Instructors in PSP

There are three rank levels in Pencak Silat Pertempuran: Pelatih, Pengajar, and Guru. They are instructor levels only. There is no need for rank at any other time and the people who achieve these rankings will do so because they love the art and would practice it regardless.

Over the course of the past 14 years that I have been teaching Pencak Silat Pertempuran I have only awarded instructor level rank 3 times.

If you get certified as an instructor in PSP, you've earned it and shown that you love it. It typically takes about 4-5 years to reach the first level of instructorship.

The three people who have trained with me consistently and have taken the training seriously enough to reach Pelatih are:

-Bill Dwyer IV
-Sterling Heibeck
-Andrew Ewing

Of the second level of instructorship, Pengajar, only one of the three has attained this honor:

-Bill Dwyer IV

As of this date, 1/30/2013 I have never issued the rank of Guru, though Bill has been with me around nine years and is approaching it!

Let it be known and understood, you EARN your position in PSP.

Regards,
Sean

Pendiri, Pencak Silat Pertempuran
www.silat.us

Pencak Silat Training Opportunities

I have temporarily reduced the price for seminars and have added some Private Training Course options. These aren’t knock-off, quick certification programs or pick and choose seminars, these will follow the same training regimen that my own students follow. 

Why? 

Because I've done the pick and choose seminars and people don't get to see what makes PSP different. If you follow the PSP regimin of training you WILL go away with a different perspective of martial arts—ask anyone who has ever followed it.

Pencak Silat Pertempuran Video Channel

My schedule is open to a variety of different options in the very near future so please don’t hesitate to discuss any variations or other ideas you have for training. 

I have no idea if it will stay open so don’t wait. Write me at info[at]combat-silat.net

LOCAL Seminar Rates: 

4 HOUR SEMINAR = $300 +

8 HOUR SEMINAR = $550 +

2 DAY (16 HOUR) SEMINAR = $900 +

US Seminar Rates:
Below are the rates for seminars that require staying overnight. The 4 to 8 hour seminar is a flat rate for both and the host may choose to offer a 4 hour public seminar and have 4 hours of private lessons or any other configuration.
4 to 8 HOUR SEMINAR = $750 +

2 DAY (16 HOUR) SEMINAR = $1,300 +

INTERNATIONAL Seminar Rates:

2 DAY (16 HOUR) SEMINAR = $1,300 US +i (Minimum)

+ Represents any kind of travel or lodging expenses. There would be no surprises and all fees would be handled on a contract basis with deposits and paid in full at the time of the seminar.

i International seminars would require further discussion. My passport is ready.

PRIVATE Training Rates:

5 Day Intensive Pencak Silat Training Course = $1,500US +i 

(40+ hours of training and support materials)

10 Day Intensive Pencak Silat Training Course = $2,500US +i 

(80+ hours of training and support materials)

CREATE YOUR OWN = ?

In over 14 years of teaching I have only awarded 2 instructor certifications. It was based on the merit of the individual. That won’t change. But I’m also confident in this system and the teaching methodology I use. If you elect to try a 10 Day Intensive Training Course. You will walk away certified at some level barring any physical or mental limitations you may have.

Testimonial:

THE STYLE OF SILAT YOU HAVE FOUNDED IS ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE I HAVE EVER SEEN,TRADITIONAL AND MODERN AT THE SAME TIME....

Alessandro Dilollo

Silat Learning Streams and Application Streams

Every technique has an outcome. Think of a technique as an event. Sometimes positive, sometimes negative, sometimes irrelevant—from both perspectives—attacker and “defender.” 

To explain from the attackers perspective, I may strike and hit the target as intended, or my strike may miss the target because of the defender’s response, or my strike could just miss.

From the defenders perspective, when you defend against an attack, for example, your defense may push/deflect the attack to the left or right or up or down depending on what defense feels appropriate for you. Or you could get smacked. 

No matter what, every outcome changes the relationship between the attacker and the defender. Personal perspective determines the value. From the perspective of either there are opportunities and pitfalls at each intersection.

The greater your ability versus that of your opponents, the more likely you are to recognize the opportunities and be able to capitalize on them. If you are correct in your recognition and capitalize well, you will be able to string together events and thereby create a seamless series. (A series as we refer to them in Pencak Silat Pertempuran is called a “Stream.”)

This is not what makes PSP unique. All arts have this interaction of outcomes. We refer to it as a Relationship.

However, Pencak Silat Pertempuran specifically pays attention to the space in between interactions. As a result PSP has an expectation of the interaction or interplay between the fighters. 

How? 

In certain relationships the response is MORE predictable than in others. By putting ourselves in those specific relationships whenever possible, we CAN have a reasonable understanding of the likely outcomes. We call this the CPS or Combat Positioning System. THIS is essential to PSP.

When in one of those positions/relationships with an antagonist, we can, with reasonable predictability determine a likely response based on the type of strike, trajectories, and angles that we are in. 

Since the majority of that is built into the Combat Positioning System, the only things that are really left to sort out are the trajectory/type of your attack, tool you are using to attack with, and the target chosen. 

Often the target and trajectory are inter-related. The tool may also have some obvious correlation to targeting. For example, if you attack the eyes, with the intention of blinding, then fingers are the most appropriate tool. Likewise, a blow to the ribs would be best with some kind of fist or elbow strike. 

In any case, the target, trajectory, and relationship WILL determine the most likely responses. By understanding those outcomes you can reasonably construct a system to respond appropriately and relatively consistently to them.

The learning methodology of PSP consists of various “Streams” for the sake of understanding / learning but they are NOT necessarily indicative of the intended relationship of the application. Many (most) people miss this piece. 

In this regard, the term Streams actually has two meanings and is more accurately defined as the Learning Stream and the Application Stream. 

The Learning Stream is intended to make the idea of Streams of movement and outcomes clear from a protagonists view. However, the Application Stream is the reality of combat—a jigsaw puzzle built in relationship with an antagonist. 

A Panglipur Silat Seminar

This past weekend I had the privilege of training with Kang Cecep Arif Rahman of Pencak Silat Panglipur. What a talented individual. Great control. Great power. Great ability. Crazy speed. A picture of grace and humility. A picture of what it means to be a pesilat. 

Unfortunately, few Floridians took this opportunity to meet and train with him. It's truly your loss. You could have walked away with a clearer picture of the physical culture of pencak silat of course, but also the humility of character that is the goal of pencak silat.

Yeah, of course you could have learned some martial arts, but realistically, in two days you're not going to get a whole lot. Rather, if you attend something like this, put your energy into learning what you can of course, but better to spend it developing in the area of brotherhood and friendship IMO. The physical stuff is just a means for making that happen.

That said, I don't want to belabor this too much but seriously, if you EVER get a chance to meet, train with, or otherwise spend time with Kang Cecep do so. Fabulous person. Very open to sharing the beauty and effectiveness of pencak silat Panglipur. 

Thanks to Nick Portillo for bringing Kang Cecep to Florida.
Thanks to Eric Kruk for bring him to the U.S.

A little Silat Main

Last night, to sort of bring the connection of things together, rather than just doing the wrote learning material, I showed how we could take the bits and pieces and string them together to formulate “new” takedowns, counters, counters to counters, and even more counters to counters to counters. Not all of it made its way onto the video. I’d say not even half but it’s a bit for the flavor.

The reality of Pencak Silat Pertempuran as a system, is that the system is simple. Nothing fantastic. Nothing complex. Nothing that makes you go “Oooh” or “Aaah.”

However, when you put Pencak Silat Pertempuran together “the pieces of the,” as it were, this system shines. It’s a never ending supply of puzzles. It can go together in endless ways because of it’s simple, modular, format.

Doing things like this reminds me that: I AM THE ONLY REASON THAT PENCAK SILAT PERTEMPURAN WILL EVER BE INEFFECTIVE OR UNINTERESTING.

And so are YOU.

Let your imagination flow. Let your body walk. Explore. Adapt. Work. You are the keeper!

Train.

Sincerely,
Sean

Psychology of Combat

As I’ve been involved in the martial arts for the past 20 years, my understanding has, by necessity changed—I prefer to think of it as growth. Sometimes slow and not always steady but generally speaking, consistent with the energy output I’ve given it.

That said, I want to throw out an idea about your training that I think is missing in many martial arts schools and has for years and years. In my own training and in the training of Pencak Silat Pertempuran I think there is vast room for improvement in this regard.

What type of mental training are you doing to prepare for combat survival?

As I’ve studied and taught over the years I’ve randomly bumped into this issue in different ways. For myself, I’ve resorted to “day-dreaming,” lucid dreaming, endurance testing, and several other lesser things. More recently I’ve been looking @ things such as meditation, positive messaging, lesser state, distraction, stressors, and variability training. 

Why this topic? Well, as a teacher I’m always looking to understand just what is of most value in my teaching so I’ve looked at this for a long time off and on again. Recently on again due to external happenings surrounding a potential job opportunity. This sparked me to start looking around for resources related to this topic. There are a few out there but, for the value I think it would bring to combative ability, there’s not nearly enough emphasis on this. Hence this blog post.

A thought for you: Two people are involved in a horrible accident. Let’s say a car accident where multiple people are severely injured. One of those people steps up and take’s the lead. The other is in shock and basically can’t think so is limited to reactions based on the lead person’s direction. What makes the one person act and the other freeze?

It’s not that one is a hero or the other a failure. It’s more likely an automated response of a pyscho-physiological nature. That is, that one person is able to handle the stressor, which includes all kinds of variables, in a way that let’s them remain functional. The other person is unable to handle the stressor and freezes.

Combat has seen many a soldier at the battle’s front who have had this occur. Equally trained but not equal. Why?

Why does a martial artist who is trained for years suddenly freeze in the face of an aggressor who has no training?

Questions like these plague me. I don’t ever want to be the one who freezes. In the same way, I don’t want my students to freeze.

Here are a few general ideas I believe will make a difference in your responses to combat:

General Ideas:
Visualization—Visualize yourself confronting stressful situations.

Self Messaging/Meditation—Determine for yourself words or phrases that you can repeat to help you remain mentally aware but operate at a high level.

Stressors—Introduce stressors to your training.

Here are a few specific ideas that are specific to the general idea of Stressor I’ve listed above:

• Add a real weapon to your partner training regimins
• Put gear on and go hard
• Or take the gear off and experience that
• Turn the lights off
• Add a strobe light
• Add very loud music
• Recite your self-messaging aloud while engaged
• Change the location
• Put on street clothes
• Deal with multiple attackers
• Do high cardio and then perform your material
• Combine any of these together
• Tie a hand behind your back
• Sit and fight your way to standing

There’s plenty more out there. What are some of yours?

Sean

Harimau-Monyet Simple Application

First I want to show you the way we used it for exercise, flow, adaptability, coordination and general attribute development. Though you don't want to do this all of the time, I do teach and share by randomly chaining things together so that people can learn: A.) There is no right or wrong way to chain things together for purposes of learning. B.) Chains can generally apply in many different ways. C.) Different things connect naturally and out of a flow.

There are other lessons learned by such an activity.

Then I like to actually let them apply it so they can understand how to value movement and learn principles of application like—leverage, angles, power, time ratio, etc.

Within this application video you should be able to see the previous article come to life.

Thanks.

Sincerely,

Sean 

Entering the Fight

It has been my experience that the majority of martial arts focus on evading or avoiding engagement and on what to do once you're engaged in combat. Both of which are completely necessary and should be studied.

Of course, when I say the majority, it has to be understood that my scope is not large. I've been involved with several martial arts at depth and a bunch more in passing.

Then there are those that I only know based on magazine articles, books, videos, etc. Of which, I don't actually watch, read, or buy any more—I'm over it. That being said, it's quite possible that the information I have is out of date.

However, of the several that I have personally studied at depth, very few ever address in an organized, intentional way, the actual process of engaging—although many assume skills at this piece and focus on the engagement component.

That's a natural consideration and at first blush it seems complete. However, it has in my own fighting, not addressed all that there is a need to know and a need for skills at.

In reality, what I encountered in many of the engagements that I'd had—both inside and outside of training and against trained and untrained fighters—was that much of what is critical takes place during the process of engaging.

Think about it like this...if you have been in a fight and you've been hit, it gives the person who hit you an advantage typically. How big that advantage is, depends on the hit and the target.

I've seen people get knocked out cold with one hit. I've come close to that myself. I've also seen people get overwhelmed after they have been hit the first time by an attackers follow ups. I've also been the one overwhelming someone.

It's not always the case, but with regularity the advantage will go to the individual(s) who land the first blow or blows.

Now imagine if your ability to understand that process of engaging were increased as both the receiver and giver. Do you think that might make a difference?

In Pencak Silat Pertempuran we call it Entering or Masuk. Through the study of the process of engaging many other small but important areas of learning begin to manifest themselves.

One such example is the understanding of telegraphic and non-telegraphic movement in both offensive and “defensive” actions. True, meaningful understanding of this one aspect can dramatically change your abilities in combat.

A second example is a deeper understanding of the nature of defensive versus offensive engagement. Acting defensively in a manner that will bring you combative success requires certain skills that are specifically for “turning the tables,” such as:

• Recognizing when an attacker is committing to attack, versus merely feinting
• Offering, as bait, options to draw an attack
• Being aware of attack generation points
• Learning to effectively Zone attacks
• Countering attacks
• Learning how the type of attack can determine your ability to counter. Jab v. Hook v. Lunging
• Proper range for tool and maintaining capable countering range
• Reactive v. Active action
• Moving mentally from defense to offense
• etc.

Likewise, acting in offense requires a deeper understanding of your own skill sets. Such as:

• Telegraphing (as mentioned earlier)
• Set-points
• Explosiveness
• (Most of the above skills converted to offense)
• Pre-Altercation Warning Signs
• Flow

These are just a few off the top of my head. You must be able to understand all three phases of engagement. And honestly, even post engagement training is good. Things like meditation, counseling, legal issues, etc.

All of this organized process eventually leads someone to broader more organic study but that's a whole different topic.

Enjoy.

Sincerely,
Sean
Pencak Silat Pertempuran

Ridiculousness in the Pencak Silat "community"

Over and over and over the pencak silat "community," perhaps the martial arts community at large, has been plagued with imposters, ego, politics, name-calling, and selling out. It's ridiculous and sad that a martial art, one that is supposedly based on honor and right acting would have these issues.

Yet, it is probably a given that anything that includes people in it will eventually be tainted by self-serving desires. Regardless though, it still frustrates me. Mostly because these things get aired-out in public, often through students, and followers. Where is the honor in that? Where is the right-acting in that?

I rarely speak out against the stupid actions of anyone in any community, okay, that's not exactly true, but indulge me for a minute. It is most often my choice to believe that most people mean to do the right thing but have a perspective that is skewed in one way or another, either through ignorance or through a differing perception.

This is my call to the pencak silat community to stop fighting each other and start helping each other. Be honorable and right-acting.

Sean
Pencak Silat Pertempuran

Learning Pencak Silat or anything

#pencaksilat #pencak #silat #pertempuran #combat #silat #combatsilat

I've been taking a class at work for something else but there is a simple list that was created for that class about the learning process. Not sure if it came from somewhere else, but based on the comments I get from time to time and the way people seem to think about martial arts, I thought it would be a good impetus for putting some new info out on the intention of Pencak Silat Pertempuran and on learning in general.

The basic outline is this:

1: UNCONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE—the person is complacent due to ignorance of their state.
(To not know and not care.)

2: CONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE—the person has had some sort of impetus that has moved them from being unaware of their ignorance to being aware and ready to learn.
(To want to know something.)

3: CONSCIOUS COMPETENCE—as the person begins to learn, they are increasingly aware of both what they know and their limitations, making them ripe for coaching.
(Knowing some and aware that you have more to learn.)

4: UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE—as the person practices and perfects whatever it is they're learning, it becomes second nature.
(Doing well enough to do without thinking—as if it is intuitive.)

5: REFLECTIVE COMPETENCE—if the person is called upon to teach others, they will need to move beyond doing it intuitively to doing it reflectively, considering the processes and parts from various perspectives.
(To master something and then reflect on it in order to teach)

The last three of these are what I refer to as: Knowing, Doing, and Being or Scio, Operor, Existo (which is more becoming then being).

Recently I had someone ask me about PSP and the system I have organized and how the organization works. 

They were really asking a secondary question about the validity of having 8 responses to choose from. It showed their ignorance of what I teach and how the system works. (Step 2 above.)

The numbering system itself is only meant as a tool for teacher and student to have an organized discussion and approach to learning. It is not meant as a rolodex to flip through as you fight, per se. (Step 3 above.)

In reality, under pressure, you're only going to do what comes out of you naturally. If you train enough, gain faith and confidence in what you're learning—even if something goes wrong—you can you still do with surety what you've been trained to do. It must be trained enough to be natural. It's that simple—and that difficult. (Step 4 above.)

His question was "with eight possible responses how can you sort through that in a fight?" He would be very shocked to understand that there are hundreds of responses, maybe more honestly. 

The reality is that you don't sort through them at all. You just need to practice, and then practice, and then practice some more, moving through the three stages, letting your responses develop and letting your understanding of the physical, psychological, and emotional relationship transpire. It's both active and reactive—not one or the other. 

The training method I have created is meant only as a way to organize in a small, relational way, SOME of the possibilities, and more specifically the probabilities. 

It is not prescriptive like most martial arts but it is somewhat predictive.

Thanks for reading,

Sean

Pencak Silat Pertempuran

Energies, Angles, Intentions—Part II

Breakthrough time!

What I wrote last time was sufficient enough to confuse people who are still learning and adequate enough for the old-timers to understand—or at least they wouldn't admit that the didn't understand it. Sorry for that.

This posting will break it down and correlate it in a more simple manner.

Have you ever seen a dog get an offensive mentality? Or any wild animal? In most cases you notice that they show there teeth, hunch their backs and they will likely bark and snap at you (if we're still talking about a dog). It is very clear that they don't want you messing with them. Part of this is a bluff, a warning, but part of it is an offensive mentality. It comes about, usually as a result of a defensive feeling the dog gets but turns offensive. They don't care if you have a stick, knife, gun, or their's six of you, they are going to do whatever is necessary to protect themselves if you keep messing with them.

THAT is an offensive mentality. It doesn't mean that I have to be the first to attack—though that may be appropriate. It doesn't mean that I have to talk smack or yell or throw a fuss picking stuff up and smashing it—though, again, that may be enough of a warning to end the situation.

However, there are some other things we can take from this example. Once a dog is in this state, there is no separation between the offensive mentality they have and how they move, or the energy they give. It is all connected. It is all focused. I guarantee that if you try to kick that dog it's going to try and bite your leg and it's going to bite it as hard as possible. The dog is not going to give you a warning bite at that point.

—Energy
—Angle
—Intent

All will correlate in this dog'se response to the attack. They may still use a defensive movement with an offensive intent but they will do so with the intent to be able to counter effectively while sustaining the least amount of damage.

Let's break it down some:
•If the energy is weak, then the bite will not do it's damage.
•If the energy is weak, it's possible that the dog will receive more damage than it will be able to withstand to ward off further attacks.
•If the angle is weak, then the bite will not do the amount of damage it could have, potentially no damage at all.
•If the intent of the dog is weak, it may not even see the kick coming with enough surety to act. Or it may be intimidated by the attacker and tuck it's tail instead of defending itself.

So how do WE get there?

Understanding that they all work together is a central ingredient. In addition, you glean one other aspect from this situation. The dogs posture is representative of it's intent. Since intent and mentality correlate, it stands to reason that the dogs posture would reflect it's intention as well.

Some simple things you can consider doing to help—assuming your mentality is in the right place.

Tuck your chin. This posture change will normally cause a weight change that brings you more onto the balls of your feet and will compress your posture some by slightly rounding your back forward. It's also going to give you a bit more of a feeling of safety so you will be inclined to be a little more offensive.

Understand your set points. These are the points at which, your system of silat, your body type, and movement style converge. At these points you will be most prepared for anything and will be able to respond with no need for the minor adjustments I see many people do before they move. This includes counter-attacks.

Slow down. Have clarity of movement first. Then speed up. Don't rush the process but don't be afraid to stress test things either. Confidence yields greater confidence, which in turn allows for greater focus on intent, movement, and an angle that further solidifies confidence and angle. It's all connected.

There are likely many other seemingly minor things that could make a difference here. It's up to us as teachers to understand how all these things work together and not give up on watching our students to find their particular need. It's there and it's up to us to find it, to point to it, and guide our students.

Teaching masses makes this difficult, if not impossible, but to turn out a quality student you must invest in personal training and personal adaptation of training to give the most benefit to a student.

Keep training!

Energies, Angles, Intention—Part I

Last night during class we got into a longish discussion on energy, intention, and angles and how the three of them are inter-related with offensive and defensive mentality. It was not that clearly defined but that was the essence of it. The conversation seemed like it would be valuable enough for others that it was work posting as a blog. It's been a while anyway so I'm way past due.


Receiving
To start, it would be good if we lay the framework for the information. To "receive" is to allow, to varying degrees, an attacker to attack you. This does not mean that they will successfully hit you, or that you would not move, and thereby cause them to miss the intended target. Rather, it means that by the perception of the attacker, there was a vulnerability worthy of exploitation by which they decided to attack or they were just indifferent enough to the relationship to do what they wanted to irregardless of the consequences. To receive implies some sort of contact to the attack itself.

Issuing To "issue" is to launch your own attack at an attacker and to varying degrees, for them to "receive" it. The issuance could be direct, indirect, and with varying proximity and methodology but also implies a degree of "receiving" of energy in this context. Likewise, it is possible for you to issue energy without an attacker receiving it by them simply moving out of the way.


Offensive
To have an intent of offense within your movement—both in receiving and issuing states. It is really more of a mental state that is manifest physically, the primary intent of which is to control the relationship by assuming the timing of the conflict and thereby determining the course of the engagement pro-actively. What I call an active state or being active.

Defensive
To have an intent of defending oneself from any harm—both in receiving and issuing states. However, it is a mental state that manifests itself physically by responding to the timing of the conflict passively. What I call a reactive or passive state.

Engagement
If you're fighting with someone, you are primarily receiving or issuing energy in most cases. It must be understood in that general statement, that it is also true that in most cases you do both issuing and receiving.

For example, parrying an attack is a type of receiving energy through the yielding process. Likewise, the parry itself is a minor, defensive issuing of energy. It probably will not hurt the attacker, but will disrupt.

To add to this, there are ways of parrying which are primarily defensive and some which are primarily offensive. Avoiding an attack through retreating while parrying would be primarily defensive, while propelling forward and parrying would be primarily offensive. Again, it is often the mental attitude reflected in the movements that determines which. One method often allows the attacker to continue to issue while the other often sets up counter attacks and places you in a strategically advantageous position to counter.

Another example would be a totokan or destruction. In that case, I can use the attackers offensive issuance as a means for my own offensive issuance by utilizing anatomically weak points as a focal point for my own counter attacks which ultimately also parry the attack but that can also change the ownership of the timing of the engagement. The intent of the strikes must be offensive, while it's possible to still be retreating if an attackers own energy is offensive enough to compensate.


Angles
So where does all of this go? Well... if you can sort through all that I've written, then you may already know how it all works together. If not, keep reading it and considering it in your own context of combat. It's not something that is often explained in this fashion but sometimes it's best to understand things intellectually in order for your body to make the transition—and sometimes the opposite is completely true—you must understand with your body in order for your intellect to get it.

As it concerns combat from a very simple perspective, I recommend that you consider issuing and offensive actions to be your primary goal AND doing all of that with clarity of movement and clarity of thought. If you can, you are well on your way to getting good at PSP and, dare I say, any martial art. One simple way to think about it is to consider angles. These can be angles of defense, offense, attack and retreat.

For example, if you attack me by moving forward and I, in return move backward, you are attacking me on an acute angle. However, to be primarily successful in defense I must take a more offensive initiative and counter by moving at acute angles. Those acute angles are not always the angles of footwork, sometimes they are the angles of the parry or destruction as well, but most often, acute angles where you are mentally offensive also include the whole of the body as well as the ability to issue destructive energy.

The more this is employed by the whole of the body, the more destructive, acute, and more offensive you will be. Below are a few quick charts to diagram out the idea. They are not exhaustive but may help you down the path of understanding. It should be understood that whether or not something is deemed as acute or not, has EVERYTHING to do with the relationship of the defense to the offense or attacker to defender.

Fear Training in Martial Arts

Recently someone posted the question on FB: How do you conquer fear?

Since the question is so open ended I'm going to narrow it down some. IMO, when it comes to self-defense you don't want to conquer fear. You want to recognize it and utilize it. Fear does some amazing things to your body that can help you. On the other hand, if left at unreasonable levels it can control you, over-exaggerating your responses—in any situation—not necessarily strictly self-defense.

Your body responds in two different ways—psychological and physiological. You need the psychological to drive the physiological. As such, it's the psychological component that needs tempering in order to make the physiological of greatest value.

Here are some ways your body responds physiologically: increased perspiration, heart rate and respiratory rates, glucose fuel dump for the muscles and brain, pupil dilation (allowing more light into the eye), increased muscle tone, decreased blood flow to the skin, intestine and kidneys (through constriction of blood vessels and veins), increased pressure to empty bowel and bladder, non-essential systems temporarily shut-down such as digestion and immune systems, and fine motor skills and thinking go away. Some of these responses can be lumped into what I call the adrenaline dump.

If you have a complete disregard for fear (meaning: if you pretend to have no fear) you can be just as likely to do something stupid as if you have too much fear. Both extremes are not operationally the best in many cases. However, there is exception, in those situations where the fear processes are over-ridden by preservation instinct, such as in a mother protecting their child or another human being helping another human being as examples. This temporary override is called Aphobia and is caused by a neuro-chemical dump. In some instances it is also possible for your body to not feel fear or pain—a state called Analgesia which can be seen in battle sometimes—an example is when someone gets stabbed and they say that the felt the pressure but they didn't feel any pain until after the fight was over. Unfortunately, there is no congenital fearlessness—so in that regard—everyone feels fear. Additionally, Aphobia and Analgesia are not something you can count on.

Let's look at what fear is from a big picture sense—at least in part—and I'm not an expert in this btw. Fear is your bodies self-preservation response to negative stimuli. The greater the perceived threat, the greater the body's response.

A lack of instinctual response may really mean that you did not perceive the threat accurately or clearly leaving you with an imbalanced perception of the situation. Likewise, too much instinctual response may mean that your perception of the threat is again, imbalanced. Imbalance in either direction is a more negative trait than having a rational amount of fear.

With that in mind, it is important to embrace fear. Which I think is what the previous posters where getting at. However, understanding what is good about fear and what is bad about fear may help more than a few quick statements.

Interestingly, my nine-year-old daughter is teaching me about fear management. Recently she went to a county fair with some friends of ours and she was afraid of some of the rides but she determined that the best course was to—and I want to user her own words—"I'm going to face my fears." And she climbed on these rides and did it. Without prompting. Not only once, but to really do it, she went on them each twice. Again, this is all without prompting. I was super proud of her strength and personal determination but also her very clear understanding of balancing the emotions, sensations, and instinct of flight, with some reasoned process for making it through the situation.

Anyone can do it. A process that can help is learning to meditate and associate stressor words with relaxation. This is a component of personal combat that I am really looking at. Imagery of stressful situations while practicing relaxing personal processes can help. It does not have to be religious meditation—I don't do that for myself. Instead, I use guided imagery and repetitive phrases, key words, etc. It's potentially very powerful by itself. However, I've also seen real value in applying the process physically in addition.

Hope that makes sense. There's more to this that I'm still learning and exploring but since it's been FOREVER since I've posted here I thought I would throw this out there.

Enjoy,
Guru Stark

The Silat Forest

Sometimes in the martial arts it's easy to lose site of the forest for the trees. The big picture. The one that attracted us to the martial arts to begin with. Here are some example trees which you have no doubt caught yourself or still might be looking at:

As a Student:
Rank
Style
Techniques
Philosophy
Spirituality
Fighting
Principles
Attributes
Flow

As a teacher:
Student Numbers
Income
Trends
Raising Instructors
Spreading The Art
Being Respected/ Revered/ Feared, etc.

There are probably more but those are the things that popped into my head. Not all of them are bad. In fact, most are not bad at all—depending on how you are looking at them.

As I have begun looking back at the last decade of teaching, learning, and Silat Pertempuran respectively (actually closer to 14 years now), I noticed some "creep." It's easy to do. It only takes a little persistent external force to move something already in motion or to have been slightly off target to begin with and the further your arrow travels the further off target it gets.

Now, I'm looking at it and saying, it's time for change, I've stuck with some of it for a while now and other parts have slowly migrated. It's time to re-orient and look objectively at what I'm teaching and what my goals are for those teachings and push it back on track, cutting away chafe, and pushing and prodding it closer to what it was intended to be—Combat Silat. That ball is rolling. It means change, but not change for the sake—I'm not a fan of that.

PSP is moving forward, addressing struggles and miscues, pushing along. Our new videos on youtube.com show the direction but not the destination.

It means redefining the primary emphasis or actually defining one.
It means refocusing the work or actually focusing the work.
It means letting go of what could be and embracing what actually is.





















Enjoy.
Sean

Solutions Now!

I've been involved in martial arts for 18 years now and pencak silat for a good portion of those and it's interesting to me that people still look for the "one size fits all" solution to martial arts. Over and over and over I see new iterations of the same old idea that somehow by studying this super secret special martial art you'll get what you need. Furthermore, you can learn whatever the "magic" system is in 20 or 30 hours or whatever and you'll be able to do it...Umm....sorry folks but I'm not buying.

I do believe that most good teachers have something to offer and can teach you a lot. You should respect what they offer and study it wholeheartedly but don't expect to become invincible. It's not going to happen. The best anybody can hope to do is bring their training to the fight. It's not easy in diverse situations where your life or your welfare is at stake.

In my opinion, and that's all it is, invest in the long-term training of skills and attributes that will show up when you need them and in ways that you don't necessarily train. You need adaptability and versatility in your training over techniques and methods.

Enjoy.

Cultural Attributes

In my limited experience as a silat teacher I have noticed one or two things that impact attribute and skill development. I have been training two separate age groups, an adult group and a middle/high school group. An attribute that I see needing development, in both groups, is what a colleague/student calls, "the third world squat". For the purposes of this discussion, I would highlight that PSP does not work in static pieces, but is a fluid, dynamic system. Please excuse my indiscretion referring to "the third world squat" as a stance, as stance would suggest static or stuck movement. PSP is neither.

This colleague of mine is a former Navy SEAL, from SEAL Team 5. We were working through any of the various meta movements inherent in PSP. I noticed that PSP works more effectively when the pesilat develops a close quarter approach and a low stance/squat. I mentioned this to my colleague to improve his training. The close quarter attitude was not an issue. The low stance or "Um Bah Wah" was in need of increased development. When I articulated this low stance, my colleague said,"Oh, you mean the third world squat". My initial response was a weird look and a "what"? My colleague informed me that in most developing countries a similar stance is affected by the populace as a means of relaxation, comfort or the beginning of a long, desired and sometimes heated conversation. In short, they can stay low from childhood.

This truly got me thinking. I do not consider Malaysia, Indonesia or any South East Asian county lacking in culture or development. However the strong traditional ties contained in these countries would suggest that this type of posture or stance is still continued from generation to generation. I questioned my personal training as well as the American approach to silat. My conclusion I was at a deficit.

The next day I began watching TV, showering, playing with my kids in the "third world squat". Every opportunity I had I was in a flat footed, toes forward, knees over toes squat. My hip flexors, my periformis muscles all of these hip and lower back muscles that felt fused months before began to loosen. My Silat has improved immensely. I believe it has a lot to do with continued practice, attention to details and the connection to a cultural attribute that I was quick to look over.


I suggest we all squat.

Regards,
Bill

Announcement!! Pencak Silat Seminar!

PSP is coming to USF!

DATE: February 27th

TIME: 1230-430 ish

COST: $25

LOCATION: 

    USF Rec Center

    Room 101
    4202 East Fowler Ave.
    Tampa, Fl 33620

Spend an afternoon exploring the devastating and brutally effective art of Pencak Silat.

Any level of ability can do this stuff—from no prior training in martial arts to experts.

Learn to think differently about the martial arts.

This seminar will explore how to take one simple movement as the core of a multitude of applications, applying it through a range of combat and self-defense applications. Taking you from the foundations to more dramatic and lethal applications in an afternoon.

The seminar will include such things as:
• One Meta Movement
• Checking Hands
• Checking Kicks
• Evasion
• Counter Striking
• Counter Elbowing
• Destroying Structure
• Destroying Base
• Catching an Attack
• Locking
• Sweeping
• Takedowns
• Destructions
• Striking for maximum effect
• Neck breaks
• Strangles 

 

To make payment and reserve your spot paypal $25 to info@combat-silat.net as soon as you can and put a note that it's for the USF Seminar Feb. 27th.

I will be driving over from Orlando area early on the 27th so if you want to ride with me, let me know.

Looking forward to another great seminar with these guys!

Sean

Training vs. Practice

By Andrew Ewing –

So, another New Year is just a few weeks away, and for some we’ve already decided on our choice of New Year’s Resolution. What does this upcoming year’s resolution have to do with PSP; well I’m hoping you’ll all set a resolution this year to make commitments to performance improvements in PSP for yourselves. To accomplish these performance improvements I’ll help by providing you with ideas to get started.

First, understand the difference between Training vs. Practice. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “Training” and “Practice” as:

Training –
a. (noun) the act, process, or method of one that trains

b. (noun) the skill, knowledge, or experience acquired by one that trains

Practice –
a. (verb) to perform or work at repeatedly so as to become proficient

b. (noun) the condition of being proficient through systematic exercise

Training is the act and way through Physical and/or Mental means of acquiring knowledge and experiences while you’re in class, while practice is taking the knowledge you gained in class and putting it into practice repetitively to become proficient. Understanding, but more so acting on the differences between Training and Practice are the keys to improving your skills and abilities in PSP.

Many go to a Martial Art schools expecting the Instructor to turn them into the Ultimate Martial Artist highly skilled in self-defense, they train the techniques do a couple of drills, leaving class with the feeling they can take on the world and are now indestructible, only to be extremely disappointed when they encounter a situation where they’re unable to defend themselves with what they trained in class. The student thinks their training has failed them, eventually quitting, looking for that next quick fix by hopping from school to school. Why do some seem to fail when it comes to Martial Arts, while other Shine?

I often hear Martial Artists in class say: “I have the knowledge, and I know how it should be, but I’m unable to consistently translate the knowledge to action.”

I believe to consistently translate the knowledge to action; you need to start by training good form, which in part also focuses on developing good muscle patterns (muscle memory). Bad Muscle patterns severely impair performance. After learning good form while training with a good instructor, you can then repeatedly practice what you learned to ingrain good muscle patterns. Being trained doesn’t mean you are proficient, you still need practice. Have you ever heard the saying that practice makes perfect?

Performance definitely improves from training, but performance exponentially improves with practice.

Neither is more important than the other, and both must be done in order to improve overall performance.

Don’t strive to be just a trained PSP martial artist, strive to be a trained and practiced PSP martial artist.

Generalized, you already know what is needed to make performance gains for PSP, but due to family, friends, work, life, you haven’t been able to find time to get that much needed practice in, well for the PSP Martial Artist I’m hoping you’ll use this upcoming year to set a resolution to drastically improving your PSP performance, and to help, I’ve provided you with ideas to make practice part of your everyday life.

  1. Incremental Practice – Take an idea, principle, or technique you learned in training and perform repetitions incrementally throughout the day. I find that increments of 15min work best, but smaller increments work as well, you should just add more of them to make up for the smaller increments of time. Take even one minute training increments if you need to, between phone calls, after bathroom breaks, during lunch, just before sleeping or just after waking, the idea here is to not be shy where you practice, just take any moment you can find throughout the day to practice, by the end of the day it will add up.

  2. Early Morning Practice – This requires determination, possibly some missed sleep, but if you start going to bed early by 10 min and add an additional 10 min for 6 consecutive nights, you should be able to wake an hour early by the 7^th day to get a minimum of a 30 min practice session in.

  3. Skip that TV show or Video Game – Take advantage of new technology; start recording (DVRing) TV shows or watching them on-line at a later time, and spend that time practicing. By recording them earlier, you can even fast forward through commercials saving yourself even more time.

  4. Include the family and loved ones – If you’re dating, married, or have children, include them in your practice time, ask them to stand in as your practice partner. Take them to a park, or backyard and practice as they lounge or play. Not only will you be getting much needed practice time in but you’ll be bonding.

  5. Pack your Lunch – If you’re a Student or Work Professional, pack you lunch and spend the time before you eat to adding some practice time in.

These are just 5 way to improving your performance; the point is if you want to make serious improvements in PSP or for that matter any Martial Arts, you need to Train in Class with your instructors, and then Practice what you learned to become proficient by avoiding excuses and by making the time. Before you know it you’ll be advancing by leaps and bound and you’ll become one of the few students that shine.

Instructor Series: Attributes of Pencak Silat Pertempuran

On the topic of techniques, some people get confused about the purpose of the curriculum of pencak silat Pertempuran. They THINK that the curriculum is THE application. However, as I tell people, the point of the curriculum is attribute development. So what does that mean?

Well, no matter what system of martial art you study, YOU will always be an integral part of it. You cannot escape the fact that YOU are the primary component. As a result, I can only guide your application of pencak silat, I cannot dictate it. Therefore, the best use of my teaching then, is to give you the skills to find yourself in it.

WHAT I teach are the tools and the ideas. WHO you are determines the EXPRESSION of PSP.

I cannot dictate your expression. I can guide it. I can mold your expression into something that more closely resembles pencak silat, BUT it is entirely on YOU to figure out how to actually EXPRESS it.

It is not plug and play. Perhaps there is a way for arts to do that but what I'm teaching is a matrix for understanding relationship. It's so much broader than applications that are plug and play.

Instructor Series: Pencak Silat and Ego

Let go of your ego.
As you practice martial arts, and for those of us practicing pencak silat, there are several things you may end up seeing or doing yourself. Some of them are very subtle but they rear their heads regularly. I've seen them in myself from time to time and more obviously in people I've taught.

Things you might ask yourself or actually say:
1. "That doesn't feel comfortable to me. I think I'll do it this way." Yet, admittedly you are training with a teacher bc you have much to learn. And usually this is done shortly after you learn something for the first time—not after repetitive study.

2. "I wouldn't do that in the street..." Again, admittedly you are training with a teacher bc you have much to learn. Perhaps the take away isn't the technique, but the principle. Additionally, there aren't too many absolutes about what will and what won't work. It's all situational and all relational.

Things you might actually do:
3. When someone you are teaching brings up a great question you may not admit that you don't have all the answers and that you may have to ask someone else or even just explore solutions together.

4. If you get hit, instead of accepting the challenge to improve through training or asking what you could have done differently, you get angry or frustrated

5. Thinking: "This is really simple. I'm too advanced for this stuff." Or "Can't we do something other than this simple stuff?" 

6. Defend your training blindly when critiqued. Even critique that is done in a negative spirit can sometimes yield value. Be willing to just look.

7. If you ever stop putting yourself out there for others to evaluate, ask yourself "why?" It could be that you're trying to protect yourself.

8. Blame others, including your teachers for your lack of growth and development. That's pure crap. You need to own your path.

I'm sure there are others. Certainly there are more obvious ones than these, but I've seen these in myself and others over the past 20 or so years of training and they can be very subtle.

Just a quick note to think about.

Would love to expand this if you feel like contributing.