Power of the mind over body

When my kids were little, we’d wrestle. They’d have a blast and laugh their heads off when I would tickle them. And always they would try to tickle me. I willed myself not to laugh. It was tough at first...but I learned to steel myself. This was the first time I ever practiced using my mind to suppress a reflex. A small feat to be sure, but they were impressed.

Can fear be controlled? Can you suppress the reflex to flinch? Ignore an itch? Can pain be ignored? Physical pain? Mental or emotional pain?

To learn techniques (if possible), would surely take practice to achieve level 4 competency- that they become like muscle memory- reflexes in their own right.

I suspect all of these things are possible, and I know from personal experience that suppressing physical pain is %100 possible. In the combat sport I play (the one I was jabbering about earlier), pain is a given. When I first started, I was told that we'd go at my pace (at practices) but that I should expect lots of bruises and abrasions, and that more serious physical injury was a very real (if unusual) possibility. Eventually, you learn how to suppress and ignore pain, or you won't be able to play our game very much. It's pretty common for me to walk away from practices with large bruises. At a tournament last summer, I fought roughly 30 fights (possibly more, I didn't count), and at the end of it when I was taking off my armor, it was only then I noticed that my left side had gotten lit right up. I don't know how many times I'd been hit there, but I had a bruise roughly the size of an icecream pail lid under my armpit and extending over to my shoulder blade. That area was described by more than one comrade as "hamburger". I didn't feel it until I got in the shower half an hour later.

Very interesting and thanks for sharing. I could choose not to feel that pain by not engaging in that activity. Seriously tho, I wonder how much tolerance for pain is achieved by 1- willingly subjecting oneself to it, and 2-knowing you will get hurt but enjoying some other aspect of the activity that overcompensates, 3-wanting not to appear weak (particularly important in combat sports).

Suppose you were in an accident and sustained the same injuries?

I’m hoping to unlock techniques that once pain is felt, it then can be suppressed. That’s a clear difference from being injured and not feeling pain until you’ve realized it.

Oh, I am insanely ticklish and no amount of mental focus can change that for me.

I think fear can be controlled. I've heard that courage is merely overcoming your fear. I've been in situations where I was terrified. My idiot copilot once nearly put the aircraft into an unrecoverable attitude - high bank angle, low power, cross controlled, which would have killed us. It was all instinct that allowed me to take the controls and recover. I did have a stiff drink at the club later and shook like a leaf for a few minutes.

I think flinching too, can be controlled. Flinching is the cause of shots going low because something is exploding in your hand. We have an iaido paired technique called Tachiuchi no Kurai in which we use unsharpened steel in a kata like form. When taking motodachi side where you "lose" the exchange you have to not flinch when the blade stops close to your head. Flinching would make the exercise much more dangerous.

I've always been told that repetition is the mother of all learning. Dry firing for firearms or suburi (repetitive delivery of cuts) ingrains the technique into muscle memory.

Haha! I hear you! While kendo is much more of a sport, the Do, or breastplate only covers so much. Every so often I face someone with no te no uchi or finger control of the weapon and they hit hard and off target under my arm, above the Do. I get a lot of nice black and blue lines on my breast. Like you, I don't notice until I get home. Beginners are the worst. Sempai (senior students) will give kohai (junior students) openings for them to practice cuts. Guys like sledgehammer sam or mauling mary will just pound you. When you offer them kote or the wrist I have to flick my guard in front at the last second or it's like a bat coming down on my hand.

I also have a few scars on my hands and from fencing where my opponent broke a blade and it punctured my glove.

When I was a super martial arts fanatic I read a book called Kurikara which focuses on the spiritual side of martial arts. In particular, the writer talked about pain control. I'll see if I can find that book, but from memory I recall he did extensive meditation to include being in uncomfortable positions and in ice cold water.

I think with an accident, perhaps adrenaline would take over for a time and suppress the pain.

I found on amazon:

Kurikara: The Sword and the Serpent

It looks good and has great reviews. Ordered for $14.

Going into shock or having an adrenaline rush is spot on, however are typical physiological responses that are involuntary as far as I know. It’s control after those wear off- now that would be something!

Again, I'm %100 certain mentally suppressing or ignoring pain is possible. I used to read a lot about the training Spec Ops soldiers underwent, and all of the programs I read about included putting the soldiers through some intensely painful experiences with the goal of teaching them how to overcome the pain, even after the adrenaline had long since worn off. The ability to do so often means the difference between life and death for the men in such lines of work. If you can't ignore or suppress the pain at will, it will distract you from what you need to be doing at that moment to improve your chances at survival. They also need to be able to switch this suppression off, because pain is also important to self assessment of injuries. If you roll an ankle during an engagement, you need to be able to ignore it until the action is finished, but afterwards you need to be able to tell yourself and your buddies "hey, my ankle is ganked, this is going to be a problem for us getting out of here."

I was in a class with a guy who was a swift boat driver. He went to BUD/S, but rang the bell at about 11 weeks. Everyone there was in outstanding physical condition prior to going, but he said it was the mental toughness that made the difference. Suppressing pain, fear, discomfort, etc. He said the thing that got him was the cold. There was no way to get warm and everything was wet and full of sand. Water was always up your nose and the sleep deprivation was insane. After 11 weeks his body just couldn't go any further and he rang the bell.