Intent and Intensity

        I've been pondering over intent for a while now, and how I can use my intent to get my body to act the way I want it too.  However, there are lots of distractions that can interfere or influence us.  Our classmates, our instructors, external noises, etc., all play a part in how we perform.  Keeping up speed with our classmates, listening to the instructions from our instructors, your own internal voice; all these things blaring in our heads and muddying our once pure intent.  Part of intent is our focus.  If you're distracted, then how can our intent be pure?  We have to try and drown out as much as we can, so that we can have a clearer vision of what it is we are trying to accomplish.

        Right now, for me, I need to listen to what I need to do more.  I listen to my instructors, really try to listen to what they're saying, but I still have to pay attention to what my intent is too, otherwise I'll achieve neither.  That looks like getting more grounded and stable in my stances, that is making my movements sharper and more defined, it is making sure I am transferring my power in my strikes and blocks by harmonizing my upper and lower half.  It is having such a clear picture of what I want to do, so that my body can follow suit.  Easier said than done.

        This leads me into my other topic, intensity.  I find it is really easy to get really tense in my forms, when incorporating intensity.  Which begs the question, why?  For me part of it is the setting.  You're being told more speed, more power, more intensity, and that causes a stress response.  My muscles tighten up, and in an attempt to accomplish all the above, I lose technique.  I've sacrificed my grounding and my technique, for "speed", "power", and, "intensity".  Have I really gained much more speed, power, or intensity though?  Probably not.  Nothing that would be effective in a real world scenario at least.  So, even in circumstances like this, I need to listen to what is being said, but then I have to listen as to what it really means for me.  Sure I'm going to try and apply speed and power into my form, but not at the cost of losing technique.  I'm always trying to push that boundary, but I need to try and maintain the heart of what I'm doing.

        As for intensity, what intensity means to me it having a laser like focus.  Unwavering to what is in-front of me.  It can manifest as something physical like speed or power, but I believe it is less transparent, and yet still very tangible.  It is a feeling others will perceive that keeps them glued to what the person is doing, their heart rate spiking, and the hair on their arms rising.  Someone with great intensity can charge the air around them.  This is my goal for when I want to show intensity in my forms.