Graham Butcher – Stav Teacher
My next Seminar is on the 28th of January 2012 in Bristol Read more about it and watch a video of the Five Principles or Download the PDF leaflet here
Why do martial arts?
I teach Stav. I teach most aspects but I am particularly interested in teaching it through martial arts training. I know this is worthwhile because martial arts training and ongoing practice is about self-development and keeping ourselves active, vital, safe and confident throughout our lives. All martial arts training and practice should be about achieving this goal and those of us who have been practising a martial discipline for a long time know that we can achieve it. Sometimes this goal isn't obvious so I would like to make it explicit from the beginning.
Learning martial arts is about making us less vulnerable to everyday dangers and better equipped to confront life's challenges and conflicts. Perhaps meeting life threatening danger is a rare experience for you, I hope it is. However we all get older and we would do well to make the effort to maintain our life force and well being. We also need to avoid accidents when possible and know how to mitigate the consequences when they do occur. We are all subject to gravity (which is just as well when you think about it) but this also means that a simple stumble or slip can mean, bruises, broken bones or worse. Do you actually know how to fall safely?
It may be very unlikely that the conflict situations we find ourselves involved in will lead to physical violence. Again I hope this is the case for you. But if we have control of ourselves and awareness of another's point of view we may be able to restore harmony in our relationships rather than have to live with festering resentment which may lead to future conflict.
With the right training and practice you can develop and maintain your balance, both physically and mentally. You can cultivate your breathing which is the true secret of a long and healthy life. You can enhance your coordination which is essential to keeping the brain active and developing the confidence to, literally, handle new or difficult situations. You can increase your sensitivity to yourself and your surroundings so that your awareness of any situation and your consciousness of any situation is maximised. You should accept your vulnerability, it will keep you alive and make you empathetic to the pain of others. Knowledge of vulnerability will give you the power to hurt someone else if absolutely necessary. It will also make you aware of the consequences and this will make you compassionate and responsible. There is the recognition that you are centred in your web and you can be no where else. Put simply this means being aware of being in the here and now. But a developed knowledge of the Web means knowing how you got where you are, where you can go from here and all the connections you have to the rest of creation at this moment.
Balance, breath, coordination, sensitivity, vulnerability and being centred in your web are the six essential qualities to cultivate through martial arts training. To find out why they matter and how we develop them through Stav training download and read my pdf report by signing up using the form in the side bar.
As soon as you sign up you will get direct access to a pdf report I have written which explores the six essential qualities you should be seeking to cultivate through Martial Arts training and practice. This will be followed up by a series of emails which look at how Stav Martial training develops these qualities. I also mail the list regularly with useful information about Stav, not every day but often several times a week.
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For more information on how to organise a course with me download my pdf of the terms and conditions.