Now DVD's 1-4 are available for those interested in learning the fundamental movements and relationships of Pencak Silat Pertempuran.
Available here:
DVD 1 https://www.createspace.com/383937
DVD 2 https://www.createspace.com/383941
DVD 3 https://www.createspace.com/386923
DVD 4 https://www.createspace.com/386924
They are also available on Amazon.com
Excited to see how this new structure and new syllabus helps people grow in there study of Pencak Silat and in particular PSP.
Sincerely,
Guru Stark
Showing posts with label martial arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label martial arts. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Thursday, May 31, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Pencak Silat and the Future of Martial Arts
I'm not a prophet. Nor am I a futurist. I'm not even particularly interested in that type of thing but I have some thoughts to post as I have been contemplating the past 10 years of martial arts. Here is one of those thoughts:
*
Martial arts have fascinated me for many years. More to the point, combat effectiveness in the martial arts has fascinated me¬—the idea that a person could defend themselves against all attackers and escape unharmed—better yet, that they would even do it easily!
That idea started me on a journey through many different martial arts from various styles of kung-fu, judo, aikido, wrestling, boxing, various styles of weapons fighting and ultimately to pencak silat. My martial studies have included most major regions where martial arts are found—including China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, United States and South America.
A bulk of my time has been spent teaching what I’ve learned along the way and re-investing what I’ve earned into learning more. As a result of this process I’ve had the opportunity to train with many great martial artists (probably all of which are unrecognized) mostly by travelling to study from them, sometimes from bringing them to me. That said I’ve had a few teachers who have impacted me enough to stay with them for a time—some taught me a detail at just the right time and that’s all that was needed for the progression to continue.
What’s more important than anything has been the pursuit. Not giving up when answers weren’t apparent. Not quitting when it wasn’t cheap or easy or fun. Not moving to a new teacher just because life got tough or because I got bored.
It has been taking what was given to me and working it, working it some more, then working it more until it’s deeper value reared up. That process taught me HOW to learn and keep learning. It’s not spoon-fed—it’s from sweat. My very first long-term teacher taught me that.
The martial arts in the U.S. are at a change point (has been for a little while I think). Few people want to really devote to a thing for long. They are looking for short answers, cliff notes, even guaranteed success. Looking for answers without the responsibility. (A little secret for you—that little hunt will take your whole life and you’ll be lying on your death-bed empty handed.)
The nature of this type of mentality means that 2-3 years is a long time student. Within that amount of time you’ve got to be able to teach the essence of your art and move a person through from A-Z. Systems of the near future at least, have a few possibilities for success. They must be extremely small and easy to learn. Or they must be dynamic and ever-changing so they appear to re-invent themselves from time to time to keep the interest of those that are studying.
IMO, long-term study (a commitment of more than a few years) is a thing of the past. Particularly for the new generation of martial artists working their way up the ranks today, at least for the foreseeable future. Those who do opt for long-term study will benefit from it but there aren’t many willing. Especially when it comes to self-determined study where your primary teacher is you and the feedback you get from doing—rather than imitating. The older students amongst us will continue to be okay with longer-term study but will probably also enjoy the results based training that is upon them as well. This will ultimately usher in a new era of martial arts… and the race is on.
*
Martial arts have fascinated me for many years. More to the point, combat effectiveness in the martial arts has fascinated me¬—the idea that a person could defend themselves against all attackers and escape unharmed—better yet, that they would even do it easily!
That idea started me on a journey through many different martial arts from various styles of kung-fu, judo, aikido, wrestling, boxing, various styles of weapons fighting and ultimately to pencak silat. My martial studies have included most major regions where martial arts are found—including China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, United States and South America.
A bulk of my time has been spent teaching what I’ve learned along the way and re-investing what I’ve earned into learning more. As a result of this process I’ve had the opportunity to train with many great martial artists (probably all of which are unrecognized) mostly by travelling to study from them, sometimes from bringing them to me. That said I’ve had a few teachers who have impacted me enough to stay with them for a time—some taught me a detail at just the right time and that’s all that was needed for the progression to continue.
What’s more important than anything has been the pursuit. Not giving up when answers weren’t apparent. Not quitting when it wasn’t cheap or easy or fun. Not moving to a new teacher just because life got tough or because I got bored.
It has been taking what was given to me and working it, working it some more, then working it more until it’s deeper value reared up. That process taught me HOW to learn and keep learning. It’s not spoon-fed—it’s from sweat. My very first long-term teacher taught me that.
The martial arts in the U.S. are at a change point (has been for a little while I think). Few people want to really devote to a thing for long. They are looking for short answers, cliff notes, even guaranteed success. Looking for answers without the responsibility. (A little secret for you—that little hunt will take your whole life and you’ll be lying on your death-bed empty handed.)
The nature of this type of mentality means that 2-3 years is a long time student. Within that amount of time you’ve got to be able to teach the essence of your art and move a person through from A-Z. Systems of the near future at least, have a few possibilities for success. They must be extremely small and easy to learn. Or they must be dynamic and ever-changing so they appear to re-invent themselves from time to time to keep the interest of those that are studying.
IMO, long-term study (a commitment of more than a few years) is a thing of the past. Particularly for the new generation of martial artists working their way up the ranks today, at least for the foreseeable future. Those who do opt for long-term study will benefit from it but there aren’t many willing. Especially when it comes to self-determined study where your primary teacher is you and the feedback you get from doing—rather than imitating. The older students amongst us will continue to be okay with longer-term study but will probably also enjoy the results based training that is upon them as well. This will ultimately usher in a new era of martial arts… and the race is on.
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