Differences in practice and with whom!

[MasterKaliSilat]

It was said by the WanderingGuru.com that it's not what system or style of Kali Silat that you practice, but with whom you practice.

Practice the drills of course, and we got that from Grand Master Dionisio 'Juni' Canete that said, "In Doce Pares we have a drill for everything." This is important, because the drills are not what you do, but what you body must do, in a real event. That's our concept in all Philippine - Indonesian Kali Silat. So, if you believe take this simple drill we call heaven and earth, broken eight, borken six, whatever you call this drill, use one hand and one stick. Now, how can you evoke the practices necessary to do what you learn in Kali Silat that makes it the same, but different, each time you practice!!

In practice the drills add up to what combines in the efforts that you make in practice and translates that as necessary. In practice, the timming, positioning, and elements that you evoke in the body are what you examine, including yourself, and such, then, much like typing, you learn the drills to hit all the keys, then, you practice, speed, timming and accuracy.

The more you practice, the less likely the errors. In a real situation an error could cost your life.

As my teacher, Suryadi Jafri, RIP 1998 - once said, "If it saves your life once, how much is it worth? There can be no excuse for not practice", he would continue.

So, since I've been at this art from the time it was unpopular, I guarantee you, it will keep you young, fit and content. There is nothing greater then wasting your life on the negative side of it. PGA, circa 1986.

[Guro Dave Gould]

Greg,

It`s great to see you on the forum. It`s been awhile since we have spoken last, and I hope that all is well with you. I agree with you whole heartedly that in the end when it matters most it is not "what" we have trained as much as it is "How" we have trained.

Pendekar Eddie Jafri was impressionable on alot of us. My most memorable moment with him was his "every lock has a key" philosophy. Being a very small person (in stature only) he would often pick the largest and strongest person in the class and have them try and contain him with a lock, leverage or submission. Many would try but few if any would succeed in their attempt because he would not cooperate with their desires and shortly there after they would try and contain him he would free himself at all odds and would counter with verosity.

It was obviously not his size that made the difference nor was it "what" he chose to practice but rather it was his desire to survive and "how" he did what he did that mattered most and this is why he was such an effective warrior.

Punong Guro Edgar G. Sulite had similar training practices which he just called "non-cooperation" which he applied to everything from lock flows to disarms and counter disarming. Both Punong Guro Sulite and Pendekar Jafri felt that in order to disarm or control your opponent you had to have access to the limb for more than a second. So to counter this as soon as your opponent grabs your hand or arm you have less than a second to remove it or you may be lose your weapon to your opponent or be placed in a compromising positon favorable to your opponent. Which is unacceptable to any degree if survival is the end goal.

Both Punong Guro Sulite and Pendekar Jafri relied heavily on failure in training to best develop the necessary attributes under duress by which to create success. Only through failure do you truly value success and without dealing with failure you will never be able to see the route to success because you will never have been forced to look for it.

The way that you train reflects the way that you will fight. Train with weakness and compromise, and both will follow you into combat, only when weakness and compromise are removed from your training environment will you best be prepared to deal with life threatening situations as they arise in the streets, with out limitation, boundaries, or restrictions. For us to be effective in combat the way that we train has to resemble as much as possible the very thing for which we are training. In all things combative it`s not so much "who" you are but rather how you move which matters most.

Again it is great to see you on the forum Greg, i hope to see you here more often. Go well and continued success to you in all of your endeavors. Ciao.

Guro Dave Gould.

[Crucible]

Hello,
Welcome to the forum guro Alland. Can you share with us some of your experiances of Suryadi Jafri? I think many of us may have heard the name but never had the opportunity train with him or see his movements. I would love to know what characterized his method of silat and some personal recollections. Thank you.