Kali Day to Day
Kali Martial Arts begins with the stick but, it does not end there. Over the past 25 years, Kali has found ways to seep into all the other aspects of my life. Kali puts a demand on life and living life with quality.
I’ve been a martial arts practitioner all my life beginning at the young age of six. I’ve participated in Taekwondo, Silat, Jeet Kune Do, Boxing, and various styles of Filipino Martial Arts. However, it is Kali where I found my so-called, “Martial Arts Home.”
I absolutely fell in love with the weapons training. Weapons just bring a whole different kind of diversity to the challenge of martial arts. Of course, I’ve always enjoyed the empty hand skills of Kali also, especially once I made the connection between the empty hand movements and the weapons. Kali just touches on martial topics that other martial arts just didn’t or they would barely brush upon but never go into depth such as multiple opponents and the different variants that could take place in real-world altercations. I found that Kali just makes you think completely different from other martial arts.
Where does this difference in thinking come from? It’s the weapons! Even though we’ve developed safe training methods over the years the idea of weapons brings a different level of consequence to training and the idea of martial. In empty hands martial arts, you can get hit, maybe even a number of times but, with a bolo, sword, or spear you cannot. It’s not like the movies where the actor gets a little cut. A strike with a bolo instantly incapacitates. It doesn’t just hurt things. It removes things.
This idea makes one very conscious of choices to consequences. The speed of Kali training teaches the student to see and choose quickly and accurately. Over the years at Kali Center, we’ve adjusted our training to be proactive and to accept responsibility for our choices in tactics within the flow (sparring.) This shift in mindset is where Kali begins to first affect the day-to-day.
Each day is an accumulation of choices on consequences. What and how we do things today will affect us tomorrow. You must be able to see the flow of things. To see how one choice leads to another. This is similar to the Butterfly Effect. If I don’t practice my Kali today then I cannot bring my best to my training partners tomorrow.
Kali teaches us to see pathways, the options, then to make a decision and to act. The more one spends in training the faster and more precise this process becomes. Though the physical speed of Kali is very fast, it also teaches you to slow down even amongst the speed. When things in life become out of balance or chaotic, Kali gives you the skill to keep in control of your body and thoughts. Even amongst the stress of chaos the Kali practitioner can stay calm and collected to think and see their navigation through the tough terrain.
Kali brings a heightened awareness of one’s body, mind, and emotions. It brings an elevated practice of focus, effort, and persistence. It instills RESOLVE into one’s spirit. There is no more room to complain about problems. Only the strength and courage to solve them.
Kali navigates one to the acceptance of responsibility for one’s life and quality of living life. Once you see the skill elevated within the flow in training you cannot unsee how Kali has elevated you in your day-to-day.