Members of the Pahuyuth are known as Free-Warriors The term “Free-Warrior” comes from paramilitary special forces and free mercenaries who were not part of the regular army.
The so-called Free-Warrior knowledge or traditional Free-Warrior knowledge is the totality of the knowledge of Pahuyuth, Saiyasart and the Free-Warrior medicine.
The traditional Free-Warrior knowledge includes not only the Pahuyuth but also the Saiyasart and the knowledge of Naturopathy. All three areas of knowledge are closely linked and have always been in mutual interaction.
Pahuyuth
Pahuyuth deals with the combative aspects of existence and physical confrontation. It consists of two disciplines of unarmed combat (MUAI, LING LOM) and five armed combat disciplines (MEED, DAAB, GRABONG, MAI SAWK, SABAI). Fragments of Pahuyuth can be found, for example, in the Thai national sport Muay Thai and many other Asian martial arts.
Saiyasart
Saiyasart (knowledge of nothingness) deals with non-physical phenomena of all kinds on the basis of logic and rationality. These include forms of spirituality, meditation, magic, and spiritual healing. Fragments of Saiyasart were adopted by Thai Buddhism (e.g. amulets and talismans) other components were ostracised as “black magic”.
Naturopathy
The traditional Free-Warrior Medicine is based partly on the knowledge of the body, mind and soul from Saiyasart, but also on the practical necessity of being able to heal diseases and injuries far away from civilization. It is based on the support of the self-healing functions of the human body. The naturopathy includes knowledge of massage techniques, healing bodies and medicinal plants. Parts of this area of knowledge found their way into traditional Thai massage and other natural healing methods.
In pahuyuth, a grappling technique is a manipulation of the opposing body, which, using the lever laws, causes the opponent or an opponent’s body part to be fixated.
A green belt is a belt in the Pahuyuth. Green belts are worn by students of the beginner level (also basic level).
In pahuyuth, a grip technique is a manipulation of the opponents body, which causes damage by using the lever laws.
A hand guard is a hand protection for bladed weapons, which sits between the handle and the blade. With Thai sword (Daab) the guard is either kept very small (usually a small disc) or is completely missing.
The Hidden Tactic (Muai Soomt) is a defensive tactic of the MUAI, which uses a hard defense to wear down the opponent.