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**killer** · 06-26-2010, 03:40 PM

And this Article from Student of Kru Preang

Muay Chaiya: Concussion and Compassion

Imagining being faced with an opponent standing before you in a position you’ve never seen before in all your years of training. His hands turn slowly, rhythmically in a circle as his head sways back and forth. His body, propped up on one leg, seems to bob up and down in a controlled manner. Unconventional at best, he seems to almost be off balance, and for so long you’d been taught to attack when your opponent was off balance. Though you both have yet to engage one another, now seems like the opportune time to strike. That in mind, you ball your fist, take your stance, and commit your first and last mistake.

The position you mistook for “unbalance” in your opponent is a signature stance of Muay Chaiya, one of but many traditional Muay Boran systems. Styles and disciplines varying from region to region, Muay Chaiya hails from the south of Thailand and is renowned for many key tactics. Of them is one of their standing positions; a one-legged posture called “Tah Kru” or “The Master’s Stance”. As opposed to more conventional and traditional stances, Tah Kru places the fight on one leg instead of two. The raised leg is bent at the knee which is aimed at the opponent. The toes of the foot of that same leg are pulled back as well, exposing the ball of the foot as yet another offensive striking point. Above the waist, the arms are bent at the elbows; one fist positioned just in front of the middle of the brow and the other poised in front of the pit of the throat. In this position, all the body’s natural hardest surfaces are primed and aimed at the opponent, ready to fire at a moment’s notice. The misleading one-legged posture requires not only great balance but greater agility to shift from one leg to the other quickly to exploit vulnerable angles of the opponent. The moment you charged in, you mistook the Chaiya boxer’s preparedness for a lack thereof and thusly, took one step closer to defeat.

The “punches-in-bunches” you’d worked so hard to ingrain into your thought is doing nothing but hurting. Held against another gem in the Chaiya combative crown is their defensive system, otherwise know as “Pong Pad Pid Perd” (to block, to swipe, to open, to cover). This intricate network of parries and various elbow blocks are designed to not only deflect but destroy incoming attacks. The fist thrown so intently shatters upon collision with the ready elbows of the Chaiya boxer. Quickly and seamlessly, the elbows seem to shift and reposition in the blink of an eye, warding off some attacks and impaling others upon thorns of bone. If that weren’t enough, the kicks you’d spent so long conditioning crash into the Chaiya boxer’s knees, the bones of your shins rattling and cracking in agony with each strike. Struggling to regain some composure after the failed attacks, you’re picked at with precision punches and kicks. Each one snaps out and recoils only to be followed by another that stings another location. Their rapid succession is blinding, and there’s only one recourse before you completely succumb to the Chaiya boxer’s devastating barrage: take him to the ground.

Contrary to popular opinion, Muay Chaiya does have a ground-fighting component. This grappling system includes not only the joint-locks and chokes found in other arts such as Jiu-Jitsu and Judo, but a system of striking bent on a single principle: smashing. This little-known component is now more than evident to you, the Chaiya boxer quickly maneuvering in and out of your joint-locks and guards before he’s pinned your arms down and positioned himself atop your chest, elbow raised to strike. You wait for what can only be seen as the inevitable; a downward elbow strike that would easily fracture your skull against the hard earth beneath you, but it never comes. Instead, the Chaiya practitioner lowers his arm and rises to his feet, extending his hand down to help you up. This exchange, agonizing as it was, was not a contest to the death. A follower of Buddhist principle, the Chaiya boxer will not take life unless absolutely necessary. Today was such a day, and before he leaves, he bows and smiles at you before turning to walk away.

Your body battered and slightly bloodied. Your skin scratched and bruised from the checked blows and rolling on the ground, all you can do as the Chaiya boxer walks away is think to yourself, that in the presence of a man with such skill with such formidable weapons at his disposal, you could have been severely injured, crippled, or even worse. But you’re alive, you’re standing, and though you’re just a little humbled, you’re in awe just the same of the exotic art of Muay Chaiya.

**killer** · 06-26-2010, 03:41 PM

My Experience at Baan Kru Preang by Amonte Littlejohn

The moment I walked into Baan Kru Preang, I knew there was something there to be reckoned with. I’d seen clips of the students training and had an idea of what they were about, but all that was from afar. I’d had prior experience learning other martial arts, but now, I stood among them in total silence and waited to learn their art of Muay Chaiya.

No amount of pre-training footage could have prepared me for what lay ahead. The focus of their training was not in learning something briefly and putting it into practice. Instead, their preparation was designed to burn their theories and techniques into the students’ muscles, ensuring that it would be something automatic when the time was right. Far from anything flashy, their techniques were simple and for some, probably boring to see let alone do. This did not seem to be a factor for the students at Baan Kru Preang, who silently and diligently trained through each movement, never stopping until the respective kru (teacher) told them to move on. I have to admit, it was a little intimidating at first to be among students so focused, but I have to say it was paralleled by the camaraderie they exhibited. Even to me, a brand new face, an outsider non-Thai for that matter, they were very friendly and patient. It seemed as though not even the language barrier (my Thai is horrible!) was enough to stop us all from becoming friends. When I was shown a technique I simply couldn’t wrap my head around (and there were many), the kru were not afraid to slow down to show me the move, more slowly than before, so I could understand it. This patience and good-nature left me speechless at times and allowed me to feel all the more welcome in a place where I wasn’t sure how I’d be received. Movies had primed me to be the foreigner who wanted to learn a native art, only to be shunned and ridiculed by the local students. I was and am glad to say such was not the case.

Perhaps that’s what struck me most about Baan Kru Preang. Inside its walls were keepers of an ancient are and all its customs. They hold Muay Chaiya in high regard, not just as a fighting art, but as a gem of their cultural heritage as well. This respect fosters a menacing level of discipline and seriousness in its practitioners, but is counter-balanced by a kindness and civility I’ve found rare in most places I roam. I don’t doubt for a second that it was character traits like these that let me get so close to them, to learn their style, and make friends along the way. We were learning the same art in the same place, and surely each had their own reasons for training. Despite differences in culture, intensity, and skill level in Muay Chaiya, we all, like the fists of the fighters of old, had been bound together through this sacred art. Tied together through a an intricate and complex network like the hemp rope gloves of the Kadd Cheuk (bound fist) fighters, we were together. And like the sun-hardened coils on the hemp gloves, poised to destroy those who would bring us harm.

**george stando** · 06-26-2010, 06:36 PM

snooze...do you realize this amounts to yet another commercial of no interest? We are americans and europeans and we are hip to all this nonsense. Nobody cares about useless testimonials and endorsements. The truth is in the material and what you put out.

Its more praeng propaganda. When are you going to wake up? Anybody and their mother can get people to write nonsense like that. I can blanket this forum every day probably for the next 365 days with similar stuff from known fighters to teachers to grandmothers and what would it mean..........................................................nothing to people who know. Foreigners take a long time as well to absorb the truth because it takes time to learn the languageand do the research and traing.....then the truth comes out. heres an example: groundighting stuff was made up by praeng and it has no history of chaiya or anything else =anyone in thailand knows that, its a fact.

Dont start in like last time that you dont speak english well but yet you post endless stuff on here just to sell, there is NO honesty or truth to your workigns, its all the same sell over and over and over again. Nothing postive comes from any muay chaiya piece or thread other than trying to show they are true, superior or whathaveyou but nothing you or your teacher does supports that integrity.....dont you see that?

you are not elevating but reducing and dropping from what you post. Why a person who can barely speak and write english have somebody write you some long winded nonsense for you to post on here anyway? post that stuff on your own website where people are impressed with that garbage

**mtdcha** · 06-26-2010, 09:19 PM

I agree that this is more bs and propaganda from Praeng, but I think this shows a development in that killer kind of admits that the current chaiya is weaker than sports muay thai. (please correct me if I read wrong!)
Jeez, took them a long time to understand that.

But the thing is, that totally destroys the arguments they've been making for the superiority of chaiya. So much for inteliigence.

Plus killer displays an ignorance towards sports muay thai---he says that there's no grappling in sports muay thai, which isn't true. even I, who isn't a practitioner, know that.

I guess these people are evolving in their techniques to hoodwink people.

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