Alana on Ueshiba and martial arts
In this interview, Alana discusses her recent jiu‑jitsu tournament where she earned double gold, reflecting on the emotional and strategic factors that contributed to her success. The conversation shifts to a quotation from Morihei Ueshiba, founder of aikido, which advises against staring at an opponent’s eyes, focusing on their sword, or concentrating on the opponent, suggesting instead that a practitioner should bring the opponent into their "sphere." Alana and the host explore each line, relating it to her own competition experience. They examine visual focus, the psychological impact of intimidation, and the importance of not over‑fixating on an opponent’s energy. The dialogue delves into the concept of a "sphere" as both a physical space—maintaining proximity for control—and a mental space—dominating the opponent’s mindset. Alana describes her pre‑match self‑talk, coaching pep talks, and how she balances mental and physical training. They discuss strategic planning with a coach, adapting to familiar and unexpected opponents, scoring mechanics, and the broader philosophical dimensions of martial arts, including references to the film The Karate Kid and the appeal of martial‑arts philosophy. The interview concludes with Alana expressing interest in further exploring these ideas.
Chapters
Hey Alana, how are you? I'm good, how are you?
I'm well. I believe you had a tournament last weekend.
Yes, I did.
How did it go?
It went very well for me.
Good. Um, and very well because you liked how you performed, or because you won, or because you saw old friends, or all of the above?
Um, well, both. Pretty much all the above. I got to see my friends and they were cheering for me. I won double gold and I'm happy with how I performed. So it's 3 out of 3.
You won double gold. Congrats.
Thank you.
Great. Do you happen— have you ever heard of Aikido?
I have, but I don't— I honestly don't know. I know it's a martial art, but I don't know I don't know how to do it, or I've never really seen it.
That's okay. It gets complicated. I think it's sort of a cousin of jiu-jitsu. There's kind of families of martial arts, and I think aikido and jiu-jitsu are sort of in a similar family. I think they broke off about maybe 50 or 100 years ago. But I have a quotation from Morihei Ueshiba, who is the founder of aikido. And so I thought it might be interesting to talk about something related to martial arts. Bless you.
I'm okay, please.
So do you want to read the quotation by Ueshiba?
Okay, let me pull it up. Do not stare into the eyes of your opponent. He may mesmerize you. Do not fix your gaze on his sword. He may intimidate you. Do not focus on your opponent at all. He may absorb your energy. The essence of training is to bring your opponent completely into your sphere. Then you can just stand where you like.
So first of all, does this make sense or does it not make sense?
It, it makes a little sense, but I don't completely understand the last part where it talks about bringing your opponent into your sphere.
Well, let's, as we always do, start at the beginning. And sometimes as we get a clearer understanding of each piece, then the piece at the end makes more sense. Sometimes not. And sometimes we disagree with things. Let's start with the first part. Do not stare into the eyes of your opponent. He may mesmerize you. Does that make sense?
I think it makes sense.
Do you tend to stare into the eyes of your opponent, or do you avoid it? Or how— what's your strategy there?
Um, I guess I do both. I don't really do more than one. I guess it's just subconscious because I'm focused on actually fighting. But when I look into their eyes, I don't really— I don't feel like they mesmerize me. Um, I guess I'm just focused. I don't know.
Yeah, well, it could be. And I guess I would expect that you would be— you would want to see their whole body, and so you wouldn't want to kind of get stuck on their eyes, because if you get too stuck on their eyes, then they may start a movement before you see it. Does that seem accurate?
Yes, it does.
Um, but yeah, if you're not being— if it doesn't mesmerize you, no problem. And then of course, I assume you don't use swords, but when it says Do not fix your gaze on his sword, he may intimidate you. Does that also make sense?
I think it does, yeah, because it could mean swords, or it could— he could mean swords as maybe part of the body, because, well, maybe if you focus on one, I guess it could intimidate you. Maybe you know that they're really strong. And then you know that that hand is going to come for your, um, hand so it can control you or something. I guess that could intimidate you.
It could, although I think back in the day they actually used swords, which sounds personally scary to me. Could you imagine doing this with swords?
Um, not in this era, but maybe in the past I probably could.
Yeah, did you ever think about how martial arts really used to be used for serious fighting?
I never really thought about that.
Yeah, kind of crazy when you think, um, yeah, and even life or death fighting. In the case of swords, people could die. So I think it's a good thing that they don't use swords anymore. You get the positive benefits without the sword. Um, then the next one: do not focus on your opponent at all. He may absorb your energy. What does that mean?
Um, do not focus on your opponent. Well, if you focus completely on your opponent, I guess you could get more nervous. And when you're— or when I'm nervous, um, I tend to like want to sit down more, um, because I just feel a little more tired. I guess it takes up some of your energy.
So what do you focus on when you're out there on the mat getting ready to engage? Where would you say your focus is?
Um, talking to myself and saying I can do this. I guess that's most of it. But sometimes I'm like talking with my friends on the side or something because they can be on the other side of the fence and just kind of get my mind off everything. That's also really good.
Interesting. And, um, did somebody suggest you to you the, um, I can do it self-talk, or did you come up with that?
Um, well, I guess I, my, my brother and I started doing that like actually, um, after another fighter. But I guess I was always kind of doing that, but not as much.
Is the self-talk always pretty much along the lines of, "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this"?
Um, not always, but pretty much.
Okay, makes sense, of course, because you want to do that. Um, then I think the last two sentences do get a little bit more confusing, maybe. The essence of training is to bring your opponent completely into your sphere. What could that mean?
Maybe because of all your training, or yeah, because of all your training, um, well, you're training to control them and bring them and have them only defending, and you're the one attacking. So that could be it, into bring them into your sphere of attacks.
Okay, um, that kind of makes sense, but say more about what is your sphere. What do you think he means by your sphere?
Um, I'm not completely sure, but he could mean, well, for example, when you're fighting, you want to bring him close to you. Or something. I don't know.
Say more about, um, that you want them to be defending. Is, is it the case that you want to be attacking, you want them to be defending basically all the time? Is that the strategy?
Um, most of the time you want them to do that, but maybe when you're planning a certain move and you need to be defending, like maybe you need to be on the bottom or something. Or take your risk.
And is the— when you're doing that, is the idea it looks like you're defending but you're really planning an attack?
Yeah, something like that, definitely.
Got it. And then, um, when you say you want them close to you, um, I could guess, but explain why you want them close to you.
Um, well, most of the time when you're doing moves on them, you want them to be closer, touching you, right?
I guess in order to— well, I don't know the scoring for jiu-jitsu. How do you score points?
Certain positions give you certain points, and certain— or if you do something, then you get a point. But I think that's only for one of the cases.
So do you plan how to get points, or do you just plan to do your best? Or do you not have a strategy going into it?
Um, before matches I usually try and create a strategy with my coach who's, um, with me, um, because most of the time I fought those girls before and so I kind of know what to do. But sometimes I don't and I just kind of have to watch them. But there is definitely some strategy that's going into um, my fighting.
Got it. And so because you've seen them before, you know kind of what they like to do, how they like to move, how they're going to attack you?
Yes, but sometimes it can be unexpected. Like, they know your game, so they change their game up.
Of course, of course. So the essence of training is to bring your opponent completely into your sphere. We had two things into the— my— your sphere might mean. One is just physically close The other is, um, something, uh, where you want to be the one attacking and they're defending. How is bringing them into your sphere a matter of, um, putting them on the defensive?
Um, well, once they're close to you and you move first or you execute something first, that could mean that, um, they're defending and you're attacking. Well, because you attempt first, and so they have to defend, or else you're like— it's likely that you're going to get something, or get the move, or get score points.
From the way you're talking, I want to— it sounds like maybe what sphere means is sphere of your control, that you want to bring your opponent into your sphere of control. That is, and maybe does it make sense to call um, to say you have a sphere of control, or does that not make sense?
That makes sense.
And so, uh, and is it like physical space, or is it psychological space, or is it both?
Um, I guess it would be kind of both because you're— they're literally in your sphere, but they're also in your— or marching to your game.
Would you say that jiu-jitsu has a substantial psychological component?
Um, wait, before I answer that question, can you tell me more what psychological means, just so I can answer that?
Having to do with the mind. How about just having to do with the mind? A mental game. Is it partially a mental game and partially a physical game?
Definitely, yes.
So say more about the, the mental game. In what way is it mental?
Well, you, you need to be strong in your mind or else you're just kind of, um, or else you're just gonna worry and worry until they've got the upper hand on you. Um, so that's one factor. Um, another one is that, well, obviously you need to plan and you need to know what to do if they do this or that or that. If you're in a certain position, you have to know what to do. Um, so that's all brain work.
Would you say that your training is mostly physical or mostly mental or a combination, maybe an integrated combination of mental and physical?
My training or my tournaments?
Your training. The training.
Um, well, sometimes I guess it is a little mental and physical. Um, because my coaches and professors, they do give us pep talks. Mostly before tournaments. Um, but they— but while we're doing like workouts and things, you do have to be strong in the mind, just as you are in tournaments. Because it's— because if you— well, because if you— or for example, if you're doing push-ups or something and you don't go all the way down, we're gonna have to restart. So, yeah.
So going back to the sentence, the essence of training is to bring your opponent completely into your sphere. Would you say that is making sense now?
It does make much more sense.
Maybe both your mental sphere and your physical sphere?
Yes.
Um, and what would it mean to bring them into your mental sphere?
Um, into your mental sphere. Well, maybe this is just an example, and I think this has happened before, but maybe if you are dominating them and then they become weaker in the mind, that could be bringing them into your mental sphere or breaking their mental sphere.
Would you say that when you're in a tournament you try to mentally dominate your opponent?
Um, I guess I've never thought about that, so I've never actually set it as a goal, but I guess it is always good too so that you feel confident.
How would you do that? How would you go about doing that?
Um, well, go until you have them in a good position and then just execute a lot of moves on them. And, um, I guess— wait, no, another way is to score a whole lot of points on them. And then when they look at the scoreboard, and then they— maybe it's like 32 to 0. My brother had— has gotten that once. Um, and then they see that I'm 32 and then they have 0 points. That kind of that will definitely deplete their— that will either deplete their, um, determination or make them fight harder. But I guess that is going into their mental sphere.
Got it. Then the last sentence, then you can stand just where you like. What do you think he means by that?
Um, then maybe you could be comfortable I'm not, I'm not sure, but it could mean that you can do whatever you want just because you're dominating them. That's, that's probably not what it means, but it's what I make sense of it now.
Again, just because I don't know, is there normally a certain place to stand, or do you strategize a lot where you stand when you're in tournaments?
Yes, there is normally a place to stand when you line up with the rest of your competitors, and then you move towards the mat and wait for your turn.
But then once it gets going, are you free to move around the mat however you need to move around?
Well, once you're actually on the mat, then it's time to fight. But you can fight wherever you want, just on that but on your section of the mat. But if you go too far to the sides, they do move you back into the middle so that you don't, um, tumble over somebody else.
Got it. Well, just going to your hypothesis about what this means, if you are, um, as long as you say, as long as you're mentally dominating them, would you say that you can, uh, be anywhere on the mat? You know, I'm assuming you're in the legal space. But that is, in some ways, mentally dominating them might be more important than your physical position?
I think it is just as important because it's— it is their mind that drives them to go to these tournaments and to fight hard. So yes.
Okay. Have you ever done or looked into martial arts philosophy before?
No, I haven't.
Um, were you kind of aware that there is a whole philosophy behind martial arts?
Yes, I was, but I didn't dive very deep into it.
Got it. Would you say it's interesting to you?
It is, yes, it's interesting.
Yeah, I know, I know some. Um, do you ever watch martial arts movies or TV shows?
Um, Well, besides Karate Kid, I guess I don't know of any other martial arts movies, but there are recordings of matches that I can watch.
The Karate Kid is a very famous one. Would you say there's a lot of philosophy in Karate Kid?
Yes.
Yeah, I would say in some ways it's mostly about philosophy and mental training. Um, yeah, no, I think one of the reasons martial arts are fascinating, in addition to the actual physical activity is all of this philosophy and mental, mental training and mental development and so forth. So I think, yeah, it might be interesting for you to explore that.
I will.
When's the last time you watched Karate Kid?
I remember watching it, but I don't know how long ago. It wasn't too long ago, maybe a few months ago.
Okay, so you're—
yeah, I've watched it like at least 2 times, so.
Okay, cool. Um, wonderful. In which case, um, I will let you go. But yeah, martial arts philosophy is really cool, really interesting, and your whole mental game I think is a fascinating aspect of it. So, um, have a wonderful day, and thanks as always. We'll see you next weekend.
Okay, thank you, Michael Strong. Bye-bye.
