Okay, I have a confession to make, Sensei did in no way almost murder me.
There, I've said it, good to get it off my chest.
However Sensei did once almost suffocate me to the point where I lost consciousness.
For the life of me I can't remember the name of the technique but I'm sure you'll all know what I mean when I say it's the one where you suffocate Uke.
Well anyway I was training with Soon (Tan Chin Soon) at the time, when Sensei grabs Soon to go over a technique prior to demonstrating it to the class. It's the suffocation technique, except we're doing it with Uke pinned firmly to the ground.
Sensei does it with Soon twice who taps out in due course both times. No problem, but then it's my turn.
Sensei begins applying the technique and before I know I can't breathe and the lack of oxygen has for some reason caused me to entirely lose the ability to use my arms to tap out. My vision is going dark around the edges, a darkness which is quickly filling my whole vision and I'm trying to tell Sensei that I can't breathe but, of course, I can't get any words out as he's also crushing my larynx. I was at this point entirely helpless and becoming quite scared....
Then Sensei releases me, realising that I'm not going to tap out and have reacted badly to the pin. Vision returns as well as sensations in my arms. At this point I notice my left hand is repeatedly clenching and unclenching involuntarily, I try to stop it but I can't.
I was filled with a terror that I had permanently lost the use of my left arm, its hard to describe what it feels like to completely lose control of your arm. It wasn't that I couldn't feel it, or that it was unable to move, I could feel it and it was moving despite my brain telling it to stop.
But luckily that eventually passed too and I managed to breathlessly utter to Sensei that I thought I needed to sit to one side for a few minutes.
This all took place in the space of about 5 seconds but it felt much longer.
Sensei sat me up and put me in a position to help me regain my breath for a while. Then he decided that perhaps we shouldn't do the technique.
Thanks for reading!
