Fear-Reactivity

[Michael Brown]

In reviewing some of the material in the RMAX catalog, I came across a term which I would like to be familiarized with.

Fear-Reactivity.

Could someone provide an example of Fear-Reactivity?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

[circular]

Michael,
Coach Sonnon's simple definition is,
Fear-Reactivity is the undischarged emotional arousal elicited by traumatic crisis which over time conditions chronic patterns of defensive bracing and tension. It is Fear-Reactivity rather than lack of ability which interferes with performance and survival.
There are extensive descriptions and explanations at Body-Flow: Freedom From Fear-Reactivity (http://www.rmax.tv/bodyflow.html) and Body-Flow: Biomechanical Exercise & Kinetic Chains (http://ww.rmax.tv/kinetic.html).
Read through all of the relevant articles in Coach Sonnon's Musings here at CST Forum. It is a very large body of work and your best course of action is to buy Coach Sonnon's book on the subject.

[Michael Brown]

I saw the definition.

I guess what I am asking for is an example. I cannot think of any particular learned physical movement that is an activated response to fear of injury that is negative (i.e. moving out of the way of a rock thrown at you).

I am sure it exists, but I would like to know a little about the concept before shelling out for the book. If you've been in nartial arts for long enough, you start to ask questions before you purchase books or videos.

Thanks in advance.

Mike

[circular]

Michael,

Coach Sonnon's Book regards Freedom from Fear-Reactivity not Response. Responsiveness which intends to be "recovered, developed and refined." Read The Mythology of the Flinch Reflex (http://circularstrengthmag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1009) for a common vocabulary of Coach Sonnon's work.

In the link provided above ( http://www.rmax.tv/kinetic.html ), you can find the examples which you request:
Their exercise methodology just happened to have a lot of similarities to the way primates "play with a purpose" in the wild.

A light-bulb illuminated what had remained dark for so long. You see I had already researched many sources on the activities of animals but had dismissed them as not being relevant to humans.* My 8 years in the University studying philosophy and psychology, from a larger perspective, allowed me to understand the impact of "play with a purpose" and how critical this was to human children.

Children run, jump, tumble, bound, leap, twist, turn, dive, and all the while... giggling with glee.* A wise man once said to me, "if you want to know the secret to immortality, spend the day following a 10 year old and do exactly what he does."

Children imagine grand adventures with no limits to their possibilities.* Ask a child what s/he wants to be when s/he "grows up" and you'll get all manner of grandiose ideas.* No limits.* No shackles.* No fear.

So what happens between the child of wild ideas and infinite energy and the "realistic" decrepit adult they become?* What paved the road to living the life of suffering, limitation and decay? TRAUMA!

When your nervous systems prepare you to meet a danger, you shift into a super charged energized state. If while, or shortly after, defending yourself you discharge this energy, your nervous system shifts down into normal functioning again. You feel heroic, larger than life and you buzz with accomplishment.*

For a child, danger lay everywhere... but a child is not daunted by danger, but excited by it... curious about it.* The role of a parent is to prepare a child to meet the dangers, and then to allow the child to experience manageable challenges... and sometimes fail, sometimes succeed, but always actively engaging the task at hand, always with support, and always with a watchful eye and guiding word.

If a challenge, or true threat, is not dealt with successfully, that generated energy stays locked within the body.* The child now confronts a major self-perpetuating dilemma.* The perception of the threat, and the aroused state of energy itself signals danger to the body for greater arousal, so you're receiving double the message.

When a child jumps from one rock to the next over a pretty long drop, tries a back flip off the dive board, rides a bicycle without training wheels for the first time, or has a playground bully pushing him or her around, s/he gets the danger signal from the actual threatening event, but also from the increased pulse, shallow, rapid breathing, sweaty skin, increased muscle tone, queasy butterflies, heightened awareness of the event.

When something goes wrong and you're not able to discharge the energy of this highly activated state, your body concludes that you are still in danger.* As a result, your nervous system restimulates you over and over in a feedback loop trying to maintain each new level of arousal.
When this feedback loops happens, you have the birth of what I call "Fear-Reactivity" in my book: Body-Flow: Freedom from Fear-Reactivity. Your body stimulates all of the physiological and biochemical mechanisms it can to deal with the threat, but the problem is that it can't maintain this heightened state without dealing with the issue - the original threat.* Basically, your nervous system cannot discharge this energy on its own.* It needs help, and without that help, the undischarged energy creates a self-perpetuating cycle of stimulation which will eventually overload your system.

You desperately need an outlet from the cycle created by both the perception of the threat and your arousal to meet the challenge in order to regain your equilibrium.* If the child does not get this opportunity to respond and release this "bound" energy, the child's system compensates by creating what is now known as Fear-Reactivity.

What is Fear-Reactivity?

Your nervous system compensates for the self-perpetuating state of arousal by initiating a chain of adaptations.* (I speak to this in my first book, Clubbell Training for Circular Strength as the Laws of Conditioning.)* These adaptations eventually progress by binding and organizing reactions in case similar threats appear.

But here's what's much, much worse...* These adaptations also bind and organize reactions if it experiences internal arousal like it did in response to the initial threat.* Basically, as you experience an increased pulse, shallow, rapid breathing, sweaty skin, increased muscle tone, queasy butterflies, heightened awareness of the event, you REACT as if you were confronting that dangerous situation again.

I'm sure you all can imagine examples of this "gun-shy" child behavior... the wincing, flinching, bracing, fleeing, fainting which results from being traumatized from an event.* Too much of this "Fear-Reactivity" and the child turns into the adult recluse, pulling in from everything, afraid to do anything, developing all manner of pathological symptoms.

You see, your system cannot differentiate between a real danger, and a symbolic/emotional perceived threat.* Your system responds the same if you see a car pull out in front of you or if your boss acts belligerently in your face - arousal.* If you don't discharge that energy, your system organizes it, "binds" it, so that it becomes manageable.* "Fear-Reactivity" is a coping mechanism.* It's not a useful one, but it's actually your system's attempt to DO SOMETHING with the energy since it was denied the opportunity to discharge it. Please read the entire suggested links, and if you are a highly skeptical consumer, do not purchase any of Coach Sonnon's material until you do so.

[Scott Sonnon]

Mike,

It may help you to think of Fear-Reactivity as Over-Reactivity (FR exceeds this comparison although the utility should be immediately apparent). Think of the defensive bracing engaged by an abused spouse when s/he perceives an imminent threat. In your profession, I suspect you've encountered this "gun-shy" jerking more than most because of your exposure to domestic violence. Over time the body adapts to the internal bracing, and progresses, like any form of conditioning. It's just that this form of 'training' produces negative outcomes. The chronic bracing and hyper-irritability demonstrated by many law enforcement and military personnel is precisely the Fear-Reactivity which not only hampers performance, but diminishes survivability.

As you're probably aware in your vocation, the body cannot differentiate between an emotional/symbolic threat and an actual, true threat. We mobilize in defense the same... and we face deleterious effects if we have not in advance shifted the central nervous system's responsiveness to external stimuli. You're well aware of the adverse effects of the neuroendocrine "dump" into your bloodstream when facing hostile subjects, and probably you've developed certain preparatory strategies so that you mitigate the heightened arousal more effectively - in a proportional manner which increases your survivability, as well as your courtroom defensibility.

The impact is not limited to violent encounters. The body protects traumatized sites by increasing the tonus and irritability of that area to prevent painful movement, until such a time that the site heals and the tonus releases. However, due to ineffective recovery and over-training, most people do not release the 'formerly protective' muscle tension. Furthermore, the echo of the painful trauma often competes for the individual's movement of the area... movement which may actually accelerate the healing process, as well as the nutritive and lubricative washing areas such as joint soft tissue.

Nor is this situation limited to injuries... In sports, it is most often the case that it is not a strength deficit, but rather an ineffective training habit which diminishes performance. For instance, the MMA fighter whose steady training partner consistently rained blows on his neck each time he shot for a double leg. At his first tournament, he doesn't fully commit when his opponent makes a similar gesture... and exposes himself to a guillotine or easy sprawl counter.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate. As long as my schedule permits, I'm available.

[Michael Brown]

Thank you for the explanation and examples. That is extremely profound material.

Would it be fair to say that your method trains the subconcious through physical means on the basis that the subconcious cannot determine the difference between fantasy and reality once it has been so conditioned?

Mike

[Scott Sonnon]

Mike, it's my pleasure.
I have called my approach Somatic Engineering as opposed to the conventional emphasis upon what some call Cerebral Engineering. I prefer the practical, physical (neurophysiological) approach, if that's what you're asking, yes

[bob_stra]

I saw the definition.

I guess what I am asking for is an example. I cannot think of any particular learned physical movement that is an activated response to fear of injury that is negative (i.e. moving out of the way of a rock thrown at you).



There is the simplest, most elegant example in GTB 1.1

Kneel down, place your hands behind your back. You are balancing on your knees.

Fall. Flat onto your face.

As you fall, you'll experience an ungodly desire to quickly whip out your arms and catch yourself with your hands (as opposed to doing the 'front chest roll' that is shown). Doing so in a 'dynamic situation' will injur your hands / break wrists.

This brings up a whole set of interesting questions. Do you need to be shown what the 'front chest roll' (not Scott's term) looks like before you can do it? Is it a natural movement? Something you can discover? Can you only do it under certain circumstances (drunk, happy, sad, trying to impress someone, for $100 etc)? What do you feel in falling? How smart is your system in trading off broken wrists for a broken face - very smart or not so smart?

So you see, there's lots to play with, even with this 'silly' little movement ;-)

Addendum: I've been trying to learn how to swim better over these past two weeks. You can add "drowning" as an example of negative response. :twisted: