More on TCMA training.

Again to naysayers who are putting down TCMAs, my argument is this; how much of TCMAs training have you experienced?

 

I think this is a legitimate question right?

 

I live in Sarawak and for the past years, have been traveling up and down this country visiting old schools and masters and tasting, first-hand, TCMAs training and I am still learning “new” things.

 

Before this journey, my sum total perception of TCMAs comes primarily from experiences in Singapore, the US where I was teaching for a couple of years, books, magazines and to a certain extent, videos and movies pertaining to the arts.

 

I remember one life-long practitioner here commenting that there are hundreds of styles/systems and to think that they have all outlived their relevance is a very pompous view.

 

A personal experience; I was permitted, some time back, to sit through a Silat testing session.  Was pretty routine at the beginning, you know, forms, breaking, 2 men and then it was the seniors’ turn.

 

And I wasn’t prepared at all for what followed (after all, it was at a school test); a scenario that looked exactly like a bar room brawl, anything goes and the chap being tested ended up all bloodied.

 

When I spoke to the Guru later, he said that was testing “courage”.

 

So different races, different arts but fighting is still fighting, no matter what.

 

And apparently that Malay Silat style also subscribe to “First train your courage”.

 

Beat your opponent spiritually before all or to put it the Japanese way;

 

“Conquer the fear of death and you shall conquer all”.

 

A clip here of 2 players doing “White Crane sticky hands”.