a fight is a stand up thing, on a good surface with good lighting so you can see everything? You think the mugger is going to turn on the lights and tell you to take your best karate stance because he intends to beat you up? You’ve been watching too many many bad movies, my friend.

The fight will happen in an alley on slick gravel with no lights. The fight will happen in your backyard on the grass late when you least expect it. The fight is going to happen when you least expect it, and it will be dark to give your mugger an advantage.

It is actually easy to learn how to fight in the dark, you just have to get used to moving in the dark. One of the easiest exercises to prepare you, no special equipment needed, is to just move around your house late at night. Turn the lights out and remember where the furniture is, and move around.

Do your martial arts forms, shadow box, pretend there is somebody there, and soon you will have an intuitive feel for moving around in the darkness. This matter of developing intuition is what it is all about. You must know where everything is without having to rely on your eyes.

Practice climbing a tree when it is dark, moving around your backyard like a ninja, actually building up to rolls and gymnastics and other tricky martial arts movements. 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 who want to play this game. 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.

Yes, a fight may well happen in the dark, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world. You can train yourself, become more aware, and all while having fun. Just think, playing games, having fun, and being the ninja…that poor mugger, he has no idea what he is going to be running into!