Eye Square Martial Arts

Cultural Preservation… with Bruises.

Tag: Martial Arts Philosophy

  • The Sword in the Soul of the Islands: Why Filipino Martial History Matters

    The Sword in the Soul of the Islands: Why Filipino Martial History Matters

    When people think about martial arts, they usually imagine kung fu masters leaping off rooftops or UFC fighters trading elbows in a cage. But tucked away in the tropical mess of jungles, islands, and traffic jams we call the Philippines is something just as badass—if not more: Arnis, Eskrima, and Kali.

    These aren’t just some old-school ways to swing a stick around. They’re survival systems. They’re family legacies. They’re the “hold my bolo and watch this” moments passed down from generation to generation. More than that, they’re cultural time capsules—full of grit, improvisation, and a deep refusal to stay conquered.

    See, looking at Philippine history through the lens of its martial arts isn’t just about techniques or training drills. It’s about how people adapted to hundreds of years of colonizers trying to kill their culture—and still found a way to hit back. Sometimes literally.

    When the Spanish said “No weapons allowed,” Filipinos said, “Cool, we’ll just dance with them instead.” When the Americans brought boxing and baseball, the old arts went underground but never disappeared. These arts lived in fiestas, in rituals, in little moments where someone would casually flip a stick around and say, “Yeah, I used to train a bit.”

    This series is going to walk through Philippine history with an eye for the fighters—tribal warriors, resistance leaders, backyard masters, and everyone in between. We’ll talk about why people fought, how they fought, and what they passed down. This isn’t just for the historians. This is for anyone who’s ever taken a shot to the knuckles during a sinawali drill and smiled through the pain.

    So if you train in Filipino martial arts—or you’re just curious where this whole stick-twirling madness came from—strap in. This is the story of the Philippines, told through its fighters. It’s a little bit blood, a little bit blade, and a whole lot of spirit.

    Let’s get started.

  • The Self-Protection Toolbox: Why Self-Defense Isn’t Just Fighting

    The Self-Protection Toolbox: Why Self-Defense Isn’t Just Fighting

    When I first started martial arts, I was a young man with borderline-high blood pressure and very little understanding of what violence actually looked like. The school I joined had a section of its curriculum labeled “Self-Defense Techniques,” and being the naïve student I was, I assumed that because I was learning martial arts, I was learning self-defense.

    Fast forward about ten years, and I came across Meditations on Violence by Rory Miller. That book hit me like a freight train. It forced me to reckon with the fact that I knew next to nothing about real self-defense—let alone the broader and more accurate concept of self-protection (a term that reaches far beyond just physical skills, and yes, self-defense is a legal term, not a tactical one).

    As I’ve explored in previous parts of this series, protecting yourself and others is about much more than knowing how to throw a punch.

    At the highest level, it begins with mindset:

    • Understanding why and where violence happens
    • Knowing what you’re willing to die for—or go to prison for

    Below that, you have conduct—how you move through the world:

    • The way you dress
    • What tools or gear you carry
    • How you carry yourself
    • Your ability to maintain awareness
    • Your willingness to enforce your boundaries

    With the right mindset and conduct, you can avoid the vast majority of violent situations. Most predators look for easy targets. If you don’t make yourself one, they’ll likely move on.

    But avoidance isn’t always possible. When conflict still arises, that’s when specific skillsets come into play:

    • Situational awareness
    • Emotional regulation (especially under stress)
    • Interpersonal skills and de-escalation tactics

    And only when all else fails do we fall back on physical force. Even then, it’s not just about “winning”—you also have to navigate the legal aftermath of a violent encounter.

    One of the cruel ironies of self-protection is this:

    The simpler the tool, the more often it’s needed.
    The more complex the skill, the less likely you’ll use it.

    It takes just a few seconds to think about how you dress and present yourself. But building the physical and emotional skills to handle a violent encounter might take years. And understanding the legal landscape? That could take a lifetime.

    This series exists to help you build a complete toolbox—mental, emotional, physical, and legal—for self-protection. Because being prepared doesn’t mean being violent.

    It means being ready.

    Want to build your own self-protection toolbox? Start with Part I: Flipping the Switch.

  • Empty Your Cup

    Empty Your Cup

    By Brandon Scriver

    “You need experience to know the right questions to ask—but the humility of a beginner to actually ask them.”
    — Eye Square Martial Arts

    Start Where You Are, Not Where You Think You Are

    I’ve been around martial arts for a while now, and I’ve realized something:
    I may not have any natural talent—but I do have one advantage.

    I can set aside what I think I know and approach training with the mindset of a beginner.

    That mindset? It’s everything.

    🍵 The Lesson of the Full Cup

    Senior Grand Master Ed Parker Sr. once shared a story:

    A potential student came to visit a master.
    As the master began to demonstrate some basic movements, the student kept interrupting:

    “Oh, you mean like this?”

    Each time, he’d perform his own version of the movement.

    Finally, the master stopped and said:

    “I’d like you to practice these two things.”

    He showed the student two deceptively simple techniques and told him to return in a couple of months.

    The student did as instructed. When he came back, the master asked him to demonstrate.

    The student replied:

    “I practiced those two movements so much… I forgot everything else I knew.”

    The master nodded.

    “Good,” he said. “Now you’re ready to begin.”

    🧠 The Beginner’s Mind

    If you’ve trained even a little while—maybe just enough to earn a green belt—you’ve probably started building a mental collection of techniques you think you understand.

    Then you visit another school.

    It’s different. The movements feel off. Maybe even wrong.
    And yet… something about it sticks.

    “You can imitate technique—but you can’t fake understanding.”

    There are always skills that transfer across styles, but martial arts isn’t just mechanics.
    It’s mindset. It’s movement with meaning.

    🔄 Try Emptying Your Cup

    Walk into a new style as if you know nothing.
    Leave your “technique backpack” at the door and just… learn.

    Ask yourself:

    • 🟢 What’s different?
    • 🟢 What feels familiar?
    • 🟢 What’s the intention behind these movements?
    • 🟢 What strategy is this art trying to express?

    There’s an odd paradox in martial arts:

    You need experience to know what matters—
    But you need the humility of a beginner to see it clearly.

    💡 Final Thought: Return to Zero

    The more you grow, the more important it is to let go.

    True mastery doesn’t mean knowing everything.
    It means returning—over and over again—to the beginning.

    Empty your cup.
    Then refill it.
    Then empty it again.

    “Cultural Preservation… with Bruises.”
    — Eye Square Martial Arts