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It's funny, with me the more Shiatsu I do the less PP work I do in my martial arts. What I will say that Shiatsu has given me is a much deeper sensitivity when I touch a body. After a while you can simply look at a persons structure to see where they are carrying tension, it becomes very intuitive. I've found that the most competent and effective fighters have been those that have had continual dynamic exposure to contact with opponents. Taiji people who push hands, Judoka and Jujitsu players who wrestle, Boxers and Muy Thai people are amongst the toughest people to play with in the Martial Arts. I think this is due to the bodies ability to learn intuitively through physical contact with their partners. I strongly suspect this is why I've noticed huge skill gaps in those that practice healing arts and those that don't. I think its due to the amount of hands on time they get through direct human to human contact. This why I believe totally in the concept of 'aliveness' in training. PP people are good at hitting people coz they spend so much damn time hitting people. IMHO at least.

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great point gavin!

if you are trying to practice a martial skill which requires combat with another human then you need to train with as many different types of human as you can.

i try to get my hands on as many people as i can as seminars and training groups either i teach or my instructor. also i try not to use my own students for demos as this again can give a false sense of reality to both the people training with me and myself!!



after a while i have noticed that some people react in different ways to attack either pp attacks or just punching and kicking. also that when someone is not affected with a point in one area they usually are sensitive in another predictable area, or they are hyper sensitive to joint locks etc...

being able to flow between responces to what is presented to you is only gained from drilling and semi-free sparring with increasing levels of resistance.