Expanding Comfort Zones and Third Places

A MAJOR AND very useful instinct I developed when dabbling in wushu sparring many decades ago was the ability to read movement. This was part and parcel of physical defence, of course. Not only does one have to be fully attentive all the time—and that would be why one tires so quickly during a bout—one has to predict what the opponent is about to do before he does it.

Philosophically, one learns mutualism in the sense that whatever I could do to my opponent, he could do to me as well. That was why one’s selected training partner was often someone equally skilled and similar in build. One learns to stand one’s ground against reasonable odds, and one learns to be humble in the face of another’s agency.

Now, these simple facts have great significance in daily life. Being sensitive to my immediate surroundings meant that I became more conscious of movement in my immediate vicinity, and of what to expect in the next second. For example, I found that walking through a crowd became easier after my training. I began to note where a person or some vehicle was going to go, and not where they were at the present moment.