The Deadly Shopping Bag

 

(thank you for the inspiration Guro Maul)

In our martial arts journey, there are sometimes "a-ha moments" - where a new insight is suddenly uncovered or an enlightenment reached. These are the best times and, hopefully, we never reach a level where this no longer happens. I've been in the martial arts for nearly 44 years, and this still happens for me regularly. I'm grateful.

Some weeks ago I was lucky to attend a weekend seminar by Cikgu Maul Mornie, one of the most famous proponents of Bruneian Silat, Silat Suffian Bella Diri (SSBD), during his visit to Tokyo. It was perhaps the 4th or 5th time I have been fortunate enough to train with him, and I learn so much in every seminar. Not only is he a world-class martial artist, he exemplifies what it means to be an authentic and genuine teacher, always open and willing to share his knowledge and answer questions. I consider him a great example of the caliber of person high-quality martial arts training is supposed to produce.

In addition to working on the basic movements of SSBD including footwork and blocks/strikes, on day 2 we spent time training flexible weapons (scarf). In Kali Majapahit we also train flexible weapons as part of our Silat subsystem, however I can safely say I am not a master of them yet. Guro Maul's method of teaching helped me tremendously. Thanks to him not only did I get a great chance to practice the techniques themselves, but I also was able to reorganize how I remember and present the techniques when I myself teach them. It made not only my skill, but my instruction much, much better.

However, one of the highlights of the weekend for me was when Guro Maul began demonstrating the scarf techniques with --- yes, you guessed it --- a plastic shopping bag! My jaw dropped. I did not expect that at all. It was fantastic.

In Kali, we consider our environment constantly in the context of improvised weapons or weapons of opportunity. In fact, it is a trademark of the Filipino Martial Arts (Bourne movies, anyone?). Back in 1986 or so, I had already had the opportunity to train with Kosho-Ryu Hanshi Bruce Juchnik in Westmont, IL for a seminar where he had us doing martial arts techniques with items from a standard Sears Craftsman household toolbox such as hammers, screwdrivers, saws and wrenches. This was a complete eye-opener and I have never forgotten the experience. It showed me that almost anything in our environment can be used as a self defense tool.

Within the category of flexible weapons, we often include items like belts, cords, cables, ropes, lengths of chain/bicycle locks or sports towels. However, using a plastic shopping bag simply had not occurred to me. I realized I need to recalibrate my awareness.

The plastic shopping bag is cheap, readily available, and extremely effective both for disarms and chokes/strangles. Genius! Now I always keep one of these in my pocket when I go out, knowing it may one day save my life or the life of someone else.