Ice and Fire offers a comprehensive martial training syllabus.

This leads on towards preparing the advanced student for teaching students of their own

Advanced Student Training At this level the Student will learn next level of galdre stances, the Herse sequence.

The weapon training at this level will bring in the spear, which is used to deal with attacks with a sword. One handed weapons are taught, this includes the use of scramasax and cudgel to defend against an attack with an axe. We also practice simple combinations with single handed sword and dagger.

At this level the student will practice Unarmed self defence against knife and tein against scramasax.

To achive advanced level would normally take about another 2 years meaning a total of about 4 years training.

Practitioner of Arms At this level you will be able to perform the Jarl Galdre Sequence of the stances.

For weapon training you will be able to demonstrate the five basics with staff against axe.

For self defence purposes you will have explored and be able to demonstrate applications using one's own fylgia for inspiration.

At this level you will be entitled to begin teaching one's own students under supervision.

You will be expected to explore theories of teaching Stav as a martial art and examine how to assess the potential and progress of your own students.

You will be expected to gain a basic knowledge of first aid and how to assist students in overcoming their own physical limitations through specific exercises, manipulation and tailoring training and techniques to the specific needs of individual students.

To acheive Practitioner of Arms level will take at least another two years from attaining Advanced Student level. This means a minimum time of training of 6 years.

Master of Arms This is the level at which you are recognised as being able to train and teach independently of supervision.

By this stage you will be competent in all five forms of the stances including the Konge Sequence.

You will be able to devise appropriate training programmes both for yourself and for your own students.

You will be able to demonstrate mastery of the five principles, the lines and applications of the stances.

You will have demonstrated good character and dedication to the development of the Stav tradition.

This will require at least two years from reaching Practioner level making the minimum Time of Training at least 8 years.

Stav self-defence practice is taught alongside the more formalised weapon and stances training. We also run courses concentrating on self-defence, see box in the side bar for more details.

Self-defence training is based on six principles described below.To see how these are incorporated into a training session see the Stav class page by following the link in the side bar.

	Holding and Disrupting the Web which means working with one's own body according to the web and understanding that your opponent's body will do the same. We develop the ability to do this from working with the stances and then from training with the staff and other weapons. Eventually we reach a stage where we simply know when we are within the web and an opponent cannot take this away from us. However, this awareness will enable us to see weaknesses in an opponents relationship to their web, possibly enabling us to unbalance them.
	Working With the Five Principles of Stav which in self-defence terms relates to fulfilling roles. When we find ourselves threatened in any way it is important to behave appropriately. Just because we could overcome a possible opponent, doesn't necessarily mean we should. If we have no authority or status in a situation then we are in a Trel role and it is usually best to simply extricate ourselves from the situation with as little fuss as possible. If we are protecting a property or area of some kind then we are functioning on a Karl level and on this level we have the right to prevent an unwelcome person from entering. If we have some kind of authority then it is our responsibility to take control of potentially dangerous situations. This we refer to as operating on the Herse level. This should primarily depend upon projecting authority, but also being prepared to take decisive action when necessary. On the Jarl level We disengage ourselves consciously from the situation and respond on a deeper level of awareness. This enables us to deal with danger while keeping our attention on more important matters. It may also enable us to deal with a situation which is developing too fast for our conscious awareness to keep up. The Konge level is its own justification. On this level we do because we can, or not. In Stav training we learn how to function on each of these levels, but we also learn to recognise when it is not going to work for some reason and to switch to the level we can use at that moment. Being able to see our true role in a situation may one day keep us alive.
	Sensitivity and Awareness because unless you are safely inside a tank or wearing a suit of armour (not likely to be fashionable any time soon) you are physically vulnerable. In Stav training we accept this and use this vulnerability to cultivate awareness of what is around us and sensitivity to forces directed towards us. Through appropriate practice we learn to yeild to force and redirect it.
	Working With the Fylgia is a principle concerned with learning to be true to our own nature. Unarmed self-defence has to be an expression of our real selves Our size, strength, age and gender are all factors in what will or will not work for us and our training has to reflect this. More than this we need to be aware of our deeper nature and this too will be expressed in our combat style. Initially we work with the Eighteen Animal Exercises but at a higher level we discover and work with our own Fylgia.
	Awakening the Dragon - We are the product of hundreds of million years of evolution. On a deep biological level we are the same as our ancestors which shared the earth with Tyranasaurus Rex and the rest of his hungry friends. We are biologically equipped to survive through the autonomic nervous system, the 'fight or flight' response and our simple instinct to survive and continue living. Sometimes we see these primative responses as almost embarrassing. Indeed sometimes the primitive responses are inappropriate. But when we are in real life and death situations the ancient dragon can, and will, awaken inside us and give us resources to draw on of which we are usually unaware. You cannot train or tame the dragon, and it is unwise to try, but we can be aware that he is there and learn how to not get in his way when we need him.
	Releasing the Ego - If we go into a situation determined to bring about a particular outcome then we need to be in a position of overwhelming superiority. In self defence situations this is unlikely to be the case, it is much more probable that we will be at a considerable disadvantage and our survival will be a matter of rapidly adapting to circumstances. In combat an egotistical desire to make a certain technique work or fight in a distinctive style will put us at a disadvantage. When confronting a determined opponent we cannot afford to be wrestling with a disapointed ego if a particular technique doesn't work. In combat we must be simply willing to go with the process and see what we learn from the journey. Even a desire to win, or fear that we may not survive, can disadvantage us. In the course of Stav training we work towards releasing such notions.

Animal Exercises The eighteen 'animal exercises' are a project I have been working on for the past few years and I teach them when the opportunity arises. As most readers will be aware each Rune has at least one animal associated with it. With a bit of imagination it is possible to see how the animal is suggested by the runic stance and then create a dynamic application of the stance. Although a large proportion of my personal training and teaching is weapon based I have always been concerned with how to best teach unarmed exercises for fitness and self-defence. This led me to consider the importance of working with the fylgia (power animal) and to realise that working with the appropriate animal is the key to expressing our true nature in a personal combat situation.

One of the paradoxes of Stav (and all serious body, mind and spirit practices) is that at a high level all you need is dedicated practice to the exercises which are appropriate to you. But you have to discover what these exercises are over many years of training. It took me a very long time to understand the implications of my fylgia and how to work with it. For me now there isn't a great deal of personal benefit in working with anything else. But relative beginners need a starting point and, on a basic level, the animal exercises introduce the idea of working with the various significant creatures. I also believe that a useful variety of skills and conditioning can be gained until the student is ready to specialise in working with their own fylgia.

When working with the animal exercises the usual futhark sequence is used as the basis providing a total of 18 exercises (three for Nod , the owl for Urd, spider for Verdandi and the crow for Skuld.) This provides a pretty comprehensive range of exercises and these can then be applied to self-defence by combining with the five principles. This means that each exercise can be tested for its application for extracting oneself from an attack, preventing entry, control and restraint etc. 18 x 5 = 90 possible applications which provides plenty to work with.

Here is a brief example of how one of these exercises works; the Fe exercise is based on the stag or deer. We tend to think of Stags fighting with their antlers which are indeed formidable weapons. But these are only present for a short part of the year and are only intended for rutting which is effectively 'ritual combat'. When deer have to fight for real, and this includes the hinds (female deer which do not have antlers) they effectively punch with their front hooves. I actually witnessed a young deer do this to my father on a family picnic when he tried to chase the creature away from our picnic. My father wasn't hurt but he got a bit of a surprise when the animal jumped up and planted its hooves squarely into his chest. Those who work with red deer tell me that if the hinds take against you they will wait for opportunities to attack by effectively punching you in the back of the head. So the Fe exercise uses a vertical centerline punch, which becomes a downward sweep as the other hand punches and in turn becomes a sweep which both suggests the shape of the Fe stance and strikes a little like a deer's hoof.

This in necessarily a very brief example. The member's DVD shows the exercises in full and courses either regularly include these exercises or are devoted to them. Please see the Forthcoming events page for details of the next course when these will be taught.

What to Expect at a Stav Class - Each Class will include stances, staff exercises and two person training exploring the five principles of Stav.

This will usually be followed by more advanced weapons training such as sword, axe, spear or scramasax and practical self defence training.

A typical programme will be similar to the following:

A Stav Self-Defence Class has a rather different format in that the only weapons which are used are wooden knives and batons for defending against. A typical programme will be similar to the following

Beginners are welcome and will be accomodated into classes.