The football player started at the snap just as he’d been coached and drove forward with his powerful legs. His offensive counterpart also dug in deep lurching forward, his job was to overpower his defensive opponent, and block him from getting through the offensive line, and sacking the primary offensive keystone on his team, his quarterback.
However, just as their powerful bodies met over the line of scrimmage the defensive player SYNCHRONIZED with the offensive player’s powerful blocking push, and slipped past him easily. Within 3 seconds the whistle was blown, and the offensive lineman’s quarterback was gasping for air from the hard tackle his defensive counterpart had inflicted on him.
A large smile beamed from the defensive lineman as he past, not so much in gloating as in saying, “No hard feelings… and I’ve got a secret…
His secret was his long hours of practice at a local dojang (Korean for dojo), and practicing SYNCHRONIZING techniques he’d learned in his Hapkido class. His instructor had taught him that to push against force was fighting, and the fight not only wastes time, and energy, it’s not as effective as SYNCHRONIZING. So when the ball was snapped, his main objective was not to fight, and dig his feet in, going muscle and bone against muscle and bone. His objective was instead was to “be the empty jacket.” A term and technique taught by Aikido’s founder Morihei Ueshiba.
By “being the empty jacket,”and SYNCHRONIZING, all his opponent’s power was rendered useless. All his long hours of pushing, blocking and going toe to toe were at once neutralized through SYNCHRONIZATION.
How often in life do we believe we must go toe to toe, overpower and crush our opponent? How well does better, faster, stronger actually work? And what happens when we are completely confronted with an obstacle too powerful, too fast and too overwhelming to overcome? We get crushed, we loose energy, and possibly lose the battle. Because there is always someone better, faster, or stronger.
What if however, you didn’t need to be better, faster or stronger? What if you could be the proverbial “empty jacket,” and allow your opponent to pass by you unharmed, and in fact leaving you in a better strategic position?
For those of you who love to waste energy and effort to prove you are in fact better, faster or stronger…keep training, for someday you will find yourself out matched, and laying on the ground, blurry eyed, and unconscious..
For the rest of us…”Be the empty jacket!” and SYNCHRONIZE power, not just with people you agree with, also SYNCHRONIZE power with people that oppose you directly, and you will most likely win. SYNCHRONIZE power!
Allen Hughes
Warrior Way Life Defense
#lifedefense #synchronize #allenhughes.
Photo by football wife from Pexels
