Secrets of Iai (Pt. 3): Breaking Free

“Breaking Free” from what exactly? Lots of things, but ultimately Breaking Free from performing any iai kata as though it is a kata.

Which is to say, performing a pre-arranged sequence (whether it is comprised of 2 or 20 actions) as if it were not pre-arranged!

Now, I am absolutely not referring here to being able to perform a kata without consciously thinking about it. A very famous and respected, modern koryu instructor once said that he could think about his grocery list while training. That is NOT Breaking Free…quite the opposite in fact.

What Breaking Free most definitely is, is hugely beneficial. In fact, I believe it is—from a martial perspective—the single most important reason for iai practice.

And this is not just because of the ability itself but also because of the other “skills”—including Imposing Threat and High Level Environmental Awareness (EA)—that must be present in order to facilitate the Breaking Free.

And yet despite the importance of Breaking Free, it is ironic that, first, in my opinion you are extraordinarily unlikely to have encountered anyone who can demonstrate this ability and secondly, it is extremely difficult to discern by just looking at them if someone practicing iai is Breaking Free.

Explaining Breaking Free

So what does it mean to perform an iai kata “as if you are entirely unaware of the pre-arrangement”?

I remember reading several decades ago about a movie director who when getting ready to shoot a dialogue-heavy scene with two famous actors decided to film it simultaneously using two cameras—a very unusual thing in those days and normally reserved for big,one-off sequences.

The reason the director decided to film the scene with two cameras was because of the specific actors involved…basically, he wasn’t sure what he was going to get!

This wasn’t because the actors involved were of poor quality. Quite the contrary! One was Robert De Niro, no less. Rather, the problem was that the nature of the actors was that each take could unexpectedly move away from the way it had been rehearsed and the changes would be unlikely to be sufficiently reproduced in further takes.

This meant that if only one camera was used it would likely be very difficult for the editor to do a good job (either technically or creatively) cutting the scene together—since the juxtaposed shots would be from quite different takes, and these might have significant variations in in terms of the actions, dialogue and pacing.

What’s that got to do with Breaking Free during iai?

Certain very skilled actors (such as those in the above example) have the ability to spontaneously alter their performances verbally and physically, BUT to do so in such a way that they stay within the strict confines not only of the overall narrative and themes of the script/movie, but also of their physical location.

This ability is relevant here because it introduces the concept of being able to learn/perform a thing (be it a movie scene or an iai kata) in such a way that the performance of that thing can vary without its essential elements and purpose changing.

The outward effects of Breaking Free

Am I suggesting that when Breaking Free the iai exponent changes the actions within the kata in the way that an actor might decide to ad-lib in a scene? Can—for example—a downward cut become instead become a thrust? Can a left turn become a right turn?

Potentially, yes. At any other level of development such a drastic change would almost certainly be considered hugely undesirable; indicating as it would a lack of, or misdirection of, psychological focus. However, when as an expression of Breaking Free, variation in technique is quite acceptable—and understandable.

That said, as best as I can remember I have very, VERY rarely done such a thing. Perhaps only a couple of times in the approximately 7 years I have been able toconsistently experience Breaking Free.

So, huge changes of action are not required when Breaking Free, it is just a possibility under certain circumstances. The important thing is that the possibility of action change is not considered by the performer to be undesirable.

Now, where Breaking Free will almost certainly make any kata noticeably physically different is in pacing and rhythm—or lack of.

The time between all parts of a kata from beginning to end—including the sheathing—can vary considerably, as can the speed of transition between techniques and the speed of actions themselves.

These variations give iai kata a very different visual character to that which we typically expect from iai, be it iaido or iaijutsu. Indeed, Breaking Free has the potential to make some kata look more like a solo rehearsal for a stereotypical samurai movie sword fight!

Voluntary Movement

The above was an overview of the type of visual variations in an iai kata Breaking Free MIGHT provoke, now we will move onto what causes these variations.

And that cause is—in a nutshell—because when Breaking Free an iai exponent is only performing an action—or inaction—when they want to. By this I mean, there are not in any sense being “pulled along” by, or “chasing” the kata.

Only performing an action when you want to during a kata sounds simple enough but is actually amazingly difficult to do. The difficulty is due to our desire to moment-by-moment—for a variety of reasons—predict any kata we are performing. Depending on your sensory preference(s) this prediction will be in the form of the Sensory Templates (including visual memories) discussed in Merging. We unconsciously (typically) link these Templates so that when one action ends we are “pulled” into or “chase” the next—but the chances are a student will typically be entirely unaware of this tug or shove.

To return to the acting analogy, truly Voluntary Movement in iai is similar in that there is no sense in the performer that they will necessarily DO anything. Rather, they just respond to unexpected actions as they occur in that moment. So, the actor might spend an entire scene almost motionless at a bar as he talks to an ex-lover sitting next to him/her, but if in one take that ex-lover chooses to abruptly move a little closer, our actor might now respond by adjusting their body language in a way that otherwise they would not have.

In iai, equivalent reactions to an Imposed Threat could be something like pausing in the middle of a step, or bringing the right hand to the tsuka very quickly,with either action being an appropriate response to the nature of the threat their mind has just conjured up, NOT because it is in anyway felt to be a mandatory action.

So, both the paused step and the sudden, rapid move of the right hand could indicate a threat appearing abruptly, or the swift escalation of an existing threat. And just as the actor might uncross their arms or alter their tone should the ex-lover decide to move away again, so how the iai exponent views the threat will determine how long the step remains paused, or if/when they decide to perform their draw.

Consequently, the same threat could produce quite different responses: the iai exponent might quicken their step rather than pause it, or bring their hand very slowly to their tsuka—in just the same way that the actor at the bar might choose to not react physically at all.

A reminder here that as I explained in the Imposing Threat essay, these threats are “primarily conceptual”, being “entirely born of intent rather than aiming for a particular anatomical target or (when the draw is reactive) to counter a particular technique”, but varying in terms of imminence and level.

Which is to say, while the iai exponent may be aware of the potential, literal application(s) of any action during a kata, when he/she is performing the kata they are not at all motivated by any detailed narrative. There is no, “the enemy is attacking my right wrist with a descending, angled cut, so I will advance quickly and using a sliding cut attack their shoulder while it’s exposed”. Instead, there is just the imperative to act and the decisions of when and how quickly.

To conclude, since variations in pacing and rhythm are determined entirely by how threats are perceived and responded to at that moment, each performance ofa katawhile Breaking Free may well be quite different, but this is by no means a certainty and, in fact, in theory any number of performances of a particular kata could be virtually identical.

The experience of Breaking Free

So, to the performer the overall experience of Breaking Free is that it seems like a coincidence that the actions they chose ended up following those of the kata.

When at the beginning of a kata you are waiting for motivation to act, Breaking Free creates a sense of unbridled potential in terms of what will happen and this sense continues throughout the “kata”.

Now, as just discussed, the reason for the appearance in variations to a script or a kata are basically comparable in that neither actor nor iai student are consciously predicting the narrative/plot they are part of—be it the script or the kata.

But how the actor and iai exponent experience this will be entirely different…

The actor’s experience will primarily be one of self-awareness as they seek to consciously manipulate their bodies and voices. The actor indulges and uses their emotions, imagination and sensory input as inspiration for their performances.

The iai exponent’s experience, however, will be pretty-much the opposite: High-Level EA as defined and explained in the previous essays almost entirely eliminates the tools (introspective analysis/thought) the actor needs for a performance since there will rarely be any emotion or imagination or sensory awareness to feed off.

As such, iai becomes a thrilling but cold experience of threats and urgency.

How is Breaking Free achieved?

High-Level EA and Imposing Threat are two of the metaphorical ducks an iai student needs to get in a row for Breaking Free to be possible. These two skills serve to greatly reduce the variety of conscious thought processes, and thereby create the simplified psychological mindset Breaking Free requires.

The third duck is a particular kind of self-control.

While High-Level EA and Imposing Threat certainly require a huge amount of self-control, High-Level EA and Imposing Threat are, for lack of a better word, objective. Which is to say, they remove the “stain” of the student’s personality from iai. Breaking Free, on the other hand, requires —as my instructor put it—self-expression, and consequently necessitates a different variety of self-control.

And it’s a variety that demands even more mental energy than either High-Level EA or Imposing Threat! Why is that? Very hard to explain. For one, because Breaking Free needs 100% mindfulness and control of each and every action and inaction of a kata–so no pondering one’s grocery list. However, a more salient factor is the effort required to allow only an extremely limited slither of your self to be expressed!

This is why currently I can typically only maintain Breaking Away for about the first 15 minutes of iai practice, and then it begins to lapse with greater and greater frequency. Now, I am a very poor student in this regard, but I can’t imagine that maintaining Breaking Free during iai would be something anyone could maintain for hours at a time.

As to what that “slither” consists of, well that really is extremely difficult to convey, but might be described as pure expressions of things like your audacity, or your caution, or your determination, or even your courage.

Oh, and the final duck in the row is—you guessed it—hara development. As with all the Secrets, in Breaking Free the hara—and associated breathing—acts as moderator, calibrator, catalyst, collaborator, booster, enabler.

The value of Breaking Free

So Breaking Free is extremely difficult to achieve both in terms of how many years it takes to develop the ability and how hard it is to maintain. Why then is it worth all this effort? I did after all say earlier that I felt that Breaking Free was from a martial perspective the single most important reason for iai practice.

Many of the benefits are the same, or close to, or enhancements of, those that I have said come from Imposing Threat and/or High-Level EA…

Breaking Free (as just mentioned) requires great mental discipline and control and these are always good to have not just in combat but in everyday life.

It can also provoke a greater intuitive understanding of not only the potential practical applications of any of the component techniques of any kata, but also the relationship to, and meaning of, these techniques with respect to a school’s curriculum as a whole. No idea how this works…”Through the Force things you will see”?

And of course, Breaking Free greatly contributes to the overall enjoyment of iai practice.

However, other benefits of Breaking Free either cannot be experienced through the other Secrets at all or only to a very small degree.

First, iai practice becomes considerably more physically strenuous.

I’ve never heard of a senior iai exponent describing iai as a good, stand-alone, all round workout, but with Breaking Free it can be. It takes me about 30 minutes to complete my school’s iai curriculum and even though on a good day my ability to maintain Breaking Free begins to falter about halfway through, by the end my legs are wobbly and it feels like almost every muscle in my body is “floating” from fatigue.

That said, how exhausting iai becomes does depend somewhat upon the kata themselves. Karato Ryu’s iai kata are more taxing than those of many schools simply because they are rather longer than appears to be typical, consisting as they do on average of at least 5 or 6 actions, with some having twice that. And most of the iai of the famous Katori Shinto Ryu (for example) would become extraordinarily physically tiring with the application of Breaking Free due to their unusually high athletic requirements. But, I would argue that every iai curriculum I have ever seen would become decidedly more physically tiring if done while Breaking Free.

Now, unlike so much to do with the Secrets, the cause of this dramatic uptick in physical effort is easy and quickly explained!

Earlier I provided an outline of how the presence of Breaking Free can lead to changes in the pacing and rhythm of iai kata both in terms of the time between individual actions and the speed of the actions themselves, and this in of itself will generally increase the physical effort needed.

But the main cause is the effect of not predicting the actions a kata requires.

Normally, once someone has learned an iai kata sufficiently they will begin almost immediately (albeit probably unconsciously) to start changing how they physically initiate each action.

By this I mean, they will prepare their muscles to deal with every aspect of the action based on their knowledge of what will certainly follow.

So, put simply–that is, without going into the possible neurological explanations–there will be some degree of “wind-up” before an action begins and also a premature, physical preparation for the end of each action.

Breaking Free means the ramp-up between the decision to begin an action and that action occurring is greatly (relatively speaking) reduced and leads to an action that is far more explosive in nature.

Going from “zero to sixty” very rapidly will typically increase the muscular effort required throughout the action, because it takes greater effort to maintain control of the action and because when it comes time to slam on the brakes the body is typically still accelerating—in addition those brakes will be applied later since there is no anticipation of either the end of the action or the action that will follow.

These effects are exacerbated by the overwhelming tendency of iai kata to employ large movements and often to make whole-body changes in direction. The more of the body is involved in an action the more weight has to be moved when initiating an explosive movement, and that weight then generates greater momentum which in turn makes controlling and stopping harder.

Basically, Breaking Free generally makes the actions—especially offensive ones—mechanically far more like they would be if performed in combat.

(Of course, some actions may be intentionally done slowly so the above changes in movement mechanics will have much less effect on how much effort is required to perform them)

Incidentally, in one way it is fortunate that it takes years to be able to achieve Breaking Free since moving in the way just described places considerably more stress on the body, and this stress could easily cause injury without the conditioning provided by the 1000’s of preceding repetitions .

A simple turn ten thousand times performed.

A movement set in stone,

An anchored mind set adrift.

A play rehearsed to death,

‘Til with a burst of brightest flame,

Reality takes the stage.

Phil Trent (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009132148739)

Next: “‘Secrets?’ What secrets?”