Mirroring ways to move as described by Maija Soderholm.

Maija’s new book “The Hustler” focuses greatly on strategy rather than tactics. Most examples of her tactics she references to her first book.

So I pulled out her first book again.

And one section stood out to me a great deal, the section on mirroring movement of another person. This is very similar to Rory Millers neuro plasticity drill, not surprising since she has worked closely with him and his group.

Her concept is a bit different however. Rory says to think of an animal, a force of nature, a character in a novel or a real life person and to embody that in your training.

Maija however says to study the way people walk or move when in daily life and training, and asks us to moniter how it changes us as a person, how it influences our own psychology. The thread being that movement can be revealing of aspects of a persons history or can change your own state of mind. IE if you are timid, you can change your mindset simply by moving like something that is not.

Another difference is that Rory uses neuro plasticity/mimicing something or someone to integrate our skills. We may know Muay Thai and judo, but may have no idea how to throw it all together, but by embodying something can make that process easier, especially if you do so in the setting of training. It’s very ingenious, Rory tell us to weaponize being a child, to make play into a weapon, imagination.

Maija uses this concept however, to study and learn different ways to move and think to switch in a fight. Perhaps your in a duel or get attacked, and you hit your attacker with everything including the kitchen sink, you move forward and explosively.

But somehow this person tanks it all, and they begin to drive you back, which is not your style. You move forward.

Maija would say you would benefit studying and learning to fight with a style and even a combat philosophy that is the antithesis of your own, perhaps someone that moves back and sets traps, or leaves baits for an opponent to follow and over extend.

Remember my first post? About how Maija teaches the strongest mind might not always be the one to survive if it is predictable. She teaches mindset is to read others well while being very hard to read yourself.

Well the concept of studying movement and psychology to mimic or shift between different ones is one method she teaches to do such a thing.

It’s not a new concept to study different ways of moving or even mimicking psychology like an actor. But she did put it into perspective of ‘mindset’ and strategy in a fight.

Maija and Rory. Both of them examine movement and it’s interplay with psychology.