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.

Pencak Silat is all about ratio...

One of the foundational components of what I teach, is that from start to finish, you need to have 'techniques" that are roughly the equivalent to one beat.

By "beat" I literally mean the time frame it takes for an attacker or opponent to complete what they are trying to complete. Normally, for example, a strike or a kick takes place in a single beat — though, depending on telegraphing it can actually be much longer.

Another way to say it is, that the ratio of your techniques, in response, need to be of an equivalent ratio, or at least equivalent enough. (If you're attacking, then the opponent/attacker needs to be figuring it out, and that's good for you.)

Any longer than a 1 to 1 ration and the effectiveness of your techniques diminish exponentially over time. As the saying goes, "strike while the iron's hot!"

Likewise, it's important to consider the relationship between what the opponent/attacker is doing and my response. This is all part of the same conversation. Why? Because the longer something lasts, either your attack or defense, or theirs, the greater the likelihood that the relationship will change.

If it changes (the relationship), what worked .25 seconds ago, may no longer work. As a result, you've got to put yourself out there, commit and hope that your commitment was appropriate.

That said (and hopefully in a way that people can understand it) one of the basic considerations of Pencak Silat Pertempuran was to make a system that worked as closely as possible at understanding and responding in the 1 to 1 timing ratio.

The basic idea was to understand that a technique was only as good as the timing with which it was delivered.

Look...creative techniques exist in every martial art in existence, HOWEVER, the probability of using those creative techniques can drop exponentially based on the single factor of timing alone. Let alone all of the other variables or attributes that could be involved, such as: environment, emotion, reach, speed, flexibility, strength, leverage, etcetera, etcetera. (A pretty exhaustive list can be found in my first book. Yes, that's a plug. :)

So, with that intentionality, a lot of material was removed before settling on the core materials. Furthermore, I tried to ensure that I could perform the materials as closely as possible to the 1 to 1 ratio OR sufficiently "make up for it" in some other way. You know, like smacking someone AND THEN doing it :)

As a result, a good portion of the system is reasonably simple to do. It's built on simple movements and ideas. They are not flawless.

In PSP you will definitely see that initially, but as you progress through the system the techniques get apparently longer in their timing ratio. In large part, the problem is that to teach more complex applications in a reasonable and replicable manner you have to break them down into smaller steps and thereby increasing the length of time to complete.

However, that is not meant to imply that the step-by-step is the manner they are meant to be applied IRL. It is up to the student to find ways to strip as much out as possible or shortcut aspects of the materials in order to find the 1-to-1 timing ratio again.

I hope that's clear... The goal is 1-to-1 timing ratio to make everything as applicable as possible. For teaching it clearly, it is rarely possible to perform any technique that way. The student was continually hone and refine their skills to until they can find the 1-to-1 again.

The Pencak Silat Pertempuran blog

Over the years I've posted a lot of information regarding Pencak Silat Pertempuran. On some level, it feels like posting any more will mostly be rehashing what's already posted somewhere else. However, keeping it fresh in people's minds is important. Especially practitioners of PSP. In that regard, I want to go over some of the most basic of information again—the name.

Combat Silat has been co-opted by a lot of people out there. None have affiliation with us. Before they were using the term, at least publicly, we existed. Unfortunately, many of them also, mistakenly use the the same base term I use, Tempur. However, the context that they use it from doesn't seem to be well understood.

Tempur means, essentially, a melee or to combat against many. It may not always be a melee but as I have been taught, it means to combat against many. Using the "Per" and the "an" essentially makes a noun out of the adjective. I don't understand Indonesian well enough to speak much beyond that, by my Pamur teacher, Bayu W. suggested that form and use.

So how does Pencak Silat Pertempuran DO that? Well, for starters, the basis for construction of the PSP syllabus was to create a system of movements that inter-related and that could be inter-changed in relationship/real-time with an attacker. By virtue of being set up as interchangeable and inter-related pieces, the practitioner is afforded the ability to quickly shift from one attacker to the next. The big idea being that you only fight one person at a time, no matter what the odds AND it's important to dispatch them quickly.

You see, as I have been taught coming from several arts whose purpose was the idea of multiple attackers, you cannot afford to spend a long time on any one attacker. Likewise, you need the ability to quickly shift from one attacker to the next AND have the ability to understand angles well enough to keep attackers aligned. It's hard to do. The principles are easy but the application difficult.

As practitioners of any martial art, you must consider the idea of multiple attackers. Even if it's only 2 or 3 at a time. Do you do that?

Monyet - Harimau of PSP

Recently, I've been really working out regularly, losing weight, etc. In fact, right now, I weigh less than I have for about 10 years. I've also been doing a lot of weight training, etc. Well, this all came about because I wanted to get healthier and felt myself getting older, creaking, aching more, etc.

On that same note, about 3 to 4 years ago, I fell, did a forward role but in the process still managed to jack up my knee, blowing the PCL and tearing some cartilage. It took about a year to a year and a half to get it diagnosed and operated on. The operation helped, but it's still not normal, in fact, in many ways, it is worse.

In any case, I haven't been able to do the monyet or harimau ground work of PSP for about 4 years with any consistency. I've tried occasionally but it's always sucked. That's all back story...

Now, since I've been working out hard, regularly for about a year and a half doing weights, losing weight since October, and generally being conscious of my physical health, I've finally been able to get at harimau and monyet training again. It's not that it's easy but it's at least not as painful as it was. It's tolerable. Especially if I use some matts. Something I never had to do before. I'm okay with it but I don't like having to rely on matts because it can give you a false sense of safety when you are performing your material. I used to be able to drop to my knees on concrete and do it in a way that did not hurt. I probably still can except for the pain my knee feels generally. I'm not sure that practicing on anything other than concrete will give you that confidence and ability. Thoughts?

In any case, last night was our second night of doing monyet harimau PSP style and I decided to do some bela diri instead of curriculum per se. It's all connected anyway. We worked some simple defenses against kicks while you are on the ground, how to perform catches, not get your head kicked off, stand up (if appropriate) and counter. We also did some countering while on the ground - well... I did. Showed how to move from Langkah Monyet, Langkah Harimau, Langkah Kalong and Langkah Ular into any of the other ones and how to tie that all together with your other langkah - Langkah Empat, Langkah Lima, Langkah Tiga, etc. Also showed how to string together breakfalls from any of them and how to foot entry, elbow entry, hand entry, and catch.

Here is a simple bela diri against a kick to the ribs if you are down on all fours.



Here's what's happening

1. You are on the ground, perhaps raising onto all fours trying to get up.
2. Along comes a spider and tries to kick the crap out of your ribcage.
3. From that position, spring upward and forward towards the kicker. It's important that you spring upward onto your toes and extend your arms fully.
4. As you receive the kick, wrap your arm around their leg and hold it into you.
5. As you lower your weight towards the ground again and roll slightly towards them, lever against their knee.
6. Once they have fallen or start to fall. Get your arm out from around their legs and throw your other elbow, distracting them. You may not hit anything but it keeps them busy.
7. Continue to roll up onto them until your other elbow and knee are in place to scissor the head. Smash the crap out of it.
8. Repeat some more.
9. Counter trap if necessary and smash their head into the pavement by palm striking their face.
10. Violence is key here.
    

I'm not going to tell you I'm going to do more posting of monyet harimau. Every time I do that, it seems to be the death of that thing that I've said I would do. I will do it as I can, when I think of it, etc.

Guru Stark