Focusing on Techniques

" ... concepts are more important than specific techniques." - Peyton Quinn

Focusing on techniques is the mainstay of many martial arts self-defense courses, i.e. a focus on specific techniques in response to specific attack techniques. I know this to be true because my introduction to SD in a martial art was the same focus. I thought, at the time, that this was way cool and I was learning a lot about self-defense - I was completely and utterly wrong. 

As Peyton Quinn tells us concepts are more important. Once I gained the understanding of what violence is and what self-defense is I came to understand that to achieve self-defense I had to take a different perspective and approach to it. It is a hard road to travel because many will have to let go of those specificities  and take a look at the concepts that go into defense of violence. This is very difficult and may be the reason why so many self-defense courses tend toward the "easy route" to self-defense. When it involves teaching folks who in all likelihood will never need it then it flourishes. 

Many of the issues I have with the dogma of leaning my system of karate with all its drills, etc. is they are remnants of the past (in the day when Ti or Toudi existed many of the encounters were more of a challenge between villages, dueling for honor, etc. so these may have been excellent methods of learning and teaching) and are excellent introductions but fail to carry the ball to the gaol posts for self-defense. These systems of SD in my system of karate are good fillers and have excellent benefits but those benefits are outside of the self-defense realm. These fillers give the teacher fodder for the cannons that are used to blast you with requirements for advancement and grading (by the way which mean money for commercial training facilities). 

It takes a lot of courage to venture outside this static and inefficient method of teaching self-defense. To seek out those concepts that promote knowing and understanding violence (read Rory Miller and Marc MacYoung on the Internet and in books) and self-defense concepts (read the materials by Rory Miller, Marc MacYoung, Wim Demeere, Alain Burrese, Peyton Quinn, etc. - my list of recommendations) to gain the knowledge to seek out self-defense that will work for you as well as supplement your teachings if you teach SD. 

It is ok to learn all these things in martial arts yet when labeling them as self-defense it is important, actually critical, that one learn what self-defense is and how is can be applied to your martial system because many of them just don't carry the weight necessary for defense. 

Look to the right for links to many of the resources I believe are useful in self-defense and martial arts.