Your best weapon is between your ears
Published: Wed, 03/12/14
Foundation class last night. Seven people there last night
including me. Those training included two women, late twenties or
thirty, three men in the second half of their forties or early
fifties and a fourteen year old young man. Minimum age for Stav
training is fourteen, I have safeguarding cover for teaching
children but I am going to stick to a minimum age of 14 and even
then someone of that age will need to be accompanied by a parent or
responsible adult. (As in 'adult who takes responsibility for
the young person', their responsibility in life generally is
not down to me.)
Stav isn't unique is being a grown up martial art, HEMA
(Historical European Martial Arts) classes and courses are
generally eighteen upwards, I know Fightcamp is and Guided Chaos is
strictly sixteen upwards. However there is a general perception
that if you are going to make a success, meaning financial success,
of a Martial Arts school then you have to cater to lots of children
and keep the entertained. Each to their own of course but it does
mean that you end up running at best a youth club, at worst a
nursery school and adults assume that martial arts are for kids. I
think this is a bit of a shame because Stav training is body, mind
and spirit training. Yes, we certainly work with the body but in
such a way as to maximise the efficiency of how we move and apply
our strength, but what really matters is the thinking about what
we are doing and how to keep thinking even when under pressure.
Some Martial Arts enthusiasts argue as to whether kicks or punches
are more effective, however, the most important weapon you have is
between your ears.
For example, on Saturday we were working with the nine guards and
comparing the difference between working with the Staff and the
Spear. On some of the nine guard drills it is necessary to engage
with the web that the attacker is using, on some drills your web
is the one that matters. Being able to read which web line someone
is attacking on is fundamental to Stav. When you can do this
intuitively you can start deciding whether to engage with an
attacker's web, or make them work on yours. On the Trel or
Karl level you are working on the attacker's web, even though
on the Karl level you may set up physical obstacles to direct the
attacker to where you want them to be. On the Herse or Jarl level
it is your web that they walk into and the response is on your
terms. The amusing part is how difficult it can be to get the
defender to disengage from the attacker's web and work on their
own. Once you have learned to respond to the attacker's line,
which is how you are trained at first, it is surprisingly hard to
then break free again. Thats okay, it is all part of the process.
There is also a lesson to be learned from this for everyday life.
While it is good to respond to other people and be aware of their
concerns and feelings there is also the danger of locking into
other people's moods and attitudes. This may be okay when they
are positive and healthy, not good at all if we are sucked into the
negative and destructive. Either way you are not being your own
person, Stav training provides an opportunity to discover this
concept and see what is involved in freeing your mind.
I have posted a video on http://www.iceandfire.org where you can
see the training techniques and drills we use. You could learn
this stuff too but you would need to actually come and train. See
http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/forthcoming.html for dates over the
next few months.
regards
Graham
PS This video is only going to be available for five days (until
next Monday afternoon (the 17th) after that I will move it to the
Ice and Fire members only area along with the other video material
only they have access to.