Kenpo Blog - What is Self Defense.

[jjaje]

OK - this forum has been too quiet for too long.

Below is an excerpt from a Kenpo Blog about What is Self Defense (http://kenpo-michigan.com/KB/2011/02/19/what-is-self-defense-part-1/)? Comments? Let's discuss.


Unfortunately, the term “Self Defense” is somewhat of a generic catch all for many different things. When asked what is “Self Defense”, the first thing that pops into many minds is often: Firearms, Martial Arts, Awareness or all too often, a confused glare.

Self Defense, simply put, are the actions one takes to ensure their safety from elements of the environment that are out of their control. It is being prepared, without being paranoid, for common and not so common factors which can affect their safety.

The Internet has thousands if not millions of forums or chat areas. Too often someone will ask a question like, “Which Gun Should I get for home self defense?” From there, a plethora of posts will come out for guns, against guns and recommendations for dozens of different firearms. What you rarely see are posts asking what else they have done to ensure their safety.

You see, using a firearm is an option of last resort. There are a lot of things one can do for home self defense and personal safety before the need to ever use a firearm comes up. For example, did they:

* Get information, often provided free by local police departments, on outdoor lighting, shrub trimming, locks and door recommendations?
* Work with their neighbors on a neighborhood watch program?
* Learn what to do if a stranger comes to the door?
* Develop a plan of where to go and what to do in the unlikely event something happens?

You see, many people think buying the firearm brings them safety, yet somehow in a country where the FBI estimates there are over 200 million privately owned firearms, there are still personal safety issues.

Using the firearm analogy above, Martial Arts is the same way. There is more to personal safety than learning a strong self defense style like Kenpo Karate. Hopefully you will have exhausted all other means of self defense before you need to use your martial arts training. Some of these things include:
# Not going in known areas of trouble. Staying out of potentially dangerous places is one of the best ways to stay safe. It seems so simple, yet still manages to be ignored too often.
# Being aware of your surroundings. Using your eyes to look ahead behind and to the sides. Being alert by dark shadows and around corners. Often this may mean looking at where you are going instead of typing a text into your phone.
# Being alert, especially in unfamiliar surroundings. Tuning out of the environment by listening to music through earbuds, or burying yourself into a book makes it easier for a potential threat to get close to you, without you knowing it.
# Practice Correct Body Language. Many criminals, when asked why they chose one person over another to rob/assault they almost always come back to the idea that one person “looked like an easier target.”
# Using verbal conflict resolution to de-escalate a situation. Learn how diffuse a situation. Many physical confrontations start by something small, that escalates higher by simple name calling and insults.

[Mekugi]

I am going out on a limb here and say that 9 times out of 10 the "self defense" associated with the martial arts is more about self confidence and feeling at ease. While there are a lot of venues for this, martial arts seem to come up first on the list.

The fact of the matter is, most of us already practice self defense- and very well. Most stay out of fights, stay away from trouble and know that locking your doors at night are the ways to do it. There is something else that seeps into the psyche here, I am guessing a feeling of helplessness. Training in the martial arts seems to market to this "fear" and keep people coming back.

I am not sure if that is right or wrong.

My two bits....

[jjaje]

What is interesting is that when googling "Self Defense" a whole of of stuff, other than martial arts, comes up/ Much of it ranked quite high (by Google's algorithm at least). I think people forget that personal safety is more than just self defense, or learning a martial art.

However, you are absolutely right, when you say "self defense" many people automatically think of martial arts.

Part 2 (http://kenpo-michigan.com/KB/2011/03/15/what-is-self-defense-part-2/) was finally posted (and it is wordy). Knowing it would focus more on Kenpo vs other styles is why I put the original link in the Kenpo forums.

One portion for opining is quoted below:


Is the Martial Art Suitable for Self Defense Instruction?

Some people think that all martial arts schools are the same, but this could not be further from the truth. Some karate schools focus on kids the most, some focus more on sport than self defense. Other schools are teaching arts that according to their marketing and literature were not made for general self defense.

There are some martial arts which claim to be the what the Navy SEALS use or the same system of the Israeli Special Forces Commandos train. The problem is that I’m not a SEAL, nor an Israeli Special Forces soldier, chances are most people reading this are not either. When you think about it, Special Forces and SEALS are part of a team. Not just a team, but usually a well armed team, whose mission could be more offensive than defensive. When going about our day to day activities in Michigan, or other parts of the country, we are likely not as well armed as your regular Navy Seal. If we need to use self defense, we likely won’t have team members right there to protect our backs and help us. Chances are we will be unarmed or lightly armed, and on our own. Thus while there is certainly overlap between what a Navy Seal might learn in hand to hand combat and what is needed for unarmed self defense, they have different objectives.

How about the Police then? Maybe you should learn the same self defense systems the police here, or in other parts of the world, learn. Again, while there certainly is overlap, the objectives of the police are different than your objectives for self defense. Due to past litigation, most police officers are restricted by their department policy on what strikes, grabs or chokes they can use. Would you want to have restrictions in a life or death self defense situation? Whereas a police officer is duty bound to stay with the situation, in a self defense situation, your goal is to get away safely, not hang around.

From a logical standpoint, if you are more likely to need to use self defense in situation where you are unarmed, and possibly alone, it seems you would want to pick one that has that as an objective from the start. Karate literally means empty hand fighting, in today’s terms you might call it suburban self defense.

Self Defense Training Intensity

When training in martial arts, it is not just the quality of the system you train in, but also the intensity of the training that is important. It is not only important to train in a style with the same objective and goals as you have, but it is also important to train in a way that provides realism and a certain amount of resistance.

One can learn solid self defense techniques, yet without practicing them on a resisting opponent, or in a realistic manner, then they don’t actually gain the experience necessary of being able to apply the technique in a real situation. Practicing the techniques on assorted sizes of people of different ability levels allows one to gain necessary experience to work the techniques in more situations. Adding small amounts of stress and intensity to the practice will help to train one’s mind to stay focused during a real situation.

However, just working hard or intensely is not enough. We often hear the phrase “Practice makes Perfect”, but if you constantly practice something the wrong way, you will perform it the wrong way later. The correct version of the phrase is “Perfect Practice makes Perfect.” Which brings to one of the issues with taking a system designed for Commandos and Seals, and applying it to suburbanite self defense, what are you really practicing, and does the goal and objective align with your needs?