A WARSKYL Book:

How To
Take Control of Your
Adrenaline
By
Craig Gravelbelly Mutton (Clan MacAvram)
ACCESS TO DESTINY BOOKS
Belton, South Carolina

Copyright 2009
By Craig Mutton
Cover picture from the motion picture Panic in the Street
is in the Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons)
Introduction
I wrote the following article in November of 2007:
Adrenaline stress can be your most potent natural ally or your
biggest hindrance in a crisis. Last night I was reminded of the
significance of the adrenaline rush -- both of mine and that of
the police officer who was prepared to gun me down.

I was on my way home from work. It was a little foggy, and I
was holding my speed about 5mph under the limit. I saw the
police car parked in the center lane and figured no problem, as
my speed was reasonable for the conditions.

The cruiser pulled out behind me, though, and about 3/4 of a
mile later, he turned on his blue & white lights. Mild adrenaline
stress (for both of us?) I braked and pulled over, took out my
driver's license and made sure my hands were on the wheel, in
plain sight (this is both a courtesy to the officer and a self-
preservation measure).

Good evening, sir.

Good evening, officer.

South Carolina law requires that your license tag be
illuminated and visible from 50 feet. Did you know your tag light
is out?

No, I didn't.

May I see your vehicle information? My registration &
insurance card were in the glove box.

Officer, I want you to know that there is a firearm in my glove
compartment.

What kind . . . uh, do you have a concealed carry permit?


No, I do not. (South Carolina law allows any citizen -- other
than convicted felons -- to carry a loaded firearm in the glove
box of his/her vehicle.) He indicated that I should retrieve my
registration & insurance card, and I did so slowly and
deliberately.

Please step out of the vehicle and go to the rear. Who
dropped that cold icicle down my collar? I can feel it the length
of my spine. Adrenaline stress! I'm about to be cuffed and
hauled to the county lockup.

Officer, has South Carolina law changed with regard to . . . ?

No sir. You are allowed to carry a weapon in your car. This is
just for officer safety. Relief. Then, I realized that my
registration was not with my insurance information. It must still
be in the glove box. The deputy says it's okay; he'll just run my
plate number.

I stand in the cruiser's headlights. The adrenaline has nowhere
to go, other than to my nerves. Then I look up, and I see the
deputy's backup. He's standing in the darkness on the
passenger-side of the police car. His sidearm is drawn, and in
the dark his posture reminds me of a cat ready to spring.
Adrenaline stress (this time for both of us, I'm sure).

I want to look casual, so I slip my right hand in my pocket.
Wrong move! Now I remove it slowly and let it hang, empty and
open at my side. I'm in the headlights, so I know the backup
deputy with the gun sees me looking at him. What's going
through his mind? The other deputy returns with a written
warning & suggests I see about getting the lights fixed. (I
repaired the broken wires right after our walk, this morning.)

"Surprisingly, I had no trouble getting to sleep after I got home.
I evidently had had enough control to keep adrenaline dump
small, and the subsequent stress minimal. As I reflected on it
this morning, though, I realized that a tag light out could mean a
stolen vehicle. Here's an officer who doesn't know me from
Adam's off ox, and he radios for backup: "Possible stolen
vehicle, firearm involved."

Put that together with the number of law enforcement officers
killed in the line of duty in the upstate in recent years, and
you've got an officer under adrenaline stress, with weapon
drawn ready to shoot someone . . . to kill someone -- and that
someone was me. The officers acted like the professionals they
are, and I acted with due deference and an understanding of
the potential violence that these men have chosen to live with
day after day.
The ability to react with control under stress requires both
technique and experience (practice). Adrenaline stress
management is as important to the Christian Martialist as it is to
any police officer or member of the armed forces. [End of Nov.
2007 article]

Understanding the Adrenaline Rush

Adrenaline (or epinephrine) is both a hormone &
a neurotransmitter. It is released by the adrenal
glands, which are situated atop the kidneys. As
you probably already know, this release
prepares you for the fight or flight response.

Wikipedia describes this response as follows:

When in the bloodstream, it rapidly prepares the body for action in
emergency situations. The hormone boosts the supply of oxygen and
glucose to the brain and muscles, while suppressing other non-
emergency bodily processes (digestion in particular).
It increases heart rate and stroke volume, dilates the pupils, and
constricts arterioles in the skin and gastrointestinal tract while dilating
arterioles in skeletal muscles. It elevates the blood sugar level by
increasing catabolism of glycogen to glucose in the liver, and at the
same time begins the breakdown of lipids in fat cells. Like some other
stress hormones, epinephrine has a suppressive effect on the
immune system

The physical effects of adrenaline stress become more pronounced
as the heart rate increases. In Sharpening the Warriors Edge, Bruce
Adrenal Gland
K. Siddle reveals these changes

:
115 BPM (beats per minute) loss of fine motor skills
145 BPM loss of complex motor skills
175 BPM tunnel vision & cognitive loss
220 BPM hypervigilance & irrational acts

Siddle places optimal combat performance at a heart rate between
115 and 145 heartbeats per minute.

Two Tiers of Adrenaline Stress Reaction

Note that the adrenaline rush occurs as a result of perceived

threats (or in some cases, extreme physical stimulus like loud
noised or bright lights). In any case, the adrenal glands
themselves do not enter into the process of threat perception.
The mind becomes conscious of a threat (alarm), which, in turn,
triggers a release by the adrenal glands.

Because this process occurs on two levels, you can take two
paths to control the adrenaline rush. One focuses more on the
physical effects, while the other focuses more on mental
control.

The battle cry and breath control (chapters 1 & 2) address the
physical effects of adrenaline stress. Experience, scenario
based training and mental imaging (chapters 3, 4, & 5) focus on
mental control.
Diagram of adrenal gland from Wikimedia

PPCT Research Publications, Belleville, IL, 1995, p.8

Although the two approaches are not completely mutually exclusive.

MIND MIND MIND MIND ADRENALS ADRENALS ADRENALS ADRENALS

(ALARM) (RELEASE)

PART ONE: PART ONE: PART ONE: PART ONE:

INDIRECT METHODS INDIRECT METHODS INDIRECT METHODS INDIRECT METHODS OF OF OF OF
CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL
Contro|||ng Adrena||ne Stress: The Batt|e Cry
No doubt you've seen the battle cry portrayed
on the screen. I'm talking about those movies
that depict battles, where both sides are lined up
against each other. Then, as one side
advances, a few warriors begin to emit a sound
that spreads through the ranks. As the sound
grows, so does their momentum, until they come
like thunder upon the opposing force.

What you see in scenes like these is an age-old method used
to bring adrenaline stress under control and to make it work for
the warrior rather than against him. Like the startle response,
your experience with adrenaline is based upon physiological
realities.

Also like the startle response, your adrenaline rush happens
automatically. But unlike the startle response, you can learn to
exercise control over it. Experience and breath control, for
example, will allow you to determine, to a remarkable degree,
the intensity and duration of your adrenaline rush -- the less
intense, the longer you can make it last.

Studies conducted by the US military have shown that too
much adrenaline can immobilize you (sometimes described as
frozen with fear). It can give you tunnel vision, cause you to
repeat ineffectual moves in a behavioral loop, or make you just
plain freeze on the spot. When an experienced orc sees the
signs of your adrenaline stress, he may count on your having
just such responses. At that time, you need a technique to
channel your adrenaline into solving the problem at hand.

The battle cry is THE traditional means of controlling and
channeling adrenaline stress. Through history, warriors who
knew nothing of adrenaline -- but a lot about stress -- adopted a
common technique to help them master and use their
adrenaline rush in battle. We call it a battle cry. The battle cry is
a decisive, purposeful, aggressive action.
Decisive -- a battle cry has the psychological effect of
strengthening your resolve by letting every level of your
being know that you have made a choice and
commitment to fight rather than to freeze or to cower;
Purposeful -- a battle cry bristles with purpose, and its
very presence focuses all of your energies to the end of
absolute conquest of the foe;
Aggressive -- a battle cry is fueled by adrenaline, and by
its very nature, feeds the aggressive mindset you need
in battle;
Action -- a battle cry is an action in and of itself, which
mobilizes you to further action.
The battle cry has another, more curious aspect: in many, it
transforms fear into something that can only be described as
the thrill of battle. As a bonus, it often demoralizes and
confuses the adversary. The "rebel yell" and the "Apache war
whoop" are just two examples. These battle cries channeled
adrenaline stress to increase the warriors' own ferocity while, at
the same time, making their enemies' stress self-defeating.

Ferocity that is fueled by adrenaline and supported by a battle
cry can occasionally be so daunting to an adversary that he
retreats before actual engagement. This may frustrate you
because, after you'd done everything you could to avoid a
violent encounter, you finally decided it was necessary and
opened the flood gates. Now the enemy is gone, and you have
nowhere to direct the torrent. It's tough on your system (I
know!), but it's better than what you risk in an actual violent
encounter.
Photo at beginning of chapter from Wikimedia
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A little adrenaline is good in a crisis. It
quickens your responses, sharpens
your focus and increases your power.
A little too much adrenaline can hinder
you in a crisis. It can give you tunnel
vision or even cause your senses to
black out. It can unhinge your reactions from reality.

If you have a means of controlling adrenaline stress, it can work
for you rather than against you. You can achieve that control
with a simple technique. Many martial arts teach some form of
this technique, and I've seen it in articles about how to control
"butterflies" before a job interview or giving a speech. In his
book On Combat, David Grossman says that the US armed
forces teach this technique to troops before sending them into a
battle zone.

According to this method, the key to controlling stress is to
control the heart rate. The faster your heart beats beyond what
is optimal, the more your sensory and motor skills deteriorate.
But if you can keep your heart from racing, you can keep your
stress level closer to the optimum performance range. You do
this through breath control.

Controlling adrenaline stress reactions by means of breath
control relies on an interesting physiological phenomenon: your
heart rate and your breath rate are connected. It makes sense,
because during intense physical exercise your muscles need
more oxygen, so you breathe faster to get more O2 into the
bloodstream, and the heart beats faster to deliver it to the cells
that need it. It's all part of that "fearfully and wonderfully made"
design.

In stressful situations, your heart rate increases as your
breathing becomes quicker and more shallow. The bottom line
for stress control is that if you breathe slowly and deeply, you
can actually slow your racing heart. This is why the breath
control technique works.

Here's how you do it: 1) Exhale deeply to empty your lungs (a
good exhale is the secret to good breathing); 2) Inhale slowly to
the count of six (or four or eight -- the number depends on your
own lung capacity and how fast you count, but the point is to
slow the breathing); 3) Hold your breath for the same count
(although I generally hold my breath for about half the count of
my in-breath) 4) Exhale slowly to the same count you used to
inhale; 5) Repeat, and keep repeating.

I have found that this technique is not only good for controlling
adrenaline stress, it also works to reduce breath recovery time
after intense physical output. The slower, deeper breaths
actually oxygenate the blood more quickly than the shallow
gasps.
Image at beginning of chapter is from Wikimedia

PART TWO: PART TWO: PART TWO: PART TWO:
DEVELOPING DIRECT DEVELOPING DIRECT DEVELOPING DIRECT DEVELOPING DIRECT
CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL
How to Directly Control Adrenaline Stress
I want to address the lessons we can learn about how to
directly control adrenaline stress from the recent incredible
emergency landing of an airliner in the Hudson River. Captain
Chesley Sullenberger (Captain Cool) has received recognition
for his calm, cool demeanor under extreme pressure.

How did he control his adrenaline stress at this point? On
Monday Feb 9th, Good Morning America hostess Diane
Sawyer asked him how he remained so cool and calm. His
reply is instructive:

It was practiced It was practiced It was practiced It was practiced, it was years of experience dealing with
challenges and knowing we had to face this challenge
squarely and we had a job to do, and we were very busily we were very busily we were very busily we were very busily
doing it doing it doing it doing it. (emphasis added)

I see two lessons you can take away from Captain
Sullenberger's comments:
1. The ability to control adrenaline stress is a skill. You
develop it with practice. Yes, there are indirect methods
you can use to control adrenaline as I've presented in "
Breath Control = Adrenaline Control", but coolness
under pressure is also a skill which involves direct
control of your adrenaline. As the quote suggests, it
comes by practice and experience.
2. Action is another key to controlling adrenaline stress.
Since adrenaline is there to get you moving with speed &
strength, the longer you delay action, the greater the risk
that your adrenaline will overwhelm you. Even assuming
the non-threatening defensive posture and talking
according to a structured plan (as covered in the
WARSKYL Conference) is a form of action -- minimal
though it be -- that can help you get a handle on your
adrenaline rush.
One way to develop the skill of adrenaline stress control is by
experience: repeated and deliberate exposure to dangerous
situations. I would discourage you from taking this approach.

Two other ways to learn adrenaline control through experience
are scenario based training and mental imaging training. They
provide you with controlled experiences that will help condition
your cool and help you to learn to deal with rushes of
adrenaline.

Self Doubt & Fear
The following comes from an email sent out by Damian Ross of the
"The Self Defense Company":
My question is how do you destroy self-doubt? What I mean is I want to
be confident and I do try, but there is still always some worry that it
won't work or I'll fail-how do I stop that? I tend to give my opponent to
much credit and myself very little even if I try shaking it out of my
system. Thanks Regards Bob from, Northern Alberta, Canada
Answer:
Bob, that is a very human and normal response. First, knowing that
what your practicing actually works helps a lot. . . . When I was young I
always had self doubt, especially in the street; even though I was an
accomplished wrestler and karate tournament fighter. But once I began
learning this method, my common sense and experience told me that
this was the real deal. Finally and perhaps most important, you must
practice and train harder. . . . Training consistently will erase most self
doubt. Since we're human, you can't get rid of it all, even the biggest
and the baddest till have a little voice in their head. What you want to
do is minimize it and the only what you do that is through training.
When trained properly you will automatically go into action.
I think that this is good advice. Before I started training in jujitsu, I
harbored a lot of doubts about how I might do in a physical
confrontation. My training in Shito Ryu karate did not do much to
alleviate those doubts.
But my jujitsu training was different. I could feel the effectiveness of
techniques both when I used them on my partner and when he used
them on me. This gave me confidence in the system.
The WARSKYL self defense system gives me even more confidence. I
designed it around the startle response and the simplest & most
effective gross motor skills. These techniques work; I have seen and
felt them. Moreover, they work with minimal training.
When you stop training altogether, however, you lose your edge. Then
the doubts begin to creep back in. They are simply the messengers of
the inner man, telling you what you already know -- you need to get
back in training.
How to UseScenario Based Training
From the beginning, as you develop competence
in your fighting skills, you should combine them
with other aspects of your total self defense
system. This applies to adrenaline stress control
as well as to other aspects of self defense. Scenario based
training is one way to achieve this.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of how to use scenario
based training to control your adrenaline stress, I want to talk
about why this works. Simply put, it works because you learn
from experience. For example, when I was in Jr. High School
(Middle School to you moderns), I got beat up -- a lot.

I was 12 and not yet through puberty, but the orcs who singled
me out for "special treatment" (the price you pay if you'd rather
read a book than play baseball) were big, hairy, and older than
I. This went on for almost two school years.

Throughout that time, I fantasized about defeating the orcs, but
fantasizing is not serious mental imaging. The actual exper-
iences themselves, however, conditioned my adrenaline stress
control.

As I learned to fight back, I gradually learned that rage pushes
out fear. Now, rage is not the most efficient use of adrenaline (I
believe that something I call the thrill of battle may be the most
efficient kind of adrenaline rush), but when you're under attack,
lashing out in rage is better than freezing with fear.

After facing a number of threats, I also learned that I could
delay the adrenaline dump. In the face of imminent danger, I
have, at times (not 100%), found a deep calm come over me. I
was also alert and focused, knowing that at the right moment, I
could "throw the chemical switch" that would throw me into
rampaging warrior mode.

That kind of adrenaline stress control is the result of real-life
experience. It can also come as the result of simulated
experiences. That is the objective of Peyton Quinn's RMCAT
training camp.

Quinn leads training sessions in which he exposes participants
to trainers who simulate street assaults. The emphasis is on
realism and realistic responses. The goal is for trainees to learn
what an adrenaline dump feels like, and then to manage it so it
works for them rather than against them. He describes the
process in his book, Real Fighting: Adrenaline Stress Condi-
tioning Through Scenario Based Training.

The point is that simulated experience CAN teach you to
control your adrenaline. Through it, you can learn to control
adrenaline & adrenaline stress. You can learn to stay calm in
the face of threat or provocation, and you can learn to "throw
the switch" that opens the floodgates. To deliberately seek the
experiences that will teach you these things, however, is
neither sage nor safe.

Scenario based training seeks to simulate the experience you
need to deal with real threats and adrenaline stress in a
relatively safe way. Your scenarios will be most useful if they
carry an air of realism, and if you can imagine yourself under a
real threat (to induce an adrenaline reaction).

Peyton Quinns training seminars have a distinct advantage
here. The aggressors are strangers to the participants, and
their padded suits in addition to protecting the aggressors
add a level of intimidation to the scenarios.

The padded suits also allow for full-bore reactions on the part of
the students. If you have access to such padding (expensive),
or if you can improvise, you will be able to bring a little more
realism to your scenarios.

If not, you will have to exercise a greater degree of caution and
use more imagination to ensure that your scenarios induce an
adrenaline response. The use of a battle cry by the defender
can help induce an adrenaline response as well as to control it.

Work with your partner to develop scenarios wherein you may
have to defend yourself. It would help if you knew the stages of
an assault & some variations (Subject for another book). For
now, work on the obvious ones: ambush from behind, sucker
punch (overhand or hook), grabs, kicks, etc. from the front or
side, etc. Do not script your scenarios, but have a general idea
of what you & your partner are doing.

Practice the scenarios in slow motion. I mean very slow motion.
Do not cheat by moving faster when you see what your partner
is up to. Match his speed as you play out your startle response
and your reactive technique. At first, only practice Attack,
Startle Response, Reactive Technique. Later add an attacker's
defense & 2nd attack along with another reactive technique
from you.

As you become comfortable with this level of practice, introduce
a new level of discomfort. Let the attacker ad lib a little. Let him
choose from two or three possible attacks. Then gradually
increase the speed (say, 1/4 combat speed). But don't try it all
in one practice session. You need to train your reactions over
weeks and months.

Here is a sample scenario.

Attacker: Say, do you have a light?

Defender: (Alert to distance) No.

Attacker: (Starts to move in) Are you sure?

Defender: (Hands up, palms out, then loudly) Stop! Leave me
alone.

Attacker: No need to get all paranoid (launches attack before
finishing sentence)

Defender: (Startle response & reactive technique, then escape)
The attack might consist of rushing, grabbing, sucker
punching, etc.
The attacker's approach may also vary -- ask for
directions, ask to use cell phone, "wanna buy a watch?",
etc.
The escape from the situation is vital. You are not there
to win a fight or to prove how macho you are. Sticking
around could get you hurt or killed. Also, from a legal
standpoint, you may someday be glad to be able to say
under oath that your self defense practice focused on
the objective of escaping danger.
Note that even if your scenario based training does not
induce an adrenaline reaction, you are still building
experiences that your mind will file away and assimilate.
Even by itself, this will help you in a crisis.
Nonetheless, if you can build some stressors into your
scenarios, you will multiply the benefits and your
adrenaline stress control manifold. Such stressors might
include
1. Practice of the scenario in the dark (or blindfolded);
2. Use of surprise (enter a room such that you dont
know what direction the attack might come from);
3. Use of distractors such as loud music (Wagner?) or
flashing lights (unless youre subject to epileptic
seizures);
4. Any other [safe] way you can think of to raise anxiety
levels.
Photo used at beginning of chapter from Wikimedia,
courtesy of MisterWiki.
How to Use Mental Imaging to Control Adrenaline
I have previously discussed controlling adrenaline indirectly by
means of breath control and by means of the battle cry. Then I
showed that by experience you can learn direct adrenaline
control, and how scenario based training can help you gain that
experience.

Now I want to address the topic of how to control your
adrenaline by means of creative mental imaging. The first
question to answer is whether you can actually use your
imagination to manage adrenaline.

Anyone who has heard Bill Cosby's "Chicken Heart" routine
and/or remembers being scared silly by a story on radio, TV,
the movies or just sitting around the campfire knows the power
of imagination to stimulate adrenaline flow. If your imagination
can initiate adrenaline stress, it's not too far a stretch to accept
the fact that you can use your imagination to learn to control
that same stress.

The technique is the same that I've seen described in books on
sales training. Beginning salesmen often have a fear of the
prospective customer (closely associated with a rush of
adrenaline). Even experienced professionals become "gunshy"
at a prospect's objections. To overcome that stress, the
knowledgeable pro will use a technique based on creative
imaging.

Here, for example, is how controlling adrenaline stress through
mental imaging works for the sales professional who has lost
confidence. He must close his eyes and picture himself making
a sale. In his mind, he sees himself make the presentation and
close the sale. Simple enough?

Well, simple isn't always easy. Winning the Olympic high jump
is simple -- just jump higher than anyone else. But the
execution is not so easy. In the same way, using mental
imaging to train requires initiative, discipline and effort.

In the previous chapter, I showed you that scenario based
training teaches you to control adrenaline in simulated
situations. It is a form of experience-based training.

Mental imaging does the same through a peculiarity of human
psychology. I refer to the fact that for purposes of learning, the
human psyche cannot tell vividly imagined experiences from
real ones. They both affect the neural paths of the brain in like
manner.

Perhaps this gives insight into Jesus' admonition, That
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed
adultery with her already in his heart. (Matt. 5:28) Could it be
that this exhortation arises -- at least in part -- out of the
tendency for the human mind to treat imagined adultery the
same as the act itself? This would mean that imagining an
immoral act molds character and habit, thus rendering the
outward expression easier and more likely.

God did not create the imagination for evil, but for good. The
Christian Martialist must discipline himself against evil
imaginations. But beyond that, he should learn to use the
power of mental imaging to benefit his life and calling.

Have you ever read a story or watched a movie that caused an
adrenaline rush? If you identify with the main character, and if
hes in a threatening or dangerous situation, its easy for your
body to respond as though you were in that situation yourself.
One of my sons-in-law said he felt his own adrenaline rise
when he read about my experience with a police officer who
had drawn his sidearm..

These serve as examples of the power of imagination. And if
your imagination has the power to create an adrenaline dump,
then your imagination can create the conditions necessary for
you to learn to control it. It's a matter of creative visualization.

Students of applied psychology learn that, in order to get
maximum training benefit from visualization techniques, you
should meet the following conditions:
1. Imagine vivid details which include not only visual
particulars, but sounds, smells and tactile sensations, as
well (makes the experience more real in your mind);
2. Attach strong emotion to the experience (anchors the
experience in your memory).
Since your aim is to visualize a situation that stimulates a
powerful and emotional hormonal response, the second point
will follow if you succeed with the first.

In order to use mental imaging to practice controlling adrenaline
stress, you need an emotionally powerful image. I suggest you
choose a confrontation with your biggest nightmare. It might be
a biker gang member with grungy teeth or a gang-banger with a
tattoo on his neck, or maybe even an Islamic terrorist with
death and destruction in his eyes. Whatever image you choose,
it should be someone who would make you nervous (or even
scared) if you met him at midnight in a dark and lonely place.

Now, close your eyes and imagine yourself in exactly that
situation. Do not see yourself from the outside. Put yourself into
the scenario and see the orc as though he were standing in
front of you & you are looking out at him through your own
eyes.

Put as much detail into the image as possible. Look at your
adversary and see his facial features -- does he have scars or
blemishes? is he dirty? does he have bad breath? Feel the
ground beneath your feet and the night air on your skin,

Once the image becomes vivid and real to you, you can let the
scenario play out. The orc taunts you & tries to goad you into a
fight. He is big & mean and totally self assured. He reaches out
toward you.

You must not only imagine the orc's appearance and actions,
but you must also imagine your own reactions.

The final step in learning how to control adrenaline stress
through mental imaging is to visualize your response to the
threat. I think it's good to imagine the whole scenario, from the
time that the orc confronts you. It's a temptation to want to
visualize only the part where you clean the other guy's clock,
but remember that your objective here is to control adrenaline
stress.

So . . . he's big & mean & scary, and in your mind's eye, he's
standing in front of you. "Got a light?" You respond with the
information you read in "Lines in the Dirt". You might even start
with the scenario I provide in that series.

You see and hear yourself responding to him. "No. Leave me
alone," as you bring your open hands up to chest height in the
non-challenging defensive position. And you control the
scenario from here.

The first vital point is that your visualization be vivid enough to
evoke an emotional response. The second point is that you
visualize yourself keeping your cool right up to the moment of
attack. You see yourself as unflappable as James Bond facing
incredible odds, and then, at the moment of action, you
transform into Attila the Hun.

Have you tried out the mental imaging as I described it in the
last post? Remember, the keywords are vivid and detailed. If
you have these two elements, your nervous system will treat
your visualization as a real learning experience.

I've noticed in my own sessions of mental imaging, that my
muscles will occasionally twitch and, at rare times, I will even
become aware that I've raised an arm in concert with my
imagined movement. This signals deep involvement in your
imaging, and is a sign that your mental picture is real enough to
your mind to trigger a motor nerve response.At times, you may
also murmur or even speak out loud while you're involved in
visualization. This is another sign that your focus is vivid
enough and detailed enough.

One final tip: vary your scenarios. If you always picture the
same confrontation in exactly the same way, your neural
pathways will not adapt as readily to new situations. Visualizing
different assailants in different contexts will help your system to
generalize its response.

Mental imaging has helped numerous sales personnel, public
speakers and athletes improve their performance. It can also
help you to improve control over your adrenaline stress
response to threat and danger. As you have already concluded,
creative visualization can help you improve in other aspects of
your training, as well. That, however, is another subject.
If you liked this e-book edition, you
might want to check out the print
edition.
The nice thing about a paperback is
that you can carry it with you, make
notes in the margins or highlight the
passages you like.
And you can read it by candlelight
if the power goes out.
For more info on the print edition,
go to:
Gravelbellys COMBAT PREP
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