Situational Awareness (Patreon)

• LMA Curriculum

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Just as it is important to transition into training, it's also important to transition out of training. Just as you want to ease into intensity, you want to leave that intensity in the gym and not carry it with you. Transition out of training and spend some time thinking about what you want to carry with you from today's training into the world. This is also a time to download all this new information and awareness. Not all consciously, most of it into your muscles and bones. The world may not change since you entered the gym, but you can change, and you can be different from how you entered.

During the outset, you focused on raising internal awareness that you carried through your training. Now we're going to raise situational awareness that you'll carry out with you.

You can either stand, sit, or lie on your back. Close your eyes. Instead of bringing attention to yourself, bring attention to your surroundings. Listen. What can you hear? Who can you hear? Can you hear the acoustics? Can you gauge distance? Your body took in information before you closed your eyes. Not just from what it saw but also from listening and moving in space. The body uses all its senses; now it's time to tap into it. This is spatial awareness and spatial mapping. Your senses have built a map. It's a skill you want to develop and practice until it's automatic.

Do you remember how many steps it was to the nearest exit? How far it was? How many exits there are? How far you are from the walls? How far you are from everyone else? If you're outside, how well do you remember the general layout? Surroundings aren't just what you see but also what you feel. It's how you know where the keyhole to your ignition or door handle is without looking because you already mapped and memorized the scale and placement of the locks. It's how you know the general layout of your home or how you can get home on autopilot. It's already been mapped.

It's alright to open your eyes and check and see where things are, then close your eyes and see if you can sense the same things without looking. We rely too much on what's immediate and in front of our eyes. We often balance with our eyes, which means we haven't developed internal balance. This is also true for distance; if we have to look to see how we've moved, it can be too late. Using our eyes to read distance is risky because our eyes can be deceived. Just as we've learned to develop and trust our internal spider-sense, what's right in front of us can be false, and truth can be felt in the bones.

Map your space. Sense it in three dimensions. Sense it live. Gather new information when it presents itself. Listen. Feel. Trust.

Situational and spatial awareness is why some people trip over training partners, walls, and equipment while training, and some don't. It's about knowing the obstacle is there before it's too late. It's about walking in the city and seeing the potholes ahead and knowing they're there when you get to them. It's going for an outdoor run and seeing the path ahead of you and knowing how to avoid pitfalls when they appear without having to slow down because you already knew they were coming.

Living can be an unpredictable endeavor. If you don't keep your feet, you'll be swept off by your surroundings.

– Sam