“Time is Relative” - Einstein

Have you ever heard the story that Einstein tells to explain how relativity works. The space travelers who experience ten years pass while on Earth they experience twenty years passing where the space travelers age only ten years while Earth experiences twenty years in age. Apparently we humans tend to have “Two clocks” in our bodies, minds and spirits. 

“The human body can sense and react to time differently. A good movie passes quickly, while a boring movie goes slowly.” - Dr. Philip Maffetone

We all have experienced this time difference when reading books that really grab us and the movie example quoted above so we all realize that we can “Experience two time clocks” in all we do in life and this goes as well for martial practices. 

What I am getting at is, “In our fast-paced society we tend to put time in a short time frame. Relative to that, everything else we do may be distorted, including our practice and training time slot.”  How many times have we not gone to the training hall because the “Time” allotted seems daunting especially after a long day of hectic slamming of things into that, “Fast-paced society” that we have to live in?

This is where self-discipline comes in yet for many it is not actually about the level of self-discipline but rather our perceptions as to the context of time-spent doing things. We can experience training time in a compressed fashion that seems fun, enjoyable and most beneficial in all ways or as a drawn out period of time that seems daunting, tiring and just plain not fun. 

How do we get our mind-state or mind-set to balance out our two time clocks so neither seems daunting and tiresome? Dr. Maffetone, in his book, provides examples used for training and experiencing sport like events such as running a marathon, etc., to work toward balancing the two time clocks. 

Note: also, timing comes into play with this as well not to forget the time distortions we can encounter with adrenal flooding in conflicts. It seems interrelated or inter-connected. It also, to my mind, accounts for perceptions as well. All worth considering when creating a training model for self-defense. 

Bibliography:

Maffetone, Philip Dr. “The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness.” McGraw Hill, New York. 2000