Silat – Stealing the Energy

In Clear’s Silat Stealing the Energy refers to a specific kind of open hand strike designed to immediately stop an attacker. Performed correctly this strike is so stunningly forceful and powerful that once contact is made with an incoming punch the impact instantly and completely interrupts the attacker’s ability to continue the strike due to the overwhelming pain.

This is not some kind of metaphysical strike whereby you now have taken the other person’s power for your own.

Stealing the energy is a strike that literally works because the would be attacker has been hit with so much force that for a brief moment they simply cannot continue their hit or do much of anything else due to the amount of trauma that has been imparted.

Performed correctly a stealing the energy hit is powerful enough that for a moment the recipient can not think about anything else other than the pain and trauma they just received. Part of the reason the strike works is due to the mental interruption the strike causes to the recipient. I often tell students to think of the person who is attacking as bringing the thunder. In slang terms this strike “steals their thunder”. This is the first type of heavy hand and mind stopping hit taught in our program.

Intermediate students can use a stealing the energy strike to literally break an attackers arm on the first contact. It is possible for a large and physically gifted beginning student to cause an arm break as a result of very properly performing the stealing the energy strike. Advanced students can hit an attackers arm and cause the arm break and knock out an opponent and / or cause an immediate whiplash injury from a properly executed stealing the energy strike.

Due to its ability to break bone etc this strike is not for a friendly boxing match or other such sporting encounter. This strike is for life and death encounters and is the kind of strike that may be needed in a serious knife defense situation.

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