I often tout about the underlying fundamental principles of martial systems. In a nutshell it is about learning and applying those principles to achieve master or at least proficiency in martial arts as they are applied against an opponent (opponent is used a lot in the book while I tend to think of an adversary (i.e., attacker and/or predator in social and asocial conflict/violence).
As I study conflict, violence, force levels and self-defense I realize something missing from the principles as they apply to a SD/MA model. Both are about two major obstacles to making a martial art work in SD.
First there is SD, i.e. “Conflict communications; Emotional Intelligence; Lines/square/circle of SD, Three brains (human, monkey, lizard), JAM/AOJ and five stages, Adrenal stress (stress induced reality based), Violence (Social and Asocial), Pre-Attack indicators, Weapons, Predator process and predator resource, Force levels, Repercussions (medical, legal, civil, personal), Go-NoGo, Win-Loss Ratio, etc. and more ….”
Then there seems to be a subset of additional and necessary principles (as I am calling them for the moment but are actually physical and mental obstacles to martial systems in the SD arena), i.e., a principle I tentatively refer to as the Chemical Cocktail (stole it from Rory Miller’s book “Meditations of Violence.”) i.e., Attacked Mind, Train It, Breath It Away, Visualize It Away, Sparring vs. Fighting, Degradation of Technique/skills, Peripheral Vision Loss, Tunnel Vision, Depth Perception Loss/Altered, Auditory Exclusion, Weakened legs/arms, Loss of Extremity Feeling, Loss of Fine Motor Skills, Distorted Memory/perceptions, Tachypsychia (time slows), Freeze, Perception of Slow Motion, Irrelevant Thought Intrusion, Behavioral Looping, Pain Blocked, Male vs. Female Adrenaline Curve, Victim vs. Predator, The Professional, Levels of Hormonal Stimulation, ??? (denotes there are more but this is a good start.)
To me, if the original four principles, i.e., theory, physiokinetics, technique, and philosophy, are necessary to make a martial system work for self-defense then these next two categories of SELF-DEFENSE and CHEMICAL COCTAIL are also essential to all martial systems and can be more underlying principles (maybe, the jury is still out on this) because without a solid knowledge, understanding and experience in these area’s the martial arts, as they are taught and trained today, will not fill the bill in an attack.
Since most of my work on this is more academic, I am not teaching in a dojo anymore even if I am still in practice, etc., and I would suggest that other active martial arts instructors who emphasize self-defense instruction to test this out and to adjust their training accordingly.
Not saying this is set in stone but it seems to my mind that these two are critical to change a martial art into something the “WILL” work. My soul goal here is to inspire others much younger and much more capable than I to consider these as a possibility. The training of these area’s is far more complex and has requirements I cannot fill in the dojo but others the potential end results can be staggering. I suspect that professionals are getting more and more of this aspect due to the efforts to exchange such idea’s between those professionals that are already getting out there in seminars and so on.
Actually, I am jealous that there was not this type and extent of information and possibilities in my early and more active years. I suspect there was but in all probability those with the proficiency and experience were few and far between. I am thankful that this has changed for this provides opportunities for the current community that is awesome.
Bibliography (The above post are my thoughts and mine alone, the below are simply sources that influence my thoughts on this subject):
MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.
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. "Meditations of Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence" YMAA Publishing. 2008.
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.
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