So day 2 in UK. My Brother Simon takes me to their training hall, a freezing cold Boxing Gym in a community center. A Very cool place with good vibes. I met most of Pak Muhammad's students. Extremely warm and nice people with a lot of humility and good energy. In my brain I am thinking of the million questions I want to ask Pak Muhammad. But instead I let me heart ask and do the talking. I felt like I had met him before in a distant past. He is small in height. The 1st impression that came to mind is he is a "Yoda" like person. He had an energy about him that makes you immediately want to smile and just be at peace.....(A sign of a real Silat Master). So we begin our training we do the 1st 10 CIMANDE JURUS JURUS...OUCH. We had to stand on our toes in a low squat with heels touching and spines straight as we performed the Jurus. This is by no means an easy task. I was falling over or cheating by changing my feet position. It brought me back to my days of doing a lot of HATHA YOGA. I was impressed by the fact that Pak Muhammad just stays in the posture and does his jurus like nothing. Also what is impressive is that the breath is held through out the jurus training as if one was under water and swimming a long distance. It is clear that the Tenaga Dalam & Batin is trained as one is also very much integrated into training their Silat/Self Defense. This to me was very nice to see. So we did many reps of the Jurus. And then Pak Muhammad went through each one with me to show me a basic look at their Buah and understanding. As all good silat masters have told me before he said you have to interpret them and let them sink in and digest so I can allow them (Jurus) to show me how to use them better. Immediately I saw very similar applications to the motions I learned in Serak from Guru Cliff Stewart. So I found a way to start asking questions. I would show Pak Muhammad a root motion and then he would show me exactly where it is in the Cimande. I felt like a kid getting confirmation that Santa Claus exists! Many Claim SERAK is not or does not Contain CIMANDE. I beg to differ at this point in my research. So I decided to go further with Pak Muhammad to see how much he knows. I began to show Langkahs and Buah and he had an explanation for everything I showed and again where it is seen in the Cimande. He then had one of his students that was just in Banten demonstrate more combative jurus from a much longer CImande form. I was again in awe. On one hand happy that in the USA I learned a great art but on the other hand I was realizing there is still much to learn and that to understand what I already have I had to really see its roots. And Cimande was indeed the place to start for me.
So it was back to doing Jurus Jurus in a low stance on toes and with deep Breathing. Everything is done in proper posture & Breath & attitude. Tenaga Dalam is trained as you are also training your Silat. The Jurus are simple yet direct and also have like Serak MANY MANY MANY applications. There is a lot of Smash & Break, Break & Smash. There is a lot of elbow work, knife defense and also the common thread is "break" what ever is coming near you do not waste time, nor energy nor actually fight but KEEP THE PEACE. After what I felt from Pak's Iron arms & Fists I would hate to be hit by a real Cimande Exponent.
After Pak went through Buah we trained jurus and talked some more. Pak had his student Jose demonstrate Cimande jurus. Jose just got back from being in JAVA in the Cimande Village with Pak. He also trained there with a guru named Guru Mang Didi. So Pak had him demonstrate various cimande Dances, Jurus, and Langkahs. It was very nice for me to witness cause it answered many questions for me as to where things come from inside of the Silat I already studied. After he began my initiation process in to Cimande. He said " I will do you arms now & then before you leave I will do Legs & then Arms again". I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but i went with the flow.
Pak began his breathing and then started to hit my arms (the bones, Muscles, Tendons) while chanting mystical sacred names. The hitting felt like a penetrating blow capable of breaking the arm and at the same time causing a burn sensation. There was not a single area in my arms that did not get hit or "Blessed"! I wanted to scream but i just smiled and took it. There was something with in that process that made me feel as if part of a much older tradition. After I thought I could take no more Pak says "ok now the healing". He began to massage my arms and hands and fingers. As he was doing so again he was chanting mystical names. All the pain in my arms was completely gone. My arms felt brand new and actually better than before the beating! Pak then began to actually open channels in my hands & toes using his energy and touch. Its hard to describe and definitely something I think people should experience in person but he actually electrocutes you with his touch. I felt that there was more to learn from Pencak Silat than just parry punch sapu biset. After my 1st Cimande Session it was time to go to Jose's place. To be continued.....
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