Class/Workshop
Description
Silambam is a South Indian martial art focussing on the use of one of the oldest and most basic weapons, the stick or staff. This style is believed to originate in the Kurinji Hills of what is today Kerala. This art form is one of the oldest known, some claiming around 5 millennia in age and many believe it to be the first martial art form of Asia. In its original form Silambam provided a practical means of fighting off wild animals. It has since evolved into a martial art employing very sophisticated patterns of hand and footwork.
The training begins with a focus on the hand and footwork without the Silambam or bamboo staff. The practice powerfully establishes the legs as a medium of ground for holding and channelling the power of the earth. The spine becomes a vessel for the rarification of this energy as it moves towards execution through the shoulders, arms, and hands. The transition between the thoracic spine and the shoulder blades and arms is a common physiological storehouse for stress and trauma. Silambam works to free up the natural range of movement in the thoracic spine and shoulder girdle, thereby enabling the heart to be more open while allowing a sense of fierceness and presence to arise through the extensions and patterns of the upper extremities. Throughout the practice the breath functions to amplify both awareness and presence in the body while being connected to the ground and the particular form that one is practicing. |
