One last post, then I'll shut up. If you google Varzesh-e-Pahlavani you come up w/ some videos and an entry in Wikipedia which states "Pahlavani, is a traditional discipline of gymnastics and wrestling in Iran, which was originally an academy of physical training for military purposes.". Viewing the videos it's pretty obvious that the training is primarily to improve the ability to handle weapons and shields. This makes a lot of sense, as martial activities normally involve weapons, not empty handed combat. You don't normally invest a lot of time training men to fight empty handed when your enemy has weapons. Plus, you invest as little time as possible training the equivalent of "cannon fodder".
During the first 13 years of To'a/TOAS, Safakhoo didn't have a lot of respect for wrestling, and none of the Varzesh-e-Pahlavani exercises existed in his style. In fact, there was very little of any type of grappling technique in his style. In the transition from TOAS to T.O.A.S. NABARD he may in fact have incorporated some aspects of Varzesh-e-Pahlavani, but as of 3 or 4 years ago, I saw no evidence of it. Of course there's the possibility of "inner circle" stuff. But in the first 13 years I was a member of the inner circle. It just didn't exist then.
I want to apologize to any current students of TOAS if offense was taken. None was intended. I still think it's one of the better first styles to learn in this area, and I don't think it should matter one way or the other what the origins are. I do think that in order to be balanced, learning "internal" styles is desirable as well as grappling which will probably have to be learned from external sources.
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