What do you really know about
self-defense? Most Martial Arts are set up to fight “12th
century Koreans”.* Other Martial Arts are designed to help fight in
a ring with a referee. Both have there place, both have advantages
and disadvantages. But the question remains, what about self-defense?
The survival mindset is sometime very difficult to teach in a class
room setting, even more difficult to teach in a ring. The real
question is, what is your attitude towards self-defense. Do you
believe you can over power an attacker, out maneuver or even escape?
“If you believe you can or you believe you can't, your probably
right”, this a very true statement. Techniques alone can not give
you what you need to survive an attack. Attitude is the key. What you
know about self-defense is what you know about yourself, you are
confident or not.
When I teach a class my goal is to go
beyond technique and show principals that allow students to think
for themselves. It is important for a student to own a principal not
a set of techniques that are derived from the principals. It is also
important to empower students by building confidence to over coming
personal fear. Attitude/confidence is developed form positive
reinforce training not by technique alone. What do you really know
about self-defense? The answer is, what do you know about yourself.
If you have had some training that was empowering, you are on the
right path however if you have been bullied or taught inferior
techniques you probably are already defeated.
*Allen Shelton
