Greetings. I continue to enjoy sharing my ideas about Tai Chi and related subjects. And I appreciate the positive response I have received from so many of you. It encourages me to carry on. Hope all is going well for you. I send my best regards.
Sensation Response
Sensation and our perception of various sensations are important to martial arts practitioners. Yet it is interesting how our higher brain plays tricks with our perception. If I touch something hot and quickly withdraw from it, it feels as if I am consciously reacting to the heat. But the act of pulling back my hand was actually a reflex response organized by the spinal cord, which didn’t even consult the conscious brain about a proper course of action. There was no time for delay. It takes fully half a second for my consciousness to sort through and interpret strong sensation messages, while the spinal cord can order response in a tenth of a second. So for martial skill, we train until we can give more responsibility over to the spinal cord for movement response, saving the higher brain for more complex tasks.
Best Wishes,