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.