Inspiration from animals

[Carol]

When I was first exposed to Silat, I learned how some of the styles were said to have been inspired by the way animals fight. This made me wonder about finding influences in the animals we're around every day.

Having recently adopted a 2 year old cat, I'm discovering that having the little guy around the house is extra practice for my awareness and my agility. The little guy is notoriously good at getting underfoot...I swear, sometimes he's a cat and sometimes he's this orange-and-white blur. As such, I've been paying more attention to my flexibility and balance.

Have any of you found that the animals around you have affected either your training or your training mindset?

 

[still learning]

Hello, I shared this before.... For our students we tell them about fighting back....when facing a bigger or more attackers......

LEARN TO BECOME THE "CAT"! ...we give them examples of how a dog or dogs would cornor a "cat"...and watch them fight back...many times chasing the dogs aways and escaping...(8 lives left).

Even people have a hard time catching or cornoring a cat...watch how they fight back....with everthing they got....

Bite, scratch, claw, jump, trying to always escape and run...and so on..

Aloha ( type of cat does not matter) .... only color does....what out for the BLACK CAT! ....can be bad luck too?

 

[grydth]

Watch the jumping spider in action.

 

[KempoGuy06]

bears sleep six months out of the year. Im try to BE the bear!!!

LOL...seriously thought thats good idea. In kempo we are taught the ways the animals are IN kempo but acutally seeing how they naturally move is different. I will look into this

B

 

[Drac]

There use to be this Kung-Fu Sifu that came to one of my nightclubs..He use to tell me that he talks to his cats..He'd say that he would aske them to teach him how they managed to jump 5 times their height from a dead stop..He promised them FRESH fish for the rest of their lives..I wonder if they ever told him...LOL

 

[Cirdan]

Cats and spiders are excellent examples of creatures with good rooting. My instructor keeps reminding us of this.

 

[kidswarrior]

Sometimes after work I'll play tug-a-war with our poodle-terrier mix. You'd think this would be the wimpy little animal she appears, right? Well, suffice it to say if she didn't let me catch the toy once in awhile, I'd never be able to touch it. Oh, to have those reflexes.


Other times, I'll walk her just so we both get some air. Again, this is one wimpy/fuzzy-looking mutt. Yet it never fails on one of these jaunts that just seeing her brings some total stranger to smile or laugh. Sometimes I'll just hear the laugh and have no clue who or where the observer is. She just seems to bring joy to people. It's a good reminder that I could do a little more joy-spreading myself. Maybe if I could get my hair to do what hers does?...

 

[tellner]

Martial inspirations from animals....

As some of you know I'm actually a large amphibian Here are some important lessons from The Way of the Toad

• Kill and eat anyone smaller than you
• Run away or hide from anyone larger
• If you get into a fight with someone larger, poison them
• Praying Mantis is over-rated
• White Crane is terrifying

From my cats

• You'll never stay in fighting shape if you don't get your 16 hours of sleep a day
• Kill from ambush
• Killing goes better with torture
• Eat what you kill but leave the not-so-tasty bits all over the house
• Learn knife fighting first
• If you're not afraid of a German Shepherd you must be as big as a German Shepherd. If you know it, so will everyone else

From sloths

• The best defense is being so still and covered with moss that nobody sees you
• Haste makes waste
• The most vulnerable time of day is when you climb out of bed to defecate.

From bonobos

• Make love, not war
• Make more love, not war
• Make really inventive love with your friends and neighbors, not war
• Make love swinging from trees, in large groups and with everyone except your mother, not war

From bees

• Only the Queen uses her sex organs for sex
• The rest of us fight with them
• And then we die (bee stings are modified ovipositors)

From elephants

• Size is everything

From amoebae

• Pound for pound, the amoeba is the most vicious creature on the planet
• Eat your enemies

From plants

• Plants give amoebae a run for their money
• If you're not using it to eat, build, or have sex use it to kill something
• Strangle your enemies
• Starve your enemies
• Poison the ground that they live on
• Once you kill them, eat them

From skunks

• If you have chemical weapons you don't need to be smart, strong or tough

From ants

• Mindless ferocity and large numbers beat everything

 

[thardey]

From my dogs -

NEVER stand with your legs locked!

From my cats -

Always have an escape route planned. (From the dogs.)

From my horses -

-The more you try to prove that you're cool, the more annoying you will be.
-Leadership has nothing to do with intelligence.
-Most people are herd animals.


When I am training, I try to envision a Tiger:

-Even though they are very large, they move like they are much smaller.
-Whenever possible, circle to attack from behind.
-Old Chinese proverb: "When two Tigers fight, one is dead, the other is wounded." -- If I get into a fight with another tiger, I will be one of the above. Make sure I'm only the wounded one.
-Relax and save energy as much as possible.