1. A look at the brain and the role it plays on the body under stress and how to over come that stress OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget

2. Three types of brains OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget Cognitive brain Emotional brain Reptilian brain

3. The three governing brain functions OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget The cognitive brain, our brain has two hemispheres. The left and right, when working together to make decisions we say we are using our cognitive brain. The left side of our brain is where logic and organization comes from, the right is our creative brain, where we learn to think out side of the box. The next is our emotional brain. The drive behind this part of our brain is pleasure or pain. Most primates and other animals never get past this stage of brain function which can be seen in animals being taught using positive and negative reinforcement. They are driven by the desire for pleasure and to avoid pain. The emotional brain is the trigger for the last part of the brain we will talk about. The reptilian brain, this is where our survival instincts come from. Some would say it is the root of our sub-conscience, this is the part of the brain where fight or flight comes from.

4. How the brain communicates OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget The brain sends electrical signals down neural pathways to various parts of the body to make it do what we want it to. Many things however can have an impact on the speed at which these signals travel if they travel at all. There are 3 phases to make an action happen. First we think about what we want to do, let’s say a punch. I first think about punching, next the brains sends electrical signals through my body to the corresponding muscles that need to move in order for me to punch, and last you guessed it my body moves and I punch. The actual action itself is the last phase.

5. 3 phases of action OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget Thought forms Neurons transmit Action takes place

6. Neural Blockers OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget Reptilian Brain Cognitive Brain Emotional Brain Once you get hit you will have a block in your neural pathways, you will not be able to carry out the action you were going to, example of the punch. The brain can only focus on one thing at a time and the outside stimuli of being punched will over ride your thought process and actually stop your action.

7. Fear OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget Fear or anticipation of fear is perhaps the biggest neural blocker we have. When in fear the body naturally shuts off the first two phases of brain function and isolates the reptilian brain, because it is preparing the body for fight or flight. Cognitive Brain Emotional Brain Reptilian Brain Again the reptilian brain is triggered by the emotional brain, The part that is driven by pain or pleasure, if fear sets in as you worry about being hurt this will trigger the reptilian brain to take over.

8. Fear Cont. OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget At 60-80 BPM your heart is in a resting state, and everything in your sympathetic nervous system is performing normally. When you become frightened however and your BPM rise to 115 you start to loose some of your fine motor skills, your ability to perform simple task like tie your shoes or even put a key in a lock start to decline rapidly. At 115-145 BPM is the optimal survival and combat performance level for complex motor skills, visual reaction time, and cognitive thinking. At 145 BPM your complex motor skills immediately begin to deteriorate and at 175 BPM you can’t think straight, you lose peripheral vision, your hearing excludes everything not in that tunnel vision and vascular constriction sets in as a natural way to reduce bleeding from any wounds you may suffer. Then above 175, is where irrational fight or flight sets in, as well as natural submissive behavior, combat freezing and the emptying of your bladder and bowels. At this point the only movement ability you have left is gross motor skills, Running, charging the wide arcing of your limbs, but this is exactly where Body Alarm Reaction operates and gets us back to those optimal levels of movements and cognitive thinking!!!

9. Fight or Flight OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget The endocrine system- in a moment of danger the autonomic nervous system orders the adrenal gland on top of the kidneys to release epinephrine and nor- epinephrine (adrenaline and nor-adrenaline) these hormones increase heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar, to give us a surge of energy. Because the endocrine system is slow compared to the central nervous system the feelings of excitement will linger even after the danger has passed. The Sympathetic nervous system- This is the system that actually controls the fight or flight response in the body. It arouses and expends energy, if something alarms, enrages, or challenges us. Your sympathetic system will increase your heart rate, raise your blood pressure, slow digestion, raise blood sugar, and cool the body with perspiration, making you ready for fight or flight. The Para-sympathetic system does just the opposite.

10. Sport fighters OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget Sports fighters, such as BJJ guys, boxers, karateka, judo players, ect. Do not have to worry about this happening because they know there are rules and as such the chance of being in a life threatening situation is almost zero. Fight or flight kicks in when the heart rate reaches 175 beats per minute. Typical sports fighters heart rates average from 114 to 145, this is optimal to prevent loss of complex motor movement. This also will allow a trained fighter to shut off his emotional brain and rely on his cognitive brain to make decisions during a fight, whether it’s stand up or on the ground.

11. Muscle Memory OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget Well of course our muscles do not have brains in them, what muscle memory really means is the ability to shut off the emotional and reptilian brain to allow the cognitive brain to function so there are no neurological breaks from thought to action. When someone develops muscle memory we say that the movements are 2 nd nature. This is because like any well traveled path there are no obstacles to navigate and the electrical signals move freely from brain to the targeted muscles. Like any path however if not traveled it becomes overgrown and full of obstacles again. What this means is one must train and train a lot. Someone once said that practice makes perfect, someone smarter once said Perfect Practice makes perfect!!! This means train smart, train correct and you will be able to develop this muscle memory and have it last, with very little effort and in a relatively short time.

12. The Bright Side OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget Okay so up to now we have been looking at all these negative things that can happen while under stress, the effects it has on the body and so on and so on. Now let’s look at techniques to enhance learning speed. Let’s face it the more we know how the body works the more we can prepare for it’s effects. In the next section I’m going to talk about the 3 main types of learners and how we can use this to enhance our training. Not just enhance the speed of our training but the retention of the knowledge as well.

13. Accelerated Learning Methods OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget There are 3 main ways people learn Through Vision Through Hearing Through Kinetics or Movement (actually doing something) There are almost no purest out there in the world today, meaning that no person is strictly a vision learner or strictly a kinetic learner, but a combination of the three. By feeding all three methods you will cut in half the time it takes you to learn techniques and understand how and why they work. Now these methods will work with anything but since this is a focused study on the Open Circle Fighting Method, I’m going to limit my focus to that.

14. No Gaps! OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget We often hear Master Stutely talk about no gaps in our physical techniques, I’m going to go one step further and tell you no gaps in our Neural Pathways as well. Like I said earlier, to make things second nature we need to keep doing them to build that “muscle memory” this is actually just a way to keep neural pathways open and running smoothly, what happens when we stop, the pathways start to fade and we loose some of that 2 nd nature movement when we react to stimuli. So “No Gaps” we need to feed all three forms of learning, because like I said there are no purest out there. What’s the best way to feed all three? Let me tell you. It’s a combination of using multimedia and then doing the movements your self. By using multi media you will engage the visual learner, you will engage the audio learner and then by doing what you just watched and listened to you will engage the kinetic learner, and since most of us are a combo of the three you will pick up and retain the methods at break neck speeds guaranteed.

15. The Method OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget In order to learn we must use our cognitive brain function. In order to do that you must be relaxed. That is one of my biggest problems with the traditional dojo set up with some old rough sensei barking orders at the students treating them as if in the military (Those of you who know me, know I was in the Marine Corps so I have an idea of this military mindset), but I digress. Relaxation is the key! These are the steps I want you to use when learning anything new, or even when reviewing something, I want you to treat it as if your learning it for the very first time.

16. Step One OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget Step One: Relax! (starting to see how much importance I place on relaxation?) There are several methods to relax and meditation techniques pick your favorite and use that if you wish. I personally just sit with my feet flat on the floor, hands in my lap and I lean back with my eyes shut and visualize a soft white light just behind and above my head, giving off a warmth and vibrating just a bit. This helps to stimulate the brain whilst at the same time allowing the body to relax, visualize all the tension just melting away out of your body.

17. Step Two OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget Step Two: Preview the material. What I want you to do if you’re a Platinum student or an OCFM Coach doesn’t matter. Give this a try. Get our your OCFM Manual and open to the Balance Points Section. I will use this as the example because it’s the first thing we are taught. I don’t want you to read word for word. Just look at the pictures glance at the words for anything that stands out, look at the pictures again then shut your book. The Idea is to just get a preview of what your about to learn on the DVD or Video Download. It’s a way to sort of prime your brain to accept the new info your about to get.

18. Step Three OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget Step three: Watch the Balance Point video. First watch it with no volume, that’s right mute the sound and just watch the movements. Watch how each person’s body moves. The more you watch it on mute the better, just watch and allow your subconscious to absorb what’s going on. Next turn the sound back on. Watch and actively listen to the instructions. This way you have just used your Visual then your Auditory learning factors. One thing I like to do also is have my students watch a video of me doing the movements then have them watch Master Stutely doing the movements and tell them I want them to look for differences. This way they are actively watching and learning.

19. Step Four OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget Step Four: The final step is the kinetic process of learning, or actually going out and practicing what they just watched. This can be done a few different ways. A great way to practice is to watch the moves pause the video then perform the moves. This way every step is fresh in your mind. Another great tool is notebooks. If you’re a student who’s waiting for his or her turn then take notes on what the other students are doing, what do you see good, what do you see that can be improved on. This way you are again using visual cues to learn. If you use these simple four steps in your training you will be setting yourself up for great success in your learning!!!!

20. In Closing OCFM- Ada Coach Jason Winget My passion has always been to teach people to protect themselves and be able to protect their loved ones should the need ever arise. As I’ve pointed out at the beginning of this presentation there are a lot of things that can go wrong and cause you to freeze under stress, so the quicker you learn and commit this information to your memory and can make these movements 2 nd nature the more I and you can be confident that you can handle what ever life throws at you.