Some thoughts on teaching Martial Arts
Published: Fri, 08/15/25
I lead some gentle warm up exercises, do the first set of Trel stances, and then explore some self-defence based on the five principles of Stav (working mainly with Trel and Karl), finding the lines of the web within the body, and seeking to cultivate the idea of AIM (combining Action, Intention, and Movement).
These days I will generally work with a wrist grip, a double grip to the throat or lapels, and, when people are ready, some Five Principles knife defence. If someone grabs your wrist it shouldn’t be that hard to break out of the hold and escape. The action, assuming that the grab is right hand to right wrist, is to rotate the hand clockwise until the opponent’s grip is taken to the limit. If the intention is to back off in a Trel response, then the movement is is backwards and away. If the action and movement are combined then the breakout and withdrawal to a safe distance should be quite easy. However, it is quite difficult to really combine the action and movement to maximum effect.
Once the Trel drill is working okay we can change to movement to a step forward so that the clockwise action on the wrist turns your opponent away from you. Add a push to the right shoulder with your left hand and you should be able to drive your opponent out of your space. I would consider this to be a Karl response.
Use the same action again but this time combined with a step to the outside (to your left) and the opponent’s arm can be manipulated into an arm lock with minimum effort. This third combination can be seen as Herse.
The nice thing about working with a wrist grab is that it is both fully real, and very safe. There doesn’t have to be any real difference between how you might be grabbed in ‘the street’ and how you practice. A punch, kick, or strangle obviously has to be carefully pulled most of the time in training. Likewise, pretty much anything you might do to break out of a grab can be done with full force with little chance of actually hurting anyone. When I teach a series of drills based on the Five Principles each one lays the foundation for the next principle. This applies to weapons as well as unarmed. So, the action in the Trel drill can be practised with little chance of actually hurting anyone because you are moving away from your training partner. Once you are sufficiently competent in controlling the action you can move on to the Karl level with minimal fear of causing injury. The same principle will apply to the step from Karl to
Herse.
There is a culture of martial arts which depends upon learning everything that goes with a style so that you can flawlessly execute the techniques, demonstrate the forms or katas, and perform the drills which make up that particular style. Up to a point the culture of martial arts provides a context in which people can learn, practice, and become practitioners of a particular martial art. However, when I started learning Stav over 30 years ago Ivar always said that there were no real techniques in Stav, just principles. Yes, systematic drills are needed in order to teach principles and that is what I have described above with the wrist grabs and break outs. I am much more interested in learning through practising and I believe that this approach is much more beneficial than just learning a practice for its own sake. A great deal of insight can be discovered by working with very simple drills if you know what you are looking for, or
are at least being guided towards the true purpose of the drill.
But does it work ‘on the street’? I always tell anyone I am training with that if you are sorting out a problem by hitting someone, then something has gone seriously wrong, and it is probably going to get worse. We learn from the five principles how to protect ourselves according to the role and responsibility we have in any given situation. If you have no reason to be involved just do the Trel thing and make yourself scarce. If there is danger ‘out there’ make your base secure and just lock the door. If you need to confront trouble then make sure you have the authority and support in place, and ensure that ‘resistance in futile’ while behaving in a just, humane, and self-confident way. The Jarl sees everything while remaining detached. It is only on the Konge level that you might put yourself in harms way. How can you know that you are in a Konge situation? You will be aware that a situation needs intervention and you know
that you are not going to be able to live the rest of your life knowing that you should have stepped in and you didn’t. When might that be? It is a decision you can only make for yourself if, God forbid, the situation ever arises.
Here is a link to a short video explaining the concept of AIM and demonstrating the wrist breakout drill (the demonstration starts at 6 minute 15 second point) described above https://app.screencast.com/380E48gk5zoZG
Regards
Graham
PS We will be taking a deep dive into the Five Principles at the Stavcamp in September. Looking at how we can train with the five principles, and more importantly, what we can learn from such training. https://www.stavcamp.org/
Graham Butcher
21 Beaver Road
Beverley East Yorkshire HU17 0QN
UNITED KINGDOM
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