Drills are great, a great teaching tool. But, what exactly are you teaching your students when you have them perform drills? Rory Miller’s book, “Meditations on Violence,” provides you a hint then he goes on to speak at length (actually write at length) on the flaw in the drill. It reminds me of the training we were given in the Marines.
The Marines, like any other military organization in human history, must acquire new recruits. These new recruits, except in very rare cases, are not combat experienced or combat ready ergo why the military has recruit training. The model of that training is to provide the best possible realistic type training while not causing the type of injuries that would make that recruit a lost Marine. It also has to model the training and practice so that they can at least get a feel for what they may encounter when they are sent into harms way.
This is not easy and it is not foolproof. Take the following quote from Rory Miller’s book:
“In the end, a martial artist is training to injure, cripple, or kill another human being. In any drill where students are not regularly hospitalized, there is a DELIBERATE flaw, a deliberate break from the needs of reality introduced in the name of safety. In every drill you teach, you must consciously know that the flaw is and make your students aware of it.” ~ Rory Miller, Meditations on Violence pg 107 paragraph one of section 5.1: the flaw in the drill
Just like his quote in martial drills, even the military have deliberate flaws in their training in the hopes that the new recruits, under the leadership and guidance of “Hopefully” experienced combat veterans, will last long enough to gain the experience that cannot be passed to them in recruit training. This applies to SD instruction and especially in martial arts disciplines.
Even if we are able to receive periodic training in what some call the “Reality Based no Bullshit Community” reality based training it is still flawed - but, it is closer and that part is good.
In my karate training and practice over the years and due to my sensei’s pension to fight I have had broken toes, broken ribs, cracked teeth, bloody head injuries - cuts and abrasions on the head and face, badly sprained and bruised blade of foot, strained-bruised-stress fractured shins and fingers and so on. Even with those, it was not real life fighting or self-defense, not really because as in drills it was always flawed, i.e., we knew that we were not going to intentionally cause great bodily damage to one another even tho we had accidents. That seems to be normal when you stretch the application parts of martial arts into a physical contact type training.
Then we have to take into consideration the flaws, i.e., training for sport vs. training for self-defense vs. reality based training vs. adrenal flooding exposure training and so on. We have to know that our power and application of technique is not adequate force and power to stop an attack. We have to know that once we make a hit or contact that it does not end there and that we often have to apply several power stopping capable applications to stop the damage, stop the attack and leave time-distance-safety to run for a safe zone and so on.
Most important when drilling one must not just understand the flaws involved but we must be constantly aware so that we don’t make the drill based on that flaw.
Rory Miller’s book, as with all his books, has some enlightening information in it for self-defense, conflicts and violence that a martial artist must understand and apply toward their training and practice but most of all have a self-awareness of the flaws in that training and practice.
Get and read Rory Miller’s books, get all the following as an introduction to what he and Mr. MacYoung have to offer and they are only the first two in a long list of professionals with experience.
Primary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Meditations of Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence" YMAA Publishing. 2008.
Secondary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
Goleman, Daniel. "Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition [Kindle Edition]." Bantam. January 11, 2012.
Miller, Rory. "ConCom: Conflict Communications A New Paradigm in Conscious Communication." Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 2014.
Miller, Rory and Kane, Lawrence A. "Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision-making under Threat of Violence." YMAA Publisher. New Hampshire. 2012
Miller, Rory. "Force Decisions: A Citizen's Guide." YMAA Publications. NH. 2012.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected." YMAA Publishing. 2011.
Elgin, Suzette Haden, Ph.D. "More on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense." Prentice Hall. New Jersey. 1983.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Last Word on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1995
Morris, Desmond. “Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior.” Harry N. Abrams. April 1979.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1993.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Written Self-Defense" MJF Books. 1997.
Maffetone, Philip Dr. “The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness.” McGraw Hill, New York. 2000 and more … see blog bibliography.
My Blog Bibliography
Cornered Cat (Scratching Post): http://www.corneredcat.com/scratching-post/
Kodokan Boston: http://kodokanboston.org
Mario McKenna (Kowakan): http://www.kowakan.com
Mokuren Dojo: http://www.mokurendojo.com
McYoung’s Musings: http://macyoungsmusings.blogspot.com
Martial Views: http://www.martialviews.com
Shinseidokan Dojo: http://shinseidokandojo.blogspot.com
The Classi Budoka: https://classicbudoka.wordpress.com
Wim Demeere’s Blog: http://www.wimsblog.com
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