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

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. 

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