know your art

I havent been able to take the time to talk with many anak Gayong in terms of how they view or perceive their art. I would like to have a sit down session where I can get some input on how they feel about the different aspects of Silat Seni Gayong and what it means to them. The best example I can give is how I used to feel about training empty hand pentas, or any pentas for that matter. In the early stages of my training I used to dislike pentas most out of everything we would practice. Now, i realize what a valuable tool that pentas training gives the pesilat. I met with a training group of another martial art form. I had met them for the first time and they had me do a drill that they practice that is first a one-for-one stagnate drill that eventually goes into a more free flowing and unrehearsed format. I noticed too things that always put me in an advantageous position during the drill (aside from staying relaxed), it was the concept most commonly found in pentas (that i feel is over looked while the student basically just tries and memorizes the movements without learning the lesson), it is the concept of tangle and untangle. The other concept that I used was yoi.. my ability to deceive my opponent with our footwork and positioning that comes from training in seni yoi. Now pentas training is great for giving demo and being able to showcase your art to the public... but truly the heart of pentas is the lesson that it teaches in being able to always counter and recounter, to blend and adapt, which I feel is at the heart of our art! We must be able to blend with lifes many challenges, we must be able to blend with our enemy to make peace, we must be able to blend or we will crack and break. In my line of work a simple conversation with a suspect can change immediately and without warning, and the ability to blend and move from every distance and at any angle, creating distance, shortening it and utilizing all that is around me are lessons learned from my training in Silat Seni Gayong. It is most important that we can "speak" this language and understand what we are learning. We are not filing cabinets or external hard drives used to store information of technique numbers 1-??, we must learn how to learn... we must be able to translate the many unique nuances and fine details of our art, that is what makes it such a dominant force in the Silat community. Our art is a thinking persons art and an art that is developed and fit to the person, making it their own. So make your art your own by learning more and researching and studying. Ask questions of yourself not only your teacher.

I look forward to learning more and meeting with other students and teachers... it is the journey that is so important! Be safe out there my friends...

sincerely

Joel