Part of my decision to come to the
Philippines is to challenge myself and learn something new about my culture.
Aside from the usual language, food, and travels to the
province I wanted to see what I could be proud of as a Filipino. I mean,
Filipinos cannot JUST be proud of their adobo or of Pacquiao. There has to be
more, right?
My time was ticking and I did not want to
leave the Philippines without anything to show. Something I can say I did in
the Philippines that is uniquely and true to the word, FILIPINO. It was not
until July that I found something uniquely Filipino, under-represented in the
media, yet potentially powerful once you get the hang of it.
This under-represented yet powerful force
of Filipino culture is its Martial Arts. There are so many versions of Filipino
martial arts, Arnis, Eskrima, and Kali, that I have yet to explore. However, I
have dipped my toe in the pool of possibilities and I think there is no going
back for me. Last June, I hesitantly signed up for Martials Arts classes. I did
not really know what I was signing up for exactly but I figured I would give it
a try since learning martial arts has always been on my bucket list. Might as
well tick it off while I am still young, right?
So I signed up for a Filipino martial arts
called Yaw-Yan or “Sayaw ng Kamatayan” which directly translates to “Dance of
Death.” How cool right? To say I trained in the Dance of Death is pretty bad
ass.
The past 5 months of training has opened my
eyes to both the cultural and gender implications of this art.
First, let me just start you off on a bit
of background to build on. Yaw-Yan resembles Thai Boxing and Korean Taekwondo.
Yaw-Yan is considered one of the world’s latest forms of martial arts that originated
in 1972. The originator of Yawyan is Napolean A. Fernandez who was an
undefeated Filipino kick boxing champion, akin to the Pacquiao of our time,
minus the media attention and sports endorsement.
Culturally, I think I have garnered more
pride in being a Filipino within the 5 months of training than anything I have
ever experienced. During my training, I have learned that a Yaw-Yan fighter are
trained to believe they will be the smallest and weakest of the battle, which
means they go in prepared to use their fighting techniques in a way that would
use their opponent’s strength against them. In real life, Filipinos are
considered smaller in comparison to most. Most Filipinos have a height and
weight disadvantage, which means in any fight we would be perceived as the
weakest link. This particular art, however, uses practicality to an advantage.
In terms of gender, I am of course a
female. In situations where I am attacked, my opponent will most likely be
stronger and bigger than me. In the streets, my opponents will be those who
think they have a chance to harm me because I am smaller and through my gender
I am perceived as weaker. Yaw-Yan has taught me how to use my weakness to my
greatest advantage..
In the end, this unique art requires years
of training to ensure mind over body. The Yaw-Yan punching bag is massive and
thick. To move the bag, it takes my entire body to push against it. Imagine
seasoned fighters hitting and punching that bag like it was a balloon. I tried
once, to overcome the pain and kept kicking the bag repetitively 20 times with
a rest of 2 minutes in between. My shin was bruised and it felt like it was on
fire. However, when I practiced on a Western Punching Bag, one swift kick and
it flew in the air.
Yaw-Yan shows me that that the smallest guy
has a chance to conquer in the world. Figuratively speaking, I have learned to
not just be a physical fighter but a mental fighter with the mentality that I can take on the biggest and daunting
challenges and discover the
swiftest path to victory.