This weekend I got to re-connect with Ata who has been teaching me southern philippine Kali. I feel fortunate, as this art was used by it’s family and village for ultimate Self Defense purposes. It’s depth and capability as a Traditional Martial art towards practicality is undeniable. It’s allot like all the other FMA styles that I have trained my whole life, and yet, it’s very unlike them in very distinct ways.
That’s refreshing, after now 45 years of training in what is commonly called Kali, Arnis, or Escrima it is refreshing to learn something new.
We started over this weekend with the first lesson, it’s amazing to me that it has already been more than a year since we started. Ata brought up something I did for him, to help him in a moment of need, and said that it’s been just over a year since that. Here we are now, reviewing the first lesson that seemed so familiar like my own system of Inayan Eskrima, but also alien and new.
The most exciting thing for me, as a student, is that I have so much to learn still. I am terrible at the new things, and ok at the familiar things. Some people look to learn another style to continue to grow. I don’t particularly subscribe to this as a main way to address plateaus in training, but I do see how it is a viable method. I made this observation a long time ago and realized it’s really that we see things differently, almost new, that helps us breakthrough a plateau. I personally haven’t experienced a training plateau since 1992.
When my father would attend Black Belt Tests and participate on testing board when it would come time for comments from the testing board, he would say “Keep Training”. Something succinct and eloquent only to the initiated that understood that it was important to remain a student. With a new teacher, with a new art, or better still dig deeper into your own art. To this day I still learn from Mangisursuro, my father. Only because I “Keep Training”
~Suro Jason Inay
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