The art of self-defence

In fact she actively encourages it. She'll even let you try to strangle her but you won't be able to. And just to prove what she can do, she'll break some bricks with the sides of her feet.

Eva is a physiotherapist from Highwood Avenue, North Finchley, who works at the Garden Hospital in Sunny Gardens, Hendon. She is also an expert in the ancient Indonesian martial art of Keinja.

Keinja (also known as Kateda) originated on the Indonesian island of Java around 3,000 years ago.

It is a non-violent sport used only for self-protection and good health.

It is forbidden to use Keinja unless you have got a very good reason for it, Eva said. You must never use it against anyone unless your life is threatened. It is stated in the rules and regulations. To defend yourself, that is the aim.

Eva herself spends several weeks in Java each year training with the grandmasters and enjoying their simple monk-like lifestyle. She is now the world's only female vice-grandmaster and the leading expert in the country.

There are three aspects of the Keinja training programme physical fitness, self-defence and 'central power'. Through the combination of these disciplines, Eva has improved her mind and body, strengthening both 'internal' and 'external' muscles which enable her to achieve superhuman feats.

Now she is passing her knowledge to the next generation of instructors and students, running classes once a week in Finchley while her instructors teach classes in Edgware and Mill Hill.

First, we improve the students' physical fitness sit-ups, press ups building up the stamina, developing all the outside muscles, vascular circulation as well, because they need this to cope with the two-hour sessions, she said.

Then we go into those practical self-defence steps and then central power through special breathing techniques, developing internal muscles like the diaphragm, and muscles we don't really use properly.

Eva says we only use 30-40 per cent of the capacity of our lungs, and that by increasing this through breathing techniques, you can develop these internal muscles and then lock them. This 'locking system' is used to be able to withstand the punches, strangulation and brick-breaking.

"Breaking bricks is nothing really special so long as you deliver the central power into your leg or foot. From yellow belt you already have the ability to take the brick in the stomach," Eva said.

"If you do deliver that central power, you don't actually feel it at all. There is no pain, no bruises and no injury."

What central power is exactly, is hard for Eva to explain.

There is a connection between the central nervous system and the muscle-skeletal system but how that works I can't explain. It's like electricity sparks within the body when you deliver it, she said.

Everyone has the ability to do it.

The training is self-defence. Unlike other martial arts, there is no student-to-student sparring the grandmasters forbid it.

When it is time to train the students in punching and kicking, the teacher acts as the punch bag.

Similarly, it is the teacher who punches the student to build their locking ability.

We know how much force to use, what level the person is at, so it's very safe, Eva said.

Also, it is forbidden to use knowledge of Keinja to make money.

What students pay me goes to the running of the hall. It is more like giving to people, more for the soul. Often I lose money. I think that is the main thing why Keinja is not so big in this country."

Anyone aged from 12-60 can start Keinja lessons. Classes take place every Monday at Essex Hall, Essex Park, Finchley, and Hartley Hall, Flower Lane, Mill Hill, from 7.30 to 9.30pm, on Mondays at the same time. There are also classes at St Lawrence Church Hall, Whitchurch Lane, Edgware, on Thursdays from 7.30 to 9.30pm.

Annual membership costs £20, and each class costs £3.50. There are reduced prices for juniors. Call 020 8952 2846 or write to keinja@hotmail.com for more details.