Friday, December 23, 2005

WeaselCraft, Tactics, and Silat

One of the biggest differences between what I practice, and teach,
and what is commonly taught is depth, and what I consider basics.
Most Self Defense systems begin and end with physical moves.
Then there are others that spend way to much time on psychological,
legal, and emotional factors. None, but very few touch on what I consider important
aspects. WeaselCraft is a way of surviving, not fighting. It involves fighting, because, face it,
sometimes ya gotta hit someone. As a result, I study and teach things as diverse as Survivalism, Escape & Evasion, first aid, etc, in addition to beating the crap out of someone.

For the purely physical components, I haven't found anything better than Silat, with Savate
coming a close second. So, obviously, that is the basis for my movement.
But there is so much more needed to round out your education at this.
Low-light movement and fighting, improvised weapons, studying the Urban environment, you need to get it all before you can be good at surviving.
As my Brother Don says, "I want to be able to survive anything, from a subway in the
inner city, to a high mountain desert."
When you start combining all this knowledge, you start becoming a true survivalist, not the caricature portrayed in the media, nor just a thug.
Perhaps we can touch on some of the aspects of Silat, particularly Zulfikari, and tie them to
the overall WeaselCraft schema.
Stay Tuned.