From: eskrima-digest-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To: eskrima-digest@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Subject: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V8 #300 Reply-To: eskrima@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Errors-To: eskrima-digest-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Precedence: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest Tues, 3 July 2001 Vol 08 : Num 300 In this issue: eskrima: The Politics of Potty BOUNCE eskrima: Admin request (fwd) eskrima: RE: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V8 #299 eskrima: Gurkhas in WSJ eskrima: The empty hand thing eskrima: . ========================================================================== Eskrima-Digest, serving the Internet since June 1994. 1300 members strong! Copyright 1994-2001: Ray Terry and Martial Arts Resource The premier internet discussion forum devoted to Filipino Martial Arts. Provided in memory of Mangisursuro Michael G. Inay (1944-2000), Founder of the Inayan System of Eskrima. Replying to this message will NOT unsubscribe you. To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe eskrima-digest" (no quotes) in the body (top line, left justified) of a "plain text" e-mail addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. To send e-mail to this list use eskrima@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com See the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) FAQ and the online search engine for back issues of the Eskrima-Digest at http://www.MartialArtsResource.com Mabuhay ang eskrima! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Buz Grover" Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2001 00:34:37 -0400 Subject: eskrima: The Politics of Potty G. Hudgins asks us: "Remember the water saving toilets and the black market from Canada. The toilets only used so much water to flush to save water. Now you can not buy a toilet that is not a water saving toilet, unless you get one black market from Canada." It's the same deal with low flow shower heads. It's darn near well impossible to find a shower head that will actually rinse soap off of you in one pass thanks to our elected officials. My fondest wish is that during the next presidential debate someone asks both candidates if they think the American people can be trusted to make their own sanitation decisions. Barring that, let's replace every plumbing fixture in every government edifice with low flow devices. As full of feces as some folks are in DC, my guess is that they'll have to hire a new breed of civil servant that does nothing but stand in the Capitol building flushing the loo. In a similar vein I understand the reason that all lawnmowers now have an ignition cut out switch that has to be gripped is because a couple of rocket scientists decided to trim the hedge hoisting a mower by its wheels. After losing several digits each due to their damnfoolishness, these gents sued the manufacturer claiming malfeasance and everyone using a mower since has to contend with an ill-conceived cut out switch. Can the day when we all have to train martial arts via Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots be very far behind? Regards, Buz Grover ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2001 7:01:15 PDT Subject: BOUNCE eskrima: Admin request (fwd) Forwarded message: From: GatPuno@aol.com Subject: Filipino Empty Hand Techniques Cory Wrote: << >> In my experience, as limited as that is, I've never worked with someone who uses FMA empty hand exclusively in sparring. My own FMA instruction supplemented the FMA stuff with Silat, and lots of Muay Thai and Western >>Boxing. >>Recently I've been training at a NHB gym with a strong BJJ and Muay Thai base and have found real difficulty using the guntings and other FMA stuff. Both boxing styles have served me well, as has some of the trapping from >>FMA, but the rest is really hard to execute. >>I'm curious as to the experiences of others in situations similar. Cory, One of the reason why you not really see the effectiveness of the Empty hand of FMA is because of your other training in other empty hand arts, like Boxing, Mu thai, etc. Cross training is very good, but you supposed to adapt the punching, power and other techniques that you havent seen in FMA then use the Philosophy of the FMA like the Flow of Cadena de Mano, Gunting, Sikad, Labas/Pasok, Sulsihan, Trankadas, Susi, Kalas Buto etc. to your advantage. If you havent work on this, then probably you have to wait a little time, to reach the level that we are talking about. Not everybody is taught right away the effective Empty hand in FMA, may be your instructor is one of those wait for the students progress depending on his curriculum. Ask to your instructor about this few techniques, if not cough me on one of my Seminar, and I am willing to show you the Empty hand effectiveness. Did you ever fight the boxer using your slapping power from traping drills? Boxer, can take the blow as hard as you could with the gloves, but when you apply the slapping techniques incorporated with Sikad or low kick they cannot close in basically. Try to play around using Filipino Empty hand, for the sake of training, try to focus on FMA only for now, remember training is patients, wait until you got the ferfect timing, hand /eye coordination, power, rythm, speed, footworks, and body angles, all of this is important to be effective in Empty hand fight. There are so many available instructors teaches various Empty hand aspect now a day you just have to find the right for you, it is not necessary to be a Filipino Master it could be a foreigner that study and absob the FMA's as it was meant to be. The Combat arts. Cory, last word, I wish you luck seek your weeknesses, strengten them with patient and a lot of heart. I hope you'll find this eye opening or just a friendly advice. Gumagalang/with respect, Gat Puno Abon "Garimot" Baet Laguna Arnis Federation International US Harimaw Buno Federation Hilot Research Center USA ------------------------------ From: Eli Silva Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001 08:46:38 -0500 Subject: eskrima: RE: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V8 #299 > To all my fellow thoughtful eskrimadors who have responded to my inquiries > about my leg and hip pain, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. My > xrays show no degeneration of the joints, either in the lower back, knee > area, or sacrum. I talked to my doc, and he showed me the iliotibial band > (after I suggested what some of you fine people told me), and he agreed > that could be it. I just have to rest for a month and a half with the > ballistic stuff (running), get better running shoes - damn essential! - > (don't skip out on this folks), run shorter distances until my body can > accomodate the impact, and most importantly STRETCH. So thanks everybody > for the invaluable information. > > Assalamu Alai Kum (Peace be with you all) > Erwin Legaspi > In response to this, try some non-impact Chi-gong exercises that will revitalize and recover quickly for your joints. Chi-gong with the use of its CHI will stimulate the cells and while maintaining its elasticity of muscles and flexibility of the joints. Yoga is of another good exercise for this. So while you are "healing", you are not losing any of your flexibility while enhancing your muscles for performance. Hope this could help you, Eulalio Chi-gong, tai chi and kali practitioner ------------------------------ From: "Marc Denny" Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001 10:04:45 -0700 Subject: eskrima: Gurkhas in WSJ Gurkhas Complaints Underscore Woes of Nepal's Young Democracy By JESSE PESTA Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL POKHARA, Nepal -- To the list of Nepal's woes, including a royal massacre and a Maoist uprising, add this one: restless Gurkhas. Gurkhas are the storied Nepalese mercenaries who have fought for the British for nearly 200 years. They are feared around the world, partly because the British spread the story that Gurkhas couldn't draw their trademark curved knives, kukri, without drawing blood, preferably by severing a head. Gurkhas fought in the British empire's Indian Mutiny, two of three Afghan Wars, both world wars, and more recently, Kosovo. In 1910 they guarded the body of King Edward VII as he lay in state. Today, Gurkhas serve as occasional orderlies to Queen Elizabeth II, and retired Gurkhas protect the leaders of Singapore and Brunei. But back home, some Gurkhas are turning into a headache for their own government. Their complaints underscore the pressures on Nepal's 10-year-old democracy: It isn't just that the country is remote, feudalistic and poor; the Nepalese increasingly expect the government to work for them. Consider Capt. Man Bahadur Gurung, the deputy mayor of the lake-dotted, backpacker haven of Pokhara. He served 31 years for the British, fighting communism in 1950s and 1960s in what is now Malaysia and Indonesia. Today, he's a communist himself. Standing in his office, he points to a portrait of the general secretary of the United Marxist-Leninists, Nepal's main opposition party. "Some people say Karl Marx is still alive and lives in Nepal. This man is Karl Marx," he says approvingly. One of Capt. Gurung's causes is a group called Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen's Organization, or Gaeso, a sort of leftist labor union and ground zero for Gurkhas who are unhappy with British treatment and the Nepal government's response. Gaeso recently filed a case with the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, claiming Gurkhas are subject to racial discrimination by the U.K. because their pensions are lower than those of British army regulars. Gaeso's Pokhara headquarters, near a major British recruitment camp, is plastered with big blue-and-white signboards: "Equal Danger, Equal Reward," says one. Across the street at Gaeso's women's auxiliary, the oddly named Gurkha Army Ex-Woman Organization, a sign says, "We Fought 200 Years for British Sovereignty, In Return We Got Pain, Nothing More." The group's willingness to pressure the U.K. is nettlesome for Nepal. Gurkha paychecks bring in valuable foreign currency. "If you press too hard, the British will decide to get rid of these troublemakers," worries Dipak Gurung, leader of a rival Gurkha group with similar objectives but which dislikes Gaeso's confrontational style. Inside Gaeso headquarters, a half-dozen vets grumble. One man, wearing a colorful Nepalese cap and blue plastic flip-flops, says that after fighting for eight years in the 1960s, he now lives on 3,000 Nepalese rupees a month he earns running errands for Gaeso. "I fought for the British," he says, summarizing his plight. "No welfare, no pension." Gurkhas take their name from the village of Gorkha, where a Nepalese prince first allowed the British to recruit his subjects in the 1800s. The British East India Co. had just defeated Nepal in a war, but admired their foes. The Nepalese were strong and loyal, and according to a 100-year-old recruitment handbook, they even ate faster than Indian recruits, shunning elaborate Hindu mealtime rituals. Today the British still employ about 3,800 Gurkhas, partly because it's becoming harder to recruit at home. About a year ago, the U.K. boosted Gurkha pay by as much as 183%, bringing it in line with the British soldiers' pay. Pensions remain lower, but most Gurkhas are discharged after only 15 years, leaving time for a second career, British officials say. The British also provide health care in Nepalese villages, run a charity that helps vets who are unable to work, build village schools and carve cliffside trails to vets' homes. Gurkhas come mostly from a few ethnic minorities in the mountains (which is why so many are named Gurung). A few decades ago vets were satisfied with moving back to villages after serving mostly in Southeast Asia, which was then undeveloped like Nepal. But in today's post-colonial world, most serve in the U.K. -- and village life pales in comparison. "We're living in this IT age. I've seen the world," says Vishnu Gurung, a 45-year-old ex-serviceman who returned a year ago. He came from a mountain hamlet, but since then he has lived in the U.K. and Hong Kong. "We don't want to go back where we started." Instead, many go to Pokhara. Three decades ago it was a buffalo grazing ground; today it's a Gurkha boomtown. Modern stone bungalows are sprouting by the hundreds. Pokhara recently went from zero to four FM stations in three months. Some Gurkhas go into business. Vishnu Gurung, the recent returnee, owns a lakeside restaurant, Fewa Park, catering to trekkers heading for the snowcapped Annapurnas that tower over this town of 100,000. Nearby is the Gurkha Lodge, the Hotel Gorkha, the Gurkha Heaven Hotel, and My Gurkha's Restaurant. But ex-soldiers making second careers in Nepal are the exception. Poverty may make Nepal a cheap place to live, but it also makes finding a suitable job difficult. When 80% of the population gets its livelihood from subsistence farming, professional jobs are almost non-existent. So, specialized Gurkha employment agencies mainly offer more jobs abroad. At one agency, a map on the wall has pins showing some options: land-mine clearance in Mozambique; bank security in the Solomon Islands. The ex-soldiers work overseas, and their families stay behind, where many fall prey to modern problems creeping into Nepal: children who take drugs, scam artists who trick unsuspecting wives to invest the family savings in pyramid schemes. Gurkha frustrations were given an outlet a decade ago when Nepal's then-king (the one recently massacred) instituted full democracy, allowing social activism and press freedoms. A publication called "Gurkha Soldier Voice" heralded the arrival of Gaeso, which took a leftist slant. Three years ago, it started getting support from the World Federation of Democratic Youth, a group that used to be known as a Soviet Front (officials still call each other "comrade.") Gaeso representative Yam Bahadur Gurung insists the group has nothing to do with politics. "This is a human-rights issue," he says. But Pokhara's deputy mayor Man Bahadur Gurung, a Gaeso adviser, freely says he's drawn to communism as a remedy for government corruption and ineffectiveness. "The morale of the public is very low," he says, "and it's only made worse by the recent royal massacre." He asks: If the government can't protect the king, how can it protect anyone else? The deputy mayor isn't a Maoist, an illegal guerilla group that has killed more than 1,000 Nepalese. But the Maoists are coming. In recent months they've bombed a few government banks within Pokhara, bringing their campaign against unfair lending and corruption out of the hills and into town. They already rule some rural areas, where their farmer's-rights movement resonates. There are suggestions, too, that a small number of Gurkhas or their families may be helping them. Some former Gurkhas who served in the Indian army have joined the Maoists as fighters, human-rights and military experts say. Along Pokhara's lakefront, support for Maoists' violent tactics is nil. Restaurateur Vishnu Gurung looks around his empty eatery -- tourists fled after the royal slaughter -- and says, "Political turmoil is bad for business." But Maoist aims are another matter. Hom Gurung, another ex-Gurkha who owns a nearby pub, took notice when Maoists recently called for a 50% cut in private-school fees. That touches a sore point with Gurkhas, who spend lots of their income on education. He recognizes it as a Maoist marketing ploy. "The Maoists are very smart," Mr. Gurung says. But what that means is, "the basic things they say, many Nepalese want." - --Staff reporter Daniel Pearl in Bombay contributed to this article. Write to Jesse Pesta at jesse.pesta@wsj.com ------------------------------ From: "jose saguisabal" Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2001 11:57:40 -0700 Subject: eskrima: The empty hand thing Hi, everyone, It's been my limited experience that many FMArtists simply do not want to admit that their arts do NOT have extensive empty hand systems. I believe that they want to be able to "keep up with the Joneses" by saying their art is complete/everything translates to the stick/etc. As if an art could not be valuable on its own as a weapon art... With the exception of a few mostly empty handed FMA styles I've seen, I must admit that I haven't seen much effective use of the hands demonstrated by many of our brothers out there. The joke in our school is how many arnisadors put down their sticks and go through the same motions and pass it off as "empty handed arnis". Yet these same men study Indonesian Silat, Jujitsu, and Muay Thai for their supplemented (how about "effective"?) empty hand applications. As if an Arnis school couldn't have a thrust kick or jab in its style--no, it must be blended with Karate and Boxing! You know, as a system of fighting, you don't have to offer everything known to man in it! Just because some books and magazine articles say so, it's not necessarily true that every authentic Filipino style teaches all traditional Filipino weapons and empty hand. And not every Filipinos empty hand style is derived from the blade. Perhaps at one time the FMAs had "complete"(whatever that is) empty hand systems. However, given the circumstances that formed the Filipino fighting arts, there was little need for empty hand skills, since weapons were more efficient and effective. It is the brutal and to-the-point philosophy of the FMAs and its weapons that attracted most of us, yet when we start to move up the ranks, we want more show in our systems, so we look for fancier drills, complex trapping and disarms, grappling and other "secret/hidden" (there goes that word again!) translations. I am proud that the world's most effective stick and blade style of killing belongs to my country, and I don't feel the need to have it represented empty handed in glorified human cockfights. It's true that not all fighting arts are made for sport! For those of you who have fantasies about using your "guntings" and hand-slappy stuff in the NHBs, go for it. But I am content knowing that all the djurus and grappling in the world won't stop my razor-sharp balisong. Get 250 color business cards for FREE! http://businesscards.lycos.com/vp/fastpath/ ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2001 13:02:45 PDT Subject: eskrima: . ------------------------------ End of Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V8 #300 **************************************** To unsubscribe from the eskrima-digest send the command: unsubscribe eskrima-digest -or- unsubscribe eskrima-digest your.old@address in the BODY (top line, left justified) of a "plain text" e-mail addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. Old digest issues are available via ftp://ftp.martialartsresource.com. Copyright 1994-2001: Ray Terry and the Martial Arts Resource Standard disclaimers apply.