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Arnis is a martial art, which comes from the northern Filipino Islands. Other well-known Filipino martial arts are Escrima and Kali. All three regional arts share similar principles, training methods and movements. There is an old saying, 'There are as many forms of Arnis as there are islands in the Philippines'. As mentioned in the philosophy section, the primary focus of this art is the cultivation of spirit and health. That being said, Arnis is a complete system of both armed and unarmed combat. Training begins with a stick. This is for both practical and historical reasons. Historically the people training in Arnis needed to be able to defend their village at a very young age, thus they were taught how to handle a weapon first. From a practical perspective, training with a stick is an effective way of training and conditioning smooth power, flow, and fast reflexes in the body. These abilities are then translated into both knife and empty hand techniques. Stick, knife, and empty hand training all embody the same theories and principles. Training consists of learning a large number of stick fighting patterns and two person exchanges. These patterns are used as a way to safely teach the flow of attack and defense, and to train the person how to read and respond to an opponent's attacks. Once these patterns have become internalized, then free form training is introduced. Each class will start with warm up and conditioning exercises, and then will progress into single person stepping and single or double stick drills. These drills will then be done with a partner and variations on stepping, timing, distance and rhythm will be introduced. Finally, towards the end of each class we will put the sticks down and train either empty hand or knife drills. Music plays a central role in both the training and the feeling of the art. We use drumming and stick tapping to keep time and to establish rhythm. This is very important because understanding rhythm is fundament to finding the holes in your opponent's timing and movements. The beats also infuse the practice with a primal energy and make training more fun and engaging. |
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