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 ;)