It didn't mean much to me when I first heard the words, ‘My body is my weapon”. After all, you could apply that claim to whichever martial art you might be learning. It wasn't until years later that I clearly understood the difference between what one could say about various arts. and what what we do.
You see the human body is composed of a variety of organs covered by the skin, and these represent a universe of 'soft' and 'hard' areas. Some areas teem with energy drainage spots or are crowded with nerves and muscles, others are vulnerable joints. Yet others look outwardly similar but are armour plated weapons!
The real secret of using your body like a weapon lies in lining up your amour plated parts against the opponents soft more vulnerable areas.When this is accomplished the opponent is hurt no matter what they do!
When this happens a 115 pound woman can drop a 250 pound man and no one can figure it out: This is our goal and we attain it through a unique delivery system. The body learns to move in an undulating unfathomable manner brought to life by the 'Bunga'. which unites spirit with movement. This means the Silat artist actually becomes so physically and mentally attuned to the opponent that it is not even necessary to look at them! Pukulan Silat is based can eleven physical principles which build and train the body. These are:
1. Principle of Penetration
2. Principle of Continuous Blow with Camouflage
3. Principle of Adhesion
4. Principle of Bamboo - Whip and Ricochet Hitting
5. Principle of Off-Timing - Mental, Visual and Auditory
6. Principle of Compacting - Thunderbolt strikes and Poison Hand blows
7. Principle of the Thorn
8. Principle of Decoying (Includes Indirect Hitting)
9. Principle of Destruction:
10. Principle of Body Armour
11. Principle of Hit Trapping
Penetration has more than one dimension. It includes the ability to close range and penetrate the opponent's defenses while negating their counters. Once in range, penetration involves various ways of intercepting incoming blows with blows of your own, and going through the aforementioned energy points muscles nerves and joints.
One of the major differences between our art ,and many others is that we do not block anything! Everything that comes into our range is struck! Punches can be struck aggressively by flanking and perhaps with a powerful forearm smash. Alternatively we may be more passive and guide the incoming blow into a more powerful destructive force – like the tip of the elbow. Kicks can be hit straight on with another kick, stopping them before they even start. Or we hit them at an angle. using penetrating toe points or heel kicks.
Head butts, points on the shoulder, and hip are other weapons to use when the opportunity arises. In many ways it's like the old paper, rock, scissors game.
Remember always to line up your superior body parts with the incoming weaker ones. Flank (if this is not possible) and quickly counter with the correct weapon.
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