Going beyond 'monkey see, monkey do'
Published: Tue, 01/17/17
The hardest part of teaching the martial aspect of Stav is getting students to leave out the unnecessary movements which ruin the application of a technique. When teaching Stav the first thing is to teach some basic moves and techniques. If someone is willing to turn up and train then they will learn the basics. It really just comes down to ‘monkey see, monkey do’ in that they just need to copy what they are shown. We don’t use a huge number of techniques in Stav training but we do look to learn as much as we can from each one we do use. It isn’t what you know that matters, what is important is what you learn from working with what you know.
At last night’s training session we were working with one particular application that comes in the nine guards and is also incorporated into the two person staff drills. From a middle guard position with left hand forward, the defender responds to a downward attack with staff or axe. The left foot moves right and the staff projects left. Then the weight drops onto the left foot and the staff reverses. The attackers weapon drops to the floor and the reverse end of the defenders staff ends up in the attackers throat. That is it, two moves and job done. This drill can be a ****** to teach because less experienced students always have a tendency to put in extra moves. The defender will move left foot fine and then then move right foot behind it and ruin the body alignment. The staff will project just right and then the left hand goes looking to touch the attackers weapon before dropping which also ruins the alignment. There are a
couple of other things that frequently are added in too, in each case spoiling a beautifully simple and elegant application. When you are the attacker you know when it has been done correctly because your weapon just hits the floor and there is nothing you can do about it.
I believe that in Stav training we are looking for that fusion of action, intention and movement and you certainly know when you have found it. That is what I now know is the goal after 25 years of training anyway.
However, the challenge is to transfer that degree of simplification, focus and efficiency from martial arts practice to all aspects of life. That is my current project, to identify the behaviours and attitudes which do not take me closer to my goals and eliminate them from my life.
The course this coming Saturday 21st will explore this process of conscious simplification of training and practice in CQC training. On the 25th of February we will explore the same concept using weapon training http://somersetstav.co.uk/weaponseminars.html
Regards
Graham
PS I have been making Stav training weapons almost since I started learning Stav 25 years ago. Making weapons is an expression of the craft aspect of Stav as well as providing suitable equipment for the martial training. More on that tomorrow.