CREATIVE ART Of Self — DEFENCE
Combining Yoga, Martial Arts & Theatre
A program offered by Katha Arts LLP
Self-defence is all about doing the right action at the right time during crisis. But is it as easy as it sounds? No. Not at all. Why? Because when panic strikes one forgets to breathe. Our muscles need oxygen to function properly. Tense muscles require even more oxygen, because tension is a muscular action. If you are not inhaling, you are not providing a steady supply of oxygen to your muscles or to your vital organs that require it — like your brain and eyes. This produces a higher oxygen cost and ultimately causes your mind and body not to perform as well as they should. These changes will mostly make us get stuck without doing anything or surrender to the threat or causes fatigue. And it all happens in a fraction of a second which will cost the lives of ours and our dear ones. So what should be done in order to do the right action at the right time? This is where we bring in this combination. Combining Yoga, Martial Arts and Theatre will provide enough resources for the individual to tackle the problem.
Objectives
Enabling the participants to gain self-confidence and acquire skills and competencies to face any adverse situation where their physical safety is threatened.
The workshop aims to increase the self-awareness during crisis situations, use breathing techniques to centre one-self, critically evaluate the situation, identify opportunities in the context, and act quickly with focus and determination. The real life simulations based on theatre creates a learning experience which then becomes easier to replicate in real life. Martial art techniques provide the tools for action, yoga for emotional stability under duress, and theatre integrates these into skills that are applicable whenever safety is threatened.
Contents
- Physical flexibility through simple stretching exercises based on Yoga
- Emotional stability and control through breathing techniques
- Basic blocking and attacking techniques
- Self-defence techniques
- Managing threats in public places
- Managing intruders
- Challenges in facing many opponents alone
Methodology
Martial arts — not all movements in martial arts are complicated moves. Many of the powerful techniques are the basic and simple ones. For example, just practicing how to take the warrior stance will give enough momentum to go forward and enough strength to resist any force. This warrior stance coupled with some basic arm movements like grabbing, slapping or scratching along with twists and turns can be deadly. But just learning it as a tool won’t be sufficient.
Yoga — asana & pranayama — Asana and pranayama emphasises on conscious breathing and conscious movement, there are high chances that an individual can bring back his/her focus and concentration. And this is the only solution for all the above mentioned problems on muscular tension.
Simulation through theatre exercise — Theatre exercises like role play helps us to build a model of the real time problem. By making the individuals enacting the problem will help them identify the intensity and it will eventually get stored in their physical and emotional memory. And this will be highly helpful to apply the techniques without any struggle during real life scenario.