Chaiya Kick

I think I’d like to have a job where I can travel around and learn different martial arts, this guy Anthony has it pretty good.  Read more

More Chaiya

By Nathan Brown aka natb19

After my last post comparing the raised knee guard of Muay Chaiya Read more

Play – Muay Chaiya Style

I was just on MyMuayThaiChaiya.com and came across this vid of two MC practitioners having some fun.  Check out Nathans post for more deets…You may recognize Tae (white shorts) he was one of the main actors in Muay Chaiya. Read more

Yok Khao (Rising Knee) guard of Chaiya

Here is our monthly Muay Chaiya lesson… many thanks to our Muay Thai brother Nathan for taking the time to educate us.  If you guys haven’t been over to his blog yet, mymuaythaichaiya.com It is worthy of a bookmark.

Yok Khao by Nathan

After some thought and talk with some muay thai friends, I decided to describe one to the base techniques of Muay Thai Chaiya, and point out some of the differences with modern Muay Thai. You guys can decide whether you can use the ideas. I’d love to hear your feedback. Read more

Close Relatives

Hi guys-

One of the most rewarding things about having this blog, is that you get to meet (albeit virtually) lots of interesting people, living there dreams and doing it.  I recently met Nathan who’s been living, training and teaching Muay Chaiya (MC) in Thailand.  I’m really interested in MC and asked him to write us a post.  On behalf of the MyMuayThai community, I want to thank you for sharing with us. If you are interesting in reading up on MC and Nathan’s adventures, you can do so on his blog. MyMuayThaiChaiya.com

-nopstar

Close Relatives

By Nathan

Nopstar has kindly asked me to contribute (and follow up on his post “Looking in the mirror”) where he touched on how Muay Thai is viewed by other martial artists, and specifically practitioners of Muay Thai Chaiya. This is something which I’ve been thinking about myself for a long time as I sit on the opposite side of the fence, as a Muay Thai Chaiya practitioner and teacher. It’s a tricky subject, and one that I am finding hard to write about because, as a martial artist I don’t believe in the old “my style is better than your style” which seems to be a natural side effect of the competitive side of people who care passionately about something they do or believe in (just look at how most religions disagree with each other!).

I liked they way Nopstar finished his post, quoting Ajarn Chah because at the end of the day, it’s all just about fighting. Each style of martial arts suits the purpose/conditions it was design for, and there really is no perfect style. I was lucky enough to become aware of Jeet Kune Do over ten years ago when I was still in the UK, and this really opened my eyes to the fact that everything has a use, and the intelligent person will learn how and when to use these things in at the right time and the correct situation. For me, this is closer to what “martial art” actually means. Understanding the whole picture, and not dwelling on the details. Read more

Looking in the mirror

I try; I try really hard to keep an open mind and not to make snap judgments.  I’m working on it… when you study a martial art it’s sometimes easy to get caught up in this style is better then this style etc.  My nephews are really into their TKD, and sometimes I find myself shaking my head.

It seem like at every gym I’ve ever trained at there is that one guy who’s done kickboxing or karate and doesn’t feel like doing Muay Thai (at a muay thai gym).  They show up and do their own thing, fine they aren’t bothering anyone they just don’t feel like participating.  Maybe they’re just used to fighting in that style and can’t easily adjust?  Who knows, point is why should I care?  I catch myself looking over, and those judgments seem to creep back in… Read more