About Kali Classes in Winter Garden

Kali is an ancient martial arts style originating from the Philippines that involves the use of sticks, swords, knives, and empty hand techniques for combat. The western world refers to kali as Filipino Martial Arts or (FMA). Eskrima and arnis are also popularly used in reference to the art, among several other names, although they are each variations utilizing slightly different techniques. 

Kali is the oldest form of martial arts in the Philippines. It’s theorized that its origins come from the Hindu goddess ‘Kali,’ who is usually depicted wielding a sword as she is the goddess of death and destruction, with immense power. It makes sense as Hinduism has been far-reaching throughout its time, especially among Filipino natives prior to the presence of Islam and Christianity. (For perspective, nearly 25% of Filipino words are based in Sanskrit and Tamil, which are both Hindu languages.) Of course, another theory is that kali comes from the Filipino word for sword, which is kalis. 

There are a lot of theories and stories told of kali being used thousands of years ago. Depending on which indigenous people you’re talking to about it in the Philippines, it goes by a ton of other “local” names. While often used interchangeably, kali and arnis are technically two different principles of the same martial art. The purpose of kali is rooted in the objective to maim and kill while arnis is meant to disarm one’s opponent. Then there’s eskrima, which is also a self-defense system that seemingly mimics a style of fencing. 

Since there’s no true documentation (until the 1500s) of the ancient forms of kali, it is believed that these variations developed as a means for the many indigenous groups in the Philippines to defend themselves and their territories. According to one documented version of kali history, the martial art was practiced by Filipino armies against Spanish colonists. It was later disguised as a dance form — sayaw — to trick the Spanish invaders so that the Filipino people could continue to practice this way of life without scrutiny or punishment. 

It is also said that much later, American Special Operations groups (ASOs) learned the techniques of kali to better their hand-to-hand combat skills. This is how the martial art became popular here in America and is even often seen in the many fight scenes within Hollywood movies.

In practice, kali is taught with weapons first, as it’s traditionally referred to as “stick fighting” and the art’s versatility of weapons is what enhances it as a defense system. Once a student has learned the proper way to handle various weapons, they move on to open hand techniques as well as grappling and kicking. This is what makes kali such a well-rounded and dangerous martial art, as it covers all the distances of combat such as long-range, middle-range, and short-range.