A LOOK IN SIMONS MIND
Martial Arts as Self-Defence; 2
The discussion of Martial Arts as Self-Defence, is a discussion that could go on for ever. It is argued by thousands of people, over thousands of blogs and articles and there are thousands of hours of video and interviews.
This is only a small part of a big picture.
Since we set a base in the last blog, lets break into some of the detail.
Violence in society is pervasive. Do martial arts have a way to cure it? Do they make you safer?
Who USES Violence and or Martial Arts?
The question – Who uses their martial art? or Who is involved in violence? – is an important one and we need to break it down.
Unless you are military, police, security or a combat sport fighter, there are very few occasions, or situations, where you actually need to use your martial art skills.
The people in our society who carry this burden of legally sanctioned violence are small in number, but are large in the public eye. Their ability to protect themselves or others has been an integral part of a societal contract which goes back eons.
Like it or not, good or bad, this is the social contract the western world lives with.
Flipside to the lawful use of violence, is the unlawful use. This of course, is the other aspect that spurs people in to getting martial arts training.
Top of the list of those to use violence would be gangs, gang members or people that choose to spend their time with the authentically, tough and bad criminals, small in number but statistically significant in violence and crime rate.
One of the things that is prevalent in gang culture these days, is martial arts training.
The next one isn’t often thought about, or even talked about, and it also involves clubs – sports clubs. The violence associated with sports clubs, and players, cannot be underestimated. These are notorious places for all sorts of violence.
Lastly is the simplest one but probably the hardest to define…
Citizen violence. This kind of violence is often spurred on by alcohol or other intoxicants. Inhibitions have been lowered and tolerance levels have dropped. Behavior has been compromised and a silly word or deed can cause trouble. You bumped my girl or you spilled my drink, causes fights every weekend somewhere in the world, and any fight is a dangerous fight.
Also sadly, there are adults and children that are not safe in their own homes, this is a larger societal issue and a mere martial arts blog isn’t going to correct it…seek professional help, please.
All of this is non-consensual violence, and these are some of the main reasons people have for wanting to learn a martial art.
Fear;
The reasons stated above are legitimate reasons for learning a martial art.
In this light, there seems to be an overall driver – FEAR.
Fear of bullies. Fear of criminals. Fear of physical or sexual assault.
How often are you in these situations? Are they cured by violence alone?
In many cases I don’t believe so and, sadly, at times, violence may make the situation worse.
I really don’t want to de-legitimise peoples fears by coldly laying out a statistical analyses of how often people are attacked in these forms – that isn’t really going to add perspective to this discussion.
One single attack OR the fear of attack can scar someone for life.
In saying all this, the fear is real, and I don’t want to add to the fear.
But is violence cured by violence?
Do martial arts classes save you from physical violence or fear of physical violence?
Hmmmm yeah nah maybe, probably not, there are many other important factors.
So then, why am I promoting the martial arts???
Because, there are some simple and critical components to self-defence, that are often overlooked – self-awareness, self-confidence and situational awareness.
These issues CAN be taught at a martial art school.
Being Self-Aware
Being confident of protecting yourself with physical violence is definitely not the complete answer.
Situational awareness and self-awareness are critical factors when it comes to self-defence.
It is in this sense that alcohol is such a problem in the self-defence scene.
Bad decision making and bad judgement can lead to dangerous places.
Impaired cognitive function can cause huge issues when it comes to personal ‘self-defence’.
Alcohol can severely affect decision making, of both predator and prey.
Going down random dark alleyways. Getting in cars with strangers that offer you a lift. Going to strange bars where you know no one. Going off alone with that cute person. Drunkenly walking home alone late at night. These are all red flags that could potentially put you in danger.
I would like to say I could teach you self defence in these situations, and keep you safe…but it would not be the full truth.
If you have made silly and bad choices there is little you or I can do. The simple answer is, don’t make bad choices!!! The reality is, sometimes you just do stupid things.
Having a bit of situational awareness, self-awareness and self-confidence will help.
Predators pick on easy prey. Don’t be the easy prey.
Learning physical self-defence wont save you from dumb decisions. A 160cm – 50kg (5’3-110lb) picking a fight with a, 195 – 110kg (6’4-240lb), person, will almost always be a troublesome fight, (that’s why there are weight classes in combat sports), and there is high potential to get badly injured.
You pick a fight with gangsters or hop in a random car with strangers, no amount of self-defence is going to cure stupid choices.
More than Punches and Kicks
Where does martial arts fit in?
Karate is more than punches and kicks. Karate is, focus, self-discipline and self-awareness.
Karates modus operandi shifted, from civil self-defence to a competition sport, and it bares little resemblance to the original art.
Good or bad, these are the facts.
The focus of many traditional martial arts has shifted. 150 years ago Karate was a brutal close quarter combat art. That changed last century.
The core has become, health, fitness, focus, self-confidence, self-respect, self-improvement and sport.
When it comes to the ‘self-defence’ we have been talking about above – health, fitness, self-confidence, self-awareness – you actually have a many great components for real self-defence. If you add a little situational awareness we are starting to get somewhere on the self-defence front.
Seen through this lens, throwing punches, kicks, strangles, chokes or locks is the last part of self-defence.
BUT…
I can teach you a great many theoretical skills. I can give you the potential to do great damage. I can pressure test you in many ways. Through sparing or rolling in the dojo, I can give you tactical awareness. In a similar way we can learn to shift our pain tolerance. These can help keep a clearer mindset while you are in adrenal response and panic.
But if you keep putting yourself into those bad situations, it is much harder to help.
Conclusion
In the light of all this, professionals at violence tend to be, hard on one side of the law, or hard on the other side of the law.
Violence may be perpetrated by a small number of people in our society, but if that 1 in 1000 victims is you, statistics mean nothing.
“Best block – don’t be there”
Your best defence against these types of attacks is – self-discipline, self-awareness, situational awareness, confidence and belief in yourself … in last place is … skill in physical violence.
OH WELL that’s a bit harsh Simon – where is the nice “I can protect you and teach you to be a killing machine for $5.99 and in 5 easy lessons and you will never have to worry about criminals again”.
Sorry, I cant make you that promise.
But I can offer you a certain skill set, and teach some horribly brutal techniques that, may, save your life.
More importantly though, to get real benefit, you need to drill techniques again and again. Consistent training over periods of time under serious pressure.
Then if you are in trouble and body and mind fall into BAR (body alarm reaction) – the fight, flight or freeze response, you should be able to maintain awareness enough to get yourself out of the situation.
Fitness, self-confidence, self-awareness, situational awareness are all keys to good self-defence, best of all, they are taught at most good martial arts schools…right alongside the bite them, kick them, punch them, choke them and pull their balls off.
Karate wont save your life – but training at Karate might
BJJ wont save your life – but training at BJJ might.
The martial arts are great for self-defence – but not in the way most people think.
So even though you may be a black belt in this art or that art, your best self-defence is the grey matter between your ears.
Thank you for reading. Simon Tarrant
This topic is too big to fit in one blog. This is not an exhaustive complete account of all self-defence, its just a little of what goes on in my mind. It is a personal view and reflects on no other art or instructor style.
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