Wee Claire here from BBC The Social! Now, have you ever wondered what it's like
to be a Jedi master? Well today I'm here at Silver Sabres to learn just that. Do or do
not, there is no try.
I'm here with Fas, director and instructor at Silver Sabres, he's here to talk to me
a little bit more about the process and what we'll be doing today. How did you get into all of this?
How can you not get into all of this? I mean you know you get to play with sabres, it's
a no brainer really. Right I have...
Ok, yeah, show me what you've got. Oh, I've got loads of sabres here, I have
those for the... The bad guys...
The vicious intention. I have cross guard sabres, I have double-ended sabres...
And you've got all sorts of colours? I do, I've got some with sound.
Oh my God. They make it really difficult to teach because
they're too noisy. Do people usually go for the ones with sound though?
People that need them to show off when people
come to visit their homes need sound. Obviously everybody sees the films, and they're
like 'oh my God, I want to be a Jedi too', but tell me about the mindfulness aspect.
Well, I mean, the first thing that people have to deal with when they start to engage
in the process really is the fact that we see a lot of people who come from, you know,
they're very passionate about their, about fantasy, about science fiction, and they may
have considerable experience playing computer games where progress is, is like that, but
in reality, in real life, when you're learning a complex, sophisticated art progress plateaus
for long times and what you'll see is quite often we notice that people don't have the
stamina on a spiritual level to kind of endure the bleak desert of progress and getting to
a point where they just settle into a rhythm with a pattern of training
day in day out, day in day out, and then you turn around 6 months, a year later, two years
later, and all of a sudden you can do the things that were impossible.
I love that. Oh nice, is that what you're using today?
I think I might use something similar. So do you have a green one? As you can see
I'm fond the colour green. I am, might be able to accommodate you.
Yes! So, if you're teaching me today and I'm getting
frustrated, you will try and put me into that meditative state or more of a kind of awareness
to just be calm and... No, I'll just hit you.
That also works! If you get frustrated, you get whacked, alright?
So you have to not get frustrated, ok? Simple!
Yeah, ta da!
I'm going to introduce you to a friend of mine called The Twin Suns.
Oh, uh oh, oh yes! Oh this looks familiar. This is a very special piece of kit and you
can see I've just been hammering my students this week.
How long do they last for? Oh these will keep going for, for years.
I like that, yellow and green, look at that, that's a good combo. Let's do that, ok.
Come on. Let's go, let's go, I'm ready!
If I want to be a Jedi, I need to make sure
I start with the basics, and Fas takes me through the five conditions; it's all about breathing,
getting my stance right and most importantly relaxing.
Relax. Stay relaxed. Ok.
The sword is an extension of your mind and if you become tense, you can't communicate
with it anymore. It becomes an alien in your hands; to connect to it you have to relax.
You feel your shoulders complaining... Stance set, mindfulness button activated,
we get straight into wielding, but even this is a lot harder than what I first thought.
I'm thinking about all the movements but I just can't relax my brain.
The first lesson, the first exercise is the art of wielding and to wield a weapon is to
move it from one place to the other without any particular intention, so I just let you
drop that down towards the floor, it exists in the centre line and you're going to first
of all realise that wielding is frequently just a rotation of the forearm thus but because
you've got two hands on the weapon, your left hand is going to push past and stretch the
weapon out one side and another. You're going to keep the point of the sword in the centre
and whilst your eyes are looking straight ahead at the target, you're going to rotate
the waist just a little bit to allow yourself... The whole thing feels really unnatural so
far, especially trying to keep my body in the right stance whilst wielding the weapon
in the right way. And Rey makes it looks so easy as well.
One and two, one and two. This is wielding! The art of moving the sword from one side
to the other. Now you're going to raise the point up to throat height and again rotate,
one side to the other, one side to the other. You're going to keep the point of the weapon
absolutely still in the middle, there you are.
I haven't been wielding the weapon for long but I'm already starting to build up a sweat.
The relaxing is so difficult. It's almost like you're a modern citizen of
the planet. Yes!
Yeah. Living through what they call the information age.
Fas takes me through the training like a secret Jedi in waiting who's been living on Earth,
waiting to learn the language of the sabre. We've done the low guard now we're about to
get into the high guard. Although it looks cool on screen just holding the weapon and
keeping the stance is really beginning to hurt and I need to remember that mistakes
means bruises. Ow
Oh yeah ok. There it is, ok? Remember, make a mistake
and it hurts. Ok, yeah.
Ok, you can't blag it. No, no.
Fas is putting together the moves for me and I think that I look a little bit more Jedi
but switching off is a problem. This is wielding from one high guard to the
other high guard and this is the beginning of the art of the sabre. Where is the challenge
right now? What part of yourself is being challenged to get this correct? Are you too
weak to hold the sabre? No, my brain's being challenged.
Your brain is being challenged! Sabre wielded! But a good Jedi also knows
how to block. But before I get on with blocking I need to remember that stance. It looks cool
though right? Keep you safe in the event that some cad attacks
you. Up, down and up, that's it! Down and up, down and up and up and up, and up, down,
up, down, up, that's it. I'm going to get that skull and split it in half if you don't
lift it high enough, that's better! There you go. Breathe, through the nose into the
belly. Relax your bum, relax your heart. There you go! You see how I'm bringing your mind
up to the point of contact? But you must not allow the mind to evacuate the rest of the
body. So what we discover, is that the mind quite often for people who are academically
inclined, operates as a point. That you move around the universe to study things with.
But a good sword fighter uses the mind as a field, as a net that is cast not only across
the environment, the entire environment of your body, but has to also incorporate the
terrain, your opponent, the history and the objective.
Ok. You can't do that unless you have a capacity
to govern the processes of your own thoughts, we call this... Jedi stuff.
Ok, I need to learn the Jedi stuff! So, I think I've got the basics down, but
what if I get into a dangerous situation? Ah right. So here it comes, ready?
Ok, so... You need to protect your sides don't you?
I have to do that. Yeah you do. Ready, ready from here? We're
going to now learn what we call Hanging Parries. Let's get that stance right first. It may
not look like much but it's a lot for a wee Jedi brain to think about.
Now, breathe to the belly, balanced in your feet and...
Relax. That's it, from here. Just gently rotate...
We're starting to build the movement up now and I'm definitely beginning to feel the force,
I've got a new found respect for Jedi’s as well.
And back this side, and back this side, and
back. One, two, oh! Oh no, I did kill you but still...
Again! I'm all up for mindfulness and inner peace
and all that. But what I really want to do is take a slice with the sabre. We start with
the five foundations, like always, and then we put some of what we already learned together
and it feels pretty good. I'm starting to feel like an actual Jedi.
That's it, keep it light. That's the anger coming out. I've got to not
feel the anger... I can get you a red blade yeah.
No, I want to stay green, I want to stay green. Extend and cut. Wield and parry. Right, argh!
I've completed the beginner's course on how to be a Jedi and Fas tells me about what would
come next if I were to continue with my training, like walking, because Jedi’s don't just
stand still. Because if you don't know how to walk yet,
I must ask you what have you been doing on this planet.
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what I've been doing. Eating biscuits and watching TV
maybe. The TV's very good on this planet. Do you know what, actually yeah, their biscuits
are quite good on this planet too. Yeah I really do like their biscuits.
So, I've learned how to become a Jedi master. The cycle is complete!
Ok maybe not quite yet but, I thought I looked pretty cool for at least 30 seconds.
I'm Wee Claire from BBC The Social, thank to Fas and thank you for this great day of training.
I'm not quite there yet but cheers. First aid kit?
First aid kit and maybe a cup of tea and a biscuit.