This Magazine Online Edition May 2005
If jumping on the treadmill makes you feel like an oversized hamster, punch up your workouts with politics. Exercise disciplines from around the world come with philosophies, traditions and even violent histories. Here are a few examples:
Capoeira
A combination of dance, music and martial arts first practised as early as the 1500s by African slaves brought to Brazil by Portuguese colonists. It is a form of active communication and has come to represent the merging of African, native Brazilian and Portuguese cultures, languages and religions. Long a popular street practice of Brazil’s lower classes, Capoeira slowly formalized with schools in Brazil and around the world, including Muiraquitã, a Capoeira school in Toronto. Although it’s now an Olympic exhibition sport, explains Marcio Mendes, a Brazilian contre-mestre (master), it’s about passion. “Capoeira is pure life,” he says.
Krav Maga
This system of self-defence and fighting for Israeli military forces was created in 1948 by Imi Lichtenfeld, who was transplanted to Israel from eastern Europe. In 1964, Lichtenfeld began teaching Krav Maga to Israeli citizens, adjusting the technique so it would be easy and efficient regardless of age, gender or stature. The system involves instinctual hand-to-hand combat moves. “It’s the only self-defense system that’s been street tested,” says Troy Straith, a Vancouver-based Krav Maga instructor. Although Straith has several law enforcement students using Krav Maga to supplement their basic training, most of his class participants train for personal safety and empowerment, not to dodge bullets like their Middle Eastern counterparts. Krav Maga is still used to train Israeli forces for war combat.
T’ai Chi Ch’uan (Tai Chi)
Taoist monk Chang San-feng created this martial art in 12th-century China. Today’s five major styles represent the lineage of the Chinese families who passed their traditions on: Yang, Wu, Ch’en, Sun and Wu/Hao. Tai Chi is often described as moving meditation. Most North American practitioners use it for exercise, and to improve health, coordination, concentration and relaxation. But, as Yau-Sun Tong, a teacher at the Nova Scotia School of Kung Fu and Tai Chi explains, it’s based on an intricate “internal martial art” that uses yin yang forces and the balance of energy. Only higher-level instructors teach Tai Chi’s combative philosophies. Tong describes Tai Chi as one of the few disciplines you can continuously learn and improve at, even as you age.
Yoga
A Hindu cultural tradition from India dating back farther than recorded history, yoga is “the unity of mind, body, breath, a higher self and god,” says Shelly Rowen, a yoga instructor and manager at the Yoga Space in Toronto. The many varieties of Yoga, such as Ashtanga and Hatha, all promise strength, flexibility, improved lung capacity, focus and concentration but also bring spirituality and self-realization. Although yoga has recently gained the dubious distinction of trend in North America, the ideological aspects of yoga are deeply personal: “You might get into it for the exercise first, but once you start to hear the philosophy you can’t help but get more involved,” Rowen says.
Next article