What makes Stav special?
Published: Tue, 11/25/14
Some rather random thoughts about What makes training in Stav
special? I have been pondering this question so that I can give
people a reason for training at Somerset Stav Martial Arts and
perhaps coming on the Summer camp. Announcement on that in next day
or so.
It can be very difficult to unravel an answer to a question like
this when one is as close to the subject as I am. It is also an
important principle of marketing to tell potential
customers/clients/students how you can solve their problems rather
than describing what you have to offer. If you potential customer
has a headache then all you have to do is convince them that your
painkiller will alleviate their suffering, hopefully without nasty
side effects.
In the case of a practice such as Stav the hole that needs filling
in a potential student's life is a little harder to define.
Perhaps it isn't so much about alleviating their pain as
inviting them on a journey of discovery.
There can be issues of fear of violence and threats of intimidation.
But if someone feels that danger is that close then they probably
need the police rather than martial arts lessons. That is not to
say that martial arts lessons are not important for self-defence,
they certainly can provide the foundation for self-protection
skills. It is simply that violence and how it may manifest in
someone's life, is a complicated business which cannot be
accounted for by random chance. Not usually anyway. Violence is
usually part of a complex transaction in the sense that someone has
decided that violence, or the threat of it, can bring about a
desired result at an acceptable price. If you have the misfortune
to be on the receiving end of such a transaction then you need to be
able to understand the situation and decide how to negotiate your
side of the deal. Can you afford to pay off your antagonist? Can
you make the price of messing with you so high that you will be left
alone? What did you do to make yourself a target anyway? Sorry but
you have to ask yourself these questions, if you insist on claiming
that you are a just a helpless innocent victim then you will never
change your situation. Stav enables you to understand the
transactions of violence and how to make the deal in your favour.
Stav doesn't teach you to go onto a mat or into a ring and have
a duel. If two people are fighting according to rules under the
gaze of some kind of referee or adjudicator then they are not
fighting to survive, rather they are engaged in a contest of skill
and strength. Even if the outcome can be injury or death if it is
an agreed match it is not actually training for survival. In Stav
we do not train for dueling, we train to survive with the intention
of prospering.
We do not make false distinctions between armed and unarmed combat.
Weapons are for training with, if you are defending yourself without
an external weapon then your opponent's body becomes your
weapon. Nor do we make false distinctions between striking,
kicking, grappling and throwing all are simply a continuum of making
and breaking contact.
There is no false distinction between internal and external, when
you work with the web you are seeing and using the lines within and
without a structure. This applies whether you are using a weapon or
not.
The essential factor is mastering any art, including, perhaps
especially, martial art is repetition. As Bruce Lee put it.
"I don't fear the man who has practiced 10,000 different
kicks once, I fear the man who has practiced a single kick 10,000
times." Stav practice expects daily stances and regular
cutting/striking training. It is actually very simple but the
trans-formative effect over time can be profound in terms of
learning how to move and focus one's power.
Through working with the five principles we learn how to assess a
situation, see our role within it and decide the best course of
action depending upon our status and responsibilities within the
situation. This makes a lot more sense than just hitting people,
violence and discord rarely begins and ends with one encounter.
Understanding the five principles provides a sound basis for knowing
how to act and treat people to control situations and restore
harmony.
So perhaps the best thing to say about Stav is that it is about
seeing reality and thus being able to take the action which will
bring about the most satisfactory outcome in any situation.
Big claims and even if you train regularly you won't see your
way through the web overnight. That takes many years of diligent
practice, so the sooner you get started the sooner you might get
there.
Regards
Graham
P S Two hour seminar this Saturday morning (29th November) 10 am
until noon in Crewkerne. Self-defence training with emphasis on the
five principles.