Orange Belt Technique
This technique works for someone grabbing our hair with his left hand. As mentioned in previous blog techniques, our first consideration when someone is grabbing us is typically the opponent's free hand, or the one that isn't grabbing us. Just as important is to make sure that we pin the hand that is grabbing us. If we neglect the importance of the pin as someone grabs our hair, and proceed by simply trying to knock it off, we will likely lose a good chunk of it. Therefore, in Clutching Feathers, we pin the opponent's left grabbing hand with our left hand and step back with our left foot into a right neutral bow to get away from the opponent's free (right) hand which could potentially punch us. This, of course, assumes that the environment allows us to step back. The pin and step back will put the opponent on an angle of disturbance, as his height and width will be controlled momentarily. In sync with the pin and step back, we strike with a right middle knucke shot to the lymph nodes underneath the opponent's left armpit.
A few noteworthy points about the middle knuckle strike: (1) this is a specialized weapon aimed at hitting a specific target. If a straight vertical thrust punch were to be used instead of the right middle knuckle strike, it wouldn't be able to penetrate the nerves in the armpit which facilitate the release of the opponent's grabbing hand to our hair (2) the middle knuckle strike to the lymph nodes is a THRUSTING strike as opposed to a SNAPPING ONE. The idea is to thrust our middle knuckle strike right into the attacker's lymph nodes (3) the middle knuckle strike will cancel the opponent's height by raising him up on his toes (thus preventing any type of a counter knee or kick attack); this in turn, will aid in the width cancellation which means that the opponent will be unable to counter with his free (right) hand because he is up on his toes; the depth is cancelled as well.
So what do we want to do when someone grabs our hair? Pin the opponent's hand that is grabbing us to save our hair, and get away from the opponent's other arm. Just as important is to cause injury to the attacker so that we can safely escape from the encounter.
