Basic human stuff. Organic protection.
If only I'd taken up the staff earlier. But then, embracing sticks at this time sponsors a certain eclectic approach to what to do with them.
And there's a lot to that.
I now have a few staffs to choose from, which I think is the best way to go. When one stick ends, another can begin. You just have to wave them about differently as to martial tradition -- and less so as to length.
For my purposes the weaponry toolbox contains:
- a Bo staff aka Silambam stick which is just over my height
- the Jo staff -- as tall as my armpit
- the Ecrima or Kali stick. The shortest of the lot at around 60 cm.
In stick preferences go there can be a bit of overlap in martial styles. With the shortest style stick, there can be weighted end tweaks as with the Sail Éille (anglicised as shillelagh) or with the Zulu isikhwili.
Ironically all most of these sticks have a twirling tradition -- except maybe the Jo staff. You can spin the Jo but it isn't a major feature of the training. Kali sticks are spun but not the weighted variations. No doubt because the centre of gravity is not in the middle of the stick.
In some styles spinning is an essential component and therein lies a problem for me.
I can spin a stick but not very well. I suspect that given the age of my wrists and fingers, my nimble dexterity is going to be limited in regard to pivoting stick ends 380 degrees through space over and over again very fast.
I'll keep practising, but I've learnt that if I seek to proceed further with stick fighting -- learning to spin as a prerequisite is sure to stall my progress.
Indeed, it has.
That sure sabotages my Silambam ambitions! No wonder Tamil kids take up training when young.
My fingers and wrists no longer hurt like they did at the beginning. I don't mind often dropping the stick -- as you'd expect while learning -- but I know a limited range of motion when I see or feel it.
If I can loosen up my joints that would be great. That would be physical therapy for me.
But, let's say, it would be a big mistake on my part to be dependent on that prospect.
AFTERWARD:
It's raining relentlessly here.
Not as heavy as predicted, but if the offshore weather crosses the coast the precipitation will intensify.
Easter, right?
Of course.
Glad I'm not holidaying or camping...or playing parent for that matter.
Always keen to invent my time, with not enough space to swing my martial arts sticks inside and with so much rain outside, I took myself to the local park today and did my working out under cover of a shelter there.
It was like 'Rashômon' without the drama...or the rapine.
But the setup was just like that -- except it was my stick and I who had alone time.
Context isn't everything but under a tin roof, in a park, with the rain coming down as it did (and still does) it was a fab experience.
I find that if I put AfroBeat into my ears --what with the weather, the location and the exertion -- I'm having a Zen moment or two.
A convergence of so many good things.
