Focus Pads and Intention

Punching mitts, focus pads, targets… whatever you want to call them, these foam stuffed squares are a great tool for the martial artist.  (No, I’m not trying to sell you any.)
Intention, focus, willpower… whatever you call it, is the ability to put thought into action.  Often, it requires an external stimulus (focus pad) to get a person to act.

Today in forms class, we used them to drill the application of the form Mo Yee Do (second martial way).  The form is intended to be done as a solo drill but that solo drill becomes much better informed (read: better) when students are given a chance to work the moves against the appropriate strikes/targets.  After a few rounds of drilling the form against a target, when students go solo again, the moves invariably look crisper, more powerful and loaded with extra intention.

So why not always drill the form with a partner holding the focus pads?  Sometimes the option simply isn’t there: the school is closed for the holidays, it’s a holiday or nobody else in class knows the form.  But above and beyond that, it’s important that the student comes to realize over time that intention should be able to be summoned internally – without the focus pads or a partner.  Once a student can bring about that kind of focus by themselves, without a partner (and even without a teacher) they’ve truly tread deeply along the path of the martial artist.