About Fluid Adaption
The world of martial arts is a kaleidoscope of practice aimed more or less at adaption across a countless range of possible contexts from theatres of war, combating crime and avoiding assault on urban city streets, defending against invasion and violence within the home, the gladiatorial rings of our modern combat sports, movie action scenes, and as a therapeutic approach for treating psychological difficulties. Regardless of the cultural origins of the system in question, or the weapons it deploys, or even the spiritual or clinical intent of the art, all are united by the single goal of adaption within a given context. Fluid Adaption as a principle based martial art offers one way of integrating all approaches to martial arts regardless of origin, context, or stylistic practice. Fluid Adaption is about a fluid and simply adaption to all aspects of life!
Fluid Adaption is an emergent martial art intended for the rapid development and consolidation of self-defence/self-awareness skills and knowledge relevant to Australian conditions. Building on the adaptive practice of Kyoshi Mitch Bayliss, Fluid Adaption was further developed with the assistance of a highly experienced group of black belts known as the 'Bobcats' between 2008 to 2012. Since then Fluid Adaption has continued to grow and develop.
Fluid Adaption is a method of learning which engages the body and mind in a flow of changing relationships to further a Practitioner’s ability in all aspects of life. It is about valuing people and nurturing positive relationships; learning to survive, heal and recover from the trauma of violence, abuse, and neglect; succeed in study, work, sport, relationships and other spheres of social engagement, and thrive and inspire by embracing the flow and constant change of everyday life.
Fluid Adaption is suitable for people of all ages including family groups. We teach a range of approaches to martial arts including Karate, Self Defence, and Sports Fighting. Fluid Adaption is suitable for experienced martial artists and beginners alike.
Fluid Adaption is an open martial art, it welcomes practitioners from all styles and invites them to attend all events and to participate in training and grading for rank
A Brief History of Fluid Adaption By Mitch Bayliss
Fluid Adaption is still a very new and emerging martial art. While a long time in development, the name 'Fluid Adaption' was first coined in April 2009 and since then the art has continued to grow and evolve. 2011 saw a consolidation of practice with the start to the development of a framework for guiding the development of new practitioners, and in doing so broadened the concept of Fluid Adaption making it a more open/inclusive and diverse martial art.
We are mostly the sum total of our past choices, opportunities, and experience, in this regard I am no different to anyone else. Just as each of us are on our own journey, Fluid Adaption it reflects my path through the martial arts and the paths of those past and present who have shared this path with me.
Having started my martial arts journey in 1979, my formative years in the martial arts were spent practicing Zen Do Kai and Kick Boxing in Melbourne under the Wildcat Division of the Bob Jones Corporation, during which I was the instructor at the Bulleen Club from 1983 until 1998. I started to step away from Zen Do Kai in 1995 and eventually ceased teaching in 1998 when I moved with my family to Bendigo. A period of exploration and personal training then followed and in 2003 just after moving to Castlemaine, I teamed up with my nephew Beau Cook and began the process of development that formed into the martial art of Ryu Ken Ku (Dragon Fist Way). Ryu Ken Ku was still a style of Karate based around Kata training (patterned forms or drills), however it was in essence an attempt to make Karate more combat orientated, rather than sports focus which had been my previous experience.
In 2007 I discovered Chaos Theory, Complexity Science, and Complex Adaptive System's theory, that same year during a Kickboxing sparring session I realised that I had lost my ability to effectively spar; essentially I no longer had the ability to time the application of my strikes anymore against an opponent who was actively resisting me. While prior to this session it had been a long time since I had previously practiced Kickboxing, this realisation was a major shock! The combination of this new theoretical foundation and the sparring experience lead to a rapid change in my thinking and practice. While developing my own approach to practice, during 2007 I also discovered the arts of Guided Chaos and Systema which were aligned to the approach I was taking and a new art began to take shape. While it was still called Ryu Ken Ku at this time, it was in effect the beginning of the development of Fluid Adaption.
In October 2008 I moved back to Melbourne during the week for work and immediately teamed up with a long term training partner and former Zen Do Kai black belt Andrew Ramacciotti. Initially I began to teach Andrew the new approach to practice which I had been developing. Andrew quickly integrated my ideas as his own and together we began to evolve the practice even more. Then in April 2009 we decided to change the name from ‘Ryu Ken Ku’ to ‘Fluid Adaption’ to reflect the intention of the new approach that we were developing. Soon others started to join us, while mostly my former Zen Do Kai students, it included others people most of who had a background in martial arts and who also had an interest in Combatives and adaptive approaches to self defence. We eventually formed the Fluid Adaption - Bobcat Training Group, while a small group were a fantastic bunch of martial artists, who for the next 3 years until my return to working in Central Victoria in May 2012 were responsible for the growth in Fluid Adaption practice during this period. Importantly during this period we continued to explore ideas and drills from Systema and Guided Chaos, we also explored a wide range of other approaches to combative practice, most notably Target Focused Training. Concepts and drills that supported our Fluid Adaption practice and goals were subsequently integrated.
My period of living, working and training in Melbourne from October 2008 to May 2012, consolidated and set the foundation for the practice of Fluid Adaption to become an enduring art. During 2013 Fluid Adaption evolved further with the scope of Fluid Adaption practice broadened and the introduction of Foundation Arts. In 2014 Fluid Adaption evolved again with the introduction of ‘The Warrior Path’ an integrative approach to training, open to martial artists from all styles, aimed at interpersonal adaption and preparing practitioners for attempting Fluid Adaption black belt grades. At this time, Fluid Adaption was strengthen by growing membership and inclusion of several experienced martial artists that now form the Head Instructors of Fluid Adaption, in particular Daryl Davis, Karl Jenkins, John Baruta, and Paul Lica.
Into the future our aim is to continued development and evolution of Fluid Adaption, within both within Victoria and interstate, growing the membership and inviting experienced martial artists to join in contributing towards growing a quality martial art that has the potential of contributing to the wealth of existing martial arts and the community more broadly.
