Tiger balm and Muay Thai
I just close my eyes and I can still hear the crowd shouting “white tiger, white tiger…” and their applauses.It was a long time ago, maybe 20 years but I still remember like it was yesterday.My name is Yvon and on that time I was a student, big fan of Bruce Lee and martial arts, especially Muay Thai or Thai boxing. And my dream was to go in Thailand to make a training camp, to learn this art and philosophy with real Thai teachers.I worked 2 years after school to save money to make my dream come true.I did everything: bartender, baby-sitting, giving private courses…The fist day I joined the training camp, I knew it was going hard and painful, harder than I was thinking.
I was the only “farang” (foreigner in Thai), my English was poor, I wasn’t found of spicy food. The training camp was supposed only to last one month…only 30 days in your life…but suddenly an eternity for me!!!The training session was planned every day, seven days a week, from 7 am to 12 am and 1pm to 7pm.The first days, I wanted to quit and go back home.Running, knocking sandbags with you’re your fists, knees, legs, bows, all the parts of your body, being a sparring partner…
the same program repeating ever day. My body hurt me everywhere; I couldn’t even sleep in the night time and cried.But one day, my teacher, Khun Chai, gave me a product to ease my pain.It was called Tiger Balm (Baume du tigre).Since that day, I used t permanently, after my jogging, my sparring partner session, my knocking session…
l used it in all my body, massed all the painful parts, especially my fragile knees.And little by little, I started to feel the positive effects of that balm. My pain diminished, my breathing was stronger and longer and I started to really improve my Muay Thai skills.As a joke, my teachers and all the others boxers started to call me “white tiger” and it became my nickname ill all the village. For the old people, the kids, the shop owners…
I became the “white tiger” and no more Yvon.After one month, after so many sacrifices and pain, I had my fist fight against a Thai boxer. When I came on the ring, all the crowd was shouting my Thai name, now“White tiger, white tiger, white tiger…..”. it was a unforgettable moment in my life.Did I win?…come on, wake up, it is not a fairytale or a Rocky movie.!!!!!!I lost the fight, of course, but I won the respect of my teacher and of the people of all the village. And that it was priceless.
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