As there do not appear to be any threads breaching the topic yet I figured I'd get one rolling.
There are a few directions a thread like this could go, principally delving into personal experiences or training methods.
While it would be best to stick with personal experiences since there are some really great stories out there worth retelling I won't say don't share.
To get the ball rolling on training methods my instructor has always maintained "the most critical factor to training your intuition is to react in some way EVERY time you receive an intuitive signal".
My personal technique is to instantly flank left or right one step while stooping thus relocating my head and upper body as I feign a sudden look of realization(to cover up the sudden movement) and turn my head enough to see behind then at a moderate pace scan back around to the front. The intention of the feign is not to say "haha I know you are there", it is quite the opposite, to the observer I appear deep in thought and completely disconnected from the environment around me. This way I can shift rapidly into counter surveillance drills and dissappear if the situation allows it. The feign also eliminates unnecessary embaressment since most of the time the trigger will merely be someone INTENSELY focusing on you but not actually presenting an immediate threat.
Intuitive signals differ from person to person and over time, currently my most common indicator is a rapid tension in the chest but when I was first starting out with partner drills it was realizing that I was leaning forward for no reason. For the uninitiated, practice in partner drills revolves around standing still while your Training partner attempts to focus a genuine intent to do you harm and proceeds to attack you from behind. Probably the most useful tool the brain has to alert you of immediate danger is memories and as such training and real world experiences are essential for developing a finely honed sense of what is to come.
As far as personal experiences go, I have succesfully slipped out of an ambush milliseconds before the shit hit the fan and once while messing around in border towns between Vietnam and China my Threat level reached some pretty critical levels, no two ways about it those people hated me. Also I once had the good fortune to be involved in the training of a person to fight blindfolded which was freakishly effective.
As far as hand me down stories go a friend whom had the unusual fortune of being in the Australian SAS during the Vietnam conflict tells a story of getting the "feeling" that there was someone else on the other side of a valley ahead so he squated on his haunches and waited, for two days, pissing and shitting in his own pants. After two days and Lord knows what going through his mind a stick broke up ahead, he fired two 7.62mm rounds and heard the unmistakable thump of a body hitting the ground. I guess after 2 days the other guy thought it was just in his imagination.
There are a few directions a thread like this could go, principally delving into personal experiences or training methods.
While it would be best to stick with personal experiences since there are some really great stories out there worth retelling I won't say don't share.
To get the ball rolling on training methods my instructor has always maintained "the most critical factor to training your intuition is to react in some way EVERY time you receive an intuitive signal".
My personal technique is to instantly flank left or right one step while stooping thus relocating my head and upper body as I feign a sudden look of realization(to cover up the sudden movement) and turn my head enough to see behind then at a moderate pace scan back around to the front. The intention of the feign is not to say "haha I know you are there", it is quite the opposite, to the observer I appear deep in thought and completely disconnected from the environment around me. This way I can shift rapidly into counter surveillance drills and dissappear if the situation allows it. The feign also eliminates unnecessary embaressment since most of the time the trigger will merely be someone INTENSELY focusing on you but not actually presenting an immediate threat.
Intuitive signals differ from person to person and over time, currently my most common indicator is a rapid tension in the chest but when I was first starting out with partner drills it was realizing that I was leaning forward for no reason. For the uninitiated, practice in partner drills revolves around standing still while your Training partner attempts to focus a genuine intent to do you harm and proceeds to attack you from behind. Probably the most useful tool the brain has to alert you of immediate danger is memories and as such training and real world experiences are essential for developing a finely honed sense of what is to come.
As far as personal experiences go, I have succesfully slipped out of an ambush milliseconds before the shit hit the fan and once while messing around in border towns between Vietnam and China my Threat level reached some pretty critical levels, no two ways about it those people hated me. Also I once had the good fortune to be involved in the training of a person to fight blindfolded which was freakishly effective.
As far as hand me down stories go a friend whom had the unusual fortune of being in the Australian SAS during the Vietnam conflict tells a story of getting the "feeling" that there was someone else on the other side of a valley ahead so he squated on his haunches and waited, for two days, pissing and shitting in his own pants. After two days and Lord knows what going through his mind a stick broke up ahead, he fired two 7.62mm rounds and heard the unmistakable thump of a body hitting the ground. I guess after 2 days the other guy thought it was just in his imagination.
