Be aware that every instructor has a LEGAL and MORAL obligation to let every client know that what they learn can have potential lethal consequences. You must DETER a situation by avoidance, DEFUSE the situation by verbal means or escape, and DEFEND as a last resort. Certain tools, techniques, and tactics can injure, maim, disfigure, or even kill another person. There is a certain responsibility with learning skills such as these.
The first part, deter, means that you are using your full awareness prior to the confrontation even taking place. You are actually paying close attention to your immediate surroundings. You should trust your gut instinct and inner warning signals that danger is imminent. If you are facing a ‘bad guy’ you should look for the pre-incident indicators that tell you something is about to happen. You should be mindful of avenues of escape; barriers that can be placed between you and the ‘bad guy’, and potential everyday items around you that could be picked up and used as weapons. (A.K.A. T.O.Y.S. which will come in a later post!)
To defuse a situation may require action on your part, especially if the attention is on you. In the verbal training scenarios I provide I frequently have to remind clients that their words and body language must be congruous. In other words, it’s difficult to convey the message that you don’t want to fight when your fists are balled up. The idea is to use the N.A.P.P. (covered in an earlier post) and create an opportunity for escape.
The defend part of this three part equation must come as a last resort. If you are in a situation that calls for a pre-emptive strike, then it must be done decisively and with conviction. There must be no doubts that you have to stop the aggressor from acting out with any further physical actions! On that same token, you have to answer to the law after the altercation. This is where you must justify your physical actions.
A good self-defense course covers all three parts to adequately prepare you for a situation. For this very reason you must practice your verbal defusing in your reality-based scenario training. Understand and learn to recognize all the signs that mean a situation is about to go from bad to worse. This is often neglected in self-defense courses and cheats participants in the worst way possible. As I have often said in my own courses and presentations, when it comes to learning effective personal defense, if the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything begins to look like a nail. In other words, if the only thing I teach is physical skills, then in your mind you will begin to justify the use of force in every situation you encounter.
Clyde Arnold has been teaching martial arts in Northern Kentucky to both adults and youth since 1995 and studying since 1983. Coach Arnold teaches private and small-group Personal Defense (Self Defense) / FAST Defense to adults and is also the Martial Arts Program Director at Top Flight Gymanstics in Crestview Hills, KY. More information about these programs are available at ClydeArnold.com and NKyMartialArts.com.
Tags:
clyde arnold, fast defense, martial arts, northern kentucky, personal defense, self defense
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