# Making The Art Your Own



## MJS (Dec 3, 2010)

I've heard people say that Prof Presas told them to make the art their own.  What does this mean to you?  What have you done to make it 'your own?'


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## lhommedieu (Dec 4, 2010)

Aside from the way that everyone will eventually take the formal aspects of their art and polish them to the point that they become unconscious expressions of movement vs. technique, I've been concentrating on adding some weapons to the ancillary weapons set of San Miguel Eskrima.  See my post here, for example, on FMAtalk.

So, for example, I practice with a long bullwhip in addition to the traditional rope whip that San Miguel uses; in addition, I've added traditional Western recurve archery to the rifle, pistol, and shotgun set that I describe in my post, above.

I think that it makes sense to integrate Western weapons into your FMA if, by so doing, you fulfill the purpose for which training in the original weapons was prescribed.  In the case of archery, for example, the intent is the same development of mental focus and body/mind integration that many of the other weapons allow.

Best,

Steve


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## Brian R. VanCise (Dec 4, 2010)

I think Professor Presas wanted his students and fellow practitioners to explore and grow!  He was never a person who stopped learning.  No, instead he was always thinking and creating.  In the end I think he wanted all Modern Arnis practitioners to take the material and in turn fit it to themselves and improve upon it!  That way the system would grow and people who practiced it would improve, innovate and take it to a new level!


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## Dan Anderson (Dec 5, 2010)

For me, making it your own is taking the teaching of his and molding it according to your own personality.  

For example, Bram Frank is a blade man through and through.  His Modern Arnis is now expressed through CSSD/SC and Modular Blade Concepts. 

Kelly Worden is very street oriented so his Modern Arnis is expressed through NSI International.  

I am technical/principle oriented guy and Modern Arnis is expressed through MA80.  

Each group has its emphasis points but if you watched each of us move (Bram, Kelly and me) you would see that we were raised up in the 1980s.  We three have similarity of movement although we might differ widely in how we teach and what we emphasize.

A connecting thread between the three of us is that we are lifers in the martial arts.  Our arts will develop in our own likenesses, for lack of a better term.

That is making it your own.

Yours,
Dan Anderson


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## WC_lun (Dec 5, 2010)

You practice the concepts and principles of your art until you don't even have to think about them. They become second nature.  This is analogous to a muscisian learning notes, rest, key signitures, clefts, etc.  The techniques that flow out of you when under pressure is the art part and what is your own.  Similiar to when a musician starts composing. He uses the knowledge and rules of music as a base, but the composition is uniquely his own.


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## Dan Anderson (Dec 6, 2010)

WC_lun said:


> This is analogous to a musician learning notes, rest, key signatures, clefts, etc.  The techniques that flow out of you when under pressure is the art part and what is your own.  Similiar to when a musician starts composing. He uses the knowledge and rules of music as a base, but the composition is uniquely his own.



Beautiful analogy.  I'm going to steal it!  Thanks for the description!

Yours,
Dan Anderson


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## Dan Anderson (Dec 6, 2010)

MJS said:


> What have you done to make it 'your own?'



Hoo boy!  Not a short answer to that one.  I suppose most important are delineating the physics and principles that underlie the art itself.  As I mentioned in an earlier post I am technical/principle based.  Much of what Prof. Presas could do could not be duplicated by his teaching method, however, since he had two arms and two legs like the rest of us, it could be done.  The trick was understanding how.  Delineating that is one of the ways I have made it my own.

Another way is my method of utilizing structure, alignment, structure in transition, and alignment in transition to optimize what I and my students do in FMA as well.

Very short answers buit they'll suffice for now.

Yours,
Dan Anderson


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## Mark Lynn (May 12, 2011)

Dan Anderson said:


> Hoo boy!  Not a short answer to that one.  I suppose most important are delineating the physics and principles that underlie the art itself.  As I mentioned in an earlier post I am technical/principle based.  *Much of what Prof. Presas could do could not be duplicated by his teaching method, however, since he had two arms and two legs like the rest of us, it could be done.  The trick was understanding how.  Delineating that is one of the ways I have made it my own.*
> 
> Another way is my method of utilizing structure, alignment, structure in transition, and alignment in transition to optimize what I and my students do in FMA as well.
> 
> ...



Dan

Well put.  I too believe that much of what the Professor taught couldn't be duplicated by his teaching method because the teaching method was seminar based.  In a seminar you got say 6 months worth of material all crammed into a 3-4 day event.  Out of that GM Remy was very much into demo mode and while you could see a lot of information presented, taking it back and teaching it to students was/is very difficult.  Especially trying to teach the way it was presented.

For me, while I took pages and pages of notes of techniques and the progressions or order, or even the drills that the techniques were presented in.   A teacher really needs the principles, the concepts and strategies, in order to make things work and to really understand the techniques so that they can pass them onto their students.

Personally I am thankful for your written material and your DVD's, I consult them often in preparation for my arnis classes.


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## Mark Lynn (Jul 18, 2011)

For those who were at the Modern Arnis Family Reunion Camp (I believe) got to see how different instructors made the Professors art their own.  All of the instructors had their own twist to the material.

Dan Anderson taught a class on disarming, for the #2 disarm (using the alive hand) to wrap the stick hand and strip it he had his version, Dieter then got up during his session and explain how they do it in the DAV, which was similar and yet different.  Both versions were widely different than I had been taught at the previous camps with Remy, both men had their reasons for how they did it. 

GM Rick Manglinon demonstrated his version of a dealing with the possibility of a 2nd strike in the Kombatan 24 count combative drill series, since I had never seen that material before I asked him about it and if he came up with it and he told me he did.

Chuck Gauss's version of the 2 vs. 1 stick material was similar to Jeff D's material (on his, Jeff's, DVD) but it was much more combative in nature and in practice.  Frankly to me it was much better as well.

GM Pallen (who's is one of Remy's early lakans), demonstrated his method and his cushioning block was very similar but in explanation and application different from the other supported blocking methods shown.

It really became apparent when they did Round Robin teaching session of favorite technique/defense against a high forehand attack with all of the instructors having 5 minutes to demonstrate and have us work on the technique.

These are just a few examples of how these instructors took his art and his teachings and made it their own.

I know the question included what have I done to make it "my own" and I'll get to that later.


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## Rich Parsons (Sep 3, 2011)

I have a student who has trained in one art or another since the mid 60's. He started in Judo and then went to Karate (full contact) and added in Muay Thai as well during that period. 

I worked with him, and told him you move like this for this technique in your other arts. Now do that move. Ok, now modify it like this ... ,. 

This allowed him to take the decdes of training he had and try to build on it and not start all over. 

After a few years of training, he comes to me and says, "This guy at worked tried to poke me with ..., and I just passed it without thinking, it as just there. "

This was is first step to making it his own. It became part of how he moved naturally and also was added into his other base arts. 


Now that being said, Modern Arnis is my base art. I started there. I branched out to train in Balintawak because I had a GM in my backyard and it was an opportunity I took. I started with a clean slate with him and started with striking and body mechanic and all the basics. A lot of people get frustrated and want to mvoe forward faster and others want to just skip this part. It took them longer if at all to get it. They had different approaches and teaching styles. 

I know my Modern Arnis is mine. When I would and still work with others of different arts I can easily say that is like this and execute their move. This has surprised some and even forced them to ask how long have I trained in their art. I would reply you just should this on that guy, so I watched and then I tried it on this guy based upon my knowledge of my art and this technique. I usually get one fo the followng responses: 
1) But that is standing up this is on the ground how do you translate that? 
2) This is so different how do you see any simularities? I mean that was applied on the right hand and this is on his left ankle.

I answer both usually with, if you understand the attributes of the weapon or the technique you can translate it to other weapons or areas of the body. 

GM Remy A Presas wanted us to have fun. To enjoy the training and also to use it. So play with it, test it and make it your own. So if you only wanted the dance portion of the art then make that your own as well, if you wanted something else than make that your own, or make certain techniques your own. Me I enjoy teaching and want too, so I made that my own, and making sure I understood the techniques and could see them for more than just techniques. 

 On a side note, this got me in trouble with some of the Balintawak students I worked out with. They would say I was not shown this by Manong Ted. Now a couple of times it was because they had not been shown, but most of the time I had taken a concept, principal and technique and applied somewhere else. Manong Ted would just mile and laugh and say, ok Rich show me. I would and he would say yes you did the right thing there. At a point in your training it is not about can reproduce what is on your testing requirements but can you do it and truly understand it. 

Thanks


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## medic (Sep 4, 2011)

Very well written Rich. This should apply to any art you undertake because I will not move like you or the guy standing next to me, therefore I must make it "my own" to work for me. 

Keep the thoughts coming, lets me know I am on the right track.

Shaun


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