SAIIER 2021:Auroville Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

Auroville Rainbow Child		Kalarippayattu Guide Book
Entity::Auroville Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) by Giacomo

This project was based on my 5 years experience as a martial art instructor in Auroville. I wanted to analyse the effect of constant work and practice of Shou Dao based martial arts on the body and on the mindset of the trainees of all ages.

Description of project:

The project started as continuation of my teaching, around July 2020. I trained kids in the Transformation community, at African Pavilion, at Solitude Farm, and finally at Terrasoul. The absence of appropriate space was sometimes an issue and it destabilized the continuity of my program. In full respect of COVID-19 guidelines we trained respecting distances, basing our exercise more on proprioception, posture, mimicry, breathing, playful games at distance.

Between November and December Dehashakti gave us a space and the work could proceed with more stability, with more than 20 students focused on understanding the relation between breathing, mindset and control of the body. One of the advanced students participated in the Tamil Nadu MMA Federation State Tournament of MMA, and it was a great honour to be part of that.

Outcomes:

The beneficiaries were mainly Aurovilians, Newcomers and Volunteers, splitted in 3 groups: kids from 7 to 13, adults from 15, advanced students.

Material for collective practice has been purchased, in order to give access to pre-training and also to students who can’t afford to buy their own gear.

As an instructor, I restructured my protocols and my programs after this experience in order to make the best out of the breathing and posture exercises. Students of all ages are still regular and they would like to continue more. Other Aurovilians showed interest in making this thing grow and be regular. The parents of the kids were overall happy about the practice.

Reflections:

We explored especially the effect of special techniques of breathing on the mental state and on the hormonal activities that dictate the posture. We noticed changes in the posture of the students. All this is linked to martial art because of the level of stress that martial exercises implies to the psychological system of the trainees. In this way we noticed that with the improvement of the posture, also the mental and emotional states of the trainee got stronger and their health improved.

Meanwhile, I’ve been chosen as responsible for the district of Villupuram for the Tamil Nadu Mixed Martial Art Federation, and a student of our school (Auroville Mixed Martial Arts) fought an official MMA fight at the last State official tournament. In this context we received a lot of compliments and many students and coaches expressed their will to collaborate with us. This could be a very interesting improvement for Auroville Mixed Martial Arts. The Federation expressed its interest to host the next tournament 2022 in Auroville instead of Chennai.

In spite of the beautiful and fruitful experience, it is hard to express the full potential of the practice without a proper space and proper materials. Even in Dehashakti space and materials have to be shared and the mat we were using is in very bad condition. At least 2 students quit the practice because the condition of the mat was triggering a skin disease.

Conclusion:

When Master Francesco Collesano, founder of Shou Wu, a martial art recognized internationally, saw the level of our work here, he offered me to become an official instructor of Shou Wu, abilitated to teach in India and to open Shou Wu gyms. Shou Wu is a complete system of martial art, based on Chinese and Russian martial arts, which compensates the mixed martial arts aspect with mental work and breathing work typical of the internal styles of Kung Fu. This would be not only an honor but also a big opportunity for Auroville to start something unique in India.