By
Scott Shaw
At the foundation of any method of
effective self-defense is your own ability to read a situation, decide upon the
appropriate action, and then implement successful self-defense techniques to
keep yourself free from injury. In your
martial art school, you are taught methods of how to encounter the various
types of physical attack which may befall you: be it a punch, a kick, or a body
grab. It is far better, however, for you to never be forced into a physical
confrontation at all. To achiever this,
“The most basic level of self-defense,” you must learn how to read physical and
environmental situations and then take defensive action before a physical
altercation ever finds you.
Defining
an Attacker
Perhaps the most disconcerting level of
this area of self-defense, especially for those who have been previously attacked,
is that there is no one who can teach you a technique which will keep you safe
from all physical confrontations. This is in no small part due to the fact that
each person who would accost you possesses a different look, a different body
language, and an undisclosed reasoning for why they would wish to instigate a
physical encounter. Certainly, there are certain types of individuals who you
may come upon, who look evil, speak to you with an intimidating tone, or act in
a specific manner which you instantly know you must get away from. In these situation, the decision to walk or
run away is obvious. It is the less defined individuals who pose the biggest
problem in knowing exactly whom to steer clear of.
There are countless theories, and the word,
“Theory,” is used because that is exactly all they are, about how you should
behave if someone with ill intentions comes upon you. Some of these theories
tell you to remain calm, in a non-aggressive mode and speak passively to the
person, others tell you to be assertive and attempt to back the opponent
down. Still others say you should scream
or run.
When you are accosted, no theory will
work. This is because of the fact that each attacker is completely different
and motivated by their own set of irrational standards. As is the case with all
areas of self-defense, you must confront every situation as it is presented to
you, and react at your most effective possible level.
There are standard rules of common sense
which can hopefully keep you free from confrontation. For example, lock your
doors and windows, avoid dark isolated locations, don’t place yourself in a
dangerous environment -- if hostility is eminent, leave immediately before it
has the ability to escalate, if an attacker come up to you in a public place,
call for the help of others, and so on. All of these common sense rules can
only be applied prior to a confrontation or when other people are in your
presence. Often times, attackers will not come upon you in public situations. They
will wait until you are alone. In these situations, absolute self-defense is
necessary. You can not think or be
concerned about the injurious effect you are having upon your attacker, as they
certainly are not concerned with your well being or they would not have
accosted you in the first place.
Victim
Mentality
Being a victim is a state of mind. It is
what we do with the experience of lose which determines whether or not you
become a life-long victim.
A victim is an individual who has lost an
altercations and, thus, the rest of their life is dominated by that experience.
Everywhere they go, they are scared and expecting a similar negative experience
to again occur.
The person who is not a victim, may have
lost battles in the past, but they realize that life is a step by step process.
Though they may not have like the experience of loosing, they have learned what
they could from it, become stronger, and have moved on with their life becoming
a better and more whole individual.
Winning
and Losing
You can not win all altercations. Winning
or loosing is all a state of mind. If
you learn from your seeming loss, you are, in fact, a winner as you have come
to become a stronger, more complete individual. From another perspective, if
you have won many confrontations and are constantly seeking to prove yourself
in battle, there will eventually be somebody who can beat you. Thus, the
conscious self-defense technician never seeks out battle. If battle is forced upon them, they proceed
in the most conscious and effective manner possible.
Remaining
Conscious in Battle
The question often arises, “How does one
remain conscious in the randomness of battle?” There are two primary methods to
achieve this: partner practice in your dojo and mental visualization. From
partner practice you learn, through personal experience, the most efficient
method to deal with each style of physical attack. Thus, if you are attacked,
you have already worked through the scenario and know how to effectively deal
with it. Through mental visualization, you detail in your mind the most
effective method to encounter each type of assault, in various environments --
you run the battle scenarios on a mental level and are trained from your mental
imagery.
From these two practices you become a more
secure individual as you consciously understand how to defend yourself in all
environments and from all types of attack. Once you possess this sense of
mental security, you project that mindset to the world. When people encounter
you, they experience the inner power you possess. Therefore, they will not
thoughtless challenge you to battle, as they know you can not be easily
defeated.
Learn, practice, and master the techniques
of self-defense. Then, project your inner self confidence to the world. This is
your best first line of defense.
Environmental
Self-defense
The unfortunate reality about life is that
you can be accosted by an attacker in virtually any location, at any time. Each physical location is unique and
possesses its own environmental constraints. Due to this reason, there is no
singular method of physical self-defense which will universally protect you in
all types of geographic locations.
For you to master environmental self-defense
you must not only come to understand how to effectively encounter an attacker
in each type of environment, but, more importantly, you must take precautionary
measures before you ever enter any location -- from these, you will learn how
to judge each environment by its own physical parameters and, thus, you will
hopefully never place yourself in a situation where physical danger is eminent.
Inside
Your Car
To begin the study of environmental self-defense
you can begin by viewing the defining factors of your car. As the car is a
common place where confrontations take place, due to one driver considering the
tactics of another to be less than applicable, it is a very important physical
environment to master in your understand of environmental self-defense.
If an attacker rushes towards you and you
are in your car, by attempting to get out, you leave yourself in a highly prone
position to attack. Not only must you get up out of your seat and generally
turn to face your opponent, in which case he can easily strike you to the back
or the side of your head before you can confront him, but you also must open
your car door and expose one or more of your legs, before you can stand up.
With your legs on the ground and your body
not yet standing, your attacker can powerfully smash the car door against your
exposed extremities. There is virtually
nothing you can do to halt this type of attack -- except to hopefully overpower
his superior positioning and either get out of the car or get your legs back
into your car. By this time, you will probably be injured and your self-defense
options will be highly limited. Therefore, it is very important that you fully
evaluate your environment before you ever begin to leave your car in a pending
confrontation. If your attacker has already rushed your car, do not attempt to
get out -- lock your doors, roll up your windows, drive away, and forget the
anger which lead you to this unsavory situation.
Entering
Your Car
If you are approached by a potential
assailant as you are attempting to get into your car -- the car, itself, can be
an impending factor to keep the attacker at bay. If you see him approaching, keep the car
between the two of you. If he begins to move around it, you move in the
opposite direction. Though this may appear as a child’s game, by forcing him to
remain at a distance, you can ascertain his intentions and hopefully call to
your aid other individuals in the area.
If out of frustration he attempts to
superseded your movement and jumps over the hood or trunk of the car, this is
the ideally time to deliver a powerful first strike to him as he is coming off
of the car. As he will be off balance due to his exaggerated movement, he will
be ideally prone to your striking technique.
Outdoors
In physical confrontation which take place
outdoors, you possess a very important advantage for effective self-defense --
that advantage is space. In an outdoor
situation you can move if you are accosted. This does not necessarily mean to
run, though this may be your best defense. What it does mean, however, is that
you are not required to stay boxed in a stationary location as is the case with
interior combat.
An attacker rushes in at you -- by moving
backwards or sideways, out of his path of attack, his initial offense is
foiled. At this point you can launch a powerful counter attack or just quickly
leave the site of the altercation altogether.
The most important thing to keep in mind
when defending yourself from an attack which has occurred outdoors, is to keep
moving. Each time the assailant attempts to punch you, step back out of his
path of attack. If he attempts to grab you, move away. If he does take a hold
of your body or your clothing, immediately free yourself from his grasp in the
most elementary way possibly -- usually just by consciously pulling free. Thus,
he will not have the opportunity to substantiate his grasp.
You must remember that any attacker is
highly adrenalized. As such, his energy is quickly expended. As long as you can
keep him away from you, he will be burning excessive amounts of energy and you,
remaining relatively calm, will maintain your energy surplus. Thus, like the
competent boxer who allows his opponent to chase him around the ring using up
his energy, you too can conserve your energy and counter attack when your
opponent is worn out and drained.
The
Alley
It is often detailed that you should back
yourself up against a wall if you are attacked in an outdoor location. This is
especially case if you find yourself in a narrow outdoor placement such as an
alley. The belief is that by backing
yourself up to a wall, your attacker or attackers can not come around behind
you. Though there is a logic to this form of self-defense, the biggest down
side to it is that once you back up against a wall, your movement is highly
limited and your attackers can close in on you and strike with multiple
attacks. Additionally, your defensive
blocking techniques are highly restricted, with your back against a wall, as
you can only move effectively from side to side. If you attempt to push out
from the wall, you then must meet the blows of your attacker’s head on.
For these reasons, moving against a wall
should only be employed when it is to your advantage. This situation would
occur when your attacker is rapidly rushing in at you -- by side-stepping his
attack, redirecting his aggressive energy, and guiding his face or body into
the wall, you will have then save yourself the necessity of striking out at
him, as you have used his own force to cause him to powerfully impact the
nearby wall.
In virtually all other cases, it is to
your advantage to keep moving if you find yourself accosted in a walled outdoor
location. Even if your movements must be linear, due to the confined
configuration of the space, your attackers will still need to chase after you
to grab or to strike at you. As the case with a more exposed outdoor location,
if you are grabbed immediately pull free, if a punch is launched, step back out
of its path -- keep moving until you are free.
Up
Against the Wall
There is the attack scenario when the
initial altercation occurs when your back is already against a wall. In these
cases, immediately strike to a vital point on your attacker, such has his
knees. his groin, his throat, his eyes, his temples, and so on -- then
immediately move off of the wall. From
this rapid style of self-defense, you may have foiled the attacker’s
intentions. If not, additional self-defense can be employed as necessary.
The
ATM
ATMS have become a very common place for
individuals with ill intent to accost would-be victims. Though most ATMS now
have video surveillance, this has not seemed to halt these attacks, as
criminals knows it takes several minutes for the police to arrive. During this time,
they can rob their victims and in some cases injure or kill them. Knowing this,
you must be very cautious when ever you go up to a ATM.
The obvious first line of ATM self-defense
is only go to ones located at indoor locations, such as in supermarkets,
convenience stores, shopping malls, and so on. If this is not practical then
use an ATM in a well lighted, highly populated outdoor location.
The second level of ATM self-defense, even
at the previously described inhabited locations, is to check your environment
thoroughly. Visually scan the area for shady looking individuals before you get
out of your car or walk up to the machine. If you see an individual who looks
out of place, you should never give them the benefit of the doubt, as it may
cost you your life. Instead, leave the location, go find another, safer, ATM.
At times, you may have viewed the area and
surmised that there was no apparent danger. As you are beginning your ATM
transaction, someone walks up behind you.
Many ATMS now have mirrors so you can see
the approach of other people. These are
an important tool of ATM self-defense.
Face-to-Face
One of the primary fundamentals to
successful self-defense is to encounter an individual face to face. With this,
you can quickly ascertain their intentions and see if attack is eminent.
If you are alone at an ATM and someone
comes up behind you, immediately turn around to face them. If it turns out that they are only waiting to
use the machine, smile at them and all is well. If, on the other hand, they
intend to rob you, then your self-defense can instantly begin and you will
possess a more clearly defined ability to emerge victorious.
Your
Money or Your Life
An important factor to calculate into any self-defense
scenario is that if all the person who has accosted you wants is your money or
your jewelry -- give it to them. Too many people have needlessly died
attempting to fight over a few dollars which can be replaced. Though being
robbed is certainly not right, dying because of a robbery is never necessary.
The other case to consider is that many
attackers possess no value for human life and they may take your money and then
injure you, as well. In these situation you must defend yourself to your
utmost, defeating them by any means necessary.
As each situation is different, there is
no method to define what a specific criminal has in mind. To this end, you must
read any altercation you find yourself involved in, make your own judgments,
and defend yourself as you feel necessary.
Bus
Stops, Subway Stations
Many people travel by means of public
transportation. Whether this is motivated by environmental consciousness or due
to financial constraints, locations such as Bus Stops and Subway Stations have
become a hot bed for criminal activity. This is primarily due to the fact that
potential victims are there waiting. Thus, they are not only available for
attack but are stationary targets.
The obvious preliminary self-defense
strategy at these locations is to check your environment before you enter it.
If you are alone and there is a person or persons present who you feel look
suspicious, leave the station.
In is an important first step in
environmental self-defense that when you enter a new location, you do so in a
stealth mode. Do not flamboyantly walk in, see trouble, turn, and leave. For if
you have entered and a criminal has taken notice of you, they may well follow
your exit. For this reason, study an environment with each step you take
towards it. See everything, before it has the opportunity to see you.
For obvious time constraint reasons you
may not always be able to walk away from a location of public transportation
once you have arrived. If this is your case, and you must remain even though
you have taken notice of potential danger, stand back in a position where the
suspicious person or persons can not see you. Once the bus or subway train
pulls up, rapidly move towards it and get on. In this way, you have not given a
potential attacker the time to formulate and execute their assault.
When you are awaiting publication
transportation placing yourself in a well lighted, populated spot is clearly
your first choice. You must keep in mind, however, that many crimes take place
while bystanders watch and do nothing. This is a sad fact of modern society.
Though screaming and asking for help is appropriate, you must immediately
launch into your own self-defense, if you are accosted, even in a public place
-- as this may be your only chance to defeat an attacker.
Environmental
Determinants
The savvy self-defense technician learns
to use what ever environment they find themselves in to their own defensive
advantage. Thereby, making all landscape and physical objects their ally and
not a hindrance to emerging unscathed from a physical altercation.
Outdoor
Determinants
There are numerous environmental
determinants which should be evaluated if you find yourself in an outdoor
confrontation. For example, are you on a hill?
If you find yourself on a hill, it is to your advantage to place
yourself in the higher stance, above your opponent. From this, you will possess the superior
positioning, where he must travel uphill to you. Powerful, low level kicks can be effortlessly
unleashed at him, from this position, with easy access to his head and upper
body region. This upper positioning placement is also important if a
confrontation is taking place on stairs.
If you find yourself at the lower level in
the encounter and exchanging places with your attacker is not possible, then
your best strategy is to move downhill, away from him, and make him come to
you. As he will be required to move in a descending fashion, he will be off
balance. You can take advantage of this
by striking him as he moves in on you with a powerful punch to his groin, knee,
or shin. You can. additional, quickly take
him from his feet by grasping his forward leg, at ankle level, and rapidly pulling
it downhill towards you. Once he is on the ground, a secondary counter attack
can be successfully unleashed.
Indoors
A similar style of movement orientated
environmental fighting can take place in smaller locations such as bars or
rooms where you have space to travel. Though you are much more confined in
these interior locations, by continually moving away from your attacker, not
only does he becomes drained of energy, but he may become frustrated, as well. A
frustrated attacker is easily disabled.
If you find yourself engaged in a close
contact indoor fighting situation and movement can not be your first line of self-defense,
then immediately striking your attacker to one of his vital points is a viable first
line defense. These strikes can be substantially aided by picking up any near
by object, such as a bottle, a glass or anything with weight, and striking him
in the head with it. Though this may seem less than sporting, if you are being
attacked by an unknown assailant, your survival is the only desired outcome.
Thus, protect yourself by any means necessary.
Available
Weaponry
One of the key factors to environmental self-defense
is to use whatever is at your disposal to secure your victory in the
confrontation. As you did not instigate the fight, there should never be a
second though about this process.
There are untold objects at your self-defense
disposal if you are targeted by an attacker.
There is your back pack or purse to hit his with. The hot coffee from you cup thrown in his
face. There are your keys to put between your fingers to punch with, your
credit or ATM card which can be used for slashing across an attackers face.
Sand or dirt from the ground can be picked up and thrown in your attacker’s
eyes. Doors can be closed on his arms. Doorways can be used to retreat behind,
concealing your oncoming punch. Nearby
flashlights, lamps, pipes, boards, trash can lid can be used to block or strike
with. Even a rolled up newspaper can be used to strike at an attacker,
momentarily startling him as you launch a counter attack.
In all self-defense situations, use the
environment to your advantage. Train
yourself, as you walk down streets or enter unknown rooms, to study what
elements are at hand and could be used to aid in your defense. See all
landscapes and objects as a friendly helper to keep you safe.
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