MoxieLifestyle

After traveling for a bit, one thing stuck out in my mind, I have no way to defend myself. This thought never actually occurred to me until I read the memoir, “Honeymoon With My Brother” and the author mentioned learning martial arts before he went to some dangerous country whose name escapes me.

I took Tae Kown Do as a kid but aside from a couple of scuffles I have never really had a need to be able to protect myself.

I realized how useful and almost essential it is to be able to protect yourself, especially in the sketchy parts of towns you can’t always avoid as you travel.

When I went out to find the best fighting style to try and learn, it kind of just found me. I was watching Batman Begins and go to thinking, “Man I wonder what kind of martial arts that is?” I looked it up and was surprised at what I found.

It was a new martial arts system called the Keysi Fighting Method. Keysi means “from the heart”. Keysi was first developed over 20 years by two men who studied all the different forms of martial arts and put it all together. Where most martial arts are thousands of years and pretty much set in stone, Keysi is very new and is still evolving.

One characteristic of something that is the best in it’s field is that it tends to be very practical. In the case of Keysi they actually train in nightclubs. They’ll smoke up a room and its all about using whats available, grabbing that ashtray and smacking somebody with it, or having a fight with someone you’re sitting next too. It’s all about emotional response and being mentally aware of your environment, mentally aware of how people behave and respond to actions and reactions.

Compared to most other martial arts, Keysi fighting is very close quarters. Christian Bale, star of Batman Begins describes the fighting style as so, “The hits are direct to vital parts of the body. There are literally moves where you tear someone’s cheek away from their face, or rip their nose off – every part of you becomes a weapon.” Sounds awesome to me.

Unfortunately, there are no training centers in my area that teach Keysi. However, they have an at home study program that you can purchase off their site. I’ve only been doing it for a week or so but I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Learn more about Keysi at…
Wikipedia
The Official KFM Website

Filed under: Travel Tips on July 13th, 2008