Stav is special because it is simple
Published: Wed, 11/26/14
This was my quote and comments for this week, also link at the
bottom to the Stav Camp 2015.
"The true sculptor keeps chiselling away at the inessentials
until the truth of his creation is revealed without obstructions.
Thus, being wise in martial arts doesn't mean adding more, it
means to minimize, in other words, to hack away the
inessentials."
Bruce Lee, 1940 to 1973, Chinese/American martial artist and actor
Stav martial art training is not massively complicated or hugely
demanding physically. At the early stages there is a certain amount
to learn in terms of the stances, solo training exercises with staff
and other weapons and two person drills. These are the techniques
of Stav. Once learned they are practiced so that the principles
embodied in the techniques become clear. Once the principles are
understood then the student is free to start experimenting to
discover the methods and applications in combat which work best for
them.
The emphasis must always be on cultivating the simplest and most
efficient way of moving the self and interacting with others. It
does not mean constantly learning new things, just practicing and
testing things already known. Often it means discarding practises
and exercises which are no longer useful.
The most sophisticated training system may involve only two or three
training techniques but these will be practiced daily with great
focus and intensity. For real efficiency there has to be focus on
depth of practice, not breadth of experience and a constant search
for novelty.
Perhaps the biggest hindrance to really learning martial arts is the
hunger for novelty and amusement. For the teacher this means
encouraging students to focus on practicing and improving the
basics. For students it means actually practicing very simple
basics when their ego is screaming. "This is boring, this is
too easy, let's do something more interesting."
Clearing away inessentials is always harder than collecting new
bright, shiny, novelties. But if we are going to be successful in
anything we need to learn and master the basics and then keep
practicing them.
If this approach rings true to you then come to the Stav Camp 2015
in July next year and learn directly from Ivar himself. Full
details at http://www.stavcamp.org
regards
Graham