physically move to react

Reacting is not always the best solution to a problem, I am there before you move; is a good illustration of the concept relative to position and seeing the overall picture. Push hands develops a feeling arm that is dynamically adapting. That being said, reaction time will be discussed,without limiting it to a reactive approach. One can be proactive, preventative, or nip something in the bud (or base of power).

The renown researcher of the neurology of fear, Dr. Joseph DeLoux of New York University, in his book The Emotional Brain, found that there are two kinds of fear in the brain: fast fear and slow fear.

Fast fear travels the low road of the brain: senses to thalamus, then to the amygdale, which is located deep within the brain on the temporal sides; time 12 milliseconds.

Slow fear travels the high road of the brain: senses to thalamus which sends it to the cortex (higher up); time 24 milliseconds.

Both systems occur simultaneously, with the same sense data, the theory being that you cannot have speed and accuracy on the same circuit.

Traditional philosophy represents this separation as horse mind (slow) and monkey mind (fast).

Bear in mind, this is not the time to process the information, or physically move to react.

12 milliseconds or 1 hundredth of a second might not seem like much difference, but consider that there are some people that can beat a flash. Beating a flash is blinking your eyes when a photo is shot with a flash. The difference in speed between the flash, and camera shutter is one fiftieth of a second, or 2 hundredths. I and others can beat it trying, and by surprise, some just by surprise. You test your reaction theories with the flash.