ANIMAL MAGIC Part 2(b)

Patience and Power

(Ular Sawa Python)

Salam Datang

I'd like to talk in this article about something close to my heart and that is the Sawa mannerism.

I'd like to re-iterate before I start, what I said back in my first article, and that is that anything written in these articles are MY opinion.

My take and my expression, this for me is one of the beauties of our style of Pencak Silat,, in that expression of techniques, of flow and of spirit; are in my mind what separates this art from all the others.

For me Silat, is a liberated state of mind, where mind body and spirit which are not divided anyway work in union to express the movements.

So please do not take to heart anything I say, unless it resonates with you.

That said I believe the Sawa mannerism is one that is misunderstood by a lot of practitioners with the label of "Oh it’s just a sub-system of the Sendok"

People who take this approach in my view either just haven’t bothered to look beyond anything other than the techniques in the syllabus or what was "spoon fed" from their Guru, or are just to lazy to do the extra study, to their loss.

To me the syllabus is a great starting block to give the overview of the animal a “taster” for students to then go and REALLY study the animal, drill the drills and "seek".

If we want to call these animals kin, then we owe it to ourselves to put in the study and work, not just learn to pass the grading, we sell ourselves, the mannerism and ultimately the art short.

I've spent hundreds of hours (No exaggeration) on Animal Planet and Discovery Channels video feeds and YouTube studying the hunting and feeding habits of the Python and its cousins the Boa

I recommend all readers go and check out this link of a African Giant Python feeding now on

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LzVYgYlfRYs&feature=channel_page

Before reading on so you can see my point and watch the stages of the kill.

The Python like most snakes is a ambush killer and the constrictors are a good example of this, due to their body mass and weight it would be ineffective use of energy to chase its prey, even the way constrictors move is designed for there body shape.

All other snakes use what’s known, rather predictably "Serpentine" movement bending their body and pushing with there ventral scales at the point of the bend pulling the animal in an almost diagonal movement, best viewed by the Sidewinder a type of Viper.

Large constrictors use what’s known as "Rectilinear" movement the snake tenses and relaxes powerful muscles around the ribs in a wave like motion and using its ventral scales to pull it in a forward wavelike motion, this is slower than serpentine movement but uses a LOT less calories hence being much more energy efficient for such a large snake and with no real natural predator it doesn’t need to move fast.

There's SO much material in the Sawa if we only just looked, I've found hundreds of applications in the movements of the Plate Dance, which is one of many drills.

And one doesn’t have to just rely on Sendok for entries, the Sawa bites and fang strikes make great entries as do blows to the throat and face with the Sawa hands (See video for details) nerve pinches and flesh grabs to hold the opponent, mixed with trapping kicks, utilizing Sempok and Depok footwork one can stay just in Sawa hunting mode without having to always start out in Sendok.

A python in the wild doesn’t pretend to be a Cobra to bite its prey before becoming a Python again to feed! Why should we?

It is more than capable of being itself and they eat well!

A Reticulated Python now in an animal park in Indonesia was found three years ago measuring a staggering 50 feet! And weighed over 940 pounds!

It was kept in captivity by a local tribe on the island of Sumatra and wad revered as a tribal leader!

Back to the stages of the kill, the Python has we’ve mentioned moves in a liner rather than serpentine way, but uses its length to block its preys escape moving very slowly it tracks the movements of its prey by heat sensitive pits under its mouth and through vibrations picked up from the ground, these are felt through its jaw when placed on the floor picks up its preys footfalls.

Due to its mass the Python doesn’t need to coil to strike and can strike much faster than its size would give away, holding its prey fixed with a powerful bite while it throws its body over its prey for the next stage.

The big Squeeze:

Here where I step up onto my soapbox ;)

Contrary to a LOT of Sawa practitioners, applications, PYTHONS DONT CRUSH THEIR PREY! I'll say that again just to be clear PYTHONS DONT CRUSH THEIR PREY! They don’t brake their bones either!

It’s a general misconception that as found its way into many Sawa techniques that are all locks and brakes and that’s it. This is wrong.

Wraps and wrench’s to temporary immobilize your prey for the coming move’s is ok, but still like I said before, DONT go looking or “gunning” for a lock or wrap, you’ll learn a very painful lesson, remember this is not a sport, where the ideal is “not the winning or loosing but how you play the game”! in the ring this is ok, but in reality it could get you killed! We don’t play for trophies to our manhood, we aim to survive.

This as sadly meant that a lot of really good movements have been lost or forgotten in order to teach what’s looks more ”Snakelike” but isn’t in true alignment with how the animal your trying to imitate really works.

Its all in the name "CONSTRICTOR"! All constrictors kill their prey by suffocation they bite, hold the prey still with their teeth, wrap the torso of the prey and coil around the chest tightening slowly as the

Prey breathes out and every time it breaths out it tightens some more until the prey cannot expand its diaphragm to breath and passes into unconsciousness.

If you haven’t checked out that link please do it now, to illustrate by point

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LzVYgYlfRYs&feature=channel_page

The under belly of the Python is so sensitive it can detect the heartbeat of its prey and may constrict a little longer until it feels this stop.

The Python, then working against the grain of the fur; moves to the preys head to begin swallowing its food whole.

IT may happen that in the powerful squeeze a rib or to may be broken but PYTHONS DONT CRUSH THEIR PREY OR AIM TO BRAKE BONES! So all this locking and braking we see is only PART of the true spirit of the mannerism!

My old Sifu used to say locks and brakes are "incidental, if not accidental" Pythons don’t kill this way, so why are we looking to lock or wrap for the sake of it, look at the animal as well as the syllabus for a while and see.

if on the way into your opponent you get a limb obstruction you may through the Principle of Adhesion want to stick and brake but ALLWAYS make these ballistic brakes. Don’t hold it on and try to muscle it, adhere to the limb and blast the brake through the limb, but NEVER look to just brake.

Obviously we aren’t 28 feet long and over 300 pounds so stopping our opponent this way is impractical but we can imitate this in a number of other ways.

Choking:

I've looked at a lot of Sawa from a lot of systems and have almost never seen a choke used! This is the easiest way to imitate the Python or Boas Squeeze.

Using our limbs and I mean legs too, to encircle and cut of blood supply or more closely to the animal oxygen to the brain to the lungs!

Think about it for a while do we study the animal or the syllabus?

Our style IS the closest I've seen to the real movement of the Sawa and our use of mannerism allows us the freedom to really look and study the animal and express that in our techniques and this is what I’m doing, not picking at our style, I love it or I wouldn’t be doing it and all the work I put in for promoting it over here.

I’m just giving what I believe is a "closer "interpretation of the Sawa; so go look learn your chokes, there are hundreds of different chokes and cranks that are very effective and mirror the movements of the Sawa very well, yea you may have to look to other styles to learn them but when you look back at the plate dance and Kembangan movements there all there, they where there all along, just you went looking for them, because you thought Sawa was a locking subsystem to the better Sendok!

In fact one of the best way’s to bring down a huge guy is by cutting off the blood to his brain, or oxygen to the lungs; it doesn’t matter how big he is he needs blood for his muscles to work

In my research a well placed choke can cause black-out in 3.5 seconds regardless of attacker’s size, think about it again.

Also using the Sawa hand as a blow to the windpipe as a similar effect as does chops to the carotid arteries, nerve pinches applied to the carotid and bites to brachial and vagas nerve with the fingers or with your teeth , fang strikes to the eyes etc will drop the most determined foe, you cant build muscle on these targets.

So look at that YouTube clip again, and think about it.

I've found dozens of ways of using the Sempok and Depok for neck traps and chokes and the selor posture to is great for this

Due to the fact that the Sawa as more of the earth element to it, than the Sendok it follows, that using it to bridge between Cobra and Harimau IS OK! So spend some time looking at groundwork and ground choking the "Anaconda" technique (Hence the name) from Brazilian JuJitsu (and also in nearly every grappling style around,) is closer to the actual animal than a lot of Silat I've seen I'm sad to say.

So look around, just don’t get tempted to study BBJ instead ;)

Legs:

I'd like to mention the use of the legs.

Just as the Sawa is a much longer snake than the Cobra I think that using the whole length of our bodies to effect rather than concentrating on just the upper (discounting the kicks for this example) is again closer to the Python.

Whether these are used for foot trapping and trips or entanglement or for ground choking, look at how they can be used to disrupt your enemy’s structure using the Principle of Destruction, and Adhesion to best effect.

using the weave step to trap a leg and then sticking to the trapped limb and twisting the hips and dropping into a Sempok posture will bring him down and brake his knee and leaves you in a perfect position to apply your chokes.

Sempok step is good for getting behind an opponent period; from here the applications are limitless.

Training:

There are so many training methods I've discovered that showing them all would be pointless, the clips show some of them.

All the drills mentioned in the last article apply to the Sawa but Chi-Sau type drills for sensitivity and fluidity, leg Chi-Sau for the same on the lower line.

Energy drills are invaluable for all Snake styles but probably more for the Sawa the ability to wrap and lockdown your opponent without him realizing until the chokes on,

Ball training is another good drill for sensitivity and adhesion, finger grip training for the bites wrestling with the heavy bag on the ground is also good for low choking techniques and just playing. The Indonesians and Malay have a word “Mi-ing” which means to play, like a child a high spirited free flow played against another like we played as children just innocently without preconceived ideas , not looking for applications or opinions just get into the flow with adhesion and fluidity will help get into the Sawa mindset and you’ll be amazed what you come out with ;)

Apologies to anyone offended by my take on Sawa, but remember it’s just that; my take or expression on what I believe to be a "Truer" Sawa mannerism.

Until next time train safe and play hard;)

Any thoughts or feedback or for more information on classes, workshops or private tuition please don’t hesitate to drop me an email simpson76@tiscali.co.uk

Ular Mannerism footage

Some video one of some Ular mannerism and the other showing a training exercise called Paper Walking.
This is to teach correct Ular (Snake) footwork at "zero" range.
If the posture is incorrect and the pressure between the legs to weak, the paper will drop
This pressure can be used to strengthen an otherwise "Skinny" stance, a stance which both protects your own knees and prevents knee-takedowns at close range , but also give you great maneuverability in all directions. also great for gaining leg strength used choking techniques with the legs from the Sawa mannerism.

The Mannerism one is just a simple "Flow" free lancing using Ular mannerism.
The aim here is to get spontaneity of movement, creativity and expression of the animal, see if you can spot the changes from Ular Sendok (Cobra) and Sawa (Python)

ANIMAL MAGIC Part 2(a)

Stealth and Cunning
(Ular Sendok and Ular Sawar)

Since the dawn of time the image of the snake as inspired both fear and respect, exalted by some peoples and demonized by others, no animal as left the same indelible mark on the human psyche as the snake.

Hello again
In my last article I went into great detail on animal mannerisms in general and covered also the Harimau mannerisms so has to not repeat myself; I would suggest readers who haven’t read that article "Tooth and Claw"
posted Nov 1st to do so, for a greater detail on my take on animal mannerisms in general.

This month I want to talk about the Ular or snake mannerisms of the style, these are the Sendok which is the Cobra and Sawar which is the Python.

Like these mannerisms, snakes themselves can be divided into two types Venomous and non-venomous or "Constrictors"
While no animal is more important than another the Ular systems are a expressed a lot throughout the system and indeed many of the movements from the Jurus are influenced by the Snake and a lot of what makes are style look and feel the way it does, is in no small part down to an expression of these “tricky” “sneaky” serpentine movements.

I would like to deal with these animals and mannerisms separately in regards to tactics and training methodology as while there are some, similarities there are enough differences to warrant separate detail.

Due to the length of this article I will deal with the Sendok first and in a couple of weeks post the Sawa.

Sendok

The Cobra is characterized by sudden, quick, direct or upward rising movements, the element of Fire can be seen clearly expressed in its movements.
Like its namesake the Cobra, which is defensive by nature (Apart from hunting for food) its movements are mostly counter-offensive, but no less deadly. Through body angling, re-direction and glancing parries a cobra stylist can deliver a barrage of viscous and fatal blows from a unseen angle to vital targets, namely the throat and eyes.
Its venom, although not the deadliest, if left untreated will cause death due to cardiac arrest or lung failure within 60 mins depending on the species, and the seer amount injected; the Indian King Cobra for example will kill a man depending on age within 40-60 mins.
We do not possess fangs and venom, but by use of the Snake fist we can deliver, haematoma’s or deep level damage (internal bleeding) which mimics the effect of the cobras venom, braking down tissue and flesh; anyone who’s seen the gruesome effects
of a Rattlesnake bite will testify to the result eventually the neurotoxin reaches the nerves of the diaphragm and stops its function causing asphyxiation and or cardiac arrest.
Snakes have very poor eyesight, no outer ear and a poorly developed inner ear and can only ear sound when their jaws are on the ground, and without limbs, one would think, that as a predatory animal their disadvanges would have meant that they would simply die-out, but yet they have adapted and developed to become without doubt the most successful predator in the nature (Apart from Man)
Their extraordinary sensory skills and adaptations have meant that apart from the Antarctic and Ireland they can be found everywhere in the world they have mastered movement on the ground, under-ground, up trees, across deserts, the seas and one type of snake in Malaysia can even glide through the air! They where around 100 million years, before we climbed down from the trees, an amazing achievement.

All snakes "smell" the air and this is their primary sense.
The air is full of all kinds of molecules, dust, pollen, and animal scents of all kinds, due to an organ called the "Jacobson’s organ" the snake tongue, flicks out and collects these molecules these scents are then picked up by this organ and the information sent to the snakes brain.
The fact that its tongue is forked or split into two, is so that it can receive this information in stereo; pinpointing the target, its eyes used only at VERY close range, some more sophisticated snakes like the Vipids and some constrictors for example, have heat sensitive pits under the mouth to detect fluctuations in temperature to aid in target location, some Vipids can detect a changes in temperature of a thousand of a degree!

So what can we learn from this beautiful and deadly animal?

*Sensitivity

I don’t mean getting in tune with your” inner woman" this is the type of sensitivity developed from tactile sensitivity.
Like one develops through sensitivity drills similar to Wing Chuns Chi-Sau are practiced in this style, right and left leads as there is no lead to a limbless snake!
the development for tactile sensitivity is essential for fighting especially at the "Zero" range of this mannerism.

A deadly blow could be thrown in the blink of an eye and only a developed tactile sensitivity will save you at this range allowing you to feel the blow before the eye picks up the movement.
Any hand drills which remain in constant contact are good for this skill, there are so many good ones found within Cimande, Kelid is one example but there are several, whether from other Silat styles or from hand drills from other arts. The Filipino Kali drill Higut- Hubud sometimes known as “Hubud Lubud” are also other great for this as one can add in the element of spontaneity adding in punches, locks counter locks, throws, weapons going into ground work it’s a great all rounder. Chi-Sau already mentioned also Taiji-Chuans (Taichi Chuans) “Pushing Hands” drill, also good for this type of sensitivity, once you have the muscle memory start playing with these drills working to blind-folded and ”feel” the movements and the energy.
Also useful are leg Chi-Sau type drills to gain leg sensitivity

*Speed

Snakes are FAST! very fast and combined with the above skill can make someone fast, appear even faster.
The fastest snake the Sawscale Viper.
It can go from coiled position opening its mouth, unfolding its fangs, lunging, biting and injecting venom to folding its fangs back again, closing its mouth, and returning to a coiled up position in 0.13 of a second!
The human eye cannot follow the strike, it is so swift. And with blows this deadly a stylist becomes an indomitable fighter. Training your snake blows and figure eights wearing wrist and ankle weights will really help build up speed. Cellular memory, from repeated repetition Boring! But, the best way to build instinctive speed.
Working with hanging paper drills at half power will help with focus, as will working with Candles, take a snake blow and with the candle placed SAFELY a few inches away punch it out, stay relaxed and focused as you get better at this drill try moving the candle away, I got this to about a foot or more at my best

*Accuracy

Snakes have a near 100% success rate with their strike and are intently focused, most Cobras will watch there prey intently and will follow its movement with it head even bobbing around from side to side to do so.
this is how so called "Snake charmers" perform they don’t hypnotize the snake or make it dance to music, snakes have no ears like we do, the vibration of the charmers foot tapping alerts it , and the snake thinking the charmers pipe is another snake raises up its hood, stands, fixes its eyes and follows it movements.
Again, combined with the above skills, a stylist can become even more deadly.
Working with hanging paper again and hanging small targets (I use cats toy balls) helps this, as does working with floor to ceiling ball and focus mitts with a coloured sticker on it, stay focused and relaxed when working on accuracy.

*Angulations

Snakes are very good at moving in any direction, "slippery as a snake" handlers tend to get bitten, when they relax after finishing handling the snake, the snake senses the "drop in guard" and bites when the target doesn’t expect it.
In this way being able to strike from any direction when our opponent least expects it. Playing with Weave and Sheer steps, and basic juru and langka footwork, also light sparring helps to get practice out of the flow.

*Footwork

As mentioned before the snakes ability to move at such speeds over any terrain without legs is amazing through the development of good footwork the practitioner can move with speed in multiple directions and different heights to either escape the aggressor, most snakes will try to escape a larger animal. Or to get in close to deliver its strike.
Again snakes fangs are very specialist and sensitive equipment, snakes are very conscious after the bite to withdraw their teeth without injury to themselves, so learning to utilize footwork to withdraw or dis-engage is also very useful.

*Relaxation
Without this, none of the other skills will work, snakes are NEVER tense!

*Fluidity
This is probably one the greatest lessons learned from the snake.
While honing the above skills separately are of benefit, it’s only in combination with relaxation that the mannerism comes alive.
With fluidity one can improve on all these skills mentioned, but with out it you could not, it helps our sensitivity as we can adhere to our opponent better when we are fluid and relaxed
it aids greatly angulations and speed of movement due to its relaxed and adaptable nature, speed of strike as, like a snake a fast relaxed strike has much more impact than a bludgeoning blow, whipping out like an actual snakes strike, requires relaxation.
Moving in mannerism is the best tool for this start slow, facing east , the direction on the circle of creation associated with the element of fire and the snake. Start to move like a snake free your mind and see what just “comes out”.

A quick note on conditioning of the snakefist, start incrementally by pushing the extended knuckles into fine grain sand, build up to wood, then softly tap them against wood working up to stone SLOWLY! be careful not to push in the position of the actual snake fist or you'll destroy the knuckle of your second (protruding) finger.
Condition the lower two knuckles seperatly from the upper two so your working on level-ish knuckles the lower two are worked in the same position as the snake fist but side on and upper two more front on (more like the actual snake head strike).
Once you have this, hold the same positions but from a push-up stress position, kneeing down and lowering your weight of the upper body on to the knuckles, working gradually up to a full press ups on the knuckles.

Remember to always keep your wrist aligned straight with the knuckles or you'll brake you wrists, this should remembered on the actual snake fist strike too again, to avoid potential damage to the wrist.


Snakes are beautiful and there’s so much as persilat’s that we can learn from them. Go out and really study Ular don’t just learn to mimic it to pass the next grading, take time to learn, study the animal you claim kinship with, go to Pet shops, Zoo’s talk to zoo keepers pet shop owners get on the net and get under the skin not just of the Cobra but all animals you study.
As I said in my last article an UNDERSTANDING of the creature from the heart is more important than a shed load of empty techniques.

I apologize again for the length of the article, but there’s so much I want to get out there, and please any feedback is always appreciated.

In a week or two I’ll post my favorite Sawa ;)

Play hard but train safe.

Animal Magic !

Part (I)

"Tooth and Claw"

(Harimau, Macan, Pamacan, Kucing)

It is my intention to bring you a series of five articles each based on one

of the four animal styles practiced in our style of Pencak Silat Pukulan Cimande Combat.

Harimau (Tiger), Ular (Snake), Monjet (Monkey), Blekok (Crane)

The fifth animal being, the mythical Naga.(Dragon-Serpent)

The name for this series of articles comes from a children’s television show from the UK (for those old enough to remember, the late great Johnny Moris's show "Animal Magic") ;)

I want to kick off with the first animal I've studied the Tiger system known in nearly all Pencak Silat styles to some degree.

Apart from those which shunned the use of animal mannerisms due to religious reasons, (another story, that I wont be drawn into)

The Tiger is known by many names Harimau being the most known but also Pamacan and Chi Macan from West Java and the Kucing of Wali Songo,

Harimau, which is thought to have originated in the Mingankabau region of the Island of Sumatra.

There are styles that originate from this region which specialize in this animal entirely and it is immediately discernable by its low even supine postures on the ground.

In our system the Harimau is utilized should the practitioner slip, fall or be pushed or thrown to the ground, here due to his training at this level he will have the muscle memory and leg strength to move and feel comfortable down there on the ground, a really un-nerving place to find yourself if your not accustomed to being there.

On a more advanced level some stylists may use these postures as what’s called in JKD circles "Attack by drawing" and in ours as a "Decoy" posture

To draw the aggressor into making the mistake of thinking his floored target is at a disadvantage a big error!

From this position the Harimau stylist is actually at a great advantage, why?

Firstly if we take a posture called "Raja Harimau" or King Tiger as one example, here the practitioner as three very sturdy points of contact with the floor from which he can launch very powerful blows either with his hands/paws or legs to the opponents weakest targets groin, ankles knees.

Most of the blows are done with the open hand in a clawing, slapping manner

Smashing into which will cause "Structural damage" to his support and bring him crashing down to the ground where his "poor disadvantaged" target is waiting for his dinner!

Another advantage to this posture is that all your vital targets are facing the floor under you, away from the attackers reach, his only options which are now limited already, are to attack the stylists legs, supporting arm or head, with his kicks; which the stylist as countless defences for.

If the attacker decides to bend all the way down to punch the harimau stylist in the head then he's really unbalanced himself and just asking to be eaten.

The Harimau stylist is taught that the Tiger is related to the element of Earth from Mother Earth he draws both his strength and power which on a physical level could be seen as increased stability, lowering his centre of balance so low to the earth itself and positioning his vital organs in such a way to seek protection from her.

The strategy of the Harimau stylist is to bring is or her! Prey down like a tiger in the wild pouncing on its would be lunch and using its massive strength and mass to bring the target straight to the ground, likewise Earth energy is imagined descending to the ground.

A quick note about postures these are NOT static frames of movement, simply imagine moving somewhere and someone pressing a pause button that position you are in at that paused moment in the flow is a posture and they should be thought of it in that way.

The postures of not only the Harimau and other Tiger styles but of all the animal postures are a brief moment, caught in time.

We learn the movements and postures to give us the ability to MOVE not to stand still and wait for an attack.

On the level of mannerism the postures give us a “vessel” for the animal "Spirit" to dwell in when and while its needed, much like the police dog team; when the bad guy makes a run for it the policeman doesn’t run after him he gives the specified verbal signal to his dog and of it goes.

Its much faster and as much more power and is fiercer than the officer would be and when the dog catches the bad guy its bites down on the persons arm doing negligible damage and stops, waits for its handler to arrive and even thought its instincts are to jump up and rip the throat out of its target its training allows it to keep its instincts in check until the handler arrives and takes back control.

To me this is how the mannerisms should be viewed.

The word "Spirit" as a lot many connotations to many different people about many different things, but the way it’s viewed by me personally is a "state of mind" a trance like state, where through training and expression of our training and knowledge of the animal we're studying

as an effect on our minds unlocking and engaging something often referred to as the "Reptilian brain"

this ancient, ancient primal, survival part of the brain which is used in those moments where our lives are in danger, something clicks into place and for that moment we're not us but something else.

Of course this is not the state you want to walk around in all day every day but to be able to use what in NLP would be called an "Anchor" and immediately we are able to go into this mindset which as MANY great benefits to the fighter and I'm not talking about needing to win the next trophy in a match fight. I mean when your life is about to be taken from you.

The would be assailant finds the man or women he just attacked as just changed into an enraged Tiger who due to this mindset doesn’t have any of the Mammalian concepts of "should I do this or that techniques", "should I worry about the legal ramifications of this blow", no.

It knows only how to hunt attack and bring down its prey.

Of course the legalities of our actions are very important and I'm not saying for a moment they should be ignored UNLESS your, or your families lives are about to be taken from you, what else can you do?

Let me ask you, would a tiger care, if the hunter, who after shooting its mate and cubs found he forgotten to reload when he pointed his rifle at him?

No.

Other benefits are increased strength, deeper longer breaths, and decrease in the feeling of pain complete loss of fear and the tenaciousness and ferocity to bring down the prey.

This as a direct demonstrative effect on the attacker who's now, likely to be ripped and smashed to shreds, all but the most determined assailants would just rather look for an easier target.

Of course this involves a great deal of training with a qualified Guru and hours of practice, but it becomes not the imitation of an animal, (sure it starts that way at first,) but eventfully after some practice your not “faking” or “mimicking” a tigers movements anymore.

like a character actor takes on and becomes his role, for the time you train in the mannerism its almost like its not you and something else takes over the controls.

When you want to "Come out" of it using breathing techniques and other methods its like you were away somewhere not knowing exactly what "Moves" you made.

This is what I believe is the start of the animal "Spirit" staying with us for a while.

The other style's Macan or Pamacan and Kucing utilize postures slightly higher than the really low Harimau ones some utilizing a kneeling position using many kneeling postures and clawing attacks, knees, elbows, leaping techniques and takedowns.

And scores over the Harimau only in the method of being slightly more manoeuvrable at an early stage of training than the Harimau and is used when the tiger stylist is unsure of the number of attackers and wants to stay a little more "Cat like".

One thing I notice a lot, is that there are a lot of stylists who are very rigid or tense with their tiger I guess under the belief this is strength and if that’s their expression of a tiger then great, but if you have ever had a pet cat you’ll know to well their NEVER tense or rigid, the flexibility of their spines are such that they can turn their body 360 and keep their head focused on their prey.

To close I’d like to direct your attention,(thanks for staying with me on this one the others will be shorter, but felt the need to explain a little about the mannerisms in general,) to the best expression of Harimau I’ve seen to date.

Its to big a vid to attach but please check out the link below.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vc3t3Pxm9YE

Copy into your browser

The more observant of you may notice the effect the practitioner as on the crowd as he get to close, they move like he’s a big cat and not just a guy, you’ll see what I mean perhaps a instinctive response to the spirit he’s projecting!

Thanks, train safe, see you next month with the Ular or Snake systems ;)

Body Washing

"Body Washing"

Q:What is Body Washing?

A:"Body washing" or "Washing the body" is a drill found in a number of systems of Pencak Silat throughout Indonesia and Malaysia.
It involves the manipulation of a weapon either a Golok which is a Machete type blade or a Parang again a jungle chopping type weapon or a pedang which is a longer sword similar to a small sabre;
At zero range around the body as if holding a bath brush and trying to "wash" every part of the body.

There are a number of really excellent benefits from this type of training, benefits which are physical, and spiritual.
On a spiritual level, one visualises white light coming out of the blade and covering the body part the blade passes over, effectively cleaning the aura, until the whole body is covered, in white light.
In combat the light is imagined as red and has a whole different energetic purpose
that for cutting through the enemies aura; destroying him on a spiritual level draining his energy and intent while on a physical level he's missing several limbs.

The benefits of this training,in my opinion; and this is one of my favourite drills!are on a physical level are the ability to use a long bladed weapon in very close almost "zero" range where most people are unable to utilise such a weapon,
Secondly you are able to guard or cover the body in a shielding type method at any angle of attack, even from behind again at zero range,
Thirdly the feel of steel against skin, is something uncommon to most and when this feeling is from a blade even more un-nerving, thus the skin becomes de-sensitised to this "odd" feeling
So that one can be completely relaxed and free from the fear-flinch-tensing reflex,
fourthly it teachers us the ability to move the body away from the pressure of a blade just by touch alone, so it also acts like a kind of chi-sau drill, and prepares us mentally to be responsive enough to do this two-man at a later stage;
Hence we are free from the un-nerving feeling of a blade against our body, able to be completely free from the tension that fear brings from this feeling,
Able to move our body away from the pressure of the blade or point, by sensitivity alone and able to maneuver
very close in to an opponent and deliver (should we need to) our own blade counter; at a range he is not expecting.

At a more advanced level, once one is able to be completely relaxed and becomes used, to moving the body away from the contact of a blades edge or point; the drill is done two-man, so one guy "feeds" the attacks the other feels it touch him and moves the body accordingly, it helps at first to try this blindfolded, the defender not the attacker lol.
So that the defender, doesn’t move to soon out of visual stimulus and tense up on contact.

Also this can be practiced against a wall or in a doorway for more realism.

Contact Details

Sallam
Further to previous post wanted to leave my contact details.
I can be contact directly of no obligation training in Pukulan Cimande Combat Pencak Silat plus other various South East Asian martial systems and techniques, either private, class or in a workshop / seminar setting.
A the moment I'm working on setting up a weekly Pukulan Cimande Silat training group and looking to start running concurrently, but entirety separately; the first of many "Cimande Silat Concepts", Womens Self-Defence course's,

These will be 8 week, closed door courses covering purely combat self defense and not "Martial art"
aimed primary at complete beginners, but invaluable to women of all ages regardless of self defense level.

There will also be an intermediate course planned to follow , perhaps another 8 weeks for those who have completed the first course and are looking to explore more of the "martial" aspects of Pencak Silat.

For those who want to go into Silat-proper there will be the open gender Silat weekly class.

So details:
Siôn-marc Simpson (Pronounced "seanmark" one name)

simpson76@tiscali.co.uk
http://www.bebo.com/SinMarcS

I can also be reached through Combat Silat International's Bebo site http://www.bebo.com/CombatSilat and my abilities and credentials can be confirmed by my Guru Liam McDonald on
guruliam@hotmail.com

Please stay with me, I'm starting small but aiming high, take care
Train safe ;)

And on Facebook under my name

Mobile 07867777484

My Statement of Intent

This is just to make anyone interested, aware of my plans for the development of Pukulan Cimande here in the UK.
My aim with the support of my Guru and friend Guru Liam McDonald is to set up training "cells" or groups in several of the big cities here in the UK.
I'm based in Nottingham which is roughly the fourth largest city in England situated in the heart of the East Midlands couple hours on a train north of London and south of Manchester.

We have an international airport and a large city center and would, apart from being my home ;) ; be a good center anyway for the spread of this beautiful system of Pencak Silat.

Im starting small but not without drive, direction and determination I will be teaching the system now called Pukulan Cimande Combat which briefly is Pukulan Cimande Pusaka, but with slightly more empathies on the combat application and animal mannerism of the original system.

I know that there as been a lot of talk and stories about the former system, but I would like it known that I'm all about the training and not one for politics so anyone in the UK , who is SERIOUS , and I do want to re-iterate serious, about wanting to train in this system is more than welcome to email me, either here, or at my personal email simpson76@tiscali.co.uk either to answer any further questions or to arrange training either privately, to attend any of the Pukulan Cimande workshops planned for next year (contact me for details)
I can assure you all here, that I will make the time for you and will do all humanly possible to help anyone truly serious; but I have no time for ego's ,shit-stir's or martial artists who just wanna talk my time is precious to me ;)

So what ever your level and open mind, love or at least interest in Pencak Silat and a willingness to train are the only requirements

"It is said Pencak Silat "Calls" to its students and all that heed the call; and answer are rewarded"