The 12 Principles of Presas Arnis - It Is All The Same

There’s a saying that the founder of Modern Arnis, Remy Presas, was fond of repeating.

“It is all the same”.

The truth of this is found all throughout our training at Kindred Protective Arts.

That’s why it’s the 6th of our 12 Principles of Presas Arnis: IT IS ALL THE SAME.

So why is this concept so fundamental to our training?

One reason is that the idea of "it's all the same" is related to another concept that is found within the Modern Arnis community: “the art within your art”.

Plenty of folks who train with us have backgrounds in other martial arts. At KPA, we have students who’ve studied various forms of taekwondo, various lineages of karate, kobudo, kempo, tang soo do, wing chun, brazilian jiu jitsu, boxing, wrestling, taichi, and krav maga in our student base.

We don’t ask our experienced students to forget what they already know. Instead, we try to connect what we do and teach to their past experience. In this way, we can accelerate learning but also, we reinforce the understanding that there’s only so many ways human beings can move, and what we’re showing isn’t that different.

A great example of this principle is found in one of the first drills we teach, a drill called single sinawali. Here’s what that looks like, as presented by the DAV's Datu Dieter Knüttel.

The first move in this drill is very similar to a move found in karate called “Soto uke’, outside block. Here's an example of that:

The second move in single sinawali is just like what a lot of martial arts call a “down block” or “down strike”. Like this, from taekwondo:

So, to a karate or taekwondo person, our single sinawali drill is basically just an “outside block, down block” combination with a stick in their hand.

See? It’s all the same. We run across this commonality between arts all the time in training.

Another way “It is all the same” is found within Arnis techniques and drills.

If you can do a technique with a stick, can you do it with a knife? Can you do it empty-handed? 

If you can do a technique with the dominant hand, can you do it with your non-dominant hand?

If you can do it high, can you do it low?

Often, the answer to these questions is  “yes” because… it’s all the same.

Here's Grandmaster Brian Zawilinski demonstrating this principle:

Whether you’ve got years of experience in the martial arts, or brand new to it, you’ll quickly discover the truth of the 6th principle of Presas Arnis: IT IS ALL THE SAME.

Come discover how it’s all the same at Kindred Protective Arts. Come join us for a free trial lesson (click HERE) - and learn how!