Fall Gathering of the Tribes

I recently attended a seminar in Michigan at one of my favorite places to visit, Innovative Martial Arts with my host, Chuck Pippin Sensei. I consider a trip to see him and his immediate and extended family a distinct pleasure and seriously consider it a home away from home.
Quick review:
Chuck and his partner in the MA, Don Young, woke us all up in the morning to some drills from San Yan Do and the sweat was soon flowing.
Following the duo was Brian “Buzz” Smith of Maralinka Kuntaw and let me tell you, if you have the opportunity to visit him in Northern Michigan or attend one of his seminars, do so. He presents his information coherently and concisely. Aside from the information, he is a ball of energy and his students were a blast to work out with as well.
After lunch we were treated to a bit of Silat Zulfikari with Guru Mushtaq Ali Shah. We focused on structure in movement built upon some of the concepts that Buzz had introduced to us earlier.
The only real bummer of the day was that the opening stuff was supposed to be presented by Sterling Heibeck, but he went off and had his appendix removed. He is doing well, so I am sure that next time he will be rearin’ to go. I know that he particularly missed the fireside chat that delved deep into the gully of geekdom! Next time, man.
Prior to that chat we had a wonderful potluck at Chuck and Jeannie’s and a good time was had by all. The fire was still being stoked at 2 AM and that is par for the course.
The next day was a quick review by Buzz before he headed home with his crew. Once again; good info and sweat.
After a long lunch break, Guru Mushtaq made sure that Tony and I were on the right path with our Silat Zulfikari. We tweaked jurus-jurus 1 through 8 and looked at a few more things needing improvement. I am looking forward to new and improved training videos on the horizon.
All in all, I came away with some good memories, new friends and a better understanding of areas I was looking for.
Now is the time to train.
Jay

PSP Keluarga

Keluarga 2006 was another excellent experience. We covered primarily Level 7 material from the Pencak Silat Pertempuran (PSP), http://www.combat-silat.net/
The group explored Juru Satu extensively as is and with pecuhan. We also looked at the Boar aspects of PSP, ales, and masukan as well as harimau perspectives. As usual, Guru Stark presented his material in a concise and easily understood way. (It’s almost as if things are purposely put together to reach a desired outcome.) I came away with a better appreciation and understanding of Combat Silat.

Special guest Guru Daniel Prasetya from the Inner Wave Pencak Silat Union, http://www.intiombak.com/index.html was very personable and shared his art freely. We went over finishing moves, and a few of the principles that Guru Prasetya teaches such as push-pull, cantilever, rolling and the group favorite, skin separation. Along with that, we also explored the use of the whip. It was about 4 feet long and there was much cracking.

It was a pleasure to see people from last year as well as make new acquaintances and I look forward to Keluarga 2007.

Jay

small seminar review

The Pencak Silat Zulfikari seminar was a success, in my opinion. We touched on principles of breathing and movement with an emphasis on conditioning.
On Saturday morning we started with various up and down movements that are applicable to fighting. In other words, movements to put one in a position to do more than just get a good workout; some of those exercises involved the use of a weighted ball. All placed importance on breathing and being breathed. The group also worked on footwork and its relationship to positioning and dance.
After lunch, we briefly returned to some of the morning exercises to get loose then we moved into screwing the opponent, or using small spirals to get to where we need to be.
Following this concept, we had a cursory look at some of the movements and techniques of piper, a South African knife art. It was most interesting in regard to the footwork and sticking with your opponent, as we integrated what we did in the morning into it.
We were all starting to feel it in our legs by the end of the day. We adjourned and went to dinner at The Cookry, an African restaurant in Des Moines run by a man from Sierra Leone. Good stuff.
Sunday morning brought a return to the weighted ball exercises to warm up. Following that we turned to the fimbo. This is the every day stick of the Masai of East Africa. There are some very interesting dynamics that go with this art and the use of the infinity symbol, or figure eight is prevalent. We did more sticking drills and soft work to familiarize our bodies to movements that most descendants of Northern Europeans lack.
After lunch, Sterling Heibeck covered gun retention and ways to safely hold on to your handgun. If you are interested, I can hook you up with him to have a seminar. He is quite knowledgeable of the art of the gun.
Chuck Pippin closed out the seminar with a clinic on kicking. He presented the material supremely as he has been doing that kind of thing since he was in the womb. He definitely helped me see things a little differently on the art of kicking. I hope to improve in that department based on the information he passed on.
Overall, it was a very good look at some of the concepts that will allow someone to practiced based on energy of the opponent rather than amassing a bucket of techniques. Aside from the working out, the galvanizing of friendships was a fringe benefit. It’s all about the brotherhood.

TBAL

It is important that one has all their balls in order when heading into a confrontation. Therefore, when training, use this acronym to check yourself: TBAL.

What this stands for is Tools, Base, Angle, and Lever.
Tools. This could be whatever you have at your disposal to attack or defend from bare hands to a weapon of some sort. When training, check that the tools are usable or accessible.
Base. What's your structure look like? Is your body properly aligned to deliver maximum force while maintaining your structural integrity? While training, slow down and check this out.
Angle. Disrupt your opponent's energy and break their axis/axes. In other words, break their structure.
Lever. Here's where gravity is your friend and they find out it's not theirs. Once you have broken the structure of the opponent, it is fairly easy to assist them to the floor.

These do not need to be in the order of the handy acronym, but they should be used. Break down your attack and see where you may have a weakness. Think of it this way; make sure that everything is where it needs to be before proceeding. An analogy can be that when the light turns green, make sure no one is in hurry and running their red light, so check your surroundings and be aware of what you are doing.

Jay

breath

Please check out the posting on Mushtaq's blog under the heading, "Breath Play." His ideas on breathing are quite good. The way that breathing and movement are connected cannot be ignored.
http://tracelesswarrior.blogspot.com/
Overall, his blog is one of the best on the net that I have read.
Jay

movement pt 2

One way to practice when alone is through the use of jurus, or meta-movements. Commonly referred to as "forms" in most martial arts, the jurus focus on the movements of the upper body and their relationship to the opponent. They are a set of actions to familiarize yourself and your body with the way to deploy your tools.
The jurus in Silat Zulfikari are short and to the point. That makes for quick retention as well as effective usage.

Jay

movement

This may sound overly simple: if you can't move, you can't fight.
Physcial confrontations usually require movement. They throw a punch or jump on you in some way, you act in response to their move, or before that you take intiative and get them first.
Therefore, I feel that you need to be able to move. We practice this through the use of langkah, or lower body meta-movements.
These are basically footwork patterns that one can use as is or in combination with upper body meta-movements called djuru-djurus (or jurus for short).
The basic footwork is a straight line or garis. You move forward or back. Another form is tiga or triangle stepping. These are usually at a 45-degree angle but not necessarily.
How you move your feet will dictate what your upper body does, so one needs to be aware of positioning.
There are also various ways to move your feet. You can step and then bring the other foot along, you can push with the front or rear to move forward or away from the opponent. Another close range use of the feet is to rapidly replace one for the other in a pendulum-like fashion. This is excellent for close kicks or rapid retreats.
There are variations of a theme for the above and some stylistic versions as well.
Do your footwork!
Jay

so...what would you like to see here?

I know, I know, I did say "nothing to see here," but I suppose there can be.

I practice a couple of martial art styles that usually get this response, "What's that?" I have been doing these arts for a little while and still feel WAY behind. There is always something that makes me rethink what I know and how to apply it.

So, should I give my personal feelings here, or just ramble?

Let me ponder on that....

Jay

nothing to see here

I am just an average guy trying to do the best I can with what I have.
I have little time to contribute to a blog, but will try on occasion!
Jay