The Art of the Eight Limbs

Muay Thai, also known as the Art of the Eight Limbs, is ingrained in Thai Culture: it is played on every television set, taught in every city and village, and remains the salvation of those who have no other means of livelihood. These images are a glimpse into a life of discipline and sacrifice that is incomprehensible to most of us. During matches, they fight through a haze of pain, moving like dancers on a canvas floor stained with their blood, to the noise of the crowd and sinuous notes of traditional music. They are bruised flesh, bone and muscle, yet still what they endure while fighting is insignificant to what they endure during training.

Fighters are trained at an early age under a regimen so brutal that their bodies are rarely able to sustain careers past their twenties, yet despite what this life demands of them, fighters continue to do so for survival on the most basic of levels. They do it for the body, which is to be fed and sheltered; and they do it for the spirit, which is to be noticed and adored, the attainment of their dreams and desires.