Pukulan Sikap Binatang Pencak Silat

Fighting for Livesd 2011 Karambit and Matjan / Pamacan Workshop

2011-12-27T05:56:00.000-08:00

Hey guys.
Thought about time I posted some of my own clips on here.
As you know I was honored, yet again to be asked to teach alongside Guru Max Green of fractalfightingarts.com at this years Fighting for Lives weekend up in Dundee Scotland.
My half of the weekend was on Pamacan and Matjan (Upright and mid level Harimau) and the deadly Karambit. posted here is clip of a Pamacan technique from the day and a few Karambit ones from class day before the workshop.

Enjoy ;)
Pamacan Technique with options (Kala and Buaya)
Karambit Class ideas
Karambit class ideas 2

Silat Cool Clip of the month

2011-12-27T05:28:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone.
This clip is of my good friend Guru Max Green of Fractal Fighting Arts.
Not only is he a very skilled Persilat and teacher but a great man with a deep knowledge of many styles of West Javanese Pencak Silat and good pal to boot.

Im posting two clips here, the first is labeled "Become the art" which speaks volumes of the depth one should go to to fully claim an incite into Pencak Silat. Pencak was once described as an old priceless Swiz clock. If you take the back off one of these and peer inside at the complex mechanism to the complex array of cogs and wheels which work together to become the clock. you take out one of those cogs you dont have a clock you have just a cog its only in its entirity that its a clock; this is the same with Pencak Silat.
Second is from Max's Dublin workshop giving great example of Perisai Setia (Faithful Shield) and general Silat structures. For more information on Guru Max please visit fractalfightingarts.com

Anyway enough rambling heres Max in action ; )
Silat "Become the art"
Faithful Shield

Fighting For Lives 2011 (Lowline Matjan and Kerambit Workshop)

2011-12-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

Hey guys.
As you are probably aware I co-teacher at a workshop in aid of Fighting For Lives Children's Charity weekend of Nov 13th.

The event was in Dundee Scotland the turnout was great, everyone had a awesome day. The material I covered was Lowline Matjan and Lowline Karambit I had a wonderful time.
I wanted to use this venue to say a big thank you to Max for teaching with me on the day to everyone who attended and help raise money for children who really need our help; we're blessed in that, we can train in what we enjoy and still raise money for such a worthy course. Guru Max is a fine persilat and it was an honor to teach and train alongside him. I would highly recommend anyone in Scotland wanting to train in Pencak Silat to visit his website Fractal Fighting Arts.

The latest amount raised worldwide on the day was (And Im sure Bro Parv will correct me if I'm wrong) was circa 6300 Euros and pledges are still coming in.
Anyone wanting to know more about the charity and the amazing work they do to visit the website above and if you want to donate there's a button there. And to all the other instructors around the world I'm sure Parvez would joining me in saying a huge thanks you for all your hard work.

Thank you.

"Blogwalking" ??

2011-12-15T13:22:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone before I post my latest articles and clips Id like to talk a little about a phenomenon previously unknown to me called "Blogwalking"
Ive noticed over the past few months that an increasing amount of spam left from people Blogwalking was being left in my Chatbox. This was meant for fans and followers to leave constructive comments regarding Pencak Silat and to communcate ideas and concepts not for strangers to come and leave spam and links to their sites.

To those blogwalkers all I can say is FUCK OFF! leave your shit somewhere else.... please ;)

Silat Weekend Workshop in aid of World Fighting for Lives Weekend

2011-11-06T09:53:00.000-08:00

Hello again everyone.

Firstly guys my apologise for the silence but back on track with lots of cool material to share.

I wanted to kick of the second incarnation, with a big shout out to my brother Parvez founder of Fighting for Lives. This is a charity which hosts martial art events worldwide co-ordinated to the same date every year, that said, anyone can donate on the Fighting for Lives Website by clicking on the "Donate" tab on left hand side.

Its an honoured to be asked again to co-teach an event and also an honour to be part of a worldwide community which regardless of martial art style, nationality or culture can come together to gives real needy children a fighting chance. Please look at some of the videos and articles there to see the real good Parv and all those teaching and donating have achived.

this charity is unique in that there are no administration or other hidden fees and EVERY penny is collected and taken in "situ" to those whom need it the most.

Theres still time to join the community and if you contact Parvez directly he can direct you from there our numbers are growing every year, despite the atemps of some to discredit the venture and those who do not train in anything can donate anyway.

So please help Parvez and myself raise as much as we can for them and help give street children worldwide a Fighting Chance in Life!

Terima kasih

Siôn-marc.

BITE BACK (Biting article part 2)

2011-08-21T06:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.
In the first part of this article we looked at biting, its uses and effects in a general term. In this part I'd like to look with more detail into biting in combat as a valid and powerful weapon, animal mannerism linkages, physiological and psychological results both in the biter and the bitten. I hope to illustrate better, some types of biting and will post a clip giving some examples. So that said lets first look at targets " uummm yummy!"

Targets:
The target of intended biting are many and varied, and dependent on the location of the bite the results both physical and mental can be very different. Some will cause blood loss some are intended to remove flesh some will hold in place or immobilize a limb and some will be to elicit a known response a set up which can be acted upon; but all regardless of desired effect will cause pain! I'll discuss some of them now. Bites to the face , lips and earlobes will cause profuse blood loss due to the amount of small vessels which are closest to the surface of the skin on the face and the pain will be sharpest there because of increased nerve endings on the face too. The nose a large target, (on some people larger than others ;) located where it is centrally on the face, makes for a great target. It is well supplied with blood vessels and nerve endings If clamped down on and torn sideways or downward using the muscles of not only the jaws but your neck and shoulders will remove chunks of it. The reaction will be to push you away or to pull away, which will aid in the removal of it, this then as with any flesh removed must be spat back at the target for several reasons. Firstly you do not want to risk choking on it in the life and death struggle and secondly the effect psychologically on him is greatly exasperated this will leave him open for follow up or a chance for escape, having your nose torn off will probably take the fight right out of him and at least really spoil his night.
The lips and cheek also make a great target here you want to use the teeth furthest in the corner of your mouth past the canines) in a grating side to side pattern, this will cause intense pain and these targets will bleed a lot, remember to try and secure the adversary head to aid in the biting control and to help monitor his reactions (He'll be screaming and struggling like a eel and it will also aid in destabilization of his balance feeding nicely into a Puter Kapala's (Head Turning) etc.In fact if the bite is in place and held while the Puter Kapala is performed his body weight whilst falling will help remove say and ear Food for thought! LOL.

Other targets for pain are the nipples and chest and flesh at the sides and base of the neck the forehead is a harder target but with torn blood loss will be heavy and will run into the eyes giving you a blinding tool now hes being torn to bits and he cant even see it coming utilising this terror will aid the defeat for sure.
The last target is the neck. here you can cause fatal damage to your opponent attacking from the side say from a glancing headbutt into the large muscles a deep powerful bite here will penetrate into the carotid region causing death VERY quickly as the result of great bloodloss if the carotid region and the vessels there- in are not damaged the Vegas nerve will be and he will loose the ability to support his head upright. The Vegas nerve also controls blood pressure through the carotid sinus receptor, so is a wonderful life and death target again LIFE AND DEATH not Beer spillage ok! And while none of us have the right to take life neither does your attacker! Think about this? With all these bites they are to be used ONLY when your life is threatened and really threatened! Not just because someone looked funny at your misses, but real life and death stuff.
While the fundamental law is the protection of your life there are ramifications to our actions both legal and moral.

Animal Mannerism:
As anyone who knows me will be aware that animal mannerism or the lack of them in Pencak Silat gets right under my skin (To put it mildly) The aboriginal peoples of not only South East Asia but the world over where animistic living in and at one with the animals and spirits of nature and their ancestors. Animal spirits where venerated and the animals who where their brothers and sisters where studied initially to simply learn better hunting habits tracking the finding of water etc later an animal might give ideas through observation to aid in getting one up on a warring tribe or whatever.Now whatever your belief or religious doctrine this example cannot be dined. Animal movements, postures displaying, body language, hunting habits and fighting techniques where not just beneficial to our ancient ancestors but of great value to today's fifth ape us! Originally these animal habits where part of the native fighting arts of Indonesia and all of South East Asia they are what gives the arts I've studied at least its heart and soul and their removal by the newer religions that have entered the islands and the Malay peninsular have robbed them of this. But for now at least I will try and stay on subject.
Biting is used in the arts and animal mannerisms I pass on and we find that the biting varies from mannerism or attitude.so lets look at a few examples. In the Tiger mannerisms we find a lot of biting, A lot of the biting is aggressive and intentional ie, used for attacking rather than a defensive reaction. Like a tiger tearing into its prey the bites are used actively and demonstratively to cause maximum terror in the attacker. the sight of a raving man moving and stalking like a tiger his face dripping with your buddies blood is enough to put most people of there beer and regret trying to take your life! intense? well the idea is not to simply copy the bear movements of say a tiger of ape like in other Chinese arts lets say, we are aiming to become the tiger or snake or bird for that moment that we are in that state we are an observer of the event and another part of us takes over, traditionally this would be animal possession but again thats for another article.
As the tiger works on the low line the biting targets are also on a lower line whilst the neck and face are the fatal result of the leep just as in a real attack of a tiger or other large cat, the tendons of the knees, ankles and even the groin are all fair game,; especially in a grappling scenario.(Not for the octagon of course, but this is real fighting not sport)

The other mannerisms to make use of biting are the snake Ular Sendok and more so the Ular Sawa and the Monyet or Monkey, the bird mannerisms do not really utilize the bite preferring strikes with the beaks and wings; so we will focus here on the snake especially the Ular Sawa or Python mannerism. Whilst the bite of a Reticulated Python or Asian Rock Python both native to the regions where Pencak Silat was born are not venomous, they do if the prey item is not to huge (A humans have been killed by Reticulated Pythons in at least one reported case in Indonesia!) lead to death. Here the python locks onto the target with strongly recurved teeth couple hundred of them in to rows! and within about 8 seconds the target is unable to breath the pressure so great that the blood and the heart stop, for sure bones shatter and necks can be completely dislocated but the prey is not crushed as some claim, then the prey is swallowed whole and in some cases alive! We utilize the bite to a target to setup for a choke or neck dislocation back break either while passing a limb in a locking situation or to the trapezoids muscles and back of neck to hold attacker still temporarily whilst the constriction is completed. Again not for a "Tapout" or submission but a ballistic break or choke, neck crank to kill! not for a trophy or title. Its hard to concentrate on the encircling choking arm whilst your ear his being torn off!

As for the Monyet or monkey the monkey is the greatest imitator and it imitates all the other animals and as such all bites are valid whether they be Harimau or Python based just the attitude is little different one note is that monkey and apes in the wild will bite the fingers of an aggressor, so imagine the added effect of a wrist lock throw as the fingertip comes away as the throw is applied, nice!!
So graphic as it may be I hope to have given you more detail of biting and how its validity as a weapon should not be underestimated. For a far more in depth series of article on biting I would recommend the following link Guru Phil Dunlap Kachin/ Bando/ Thaing system
Scroll down just past half way and his articles on biting are far more in depth than space allows me here but for serious practitioners of Pencak Silat its a most read.

So to close, biting is effective, decisive, demonstrative and brutal to be sure, but again as an added disclaimer it should ONLY be used when all else fails and you feel your life or that of your loved ones is in mortal danger. Hopefully the clip will give you some examples and for any questions or clarification please drop me an email or find me on Facebook and ask away
(Disclaimer this clip was made after two hour hard class so excuse the hair and sweat!)

Again for instruction in the traditional arts of West Javanese Pencak Silat in and around Nottingham give me a call.
Until then take care everyone, Play hard and train safe, oh and no nightmares ok ;)

VIDEO LINK

Biting ideas

Cool Clip of Month

2011-08-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys n Girls.
Here's the next cool clip, this is of my good friend and training brother Guru Max Greene.
To those that would know the Kari influence is really plain using buah from Kari Juru Dua. Its a great clip from a great guy. I would highly recommend anyone wanting to learn Pencak Silat/ Silat concepts and martial arts in general; up that way go check him out.
Shout out to Guru Max, see you soon bro ;)
Fractal fighting arts
Heres the Clip

Silat Clip of the Month

2011-05-31T10:56:00.000-07:00

Hello again.
Back again with my selection of cool clip of the month. One thing about my selections I select not on popularity or who as more students or who as the biggest business (Sorry group of clubs) But on who I think is generaly the real deal and viewers can see that I only select Gurus of true talent who have given back. Not just to their students but to the culture where these arts originated. This leads me into why this months clip is of my good friend Guru Eric Kruk. He is without doubt one of the last true Harimau gurus. What? but theres loads of teachers teaching Harimau,, right? wrong theres hundreds who claim to but theres MANY paper tigers out there and Eric is one of the last of the true Tigers. His skills are matched only by his generousity to those people in Indonesia he as helped with his orphanage visits he as a great group of guys and does a lot to give back to the culture and people we take from.
A big man a true Harimau. Heres to Guru Eric gods bless my friend.
Guru Eric Kruks Website

Guru Eric Kruk

BITE BACK! Biting Article Part (1)

2011-05-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

Hello again guys. Wanted to start first real article again after my short hiatus with an article on the use of biting in the martial arts and in real world combat. Biting is something that a lot of people including martial artists find repulsive and hence don’t work biting techniques or to work defences for them, this is understandable nowadays with our knowledge of blood born and transmitted diseases and with prolific drug abuse etc, but to anyone who’s had a well placed bite put on them can attest they work!

For documented proof of the effectiveness of a good bite one can follow this Link to the 1997 Tyson / Hollyfield fight in which after a few dodgy head butts from Hollyfield Tyson purposely bite off a part of Hollyfields right ear. Now this is a BIG professional fighter used to being dealt rounds and rounds worth of powerful blows real punishment to the face, left screaming like a spanked child from a bite.

Primal Fear:

There’s something hard coded in our DNA some ancient past memory a primeval fear against being bitten or eaten, something that causes such a deep visual response that the victim goes into a state of sheer terror, especially when the culprit spits back in his face the flesh he’s just bitten off! The stylist will then use it to aid his animal transformation seeing blood and eating his prey and be triggered deeper into his own mannerism. This is were we leave the tournament sport “fighting” way behind, this is not the mindset of “it matters not who wins or losses, but how you play the game” in the mind of the victim he’s no being eaten by a tiger not whether he comes out of this with taking on or two on the chin or getting a black eye’ in is view he’s being torn apart and this is the psychological edge we want as a practitioner of animal based Pencak Silat as all Silat and in fact all of the oldest tribal martial arts around the world once where!

This may seem unsavory with some of you and some of you of the more “artistic” persuasions may look on this as unnecessarily savage or barbaric but this is not for kambangan or for performance this is life and death! if your life or that of your loved ones depended on tearing a shred out of someone’s face, cheek of neck to save your life what would you do, what would you wish, as his knife sinks into your body? you had worked… the art of biting?

Disclaimer:

I will now state for the record that I don’t advocate at all, in the use of uninterrupted biting or intelligent biting unless you honestly feel your life of that of your loved ones is in imminent danger. If someone bumps into you in the pub don’t dive on him and tear his cheek off ok!

Biting off more than you can chew:

But anyone can bite, right? Where the art in that? Well actually biting correctly is about technique and sensitivity the Filipino art of Kino Mutai is a fairly newish art that deals with the “dirtier” side of what works bities, nerve pinches, eye gouges etc I’ve had the pleasure (unsure if it could be called that) at least the brouses and teeth marks to attest to the brutal simplicity and thorough effectiveness of these techniques.

If one was to just bite someone, our teeth would careen off the surface and this would actually give the opponent the signal that we’re biting now its serious and we’d be in trouble, big trouble it takes actual practice to bite correctly what Tuhon Paul Vanak calls “uninterrupted biting” where the limb or target to be bit is held secure; think like rear naked choke for example and then bite to the neck or ear unable to simply just pull away while you tear repeatedly backwards and forwards blood pours, pain courses through him while he forgets the fact your choking the life out of him and you will get the idea.

For more info and some excellent, (if not grizzly) training methods for biting please check out Tuhon Paul Vunaks “Streetsafe” series there excellent.

Bando is another South East Asian art that utilizes intelligent biting as well of countless forgotten aboriginal arts the world over.

So in closing remember fighting, real fighting, not ring shit; is not just about hands and feet.

In part 2 we will look at some video clips showing some visual examples, till then

Play safe, train hard

SILAT CLIP OF WEEK

2011-05-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!
Apologies for lack of content of late Im sure if you follow this blog you will be aware of some changes in my personal Silat journey and to my teaching. As such the transitions have kept me busy and thus away from you all. Rest assured Im back with new content and hope to make the site bigger and better than ever.
Stay tuned

This weks clip is my good friend Guru Alvin who I had the real pleasure of meeting in person in London last week with Guru Parvez Alam Phd of Fighting for Lives Fighting for Lives

A totally awesome day and cant plug Alvin and his club enough one of the worlds finiest Persilats and his humility is even greater than his skill
For more information regarding Guru Alvin please see this link (His new website is still in construction but some great info etc here) Silat open circle

Enjoy ;)
Guru Alvin Guinanao Silat Buka Lingkaran

Timpah Sebelah

2011-02-01T11:41:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone.
This article will cover the Timpah Sebelah its name is a little vague but means something like hitting with hammerfist and then backhand in an "X" or in our case a horizontal figure eight (This is one of the Cimande seated jurus and is often performed standing. Whilst it comes to us as Cimande students from this source, its movements are found in most Silat systems and for those doubting the adaptability and destructive power of its movements one only has to see what Guru Eddie Quin of Silat Fitrah, as done with these movements in his "Approach" series
"The Approach"

I won’t demonstrate this as Eddie does it far better than I could.

For more information on Guru Eddie Quin and the “The Approach” see http://www.the-approach.com/

I want to add here that Timpah SebeIah is a valid Cimande juru practiced in many styles of Silat and this article is not meant to plagiarise Guru Eddie or his work in “The Approach”.

I teach this juru in its formal setting at first to familiarise the students with its movement which needs to engage the whole body not just the arm to be most effective. Also I teach it like Guru Eddie with heavy blades to help with the hip engagement and shoulder conditioning and then move to wrist weights, Shaolin Rings and then double heavy lump hammers and double handed with heavy sledge hammer. Once student as gotten to this stage he will have the movement properly memorised into his muscle memory and his now ready to incrementally pressure test this, culminating with full contact sparring with protection of course ;)

Practitioners of Pukulan Cimande will notice that "our" Timpah sebelah juru is different in that we use a double handed single blow I personally have done and teach both, but find the Timpah sebelah practised my most other Cimande schools to be far more practical and versatile (just personal preference) and I teach this movement pattern out of the Kera besar (Great Ape or Orang-Utan) subsystem of the Monyet animal mannerism as I’m sure the ape like movement swinging arm movement is fairly obvious.

You'll notice from the clip that the beauty of the movement is that anywhere on the course of the figure eights path you will intercept it as it enters your "trapping window" and in fact the movement also works well against kicks. Also the movement makes an excellent entry method for smashing your way through an attackers limbs and with no change in movement you can close smash him to bits and with simple langkah apply a takedown all with the one simple pattern of movement. Also the way in which the movement engages the rest of the body means its forward energy (As you advance) smothers him and turns his axis such that he as very few options in counter, with the added bonus that the movement is very easy to learn and apply you have a winning combination. The only draw back if any is that the movement needs confidence to work effectively, using it in a tentative or passive way will not really work so trust in the “ Eights” drive forward and go Ape!

Why I study Pencak Silat!

2011-02-01T10:22:00.000-08:00

Hello guys and girls.

Apologises for the lack of recent updates, I've very busy with work and outside constraints on my time, I've also been doing a lot of reflextion on my personal Silat journey and all this combined as kept me quiet but all back now and will keep you updated on any major changes should they arise.

I would like to resume blogin with this weeks choice of Silat In respect of a great man I've meet on a couple of occasions, a man who more than many others deserves the title of "Pendekar" although he as never claimed it. So whilst penning new articles on Kujang Buah, Animal trance work, Biting and Cimande Juru Timpah Sebelah(Figure Eight hitting) I give you this weeks choice I know many of you may have seen it but its so could I know you wont want to miss it ;)

I've not had chance to ask Guru Tua Chris for permission to feature here but knowing him and holding him in the respect I do I hope he doesn't mind to much. For more information regarding Silat Fitrah please contact chijparker@aol.com

Silat Fitrah

What better advert for Pencak Silat!

Silat clip of the week

2010-11-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

Hello guys heres this week clip its a long one but awesome the late Pendekar "Eddie" Jafri
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=290708661647834300&hl=en#

Enjoy guys ;)

Kujang: The Blade of Sunda (Part 1)

2010-11-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

Hello again everyone.
Well I've been threatening you all with it for a long while, but it’s finally here, a full two perhaps three articles on my favourite weapon the Kujang. I would firstly like to dedicate this article to my first Kujang students Max and Matt (This ones for you guys); and to their Main teacher a highly skilled, wise generous man and a good friend. You know who you are!

My aim in this series is to give an informative and illustrative introduction to the kujang sometimes called Kudi (In Javanese) I wont stray into the academic "mine field" which is related to the history and the uses (or not) of the kujang there’s just to many people, with there own opinions, agendas etc to satisfy. I will include at the footer of this article, for those that want to "Go there" a list of links to some great articles relating more to the history and origins of the kujang. I’m not a scholar of classical Indonesian history and will leave that debate to fester on its own it’s done just fine before I was around and will no doubt continue long after I’m gone.

I want to focus on the uses of the kujang in our system of Pukulan Cimande, my expression of that system in Pencak Silat Seni-Sunda, its relevance as explained to me through that lineage, to the Sundanese people, and to its animal links etc. This is a beautiful ancient weapon and very overlooked as I will hope to show you. Article two will look at some drills and buah taken from our "Cutting drills" and Juru-juru.

A Story :
Here is one old legend of the kujang It starts with King Prabu Siliwangi of Pajajaran kingdom in the 12th century (Western calendar) and his two sons. The older son was Prince Radan Komondoko. The Younger son's name has been lost in history . The story goes that the elder son was sent into the Jungle to train with a master of ilmu(magick) Pencak Silat and he carried the blade that his father . King Silawngi had created to roughly resemble the shape of the island of Java, or Djawa Dwipa as it was formerly known at that time. Some also belive that the shape resembled the root and bulb of a plant and is a reminder to the farmer orgins of the Sunda people. Some say the name was Prabu Kudo Lalean of the King who invented this shape but I have not heard this from any of the old Masters who always told me the former name. Now back to the story . The elder son met the master in the jungle and this man had young daughter who over time became the adopted sister of Radan Komondoko. Decades later the younger son ventured into the same area and came across the now older daughter of Radan Komondoko's teacher. He became interested in her and was flirting with her when along came his older brother . He did not recognize his younger brother and believed he was disrespectful to his adopted sister so he challenged his own brother to a fight. The younger Brother had also been studying his Pencak Silat and Ilmu very diligently and the fight as legend tells it went on for days . When neither could win they decided to use weapons and each pulled there fathers Kujang . At once they realized they were brothers as these were at that time the only two kujangs in existence given to them by there father, They were happy to see each other and joined forces with there knowledge together of Pencak Silat Kujang fighting and Ilmu. From that point on their methods became the inheritance of kujang in Some Pencak Silat schools.

This is a quaint story there are many involving the Kujang and its place in Sundanese collective consciousness, a story of lost brothers re-uniting to mirror the plans of any ruler to re-unite various tribes into a strong and unified nation. The kujang are often fashioned with the body of a tiger and or in scabbards resembling the tiger. I was told that the tiger was a symbol of the ancient Sundanese peoples to whom it had totemic significance, although is is probably no longer remembered this is the reason, which is now done this way through tradition , a tradition who’s origin as been forgotten or eroded by Islamification at a later date.

Designs:
While I made mention that I wouldnt be drawn into history and exact origns of the kujang as there are none at least definitive as yet We know that the kujang originated probably from an agricultual tool used for cutting grass and for tiling the soil a reminder to the Sundapeoples of their agricultural origns and this may give relevance to the notion that the blade originaly was modlled on the root or bulb of a plant. Some stories claim that the blade was forged after a vision of the island of Java and the stories continue.
There are a myrid of different kujang designs, but today they basicly come down to two main types with two distinct historical roots. The original kujangs or Proto-Kujang are found on stone relifs of great antiquity circa 4th-7th centurys AD (Western calenda) the original "True" kujang where belived to be of Hindu or even Budhist origins, these are sometimes called Pusaka kujang due to their great age, these are distinqued my sutlties in the shapes but mostly by the number of holes found in and around the blade the oldest kujang have three holes which is said to relate to the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Latewr Islamic kings Imans etc wanting to spread Islam changed the blades shape made wider to resemble the Abrabic letter "Syin" and they changed the number of holes (sometimes filled with gold) from the Hindu trinity to five to represent , some belive the 5 pillars of Islam. In our system the number five equates to the four animal mannerisms and the fifth being "Raja Naga" the blend of the other four animals.

Lineage:
The Kujang I studied as come to me through my Sut Guru, Guru Besar Liam McDonald. Who studied directly under Pendekar Sanders, Pendekar Sanders in turn learnt his kujang directly from the late Pendekar "Eddie" Jafri and from Pendekar Mama Sukarma. In the system of Pukulan Cimande Combat (Guru Besar Liam McDonalds expression) of Pendekar Sanders style there are two main areas of kujang study. One is the 10 Kujang Jurus, given to Pendekar Sanders from Pendekar Jafri and secondly the Latihan Permangkasan "Cutting excersises / drills." I practiced the the former for several years and now whilst I do teach beginners the kujang Jurus which contain some wonderful concepts and cleaver techniques I personally prefere the latihan permangkasan. The aim here as with all things is to learn and drill the kujang movements from the juru and then forget the framework and keep the concepts, my rational for prefering the latihan permangkasan is that they have a two man element to them so your working on things like ranging to hit a moving target and working with anothers energy etc and because they are less static, but its horses for courses learn the rules and forget the tools.

Talisman or Tool:
One major debate which as scholars and persilats at each others throats is the view that the kujang is'nt or never was used as a weapon! there is a very hard core group that claim that kujangs are only ever meant to be used in ritual. Its true that there is a powerful cultural link with the Sunda peoples and the kujang and yes it was used in rituals of fertility and as a tool to communicate with our ancestors, there are rituals for cleaning and feeding the kujang and yes it was used in talismanic manner very similar to the Javanese Keris; but it is in my mind and many other much high skilled persilats a weapon.
Thye Sunda where and still are at heart a practical and pragmatic peoples skilled warriors with strong agricultural roots streaching back for thosands of years. So would these people ONLY use items for ritual or would they "multi task" and use a sharp iron or bronze multi blades sharp tool as a weapon too? OF COURSE THEY WOULD AND DID AND DO STILL!

There is an element in Indonesia today that over emphasises the spiritual practices of Pencak Silat and its trappings telling us that kujang and Keris where just for status and ritual. Ok Im a "dumb white guy" trained by other white guys but they where taught by native Indonesians of imense skill many where native Sunda so did they have it wrong too? was Pendekar Jafri, Pendekar Mama Sukarma and even the greatest persilat of the last few decades Pendekar Herman Suwanda all wrong? all lying? "ummmm" proably not. Do people over press the spiiritual aspects of an art because they no longer know how to use the object anymore OH YES.

And yes the kujang is a mystical object In the Kujang there are PusakaTayuhan comprising what is called "isi" or "Tua" or Magick in the blade. The real Pusaka can take months or even years to create. It is normally constructed with layered metals called Pamor and is filled with "tua" or "isi (magickal power) by the maker using various methods of fasting and mantra repeated over the blade while it is being made. From the occult side, like the keris, another weapon used by the indo-malayan natives, the kujang was often consecrated with magickal power and familiar spirits attached for specific purposes, such as the protection against psychic attack. Because of the inherent power of the kujang in conjunction with the presence of its spirit guardians, the well-informed natives revere them as sacred objects. But they are also weapons! Old pre Islamic relifs depicted the use of Kerises and proto-Kujangs in combat. Also some of the folktales and historical events are clear that both weapons are used as weapons. Saying Keris and Kujang were just Talisman is the same as saying that wearing Katanas and Wakizashis are just symbols of the samurai, both weapons are not weapons but status badges.

Nowadays, the kujang is often decorated in homes as it is believed to bring about luck, protection, honor, etc. They are displayed in pairs on walls with the inner edge facing each other. There is a taboo, however--no one is to be photographed standing in-between them as this would somehow cause the death of that person within a year. Why this occurs is not known for certain, we might shrug it off as superstition, coincidence or synchronicity but behind every phenomenon cosmic laws and intelligences are at work; we just need to discover what those laws are and the mind-set of those metaphysical intelligences directing those laws to know the reason for the anomaly.

So hope you enjoyed the article and next part will cover more practical uses and some clips of kujang buah.
Till then train hard, play safe ;)

This Weeks Cool Clip

2010-10-26T01:30:00.000-07:00

Hello guys and girls.
Heres this weeks clip its refreshing to see real people real martial artists doing what they love for the good of their people and for all fellow men.
The art of Silat is full of the "Money Gurus" making enormous profits from doing what they are supposed to be doing for love of the art, there clips are all over the net and social media sites. So, this time I wanted to show the REAL heros of Silat and Kali! those working and training for love and for charity not to buy a new condo or flash car you know who you are. and I will purposely not give these individuals further exposer here on my small and humble piece of the net.
And to the "Money Gurus" out there, slowly getting richer higher profiled while driving other, lesser known but equally ( if not better) skilled gurus into the shadows for fear of harassment, abuse and straight out bullying, Your not as smart as you think, money doesn't buy intelligence or true peace and happiness it wont fill the hole in your heart, you know the one! Your actions are not un-noticed, others watch from the very shadows you pushed and prodded them into.

Respect to Fighting for Lives and all the other charitys fighting the real fight that matters, the war on poverty, hunger, sorrow, corruption, injustice the REAL WAR ON TERROR!
So to the clip THIS WEEKS REAL COOL CLIP

Respect and love to the guys in this clip, to all those suffering due to creed and injustice the world over.
One world one love one dream one heart.

Fighting for Lives (closed door event ) 24/10/2010 DUSA

2010-10-26T01:04:00.000-07:00

Big and warm thanks to everyone who attended the Fighting for Lives closed door event on Sunday. I had a great time and relished the chance to work with the likes of Max, Chris, Matt and the others those working hard in the shadows to keep pure un-diluted Silat alive, without desire for fame and fortune, my heart and respects to you all for that ... so when can I come up again??? ;))))
For those wanting to know more about Fighting for Lives Charity and the wonderful work it does or for details of future events, please go to Fighting For Lives Home

Silat Clip of the Week

2010-10-13T04:19:00.000-07:00

As some of you may or may not know, at the moment in my personel training Im heavily involved with the Monyet and Kera mannerisms of our art.
I thought that therefore I'd post a Monyet themed clip this week Guru Steve Gartin of the De-Thouars KunTao Silat system. This clip abilily shows the heartless and effective approach the monyet as to combat.

Enjoy Guru Steve Gartin
PS: Double Kujang article on the way very soon ;)

SILAT CLIP OF THE WEEK

2010-10-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

Hey guys on a brighter note here's my choice of Silat clips of the week.

This week my good friend Alvin Guinanao in my humble opinion is one of the best Persialts around!
I've seen none match his speed and grace, truly a peerless fighter.

His YouTube Channel is Satria Fighting Arts
The Satria website is under re-construction but will post link once it returns.

My shout out to my brother Al, hope you all enjoy the clip ;)
Guru Alvin Guinanao

Silat Clip of the Week

2010-09-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

Hey guys here's this weeks cool clip got to say this is without a doubt the best Harimau trance work I've ever seen real Authentic Silat still survives here in West Java.

Enjoy until next time train safe, play hard ;)
Harimau Trance

Malaysia Night 2010

2010-09-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.
24th of September was Malaysia Night in Trafalgar Square London.
We had the pleasure to perform on the stage with another local Nottingham group playing Pencak Sialt from Malaysia.
The event went very well and we all had a great time, for those interested the first combined set we performed can be view at Mediafire Malaysia Night 2010 Set 1
We're trying to source copies of our other set and once we do I'll post em here too.
Just wanted to say thanks to all envolved. If anyone out there actully attended please email me and tell me what you thought of the performance I will admit due to nerves our second set was much better but still , it was our first ever ;)
Anyone wanting to see more pictures please click here for my Facebook album and if you like add me as a friend ;) Thanks guys.Facebook Album

Cool clip of the week - Part II

2010-09-18T01:43:00.000-07:00

Hey guys heres the second part of Guru Penglima Derek Owings expression of the Cimande TarIk Kolot version of the Cimande Village Jurus, this time 5 and 6.
Here's his great site please take time to peruse
http://rajanagaacademy.blogspot.com/

Great to see more GOOD Pukulan Cimande on the web.
My thanks to Guru Penglima Derek and big shout out to my Cimande brothers over in Port Huron ;)
http://www.pckinternational.com/

Fighting for Lives- Indigenous Combat Arts of West Java, Indonesia

2010-09-16T05:13:00.000-07:00

Me again
Just to keep you all in the loop, I have the great honour of being asked to teach as a guest instructor at the
Fighting for Lives "Invite only" charity event due to be held on the 24 October · 12:00 - 18:00.

Firstly I'd like to thanks the host for the opurtunity to work, not only with him, but for such a worthy charity.
Secondly, the aim is to raise money for the "Berur Project" to help street children in Kenya.
For more information please visit Fighting For Lives
Lastly it will be a cool opportunity to train with a great crowd and have an enjoyable exchange of skills and concepts, focusing on the Sundanese arts of Banten West Java.
Here's our right up and plan of days events:

Sion-marc Simpson:
Pukulan Pencak Silat Cimande Binatang
http://www.pukulancimandeuk.blogspot.com/
A traditional style from West Java which is heavily involved with animal fighting methods. Brutal and beautiful.

Other Instruction in :
Pukulan Kombinasi
Combined styles from West Java
Pamonyet (Monkey), Pamacan (Tiger), Cikalong and the Pukulan system.

On the day we will be covering relevant aspects of these art to help you go away at the end of it with material you can progress with. Not just a collection of techniques but the threads that bind these arts together.

The intention is to have these seminars repeat and introduce more and more advanced material as we go along.

Will be a great day, Im looking forward to meet those invited on the day ;)

Malaysia Night 24/09/2010

2010-09-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

Hello again.
Our group will be performing at the Malaysia Night London Malaysia Night 2010 event in London Trafalgar Squareon the 24/09/2010.
Pukulan Cimande Binatang Pencak Silat and will be sharing the lime-light with Guru Vinnie's group of Silat Fitra.
Here's the narative of the advert:
Fans of Asian food and lifestyle are in for a treat as for one night only, Trafalgar Square is transformed into a traditional pasar malam. Around 20 individual stalls run by Malaysian restaurants will be serving dishes in an event designed to showcase the authentic and vibrant cuisine of Malaysia. From laksa and nasi goreng to satay and beef rendang, Malaysia Night will offer Londoners the chance to experience the very best of Malaysian food and visitors will be able to purchase authentic ingredients, including herbs and spices and traditional Malaysian drinks and cakes. The night is one of the highlights of the year-long Malaysia Kitchen campaign which aims to inspire British consumers to the world of Malaysian cuisine. And with contemporary performances on stage throughout the night, visitors will be able to experience a wonderful little slice of Malaysian culture.

Needless to say we're looking forward to our first public performance period and in such a venue the pressures on ;) But please come along and get an insight into the beauty of Malaysian culture.

Cool Silat Clip

2010-09-16T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hey guys and girls.
Here's this weeks cool clip of the week.
Here we see the very talented Guru / Professeur Sébastien Véroult of the FISFO system. Guru Véroult is I believe a student of the renowned Pendekar Charles Joussot one of my biggest inspirations when I began my Silat journey many years ago..
Please take the few minuites to check out Guru Sébastien Véroult Guru Veroult and his teacher who is one of the most functional Persilats in Europe if not the world IMO.

Here's the clip there's many fine clips on You Tube if you do a search of him and Professeur Joussot
Enjoy Professeur Sébastien Véroult
Professeur Veroult part 2
Until next time ;)

Silat Clip of the Week

2010-09-03T03:40:00.000-07:00

This weeks clip is fine example of Pukulan Cimandes Tarik Kolot juru-juru and possible applications.
In this clip Guru Penglima Derek Owings of Pukualn Cimande Kombinasi gracefully demonstrates juru 1-4

(All clips used with permision from owners)
Guru Penglima Derek Owings

Silat Clip of the Week !

2010-09-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

Hey all just wanted to start off new weekly thread featuring my pick of cool Silat vids.
I will post these on a weekly basis, so if you know of some I've missed please drop me an email at simpson76@tiscali.co.uk

Starting off with the excellent Guru Santiago Dobles

(All clips used with permision from owners)

.Guru Santiago Dobles

Future Articles

2010-08-25T03:04:00.000-07:00

Hey guys just wanted to expalin why I'd posted some posts originally posted by Guru Besar Liam.
One because Im working on articles on specific conditioning and drills for each animal mannerism of our beautiful system and as such is taking a while.
Im still working on the idea of "Application of the month" as a tribute to all the old style martial art magazines I grew up with as a wee child, yes I was once wee! where they had a featured system and basic applications per month.
I have plans for a couple of articles on my favourite weapon the Sundanese Kujang
And also because the articles I've reposted are good material anyway and some less sad than I maynot have read them before ;)

Watch this space Silat fans!.

Our Styles Evolution

2010-08-25T02:44:00.000-07:00

(Previously posted by Guru Beasr Liam McDonald Feb 2009)

(Original posting by Guru Eddie Ivester date unknown)

A number of my students have asked me, where our system was born from, and this excellent online article by Guru Eddie Ivester gives a good detail of the foundation from where we come from, and respect should be given to the Masters and Teachers who give us this art, and who dedicated their lives in teaching others. Hopefully one day we can honour them, by passing this beautiful art on to the next generation.

Willy Wetzel:

William “Willy” John Christopher Wetzel was born on January 23, 1921 in the village of Loemadjang, Java, Indonesia.

He passed away on March 17, 1975 in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, United States.

Willy Wetzel was part Indonesian & Dutch and was born & raised in Indonesia and could speak three Indonesian languages. Monk Huang Wu Wen was hired by the Dutch secret service to locate rebel forces wishing to overthrow the Dutch government in Indonesia. Huang's cover was as a tea merchant and probably adopted the name Oei Kem Boen for his cover. Oei Kem Boen met Willy Wetzel when he was 9 years old and because of Willy's language skills and being a child from Java he recruited him to help locate secret rebel training camps in and around Java in return for fighting lessons.

At age 14 Willy asked Monk Boen to teach him everything he knew about fighting so he could become a master like Monk Boen. At age 17 during WW II Willy served as a member of the Royal Dutch Indonesian Army and was recruited into the Dutch Secret Service where he was assigned to locate leaders of rebel factions.

It is said that Willy was in fact an assassin for the Secret Service and assigned to eliminate the leaders of the rebel factions that he located. Willy traveled throughout Indonesia undercover as a Pencak Silat historian and as such he learned many different styles of Indonesian Fighting Arts from all over the Malay Peninsula. It is believed that Willy knew hundreds of different Silat & Kuntao arts and thousands of different techniques as well as several Japanese fighting styles. In 1949 Willy moved to Holland and then in 1956 he immigrated to Vanport, PA. In 1960 Willy opened his and the first Indonesian martial arts school in the United States to the general public in Beaver falls, PA. He combined and synthesized all of the fighting arts that he had learned into a new system and called his new system Pukulan Cimande Chuan Fa.

Pukulan Cimande:

Pukulan cimande is a "Broken Mirror" system this means many styles woven into one.

In the tradition of Willy you are not bound or restricted to any one style or form, rather you are free and encouraged to seek and adapt what is right for you and discard the rest. pukulan cimande is taught and employed as the natural system and the students are eventually trained mentally to use their fighting/self-defense instinctively by accomplishing several moves at once without having to consciously plan each move.

This is accomplished by not just learning a fixed set pattern or sequence of movements but creating their own Kembangan (flower dance/form) also known as the "Crawl" by pukulan cimande practitioners.

Pukulan cimande is a varied art composed of a wide range of animal postures and movements inspired by the Bingatang Ampat or 4 animals; the Tiger, Snake, Crane & Monkey. Animal mannerisms were included in pukulan cimande because they increase human actions thus bringing to them a much wider range of technique possibilities and applications. Students learn to defend themselves from any position standing or on the ground. Striking, takedowns, weapons defenses and joint locks are all used and students learn the art through both structured forms and free fighting.

1. Tiger (Matjan) the Indonesian tiger’s grounded movement leads to the three-limbed fighting style of Harimau. The surprising but deadly moves of Matjan Tiengie- Leaping Tiger challenge practitioners to move quickly up from the grounded positions to attack either standing or grounded opponents with ripping motions, sweeps, springing shears or scissors, rolling elbows and knees. The Chinese tiger form uses open hands with extended fingers to claw or rip at vital targets. The method is to hit or place with the palm to the target, then grab and pull.

2. Crane (Blekok) the Indonesian fluid White Crane, erratic moods of the Mad Crane and the quieter more deadly moves of the Lazy Crane, various fist blows and parrying movements as well as balance, stability from the agile movement of the crane, aerial and multiple kicking techniques, long range striking and the ability to strike from a one legged position are adapted from this animal. The Chinese Crane style uses low to high one-legged body positions with turns. Every second or third move begins in a crane position, with a retreat covered by open hand parries, then follows with attacks or counterattacks. Kicks are delivered from high to low. The head rotates in all directions to watch for any oncoming attackers, providing a circle defense.

3. Monkey (Monyet) Indonesian monkey uses grounded stances, acrobatic movements, parries, grabbing, pounding fists, medium height positions, crawl, low movements, rolls, jumping and leaping with its playful energy sets. Also the groundwork for the heavy effective moves of the powerful ape the native Orangutan and the crazy antics of the drunken monkey are seen here. The monkey style is noted by its bent knee, wide leg positions with the body at a low height and arm movements that are circular with open hand parries, and closed hand grabs with palms down. Defensive body movements are side-to-side and forwards and backwards with dodging head movements and body rolls across the ground when needed.

4. Snake (Ular) Indonesian snake is recognized by the close foot positions and medium body height. Elbow-to-elbow distance is kept close to the body to protect the midsection from injury. By weaving the arms, body and legs during retreats and attacks the snake exponent appears to be giving in but immediately redirects the fight to his advantage. Advanced striking and wrapping techniques come from the Ular Sawa.

The snake in general, has fast multiple lightning strikes from any position, spiraling and weaving motions and short-range sweeping.

In the pukulan cimande style correct hitting is invisible and the striking weapons are camouflaged by foot & hand movements and always strike indirectly. The blow never starts or comes from the place the exponent is positioned from and never strikes the target it appears to be aimed toward. This deception is accomplished by having the arm or leg relaxed while on it's route of travel to the real intended target. In that way the same weapon can hit multiple targets without withdrawing and fools & confuses the opponent into blocking to protect a target that is not going to be hit. pukulan cimande makes good use of the head for butting action with head on, side to side and rear strikes, which are effective in very close in-fighting situations. Along with head strikes the use of elbows and knees are employed in close quarter combat as well.

Pukulan cimande is also an internal art where Chi Kung (breathing techniques) and meditation are developed for internal strength, focus, and healing.

PUKULAN CIMANDE LINEAGE

2010-08-25T02:03:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted by Guru Besar Liam Mc Donald back in Feb 2010)

Below is a lineage chart and format that is used by Pukulan Cimande Schools, so students can trace back their lineage. The use of the term Well, and River are to give respect and linkage to the Cimande aspects.
I have only used the names of the Gurus that have a direct lineage to my learning. They are many other very highly respected Gurus in our Family tree. Having a lineage is important to understand what came before us, very skillful dedicated people who have kept the Art alive for us to learn, and in doing so, we are blessed by having this Art in our lives.
To return this favor we can pass the Art onto the next generation, by doing this simple act, we keep this beautiful Art alive, so the River of Cimande Knowledge keeps flowing through all our and future lives!

The Well - The Art itself
First River - The Founders, i.e. Oei Kim Boen and Mas Djut Bang Salemoen
Second River - Mas Goeroe Agoeng Willy Wetzel.
Third River - Goeroe Malterer,
Forth River - Pendekar Sanders
Fifth River - Guru Besar Liam McDonald
Sixth River - Guru Dan, Guru Robert etc... (Students of mine who have reach Guru Level)
Seventh River - Students of the above Guru's

Training Tips Series

2010-08-25T01:36:00.000-07:00

Training Tip #1 – Turning Up

(Originally posted by Guru Besar Liam McDonald Wednesday, January 27, 2010)

Turning up for class is the single most important training tip there is! By doing the simple physical act of walking through the classroom door as either a beginners or a Guru, you are placing yourself in a interactive learning environment.

I tell my students this simple mantra” Don’t Think just turn up! “What does this mean? Well most of us are constantly fighting our internal demons, the one which comes up with all the so call reasons not to train – “T V good tonight “ “I go to the Pub”
“I play X Box” “I take it easy and have a night off” etc, in fact we get a whole day to think up a new excuse and to support it as why not to train, as most classes are in the evening. And when we miss one class, than it becomes that just bit easier to miss another class, than another till it becomes a habit, and one which is hard to break. So my advice is – Don’t Think, just do the simple act of turning up. Once you walk through the door than the teacher can do his work and help motivate you. You will begin to work out have fun and enjoy yourself. As human beings we are design to learn and develop, we take pleasure from it. When people leave class I look for two things “S and S” which is “Sweaty and Smiling” very few people ever leave a class in a depress state. Interacting with other students while training, having a joke or chat after class, is going to do so much more for your physical and mental state than sitting in your favorite chair watching the latest episode of Coronation Street.

On a final note on excuses, one of my teachers had a simple saying “what ever excuse you are going to use, its still an excuse, if you’re not in class, you’re not in class”.
Believe me I have heard it all from “A rash on a toe” to “Falling off a Toilet” to “I think I left the lights on at home” yes these some off my many list of excuses I have heard. Remember every time you miss class, you are taking a step back, and one which make the Instructor job harder, as he has to go back and retrain you on the material you have missed, or re-develop the techniques / skill you have forgotten. On this thought, how many of us have ever thank their Instructor for taking the time out to help us catch up, when we missed class? Or do You take it for granted that he will always take you back and will always help you catch up.

So help your Instructor out and more importantly Yourself and Turn UP
More Training Tips to follow.....
Posted by Liam Mc Donald at 9:44 A

The Other Animals (Part 3)

2010-06-28T12:23:00.000-07:00

KUCING / KUCIN (Cat) PINTAR BERMAIN KUCING (Playful Cat)
MATJAN, CHI-MATJAN, MACAN, PAMACAN (Upright Tigers and other large cats, including Topcat, Tom, Felix and Bagpuss! ;)

(Please note I'll be using the word "Kucin" to refere to the cat as there are so many spellings I've been given so chose this for ease)
Kucin although a very old system is sadly now only found in its entirety and by name in Sumatra Bawa (West Sumatra) and the boarder region of northern Malayu and southern Thailand.

Its origins are lost to history. In the west, to my knowledge only East West Studios and its affiliated schools continue to train kucin style in its entirety.

Kucin can be found in varying degrees in many schools of Harimau in Sumatra, and it as influenced much of the ground fighting arts in the region, many teachers of Harimau will just call these movements harimau but historically they owe their conception to the upright kucin systems;

in fact I've heard said from good sources that styles like Harimau and Buaya originally came out of the kucin systems as practiced in Sumatra today.

In our system we also do not use techniques and concepts of the kucin by name, but in the movements of Matjan and Chi-matjan we find the same concept of movement attack and defence there’s tons of overlap as they all operate with the same MO.

In fact in my personal training I have studied a lot of kucin and advise all my students to put in some time outside of the standard curriculum prior to training harimau to cross train in this important range and plane of combat it helps with body movement at the lower line and acts as an excellent transition into harimau or out into Kera, Mawas and Monyet.

If one was to toss a cat into the air (Be careful if trying this at home) and watch it land we see its ability to hit the ground safely, with the option always there to either flee or fight always turning and twisting to land on its feet effectively and boom of it goes

Kucin makes a great recovery system should we be thrown, slip or fall to go to ground safely and to quickly recover and get back up to a standing position and if we're caught in the kneeling position in transition from the ground we can move like lightning and defend and more importantly attack from several different kneeling postures.

If we where to be fighting multiple attackers and please lets be realistic here, every encounter in the REAL WORLD (ie outside of the dojo) as the potential of developing VERY quickly into multiple combat with antagonists appearing from nowhere some not even originally connected to the scenario and just want to join in just for shits and giggles, or where in the bog or at the bar or maybe just not seen by you when it "kicked off"

Harimau as its place and is a very powerful system but anyone who as worked it and I mean REALLY worked it hard, pressure testing it against more than just another Silat player of the matts and outside of the "compliancy game" will testify its just to slow and lacks mobility and adaptability, its all or nothing.

When a tiger leaps on its prey its fully committed to smashing into it over powering it dragging it to the ground and tearing it to pieces it cant stop its leap half way through, should three people appear back from the bar, once your committed and supine on the floor its VERY hard to get back up

in one piece without getting your head caved in!

Its power and advantage comes in powerful Offensive shooting and takedowns its not meant to be so static its designed to take prey down ASAP and doesn’t fair to well in a multiple arena on a crowed street or bar or sidewalk, full of cars, people broken bottles dog turds syringes etc etc.

These aren’t the fields of Sumatra! If we are attacked and forced to hit the ground in Raja Harimau in middle of Piccadilly Circus in rush hour your likely to end up dead and that’s just from pass’s by!

Harimau was described to me best, by a very famous exponent like this" If I was across the street and I saw my wife and kid being pulled into a back of a car and someone was blocking my path to them, thats when I'd use Harimau"

Life or death to destroy the opponent as quickly and surely as possible"

As we can see it’s NOT a purely defensive system by any means and using it as such is like using a cannonball as a paper weight! Sure it makes a great paperweight but it’s not what it was meant for used correctly it blows things to bits!

Like the falling cat we need to land safely and quickly into an agile position with the ability formost, for mobility! Try chasing a cat and you'll see there VERY hard to catch

when we hit the floor and need to get out of the situation and move with speed and agility at the low line kuchin and matjan are what we should be pressure testing and working.

Harimau as its place and its a wonderful system when used properly, but like any other system needs to be used and tested correctly.

Kucin and matjan use a lot of what the Indonesians call "Gelek" which means to twist or turn and using the example of the falling cat we see it as the ability to almost turn 360 around its own spine it lands and spins a lot, twisting and turning to avoid contact

I advise that this, is where we should be working, with this ability to twist and turn spin and kick while turning using galek once grounded instead of adopting a static harimau posture and waiting for the inevitable

so lets look at some examples of kuchin and matjan.

The use of Mi-ing or "Play" is another great tool to work the kucin

using some of the traditional kucin postures (serveral demonstrated by one of my murids are pictured below)

These postures can be used with either both starting from the floor, or one standing Vs one on the floor to start to try and kick or punch or in someway touch the opponant, who in turn rolls, turns and twists through these and other postures trys not to be touched and also to touch him back.

Like two cats play fighting, this teaches body movement, control, fluidity of movement adapatability and manoverability, not to mention once the pace is picked up fitness and conditioning.

In our curriculum there are several matjan techniques and many include attacking the enemies knees and groin obvious setup targets when in a kneeling posture, from there we can use elbow knee takedowns, using galek we can apply leg and ankle brakes or wraps and takedowns to harimau proper

but with kucin we can use kicks at various levels offensively as well as defensively to help twist us and make us of the momentum to regain a standing posture (some pictured below)

In this sequence we see a famous kick applied from the kucin from this postion somewhat similar to the standard Coiled tiger posture from our Harimau curiculum, the persilat raises kicks to the enermys face or chest and then uses gelek hooks the enermies neck with the same leg and with a wheeling motion pulls him down to the ground to be finished of with perhaps a roll over the groin or hammer fist.

Kucin also uses a lot of trapping and crushing with the kneeling leg either pinning with the knee to an opponents head or limb or more cleverly between the fold of the thigh and calf to crush a limb or head controlling so as to meet other threats from other opponents.

The kneeling leg pin idea is also wonderfully effective as a base to roll from, cats roll a lot, when we use that knee as a base which, lets say is kneeling on someones testicles as a base to forward roll from then for the split second our entire bodyweight, plus gravity and momentum of our roll completely crushes what’s beneath it; easily rupturing the testicles! one person less to worry about as we roll into the next.

Obviously the kucin calls for a LOT of conditioning! Our power to weight ratio must be very good! As we make great use of the supporting hand to hold us, while applying kicks takedowns and rolls.

As well as wrist and shoulder strength, we need good cardiovascular fitness to apply the twisting and turning, learning to break fall rolling and springing up and conditioning the legs and "core" are all paramount to successful kucin play.

Those of us who are heavyset really have to work on conditioning for this animal as extra weight limits maneuverability and stamina, so missing a few meals and odd pint now and again wont hurt! As well as working hard on press-ups and core abdominal work are a must.

If you cant hold a "Plank" position or support your entire bodyweight repeatedly on one hand you ARE going to have to put in the hours and sweat.

In the wild there are very few "Fat" cats because they get eaten by the Tigers ;)

Play hard train safe brothers.

The Other Animals (Part 2)

2010-05-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

BUAYA (Crocodile)

Hello again
This month we'll be taking a look at the second of our "Other Animals" which while less well known and becoming increasingly rarer are still sub-styles of Pencak Silat.
We will be looking at the Buaya or Crocodile systems; these are no longer widely practiced as they once where and can now be found in Western Sumatra in the villages of the coastal regions.
Funnily enough buaya can be found preserved unknowingly in some of the Harimau schools of the region, where movements from buaya have been incorporated so many generations ago that a lot of teachers just call it all harimau, it’s only from exposed to buaya that one can notice what can sometimes be subtle differences.
This is understandable as the movements of the buaya are a perfect companion for harimau practioners allowing for sweeps and takedowns using the buaya's tail and also allowing some evil pinning and transitional movements across a felled adversary.
In fact so much buaya material as been lost to time, that really there are relatively few movements in this system which are distinctively baya, compared to say Kucin ( Cat, another of the other animals and source of next article)or the Harimau.

While there are some "stand up" movements involved in buaya it really comes into its own, in its tell tale sweeping and takedowns; and of course once on the ground it really comes into its element..
A stylist of buaya will really be heavily reliant on movements of say the Kucin or in our system Matjan sometimes written or Chi-matjan or Macan or Pamacan (Father of Tiger) There all basically, either a Tiger fighting more upright or a playful cat and these will often times be used as a method of entry and upright movement used to close prior to taking down and dropping into buaya proper.

The Bite
Crocodiles are among some of the oldest animals on the planet millions of years old and have adapted wonderfully for survival, heavy armored, with jaws powerful enough to bite down with 5000 PSI ! (Pounds per square inch) in comparison the human bite is a sad 200 PSI. Also in the arsenal is a very powerful tail more than capable of knocking a man of his feet.
Croc bite force
Despite there apparent bulk and slow gait they attack with such sudden force that they usually catch there prey completely unawares; as can be seen in the previous clip also they have amazing camouflage and can almost disappear under the water and move silently through riverside foliage.
The bite is powerful enough to completely shatter bones and the animal can be likened to a walking mouth, some styles of buaya still practiced focus on biting while on the ground to muscles like the neck, cheek and waist (love handles) once clamped down they shake their whole bodies wildly tearing away and even rolling in imitation of the death roll; whatever they've bitten on to is coming off! The downward elbow is used also to simulate the downward penetrating force of the bite

The "Death Roll"
Crocodiles will clamp down on there prey with there powerful bites then as you will see they go into a "Death Roll" spinning over and over while clamped on tearing huge chunks of flesh of as their unable to use their tiny limbs. As you'll see in this clip this roll is very fast and devastating to anything attached to the part of the body being bitten into warning here it’s not for the squeamish.
Death Roll
In the buaya system we utilize the roll a lot, especially for breaking of the neck, also the roll is also utilized to turn a prone opponent over to expose vital targets and to set up for a choking technique.
The roll can be used from a standing position once the head is controlled in kind of a super vicious "Puter Kepala" (Turn the head) technique to get an adversary onto his back to choke or break the neck.
In this clip the great Guru Maul can be seen using the rolling method and some locking brakes in his expression of the buaya this method teaches the stylist that wherever he is in relation to his enemy brutal brakes and compressions can be utilized.
Guru Maul buaya
Also used against kicks this role can be devastating catching a front or side kick and then literally flipping in mid air tearing and dislocating the knee and or ankle and possibly hip!
As mentioned also the roll can be combined with the bite to help cause terrible pain and injury similar to techniques used in the rare Kino Mutai of the Filipino arts of Dumog and Kali cause great psychological damage to an opponent where in his mind he's really being eaten!

Buaya's Tail
The main offensive tool of the buaya stylist is the tail. The tail is used for sweeping and for takedowns, chokes and extremely painful pins and pressure type attacks to the opponent’s limbs used to hold the foe in place or to exploit or expose a venerable area for an elbow or neck lock / brake when utilized with the roll.
As you can see from the following clip of Pendekar Steven Benitez.
(There are actually three clips with a short pause in between)
Buaya in action
Here one can clearly see the utilization of the tail for compression pins to the bones and muscles of the limbs, the facial expressions and moans show the pain involved while the buaya stylist moves up and over the prone opponent until a finishing usually fatal movement is delivered.

Conditioning
I’m a huge advocate of conditioning with regards to the animal systems and what we learn from the buaya is the strengthening of the whole of the back area, mostly lower back and improved flexibility and strength of the "core" and abdominals, gluts, hamstrings, shoulders and back of the neck. Some of our largest muscle groups are in this area and as such these become our armour. From the picture of the crocodile’s back one can see the amount of armour the animal carries on its back the yogic type stretching and conditioning of the buaya gives us dynamic strength and flexibility in the whole back of our bodies. The buaya also teaches us to move forward and down with a sliding type movement similar to a crocodile sliding into the water on its stomach the stepping of buaya is long and smooth utilizing this sliding manner.
So I hope this gives you a better incite to this beautiful subsystem of Pencak Silat, good luck in your training and see you next month with the Kucin.

Train hard and play safe.

Introduction to the Other Animals (Part 1)

2010-04-13T03:19:00.000-07:00

CELING (Boar)

Hello again.
Firstly a big shout out to my Silat Brother James Thomas in Wales and the people of the Boar This ones dedicated to you.

Before I beging this journey into the lesser known animal systems from South East Asia I have the obligitory disclaimer:

These animals are NOT part of the Cimande curiculum I study under Guru Besar Liam McDonald, or any of the Guru's under him.
I make no claims that they are
These articles are meant in no way, disrespectful to their teachings
These are included because I have had exposure to them from early study and trainings.
They ARE part of my journey through the martial arts, part of my expression, my expirence.
Because they are fucking amazing
Blend so well with the Silat I have and do study , regardless of dogma or style.

That done, lets get on to the Boar.
The Boar is an important animal in many of the South East Asian martial arts, especially the Myanmar (Burmese) arts of Bando (pronounced Bandu) and Thaing. There ARE Boar systems to some small degree in a few Silat systems too, although now quite rare and mostly found in Indonesia.
One of the only teachers publicly teaching a portion of the Celing system is my friend (In mail corespondance only) Guru Besar Sean Stark of Pencak Silat Pertempuran.
Please see link to his website on the left hand side of this blog.
Guru Besar Stark is a FINE persilat and a great teacher from what little I know of him and yes some of his titles are in my Silat collection.

"What ! Herasy!" No....! There good, he's very good and its all Silat! Now get over it!

Its not hard to see once one watches a boar charge. why ancient and modern warriors of the more animistic persuation would want to model themselves and some of their movements and attitudes on the boar.
The boar as been a symbol admired by warrior socilitys the world over a powerful talisman and totem animal even here in Celtic lands a symbol of the Ancient Britions (Modern Welsh) and also across the sea in the myth and legends of Ireland (Eire)

A quote from the famous Celtic poem The Song of Amergin from the Book of Invasions the mythological history of the invasions of Ireland these words spoken by Amergin of the Milesians once he set foot on the sacred shores of Eire as a challange to the people Tuatha de Dannan. theres a line amongst the boast and claims "Iam the Wild Boar in Valour"
This speaks volumes of the signifcance of the boar an amazing peice of literature in its own right worth a read for anyone.
Anyway Guru Jon and the guys in Eire will know all about this and I dont want this to be talk about Celtic histroy!
Gaelic Song of Amairgin (Amergin)

Wherever and whomever in the world from Indonesian and Myanmar to the west shores of Ireland all these different cultures have a respect and apreciation of the power of the boar.
Boar Charge As you can see from this Youtube clip the charge of the boar is very fast and powerful, so

why do we care?
What can it teach us?

Boars are small built low to the ground but powerful and DETERMINED, I've seen a boar charge a much larger female Lion repeatedly see Boar Lion @ 0. 28 you can see the proper charge causes the Lioness to forget all plans for dinner ;)

The Celing system is based around the idea of "Rushing" by this I dont mean just doing something in haste, I mean the idea of rushing and charging an opponant, constant rams from a fairly close range there's a heavy emphasis on lowline destructions to the oponants legs with kicks and a LOT of knees. Like the boar we want to shread the legs and thighs or lower abdomen of our target.

Our knees become the tusks.
The end of the following clips shows what a passing rush from a boar can do to someones thigh. Boar injury @ 1.25 you see the short range charge and @ 2.15 the result.
We aim to do this to facilitate a powerful and determined entry into zero range destroying the thigh or leg of the prey on the way in and not before but simultaionously as part of the charge using angles to cut the line and repeatedly charging and ramming the legs to enter destroying the treat with elbows and headbutts.

Celing training consists of a lot of leg conditioning not just for strength of your legs and low posturing but their ability to deliver damage, conditioning the shins and knees, learning footwork patterns and angles to give that expolsive entry and again the emphasis here is to explode into the target. It cant just be fast or it will be "read"
drills to teach an explosive charge and the range is incresed incrementally until one can explode from 5-6 feet!

When done corretly regardless of training the instinct is to move back as the sheer fierceness, away from the impact which is just what the boar exponant wants repeatdly charging and destroying until he "runs over" the oponant or smashes him to peices with elbows and headbutts.

Intention is important here, as is the building of corage and ternasity. As mentioned primary weapons are not just knees, shins elbows head and teeth, but the whole body as an object is smashed repeatedly into the target, impailing with elbow on knee on entry, body weight is important you have to go in with full intention, holding back or going in tentivly, without the heart and courage of the boar means your impitous will be lost and you can be countered you must be very agressive destructive

ferocious and domineering’to get the effect of terror in the target.

Thanks for more information on Celing drop me an email at simpson76@tiscali.co.uk if your in the Nottingham area give me a call and drop by a class.

Next article Buaya

Introduction to The Other Animals ?

2010-03-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.
This article will be an introduction into a series of articles addressing the lesser know animal movements techniques and mannerisms that are found in Pencak Silat and the martial arts of the surronding peoples of South East Asia.
As you know ours and other systems have five main animal mannerisms which make up Pukulan Cimande Combat, Pukulan Cimande UK Pukulan Cimande Combinasi and Pukulan Cimande Pusaka.

These main animal mannerisms are for those of you who dont know the

Harimau (Tiger)
Ular (Snake)
Monyet (Monkey)
Blekok / Bangau (Crane, Stork, Heron)
Naga (Mythical creature, Long Dragon type moster)

These animals are the main phases or journeys that students of our style go through on their path to mastery
There we become the less known sixth animal "Man" or Woman sorry ladies ;)

Im asked sometimes by other practioners of Silat outside of Cimande as to why we make such a big deal about the animals almost "venerating" them, when man is the "Pinicle of creation" made in "Gods own image"

We dont venerate any one thing over another, the animal systems to me are a personal journey in which we meet and learn from "Animal guides or friends" like once seen in Native American socities, these animal helpers teach us about themselves we stay with them for a while. In their company we are shown how they hunt, stalk, move think fight etc we learn from them, we thank them and move on the the next friend who in turn teaches us, until we have learned and experienced a jorney; a time in the life of a tiger, snake, monkey, bird these are combined into a ever changing mystical blending of the four which becomes the Naga.
Until we have learned and lived as them how can we be whole fighters whole people, from here we become "Man" but a man or women with a strong appreciation, love and respect for our guides and friends in the animal kingdom, because whether we like it or not we are animals, we have all this technology , art, mathmatics high culture but we are essentially clever apes.

I often wonder that if a control group of us where dropped into the rain forests of say Papua New Guinea and left without our gagits, toys, tools, modern trappings, removed from the fine culture and arts all the things we hold dear and "civilized", may soon start to become less and less important replaced by the needs of survival, food, shelter etc.
How many generations down the line , left fending in the wilderness with nothing would remember how to play the piano, or do calculus? how long would our fine ideals and social trappings last?
Perhaps completly removed from what we have now 10 generations later re woulkd'nt even remember what all this stuff was, like some long lost magic perhaps eventully centuries even language would change.

Yes we would still be "Human Beings" but would that mean the same thing ?

Now lets say that we do the same experiment with our closest cousins the Orangutans, take them away from having to fend and live as they do under the constant threats of living in the rain forests, deforestation, starvation, Man!!! and left in a world like ours how many generations would it take for them to forget how to forage for food, to hold that mental map of the whole of there forest , where the trees grow at certian times of the year what fruit is safe, which animals not to play with they would'nt need to! move as they do through the trees how long before they picked up some of the things we do now? What would they be like a few centuries down the line, more like us than I think most religious leaders and clerics would like to say.
Basiclly we are not "Better" just different! We live in a world where we were able to shape and control, take that away for a millenia or two and things would be very different.

Food for thought!

So I will be doing a series of articles on the lesser know animal "friends" seen and discussed in the arts of South East Asia.

First one will be Celing (Boar)

Guru Besar Liam McDonald Training Tips#2

2010-03-08T12:57:00.000-08:00

Try to arrange a permanent slot for your training times lets say. Tuesdays 19.00pm. So no matter what comes up (unless its a complete emergency) you are going to train.
This will create in a few weeks a mindset that will mean your mind and body will be ready to train, and you won't procrastinate or try to come up with an excuse to yourself (or teacher) why you shouldn't train. As human being we do like a set timetable and a routine, we grow comfort from knowing where we should be, plus others will know what time you train. From my own experience students who fail to develop a good training pattern and start going to different classes and time slots each week, end up attending less and become frustrated. What could happen is the following.

Monday night.... "Ahh you know what I was on the drink at the weekend I give it a miss tonight, I feel better tomorrow night.."

Tuesday night... "Boss doing my head in, girlfriend wants to meet me.. ahh I give it a miss tonight, sure I catch up tomorrow night, I don't usually go Tuesday"

Wednesday night.. "Football on tonight , I want to see the match mmmhh sure I go tomorrow night"

Thursday night... "Jeess shouldn't have went to pub last night, I'm wrecked, need to catch up with myself, you know what I go at the weekend, that make up for missing class"

Weekend .. " Hey the weekend for party, to much to do, sure I prob wasn't missed at class, anyway Monday a new week sure I restart then, new week and all!

Is this You??

Posted by Liam Mc Donald at 9:49 AM 0 comments

The Silat Warrior

2010-03-04T03:39:00.000-08:00

The Silat Warrior
(An article by my Guru Besar Liam McDonald)

The Silat Warrior walks fearlessly, with calm grace through the mysterious wonders of Life

His Knowledge has been imparted to him by his Master Teacher – a direct link in an unbroken chain of succession – guided by the sacred ancestral spirits of his lineage. Forever seeking to refined his own understanding of the art, the Silat student strives to be worthy of a place, within their ranks, and to be an inspiration to future generations of warriors.

His skills have been forged and tempered to a razor edge, by countless hours of dedicated practice. His techniques, honed to lethal perfection through direct combative applications in the training ground, now he stands ready in the depths of his sub conscious mind – awaiting only a moments warning to serve in his defence. He has intimate knowledge of the Way of the Warrior’s path: blade, stick, swords, chains.. hold no fear for the silat warrior, for they are his constant companions. He also knows that if necessary, he can unite any element in his environment as an extension of his will to overcome an adversary.

His spirit is tranquil and receptive – reflecting the very elements of creation. The elements of water, the grace of air, the stability of earth and the destructiveness of fire all find appropriate expression in his being. He learns the lessons of nature directly from his wise teachers. He can call esoterically upon his brothers the Monkey, Snake, Tiger, Crane and Dragon, as well as all of the sacred medicinal herbs of the forest to learn their profound secrets often used his spiritual energy to heal, but also can apply it in ways more destructive order to preserve the lives of those he protects.

His character is the clearest expression of his spirit. from the elders he has learned honour and respect. Remembering the great skills of his teachers, who bestowed humility upon him. As a result of his realistic training, he has learned the value of his life and therefore regards all life as precious. He would harm only if faced with no other alternative. He is mild in manner, and soft spoken avoiding vulgarity. He is at peace with his convictions and feels no need to confront those who challenge his views. He has absolute faith in the supreme power that guides his existence and can identify it’s presence in all the many religions that men have created to honour it. He recognized the elements of truth in all traditions and strives for it within the way of his own chosen path.

Thus armed only with his own strength and wisdoms the silat warrior stands ready to accept the challenge of his destiny…

The Principles of Destruction

2010-02-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

The Principles of Destruction are the eleven major principles (Sa Belas Sila) which underpin the art of Pukulan Cimande.

1. The principle of penetration

(penetrating strikes and taking the opponents space)

2. The principle of continuous flow and camouflage

(deception and stealth techniques)

3. The principle of adhesion

(sticking blows, sticking to the opponent)

4. The principle of bamboo

(the whip and ricochet hitting)

5. The principle of off timing - "Stealing the Awareness"

(mental, visual, and auditory)

6. The principle of compacting

(the secret of kilap and poison hand)

7. The principle of the thorn

(impaling strikes using the elbows and knees)

8. The principle of decoying

(which includes indirect vision and indirect hitting)

9. The principle of destruction "Destroy or Get Out"

(Joint, Muscle and Nerve Destruction)

10. The principle of body armor

(positioning your body to protect yourself at all times)

11. The principle of trapping

(foot trapping and trapping to produce breaks)

1000th UK Visitor Mark

2010-01-27T04:05:00.000-08:00

This week saw the 1000th UK Visitor mark.
An important marker for me and for Pencak Silat Cimande in the UK.
I'd like to thank my Guru, Guru Besar Liam McDonald for his teaching and mentoring, Guru Jon and Guru Tony
for their continued support.
To all my Silat brothers and sisters in Ireland for always making me feel welcome.
To my students for making it all worthwhile even the hard times And to my wife for putting up with my shit.

This weekend my first workshop will be a celebratory one and dedicate it to my Guru Liam.
See you all there.

Guru Besar Liam McDonalds Training Tips #1

2010-01-27T03:27:00.000-08:00

Hello my Gurus latest article in a series on training tips.
I recormend ALL my students and potenial students read it carefully ;)
Link is http://guruliam.blogspot.com/
Those attending the workshop reminder that start time is 11 and we WILL start without you if are late.
Remember to bring training Knives, Gloves, and an old white T-shirt you dont mind getting covered in blood! .... sorry Ink lol.

See you all there )

2010

2009-12-25T07:27:00.000-08:00

Class to restart on the 12th of January due to alterations at our hall.
Lets make the next new decade one to remember, your all great students and seeing you all grow makes me feel very proud.
Thanks for all your hard work, look forward to another year as your teacher.

See you all in Class and look forward to our first workshop at the end of January, lets spread this wonderful art accross the UK.

Salams

Happy Holidays !!

2009-12-25T07:20:00.000-08:00

Hello

Just wanted to wish everyone whos' supported me on this blog a very happy Christmas and wonderful New Year.

At the begining of a new decade I look foirward that with your continued support to help spread the wonder that is Pencak Silat.

Thanks again everyone ;)

Clip explaining the bill "S373"

2009-12-17T11:33:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzELTpIS4Rk&feature=fvw

American Legislation "S373"

2009-12-17T11:21:00.000-08:00

Hello again

This is not really related to Pencak Silat but for all you Herpetologyists out there.
Even if your not American.and even if you dont mind the total blanket ban of ALL Pythons,even if you dont like reptiles! I belive its bigger than this.
More and more of our liberties are striped away one at a time, n trust me it it could happen there of all places, it wont be long before "Nanny Britain" does it too.

Help our American friends fight this Ridiculous legislation "S373" see the YOUTUBE link explaining better than I could the senitorial bill and what it purposes. If Python ownership is banned in the US or all places then we're all screwed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzELTpIS4Rk
"Evil can only fester where the good sit idol"

Weapons of Pencak Silat

2009-11-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

(2) Darting Beak, Swirling Dragon.

Blekok (Crane) Bangau (Stork) Elang (Eagle) Garuda (Mythical Bird-man)

Across the Malay world there are many "Bird" systems and it is very easy to understand this. Man as always looked to the sky as the source of something

spiritual as if being closer to the heavens (In a non Judeo Christian sense) is somehow closer to the creator.

By association then, anything that flys high is closer to the gods; and it doesnt take much searching in other martial tradions around the world to see this common thread.

Eagles are sacred the world over, souring closer than any others to the gods and Father Heaven. Indeed every culture talks of huge and powerful semi-divine beings, portrayed as birds like the Native American "Thunder-Bird, Tibetian "Tengu" and Hindu "Garuda"

In fact the Garuda as become the national emblem of some South East Asian countries even to this day.

In Kung Fu for example (I refer to the Chinese arts a lot as I came to Silat from 10 plus years of Kung-Fu) The Crane is the symbol of stillness, self-reflection, spiritual contemplation and oneness; a creature not only of the Earth but of the Heavens.

This is echoed in Cimande too it is from the Blekok that we gain our re-connetion with spirit, with self-reflection contemplation peace, internal stillness and calm tranquillity.

The weapons associated with the Blekok in our style are the longer swords ie Pedang, Padang (See above) and the almost mystical Cabang. (See below)

Sometimes called "Trisula" or simply "Sauh" (Anchor)in Malay."Mannerism Overlap" again, as Im also told there's a Monyet link to the Cabang.

Again there's a lot significance all across Asia with the trident and trident type weapons which may arch back to ancient Bronze Age India or even earlier!.

Many Hindu deities are shown with trident type weapons, both hand held and pole mounted and in other martial tradions we see Sai and the Filipino Siko-Siko (Which is a plural of "Elbow" due to its shape) and is often associated with the divine power to rule.

The Cabang differs to these type weapons in that it is very heavy almost like the Chinese "Tiger Fork"

(See below)

this is a very heavy pole weapon famous in “External” schools like Hung Kuen (Hung Ga) and some Shaolin arts.

It as a central double edged blade and two curving "Shoulders" or Elbows like a Western "Sword Breaker".These are used for trapping an incoming weapon and disarming it, with a power twist of the wrist and waist, if used against a blade this will either disarm the weapon or snap the blade allowing you then to counter stab with the bladed section.

The "elbows" can also be used for trapping limbs and for percussion type stabs and powerful braking movements to an entrapped arm, due to the sheer weight of the weapon and the torching power of the waist the point also resembles the beak of an angry bird.

Pedang / Padang is the Malay word for sword and these swords "generally slightly longer and narrower than the Golock.

there is so much diversity in these blades as individuals would have "Impu's" make specific blades to match individual tastes some longer some shorter some wider and with varying blade shapes.

These swords in practice can be likened to the wings of a mighty bird moving fluidly within the space and contours of our body’s like a bird using its wings to groom its plumage, or to fight of threats.

one of the best training methods for this kind of body-spatial awareness is the "Body-washing" please see my previous post for more details of this.

In short we learn to roll the blade/s over our body and extremities fluidly and safely which gives us not only great fluidity and flow but a greater understanding of blade sensitivity and spatial awareness

so we don’t end up up cutting or dismembering ourselves, we learn blade appreciation and also the loss of fear from the feel of a steel against the skin, energetically we're cleaning our aura and creating a shield of light using the blade/s.

The blade of the Padang is considered in our system to be the “Circle of Creation” made physical. This is because of several reasons; firstly if you take a circle and pull on its sides one way towards the east (Fire) and the other towards the west (Water) simultaneously it will extend laterally and will form into a cylindrical type.

Also as one uses iron (Earth) in its smelting and remember too, that sometimes due to the historical lack of iron in Indonesia, meteoric iron was used (Air) in the construction of the blade so it contains all elements in its birthing.

These blades like most Malay/Indonesian blades are used either in pairs or used holding the scabbard to parry and trap/hook and leaving the blade free to cut or thrust.

Again we see that "MO" again as the Black Cobra defensive postures re-appear in the Pedang use using the empty hand movement to momentarily distract the opponents vision and then using the blade to slash from a concealed position or posture.

Other weapons used or linked to "the Birds" are a longer and more sharply right angled version of the Karambit known locally as "Kuku Elang"(Eagles Claw") and a much smaller ring version known as"Kuku Ayam" (Chicken / Rooster Claw) which resemble the blades tied to the legs of roosters and chickens during "Cockfights" a popular sport all across South East Asia.

Naga (Mythical Dragon-Serpent)

No article on Malay/Indonesian weapons would be complete without mention of the mystical Keris/Kris.

(See below)

There's so much detail and history and magic wrapped up with this weapons its very hard to separate fact from fairytale with this beautiful weapon.

It is symposiums with the Malay people and while the academic arguments go back and forward on this weapon regarding its origin and history. I will try and stick to the facts as far as its use in strictly martial sense and leave the reader to research the rest at sites like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris

Keris the name, seems to have come from Java and may have originally been called "Nigiris" which means to stab or to wedge. "Kris" is the western rendition of the word “Keris”.

Keris where a symbol of free men and nobility a very valuable weapon passed on from father to son stretching back for many generations, hence some Keris are called "Pusaka" which roughly translates to "Heirloom"

Like the mystical Naga the keris carries in its design elements of all animals, blended and then drawn out to a perfect stabbing point, the very material of the pamour looks like a whirlpool of different elements swirling and fighting each other, yet like the Chinese symbol "Yin Yang" mutually supportive one cannot survive without the other.

Some very old keris where made from meteoric iron from fallen meteors, which were very prolific in the centuries past and the blades are said to contain a living spirit or presence, some good some bad.

There are many strange tales regarding these spirits and I have a had myself some very odd things happen while working with them (Which I wont mention in this medium)

Safe to say keris are very strange and you can’t just go and pick up any and use them, they're to be treated with respect and reverence it is said the keris finds the user not the other way around. like the naga the keris contains all animals, the abilities to stab, cut, snap-cut glancing slice and parry. These are not slashing weapons like the FMA War Kris, as the shape denotes it is primary a thrusting weapon, normally used in conjunction with the scabbard the thrust comes from ever changing and obscure angles hidden by the body and the scabbard to areas which are fatal one hit one kill.

Historically these where envenomed with a strong neurotoxin made from small poisonous spiders and worms so if the thrust missed the slightest scratch would be fatal.

Often times the parries and blocks are made simultaneously and the blade drawn only in very close range to make a lightning type blow and then returned to the scabbard; like a bolt of lightning striking and “earthing” when it reaches the ground symbolised by the Scabbard.

Also like the naga itself, which is a mystical serpent with the head or actually several heads of dragon (remember, that in eastern philosophies naga / dragons are considered bringers of great luck, good fortune! symbols of divine energy, nothing like the fire breathing monsters Christians demonized here in the west) they are beautiful mystical insubstantial beings that move through the clouds flowing snakelike and ever changing the keris is constantly moving high and low in a constant flow coiling and evading using parries and set ups like a chess master looking for that finishing move.

Keris where even used as a method of execution! the criminal was made to kneel down and the executioner would stand behind him to his left with a longer form of keris and with a single thrust would stab down between the clavicle bone and the trapezes muscle straight into the heart causing instant death, so precise and clinical was its thrust

In combat snap cuts are produced to arteries and vital targets as set ups but its strictly business no messing truly an advanced and beautiful weapon.

To us the naga is the mystical blending and BECOMMING of all animals and elements, so any weapon can be used with the mannerism its the mannerism and delivery system that counts.

Keris are said to contain their own spirit, imbued to them by the “Empu” (maker of the keris,) These supernatural weapons are referred to as “Keris Sakti”

I've had a very vivid experience with a particular keris, which was to powerful for me at the time and it let me know it. This particular one was, I believe used in an exorcism and I got a visual re-play of the whole event!

It’s said that particular entities (whom I wont mention here), fear keris and this explains why my keris may have been used in this way, and why we use them in our circle work

Once you get to the level of using the keris; spend time with it, talk to it, sleep with it meditate with it and after a while things will happen, trust me ;)

Thanks for staying with me through that one it was a long one and we didn’t even scratch the surface one could write entire volumes on each of these weapons and I just wanted to give a taste of the rich cultural heritage

of the Malay and Indonesian peoples.

We didn’t talk about the "lembing, Tombak; Menikam"(Spear), "Kapak"(Axe) "Sumpitan" (Blowpipe) "Busur" (Bow) and "Perisai""Agang"(Shield's) all weapons used by all tribal cultures all over the world.

Malay and Indonesian Terminology

2009-11-09T10:25:00.000-08:00

Hello
I was written an offensive and angry comment from a gentlemen from, I guess Indonesia regarding the spelling of Malay and Indonesian words used on my blog recently in my article "Weapons of Pencak Silat".
I wont mention names , Im not that petty and to be honest the comment was so angry and offensive that I wont warrant him a personal reply.

So instead, in response I thought I would just state for the record that the terminology I use comes from either my Guru (Who is not of Malay or Indonesian decenthimself, but as studied under Gurus of both) or from my relentless research on the subjects I write about.

Whilst I currently study Cimande which is from West Java, Indonesia; where I sadly do not have the Indonesian word, (which can anyway in spelling from region to region), I had /have chosen to use the colloquial Malaysian word, hence the slight difference in some spellings for example "Kuching" (Malay for Cat) I wrote "Kuchin"! "Kucing" in Indonesian same root word.

So because I missed a "g" of the end I got a page full of racist abuse!
Second example I wrote "Sawa" for Python he said it should be Sawa"h" in Indonesian
One letter missing a page full of hate!

I use Malay for a number of reasons , one that its a LOT easier to find Malay spellings than Indonesian ones and secondly its a more widly spoken lanaguage in South East Asian than Indonesian and so , my hope was to use this as a "Lingua Franca" so that more people would understand the spelling.

I do apologise for any offence caused to anyone from Indonesia, I hope that unlike the person that wrote to me, you will understand the Content of my writing and I hope this is more important than the mis-spelling of some words.

Im sadly not South East Asian, and here in the Western World those , like me who love the cultures both Malay and Indonesian, that birthed these beautiful arts must take what we can glean from many sources, as South East Asians can (Not allways, but some can) be unwilling to share their wonderful art, especially to non Muslims.

I hope this clears the subject up, so please if you are reading from Indonesia or Malaysia and spot an error, made not in offence, but through lack of native culture please point it out, and except my apologises in advance, Im human and make mistakes just like everyone elseregardless of origin.
Again,there's no need to get angry and spout abuse, Im trying to share and learn about your beautiful culture, so we should be treated at least, with some modicum of respect.

And to the gentlemen who wrote me, if you want to re-comment in a less angry, offensive and racist manner, with your corrections I will of course be happy to ammend them.
Anger is whats tearing this wonderful art and more to the point,this beautiful world apart. lets stop it and help eachother learn together.

Till next time.
Thanks =)

Many thanks.

"One drill to rule them all"

2009-10-19T06:44:00.000-07:00

Hello again.
I just thought I'd post this little ditty.
This is a drill we've been playing with for a good few years now and thought as it’s an invaluable tool to any art that you all should take a look.
Its essentially the Filipino Higut Hubud drill which although comes from a FMA background is one of the best sensitively drills I've come across and coming from a strong FMA background I still teach it in our class.

That said, we have similar movements in Pencak Silat there just applied a little differently.
From this drill as you can see, one can put a simple kick for kick drill into the Pananjakman Jab Cross drill bridging from this into the Higut proper.

In this range we can "Bolt on" any of our own sensitivity drills from Silat or Kungfu ie (Chi-sau) hands and leg! and if one wanted to close down further into "Pushing Hands" from Taiji-Quan (Tai Chi Chuan).

In this way we can train with a little more contact and realism, especially if we pad up and actually work these brilliant drills with a little bit of force.
This way we get the realism of striking and being struck with force and speed from a moving target into the sensitively of these "trapping drills" and into grappling and footwork, covering all ranges of combat from kicking to the floor in one drill!
Like the title it becomes One drill to rule them all, training one drill which is really training four or five great drills at same time, but with an element of realim and "Pressure"

Unshown in the clip we could add in the Thai clinching drill after Higut and from the clinch go to the floor and even from floor to standing again!

The drill's origins are not anywhere near as important as the attributes one gains from it and in working 30 mins of this drill you save time working a dozen separate drills.

So enjoy the clip and will post another showing the Thai angles throws and groundwork from this drill next time.

Play hard Train safe =)

More Monkey Business

2009-09-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

Hello again.
Thought I'd post a couple of more class clips.
This one again, looks at Monyet hand entries this is just an entry idea
Remember your looking at a small snippet trained in isolatation which allows us to put a bit of power into the technique
follow-ups are left to the individual.
Go play ;)

The Weapons of Pencak Silat

2009-09-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

(1) Tools of the Trade

Hello again everyone.
Over the last few articles I've talked briefly about weapons used in different mannerisms
I like to focus this article directly on that subject.
Which weapons are associated with which animal and why?

First no one weapon is solely associated with one particular animal, there's a lot of overlap, even the Pedang or longer sword normally associated in Cimande with the Blekok or Crane is also in some systems linked to the Ular.

So I'd like to look at this subject in some detail and hopefully help clear up some of the confusion and misnomers

I'd firstly like to present the animals in no particular order and firstly go through main and secondary weapon links and then perhaps illustrate
some of the overlaps in a little more detail.

Harimau / Matjan/ Pamatjan / Kuchin (The Cats)

One of the most famous weapons linked with the Harimau and the other cat systems is, of course the Karambit sometimes spelled Kerambit or Karombit.

Said to mimic the design of the Cats natural, attack and defence weapon the claw.
The Kerambit is in my mind, the king of all close range weapons nothing beats it at its range.

Its concealable (Not that I advocate this in anyway) it cannot be removed from the hand, without cutting off the hand! its stab is far more powerful than a normal knife due to the alignment with the wrist and elbow
"casting" the Kerambit can cause very powerful and deadly snap cuts
The ring can be used offensively in a knuckle type striking attack, its blade design means it is excellent for hooking and controlling, while cutting remember all true Karambits are double edged!
The points inner curve is beautiful as an extraction tool for tendons, ligaments and eyes etc.

But even the Karambit is liked to other animals like the Monyet!
In some styles the Karambit is solely used by the Monyet which I never understood until I began training with the Monyet mannerism, now it makes TOTAL sense.
Like the Harimau and more like the Matjan the Monyet works at zero range its evasiveness is an excellent compliment to the Karambit
The jumps and stamps allow the Monyet practioner to produce more powerful snap cuts especially when casting; and the fluidity means the blade never stops until it meets bone and then a stamp can help remove it.

Monyet bridges well to the Harimau using the Kera / Mawas allows you to attack the same lowline targets as the Matjan and then move down further towards Mother Earth and the Harimau proper.

Also our beautiful friend the Sawa has Kerambit affinities, there's even a python griping method,

Which emulates the reverse curve of a Sawa's tooth designed for biting and holding its prey firm so it can roll over its own head entwine and constrict and crush its prey.

As you can see from this picture of a Pythons skull the teeth hook back the oposite way mimiced perfectly by the karambiot in this grip.
Its also not a huge leap to see parallels with fast casting with a heaven grip and the repeated "Pecking" of a birds beak which takes us into the Blekok and bird mannerisms!

As you can see one weapon as a lot of animal affinities even one so sin ominous with the Harimau.

Also in some Silat styles especially the more Chinese influenced we have the Golok linked to the Harimau due to its short powerful slashing curve

This link will take you to an amazing Guru of the Golock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAoPEJUBL2w

Other blades associated with the Harimau and Matjan are the fearsome Kuku-Matjan

And lastly some people believe there is a link between Harimau and the equally brutal looking weapon known as the Cluerit.

This beautiful weapon evolved out of an agricultural tool on the island of Madura
And to my knowledge the only connection to the Harimau, comes from its shape
which could be likened, to a larger Karambit, but the connection is only visual as it also looks like the type of sickle used to cut long grass.
all over South East Asia.

Ular Sendok (Cobra) and Sawa (Python)

As anyone who as read my article on the Ular mannerism will know this is one of my favourite mannerisms, especially the Sawa or Python !
and while one should not try to focus to much on any one in particular it is hard not to; as individuals will naturally gravitate to particular
mannerism which fit either our physics
or just simply resonates with us more so than other mannerisms, but like I said not always easy ;)

The weapons associated with the Ular are the Pisau or knife in general (Pisau are small curved blades like a western Fruit / Butter knife)

These can be used devilishly at zero range and like the animal namesake move in a fluid rapid darting manner.
it fits so well with our long and short elbow shields and black cobra defensive movements circular, triangular and square.

Again it can be easy concealed behind a cobra fist and before the opponent knows what happened he's lacerated and bleeding out
which also mimics the effects of the Sendok and other vipidS Hemotoxin, which cause severe internal bleeding as it destroys the muscles and soft tissues braking down the "factor 7" in the blood which stops it clotting and causes the incredible swelling
suffered as a result of say a rattlesnake bite due to internal bleeding.

Also linked to the Ular mannerism is the Kanching Stick

this weapon, traditionally a "four fist stick" due to the correct length
of the stick. This also mimics the fluid but rapid, darting off-timing point striking of the Ular especially in the Ular gripping method used for darting energy and blood point thrusting attacks.

I will come back to the Kanching stick in more detail in another article devoted to it coming soon.

Again we see this thing I've coined "MO"or"Mannerism Overlap! the movements of the long sword Pedang or Padan, Padang and some of the Golock movements
contain "Black Cobra" movements even though these longer often straight blades are normally linked to the Blekok or Crane.
Theres even a Sawa grip for the Karambit! using the blade in a reverse hook imitating the reverse curve to a pythons tooth (Shown aready)which helps it hook into prey and hold it still while it coils around its own head and constricts its prey
This grip is used exactly the same way as the tooth hooking into the flesh the reverse curve either hooks into or under muscle or bone so that the prey / opponent cant move while you cut something more vital again as Sawa going for the neck.

What we have to remember in all this; is the weapon should NOT become the mere movement of a stick or blade but an extension of the hand;
which in turn is nothing more than an extension of our core "us" the delivery system.
Its the attitude of the mannerism, that makes the difference where the crude mechanical motor movements may be the same.

The Sarong can even be used as a wrapping and choking weapon in keeping with the attitude of the Sawa, again more on this latter
but its enough to say for now, that a weapon like the Sarong works beautifully for trapping entwining and choking or constricting
its prey.

Leaving the snakes we come now to my other favourite the "King of the Swing"

Monyet (Monkey) Maiass, Mawas, Orang-utan, Kera (Ape)

As I hope you've already read in my last article "Primal Spirit" Animal Magic 3 the Monyet and its subsystems belong to the element of Water
If you have'nt read this article I would recommend going back and reading it first as it will help you understand more about this complex mannerism.

Like the multi skilled and curious monkey this mannerism utilises a lot of different weapons and strategies
Not only in the expression of the Monyet and its movements but also in the "mimicry" of the other animals movements which is a great taster for things to come when we
step into the Naga part of out training where we allow the mannerism s to become one synergistic blending rather than a simple changing from one animal to another.
the Naga is all elements, all animals blended into the fifth animal "Man"

The Monyet could pick up any weapon and through either Monyet movements or the mimicry of another mannerism use that weapon without stepping or shape-shifting
out of mannerism.

That said weapons normally associated with Monyet are the deadlist of all bladed weapon’s (in my opinion as shared by many including William Sanders and the late Pendekar Eddie Jaffery) my favourite! the Kujang.

The Kujang will again get its separate article (As its my fav ;) but for now think of it as wicked combination of
2 Karambits (laid back to back) a chisel a saw a can opener an extraction tool an axe and a hammer all in one blade!
how could it not be the best!
A veritable "Swiss army knife" only thousands of years old, predating even the Indo-Hindu expansions into South East Asia.

Also linked to Monyet is again with the "MO"! the Pisau and Kanchin. While these weapons work well with the rapid slippery Ular they also really work well with the monyets fluid continuously rolling movements
like waves relentlessly pounding a shoreline the "tools" (as thats what all weapons are essentially) are simply used differently dictated by the animals attitude
evasive and passive slipping rolling closer until "BAMB"! the waves come in like a mighty tsunami whever this be with a pisau or a kanchin or empty hands the results are devastating.

As I touched on briefly in the last article on Monyet the longer poles Tongat Panjang and Tongat Satenga have also always been, associated with the monkey.

From all over South East Asia the monkey and the staff are fondly linked thanks to the "Legend of the Monkey King" and "The Journey West"
Stones (either thrown or hidden in sarongs and used as a clubbing manner) and the Cabang also have links to the
majestic "Old man of the Forest".

Pukulan Cimande Pencak Silat’s “Elbow Shields”

2009-09-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

(Click picture for close up)

Shielding of the Upper Body

One of the main features of Pencak Silat is the often abstract flowing hand movements. Most martial artists fail to understand the function of this. The flowing movements are to act as interceptors to the attackers strikes and to work as a decoy by funnelling the attackers strikes into a certain chosen target area for the defender to deal with either with by hit trapping, hard blocking, locking or with his own series of strikes towards the attackers hands, wrists forearms etc...

There are 4 main interception patterns that the persilat uses

1) The triangle (marked in red)

2) The figure 8 (mark in Yellow)

3) The circle (marked in Green)

4) The square (marked in Black)

The diagonal black lines represent the open hand decoy opening position one high and one low

These patterns allow the silat player to create a shield in front of his body, in much the same way window wipers are use on the car windscreen. Do they stop all strikes, no but they will connect with 70 - 80% of all strikes delivered towards the defender. Once intercepted the defender learns to destroy the attacker limbs so he cant use it again. This form of training helps students to learn to keep their hands up so they can protect the upper parts of their body.

You may notice the shielding describe here has no protection to the legs, that is another topic, which we deal with in another post, but in Pencak Silat the hands protect the body and face and the legs protect the lower body. If you look at the patterns you will notice very few parts of the body exposed.

When learning this at start practise slow and flowing, getting your body to move, add in your decoys, than when comfortable add in your strikes coming from the shield. We be working on this over the few weeks in class and feel free to ask questions if needed.

Originally posted by Guru Besar Liam Mc Donald on Monday, March 30, 2009

Short Elbow Shield

2009-08-11T03:43:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!
Just wanted to share another class clip this one, in keeping with the Monyet mannerism the Short Elbow Shield.
Clip contains some dialog explination and demo of the movements, more class clips to come ;D

Monkey Business

2009-08-02T23:35:00.000-07:00

Salam Guys and Girls.

Sorry for the delay in new post, while I work on the next one just wanted to post a clip of some Monyet entry ideas , which was filmed at last weeks class.

In the clip theres"Yours truly" and Persilat Khalid Attari assisting.

Nothing more to it!

Play hard and train safe ;)

1000 Visitor Mark !

2009-06-03T07:16:00.000-07:00

Hello again, this week marked a small landmark of our 1000th visitor!
So wanted to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to Guru Besar Liam McDonald for his teachings and support in spreading our beautiful art here in UK.

To my wife Serena for her understanding and support

To my students for their hardwork and commitment, which in turns make me work order to give them the teaching they deserve.

To my long suffering training partners, Geno, Gwyn and Meko
And to all you guys for your encouragement and interest on this journey.

Thank you

ANIMAL MAGIC PART 3

2009-05-22T02:53:00.000-07:00

MONYET (Monkey), MAIAS, MAWAS, KERA (Ape)

Hello again ;)
It was hard to resist calling this article "Monkey Magic", but I did manage it thankfully.

Monyet or Monkey is an animal that as influenced all styles of Pencak Silat to some degree and indeed most martial arts from around South East Asia, China, India and Africa; almost every traditional warrior culture contained movements either directly mimicking the Monkeys movements and mannerisms, or using techniques influenced by our
our primate ancestors.

I will be dealing here with the view, born out by evolution through DNA evidence, that we evolved from a species of bipedal primates of the Hominid family found in East Africa somewhere around 200,000 years ago.
For more information on this please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human

Sorry to all you Creationists out there, but your not going to get the most out of this article without the belief in this basic fact. We are “The Fifth Ape”
And it is because of this, that I think the monyet is the easiest mannerism to “get into”
Were not the fifth ape trying to be a snake or big cat or bird, we are an ape already; we’ve just evolved to be the shapers of our environment, not the pinnacle of creation, but just the most successful of a group of successful primates.

The genetic difference between you and me and the East African Chimp is less than those between a horse and a donkey, the scary thought is that if they mate they have offspring!.........

The biology of DNA relationships between the Primates gets very detailed, (please see http://www.gate.net/~rwms/hum_ape_chrom.html for those interested) the upshot is that the chromosome difference between us (Homo Sapiens) and the other Primates is 1, we have 23 pairs they have 24 the smartest other primate according to the latest research is not the Chimpanzee! But is the great ape of Indonesia, Malaysia now living almost entirely on the island of Sumatra and in Borneo the Orang-utan / "orang-hutan" or forest man (pictured at the top of the article).

It is from the orang-utan that the sub-system of our Monyet known as "Kera" or Ape is based; although "Maias" and "Mawas" are more locally used names.

Ok I hear you! "Enough of the biology lesson"!! But I’m trying to illustrate a very important point; in that although we think of ourselves as humans somehow different from animals better or above them
We’re not, we're simply the most successful ones left of one branch of primates we wiped the rest out!
So understandably then, it’s not too hard to get into the mind set or mannerism of the Monyet or Kera as we are basically the same creature! We just have higher level of self consciousness and self awareness
Language and more refined social skills, well some of us ;)
Getting into the mind of a feline, bird or reptile is much more alien to us as primates ourselves, that’s my point.

Fluidity:
The element closest linked to monyet is Water and like water the movements of our monjet are fluid relaxed and in constant motion formless monjet blows can come in from any angle in a smooth yet relentless barrage like a tidal wave pounding a shore line.
There's a huge misconception in martial arts in regard to relaxation in movement; and while I don’t wish to address this in depth now, relaxed does not mean weak! And like wise power does not come from hardness.

Water as the late great, Sifu Bruce Lee said is the softest substance yet nothing can withstand it, it can smash buildings, engulf whole islands and erode mountains, yet
drop the smallest pebble in it and its surface yields.
If you look at how apes and monkeys move and yes there is a difference! Apes don’t have tails, you'll see while apes like gorillas are VERY STRONG incidentally an adult gorilla as 6 times the upper body strength of the average human;
They are never stiff or tense but supple and relaxed.
It is from the mannerisms of Monyet and Ular (Snake) that most of fluidity of the juru-juru are comprised, if we look at Juru tiga (3) umpat (4) lima (5) and tujuh (7) for example we see movements which come from the monyet to name but a few.
The student must learn to relax and by like water water descends and finds its own level, it as no form and can adapt and fit any container, it teaches us to feel and control the flow of energy in our body and also our enemy.

Combat:
The main core combat aspects of the monjet are the use of elbows and knees at mid-range and head shoulders and biting in close.
It also uses LOTS of elbows and knees for body shielding the short and long elbow shields and the arm and leg blocks for shielding from kicks helps the monyet fighter close down his enemy so as to use these close range tools.
Also seen a lot is the use of attacking high and low and dropping low and springing high.
This calls for good leg strength for the jumping and stamping characteristic of the monjet leaping knees and even climbing the opponent to finish with a waterfall punch or dropping elbow to the top of the head.
Moving through decoy postures designed to create openings to lure in the enemy to strike where the clever little monkey wants him to, giving him the option to "spike" or impale the blow on elbow or knee like our Principle of Thorn, or to grab and pull down into smashing low line blows.
Here the mannerism takes on more of the ape as it gets closer to the ground and the earth element the realm of tiger.
A note on decoy postures these are not just decoys as the name implies there's martial applications in the postures themselves if you play with them enough.
Also there is a good deal of grappling, wresting and throws with this animal if you watch Youtube and see Gorillas fight they don’t kick or punch, they do use there fists to pummel, but they grapple, I find it so funny that a lot of Silat players cross train with MMA or Ju-jitsu to get there grappling when Silat Kera is FULL of it ;)

There’s an old hunting trick used in Asia for catching monkeys, a cage with food is put in a clearing somewhere and a dropping door rigged to a hanging stick.
The monkey comes in eats the food see's the stick and grabs it dropping the door and trapping the monkey.
Monkey's are thus renowned for grabbing and we use many grabbing and pulling techniques.
Sangsot from Juru tiga (3) is a perfect example, the limb is cleverly grabbed and enemy is pulled into an uppercut type blow to his compressed ribs smashing them.
At the long to mid range monjet utilities some viscous double kicks and longer range blows combined with kicks like the Pukulan Wall, figure eights mixed with evasive footwork and decoy postures the monyet is a formidable and cunning adversary (or just a cheeky monkey ;)

As most people know monkeys are very curious and also are great mimics, naturally we utilise this quality so that for us monyet mimics the other animals loaning techniques from the other mannerisms but still retaining the monjets attitude of evasiveness and fluidity
As mentioned previously it’s not so much the "Specific technique" that denotes a mannerism it’s the attitude behind it and the reason it’s used the purpose of the motion; monjet may borrow from Harimau but its still monjet.

Monyet mimic, Naga becomes”

And anyone thinking that monkeys and apes are cute, may be in for a shook the monjet is the most devastating of animal mannerisms I’ve studied, much more evidently destructive than the other close range mannerism the Python, who subtly wraps and envelops its prey before the “big squeeze” as I like to call it, monyet flows and smashes is opponent to smithereens, jumping stamping pulverizing it into the dust, just like a gorilla would.

Attributes:
The movements and postures of the Monyet are one thing but we must have the attributes and correct physical "shell" to express the attitude through technique.
What do I mean by this?
Anyone can be shown or spoon feed a technique, and then reproduce it on cue, but less people are willing to put in the HARD GRAFT that comes from being able to really pull it off
Bodyweight exercises are essential to this mannerism, as is cardiovascular fitness, monkeys are all over the place and never still hyper-active by nature this calls for good old fashioned fitness!
shoulder strength, upper body strength,(an average male gorilla as 6 to 10 times the upper body strength of the average man!) flexibility, lower body strength especially for the Kera, who's movements are performed low to the ground, grabbing and plucking speed and dexterity drills, brake-falling tumbling rolls
all are expressions of a monkey so don’t forget to work them to create the right” Shell" for the mannerism to reside in ;)

So what monyet spirit in its right mind would inhabit the "shell" of someone to out of shape to see his own toes, let alone touch them! Conditioning is in my mind (and several of my teachers) is the dividing line between martial artist and "performer"
as is functionality. Attributes make the man or monkey in this case mindset will prevail were technique fails.
Mr William Sanders rightly said once, if we simply perform techniques and expect them to just "come out" under pressure, without attitude training and an UNDERSTANDING of body movement; we’re simply training to fail.

Mimicry:
As just mentioned mimicry is very important to all primates us included one of the first ways we learn to learn is through observation and copying.
While our style doesn’t have as much of the "clowning” and antics of say Chinese Monkey, we do imitate the monkeys decoys, faints, head movements and mannerisms just not all the acrobatics.
this as many functions, it helps us "get into character" and gives us the vehicle through which the animal takes over and secondly causes confusion and as such leads to uncertainty and fear in our aggressor.
The monyet as I mentioned mimics the other animals copying there "tools" to overcome like waves overcoming a shore continuously flowing and smashing.

Weapons:
Weapons associated with the monyet in our system are primarily the "Kujang"
(a short clip of which can be found at the end of this article)
and also the "Kanching" stick and "Pisau"
Some of this is due to the range monjet works best in mid to close with such fluidity that there’s a lot of overlap with the Ular
just the attitude is different please see previous article on Ular for more on this beautiful animal system.
Also some systems I have studied have the Karambit sometimes spelled (Kerambit) associated with monjet. Again this is partly due to the range that monjet works in, especially Kera, but also as strong historical connections with the great
Hindu epics Marabharata and Bhava gita portrayed a character called "Bimah", who had a magical claw that grew out at will between the fingers of his hands known as "Kuku Bimah" or the claw of Bimah.
When these stories reached the Indonesian peninsula the Indonesians and Malay people instantly took to the character and replicated the claw of Bimah and this is one of the alternative histories of the Karambit and its origins.
For more details on this theory please see Guru Steve Tarani's website http://www.karambit.com/the_history.htm

Sticks and Stones:
Monkeys around South East Asia are inexplicably linked to sticks and staffs a lot of this is due in no small part to the works of the Marabharata and Bhava gita which contain the character “Hanuman the monkey king” which spread throughout Asia to the legends of Monkey and the famous "Journey to the West" in the TV series Monkey.
plus monkeys and apes do pick up and use sticks as everyday tools, and for communication known as "Tree knocking" again some styles have thrown or throwing weapons in the arsenal of the monkey again apes do throw stones to hunt and as a means of communication.
But alas no guns and tanks like in "Planet of the Apes" sorry guys ;)
The Monkey I've been taught previous to my current style had the "Tongat Satenga" or walking staff (equivalent to Jo staff in Japanese arts) and "Tongat Panjang" carrying staff (Bo staff) also belonging to the monyet.

So thanks for staying with me on this “safari ride” through the animal mannerisms of our beautiful system.
As always please feel free to leave feedback and if you’re new here drop us a message in the chat box and I hope I’ve given you a brief glimpse into the monjet as I perceive it
Remember nothing in the mannerisms is gospel it’s about individual expression

Im leaving you with a Kujang clip and some background music as a reward for getting through the text ;)

I guess you could say “It’s all in the swing”!
"Hang loose baby"! lol

Guru Besar Liam McDonald UK Summer Workshops

2009-04-24T02:56:00.000-07:00

This summer it is our honor to have my Guru, Guru Besar Liam McDonald over from the Emerald Isle.
He will be teaching two workshops in UK . The Workshops will be held August / Sept and will be in the the city of Nottingham, which will be hosted by my good self Pelajar Sion-Marc Simpson and also in London.
At this moment in time we're just finalizing dates. These Workshops are open to all to come along and experience Pukulan Cimande Combat. If you would like to attend, or host a workshop in the UK, or would like more info regarding Pencak Silat please email either guruliam@hotmail.com or myself simpson76@tiscali.co.uk.

Hope to see you all there ;)

UPDATE! Pencak Silat Concepts: Women’s Self Defence Course's

2009-04-16T04:13:00.000-07:00

Hello

I now have provisional dates for the Silat Concepts Women's Self Defence beginners course.
Start date will hopefully be Tuesday May the 5th 6.00 - 7.30 pm and will run every Tuesday for 10 weeks ending on Tuesday July 7th.

Thus far, response as been slower than expected and this may may be a deciding factor on the course, which while the maximum is 15 places
does have a minimum, to cover hall hire and time etc.
Should this minimum not be meet I will of course contact all those who have kindly given me a definite reply and either arrange lessons on a private basis
or re-direct them into the normal Tuesday night Pencak Silat Class were they will cover the same material, alongside more pure Silat.
Costing for the ten weeks is £90 payable in advance of April 27th and £100 thereafter.

I hope it doesn't come to that, as I know it would be a great course either for a complete beginner to self defence / Martial art or as a useful refresher course to build on an existing base.

Pukulan Cimande Pencak Silat Concepts: Women’s Self Defence Course's

2009-03-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Hello

Pukulan Cimande Concepts are proud to announce our first of several course’s in Women’s Self Defence. These courses are intensive 10 weeks courses aimed at giving all women regardless of martial background, a very firm basic in self defence and front line personal protection.

The course planned to run from May, while targeted at beginners will prove invaluable to women from complete novice to those with some back ground within either martial arts or self defence.

Regardless of where we live our status or career having some understanding of personal protection in this day and age is becoming sadly more and more essential. Our course while not claiming to protect you from EVERY threat; will give you a strong, functional understanding and skill base to counter most common threats in a practical, pragmatic and efficient way; greatly bettering your odds of survival should the event arise.

So has to give the best possible tuition and due to numbers, places are on a “first come first served” basis with a maximum of 15 places per course.

For those willing to try and test their skills learnt, the final week of the course will feature a “Realistic Assault / Rape Scenario”

The hope is that these courses for run periodically along with other shorter Intermediate and Advanced course’s for those completing the first course and looking to strengthen their skill set.

For more information on anything above, including venue start dates and prices please contact myself Sion-marc either via email simpson76@tiscali.co.uk or 07867777484.

New training venue!

2009-03-13T06:26:00.000-07:00

Hello again

We now have a regular public training venue for Pukulan Cimande Pencak Silat here in Nottingham
Classes begin this Tuesday and every Tuesday after then; from 6.30 till 8.30 pm.

The venue will be the Hyson Green Community Centre in Hyson Green area of Nottingham.
This is situated on Gregory Boulevard across the road from the Forest tram stop, giving 5 minute access from the city centre of Nottingham and 10 minute direct access from the train station.

We are also planning some regular workshops on the art of Pencak Silat and hope to have my Guru Besar Liam McDonald of Combat Silat International over in the summer.
I'm also planning the first of several 10 week Women’s Self Defence courses in Cimande Concepts.

The classes are open to people of all levels and whether a beginner or an advanced student of any art, our only requirement is that you come with an open mind, warm heart and be over the age of 16.

For more details please find my contact details at the bottom left of the page.

2009-02-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

CUTTING EDGE

Pisau applications of Juru Satu (1)

“A note on the Jurus”

Hello again I wanted to take a brief brake from the "Animal Magic" articles to look at one of the main "Jurus" in our system of Pencak Silat.
Our system as at its core 18 Jurus or Forms/Katas if you like the meaning of Juru in the Malay language is "Upper body movements". These, in conjunction with our various "Langka's" or "Lower body movements" create the backbone of our system. The Jurus all begin with either Juru Satu (1) which is the focus of this article or Juru Dua (2). These two Jurus are referred to as the "Male and Female" or "Mother and Father" the "Male" beginning all the odd number Jurus and "Female" the even ones.
So for example Juru Umpat (4) starts with Juru Dua as "4" is and even number, also this "Male female" nomenclature refers to the Jurus attitude either "Male" attacking and aggressive in nature or "Female" counter-attacking using more drawing and decoy methods in most cases.

The Juru format usually starts, as we said with Juru satu or dua and then adds other new concepts or techniques to the beginning, the concept being that these "movements" are really concepts and ideas to be mixed and played with to create a myriad of possibilities reliant on the "million variables of combat।" Guru Sean Stark once said “Combat is abstract and ever changing” and we MUST be creative in our use of “techniques” or we simply fail to be functional; a point which cost us our lives! Another important point to make about the Jurus and this is VERY important is that these Jurus teach us a number of "possibilities" and "theories" rather than set counters to "specific" attacks.
Let me illustrate if an opponent was to attack with the obligatory "right lead" using Jurusan (Movements taken from the Jurus) we could do any number of things we could use for this example the "Pukul" which means to collide from Juru Satu which is the position the hands start in at the very beginning of the Juru the "salutation" similar to Chinese Shaolin hand gesture. Creating a triangular "wedge" to collide and penetrate using one of the systems "Principles of destruction"
Equally we could go straight to the "pukulan tukul" or Hammer fist from the same Juru and smash the attacking limb or we could use the “Sangsot” (uppercut) from Juru Tiga (3) and this itself , could be applied to the body as a punch or to the groin as a slap because the “concept” behind the “Sangsot” is and upward attack on the same trajectory as Western Boxing uppercut the same attack line but not necessarily just an uppercut. And this “concept” is more important than the specifics of the techniques taught. All would work there's no right or wrong, just what works as long as the "Attitude" of the Juru remains intact your free to mix and match.

There’s no set counter for a jab or cross, some work better than others, sure but its our freedom and expression of our intention and real understanding of what the Juru’s are trying to tell us that’s correct, just don’t get hit ;)
This is one of the beauties of Silat we learn the Jurus to learn the body mechanics and muscle memory to be able to punch, kick, evade etc once we "know" the technique we forget it and set the movements free.
The Juru individual techniques should be likened to learning letters of the alphabet the Jurus "attitude" to vowels and consonants, these when learnt are forgotten but we still keep the ability to "write" with them. Constructing words and sentences we can "express" various emotions like writing, we could "create" anything from beautiful sonnets to propaganda of hate and terror the kind we see too much of in the “popular” media these days.

When we write a letter we don’t write the alphabet over and over we take the letters we need, to convey our "intention" as second nature; this is how Jurus should viewed. We extract the letter/s or techniques we need instinctively, by second nature without having to reproduce the Juru move for move. The secret is in the "understanding" of the specific Juru and what its trying to teach its "message" and not the individual specific letters in isolation.

"There's no Silat, without the Blade" (Pendekar William de Thouars")

That said I'd like to draw your attention to the “Pisau” the Pisau is a small knife similar to the old cut-throat razor, but is used generally for all small knives used in Silat and it’s these applications in Juru satu I’d like to discuss and illustrate। Please note that the Pisau is usually linked to the “Ular” or Snake and in some systems the “Monjet” or Monkey mannerism’s I WILL ;) cover these “expressions” of its use in further articles। Here I’m looking just at Juru satu’s use of it.
Its my opinion that Pendekar De Thouars was correct when he said that there no Silat, without the blade. When we look closely at Juru satu without even having to "fudge" or "reach" for techniques from Kali or Escrima to use in the name of Silat we have our own techniques and concepts brutally LETHAL and efficient, let beautiful in their simplicity and literal in their interpretation straight out of the form!
I've posted a couple of lengthy clips to illustrate this belief. One showing Juru satu without the blade as we all know it and then performed with the blade to show you the differences...... there's none!
The second showing some applications that are literal in exactly the same order as in the Juru no "fudging" As always I welcome and feedback and flak ;) you guys and girls my have
Enjoy
Train safe, play hard।

2008-12-30T02:09:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-29T14:56:00.001-08:00

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)

2008-11-26T23:42:00.000-08:00

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 !

2008-11-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

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 ;)

2008-10-18T00:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

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"