Led into temptation
Published: Wed, 06/15/16
In Yeovil, not too far from here, there is a specialist tool shop which carries a huge range of fasteners. So when I need nuts, bolts, washers, screws, rivets, drill bits etc it is very unusual for them not to have exactly what I need. On the rare occasions they can’t supply an item of the shelf they will know who to order it from. They also carry a wide range of high quality tools. So, at the end of each transaction the conversation usually goes. “Anything else we can help you with sir?” And my standard reply is something like. “Lots of things you could tempt me with, but I will be strong minded today.”
Although I did buy a Dremel tool recently which is a sort of miniature cross between a circular saw and an angle grinder and it is proving very useful.
It is very tempting, and if you have the money very easy, to buy a lot of tools. It is possible to end up with a shed or garage full of expensive equipment that never actually gets used. There are also kitchen cupboards full of neglected utensils, garden tools, exercise equipment etc etc. Yes, we all do it to some extent. The problem comes when we confuse having equipment with actually getting results. As I said yesterday our garden got neglected, that wasn’t for lack of garden tools, just not getting around to using them until the past couple of weeks. You won’t get fit just by filling your house with treadmills and rowing machines, or improve your nutrition with recipe books and hight tech food mixers, or build anything useful with a shed full of unused tools.
I do use my tools professionally However I sometimes surprise myself how few tools I actually use on a regular basis. My wood working tool box is quite heavy and I can make all sorts of things with the items in there. I have another box, three times the size filled with tools I don’t carry around because I would almost never use them. If there are 50 items in the box I do carry I probably do most jobs with 10 or 12 of the tools I could choose from. 80/20 theory suggests that this is no surprise, at least 80% of results always comes from at most 20% of possible input.
Even more important is our mental tool box, the stuff we know or think we know. Again, it easy to spend time and resources learning stuff but never actually making any use of what you know. Your head becomes a cerebral shed of expensive but rusting knowledge.
Any kind of real results come from using what you know and the tools you have to actually do stuff. Sometimes the less you know and the more restricted your resources then the more creative and resourceful you become. The more options and stuff you have to deal with the easier it is to simply get overwhelmed.
Martial arts training is no different to any other activity in that there is almost infinite knowledge out there for you to learn. You can spend any amount of money on equipment on books, video and equipment (just have a look at the Blitz online catalogue, it is just like being back in my favourite tool shop again).
One of the ways that Stav is different is that we recognise that the fundamental principles of training are really very simple. The amount of equipment you need is minimal, three sticks of varying length is really all you need. Okay, I use 5, tein, cudgel, axe, staff and spear but compare that to the stuff available for HEMA training say. Ivar generally trains with just a large walking stick.
What to actually do in training? Strikes on the lines of the Hagl rune (3 lines) and a thrust to the middle. 16 stances and 5 drills to explore the five principles. At the advanced weapons class last night we were looking at the five original staff exercises which Ivar learned from his family as the basis of the five principles of Stav.
The big problem with teaching a profoundly simple training system is that it can lack novelty after a while. It gets ‘boring’ working with the same fundamentals over and over again rather than constantly trying something exiting and different. Personally, I like a few good tools that I can do great work with. A shed full of expensive toys I hardly ever touch is no use to me. To me Stav is that small toolbox which which I can achieve anything if I am willing to work hard enough.
Opportunities to collect your own Stav tools and learn how to use them at http://iceandfire.org/calendar.html including Illinois, USA in September and with Ivar in Somerset later in the same month.
regards
Graham
PS Link to the shop I mentioned above https://www.wentinfasteners.co.uk/