The Fighter's High. Or something.

Elizabeth's presentation last night regarding rules as a form of freedom (or freedom as a form of restriction, or however you want to think about it) and the ecstasy they bring got me thinking. I've done mixed martial arts in some capacity for several years, and I'm currently a co-instructor (so kind of an instructor, but not really) at an Israeli Krav Maga/Russian Systema "dojo" in town. We like to say there are no rules on the street, which is what we're training for, but the fact of the matter is if you don't understand the rules of human motion, you'll lose every time. There are particular ways you must move yourself and particular ways you must apply force in order to be effective. If you don't understand those ways, you'll flail around pointlessly. You might score a lucky hit from time to time, but you'll waste huge amounts of energy and kind of look like an idiot. Once you understand how to move, though, everything changes. Of course, it's always a process of learning; I don't know that anyone has ever or will ever truly master a martial art, merely because one can always improve upon one's own achievements. However, there does come a point where it starts to make sense--where the rules that once seemed so restrictive and counter-intuitive become fluid and easily applicable. Your body does as it's meant to, and everything suddenly Works. It doesn't necessarily happen the same way for everyone, but most people experience a sort of "aha" moment where their technique starts to come together and look like actual fighting. Eventually, they don't have to think about it; it just happens. That's not to say that once you hit this point, everything is easy. It isn't. It just makes sense. I don't really know how to explain it. It's also at this point that fighting brings on euphoria (and relates back to running). I know for a lot of people that sounds really weird. You're learning how to kill someone. Why does that give euphoria? Again, I don't know. I just know how it feels when I've done something right, and there's that kind of rosy afterglow that doesn't make rational sense, but is there nonetheless.

So, for what it's worth, that's what I was thinking about for the last 15 minutes or so of class last night.