Caveat: This post is mine and mine alone. I the author of this blog assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this post.
If you are not acting by the time a fist, foot or weapon is headed toward you, it is too late, you are reacting. Sound (hearing awareness), peripheral vision and touch are faster then focused sight. Then add in the OODA loop, i.e., you see the fist coming you have observed but by the time you orient, decide then act it is way to late. If your adversary is already moving his weapon toward you it means he has oriented, decided and is well into the act while your brain is moving at the start of the loop.
When you are exposed to the loop and the timing involved in actions, i.e., read about the Tueller Drill here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tueller_Drill you will discover that the time it takes for action to achieve its goals is such that your observe, orientation, decision to act process makes your reaction slow enough that action beating reaction makes more sense.
In Martial Arts it is said, taught and believed as a martial philosophy that one must not use their skills except in defense. Some make the assumption that a karate-ka, just one system of martial art, must not strike first. It is then assumed that a karate-ka, because of their supposed superior skills, should not strike an adversary first but only strike in defense of an attack - this is just plain wrong for self-defense of crime and violence.
It can be said that in a violent attack where you are surprised, in pain from the chaos and brutal and fast and hard damage where fear has taken hold you have no choice but to react. Yes, that type of an attack is an action that is truly beating the hell out of your reaction but reaction is all you have left to break the attack and violence cycle.You have to break the loop, you have to break the fear and you have to break the freeze from all of this and that happens by proper training and practice to which I say training your mind-set/mind-state being a priority. You are starting that process by reading posts like this, books like I list in the bibliography and training under the four phase model Rory Miller presents in his book, Meditations on Violence.
Going back to martial arts philosophy, the don’t strike first meme may be a good peaceful philosophy when you apply it toward those defense steps before the fight is on, i.e., avoidance and deescalation to name two, then not striking first makes a bit more sense. The trouble there is martial arts dojo don’t teach that to you.
Martial Arts forget that teaching the stuff necessary for awareness to violence dynamics, force decisions, legal ramifications, and more makes the need to strike first moot. If you are not there, not succumbing to the monkey stuff and taking appropriate actions such as creating distance and/or leaving then you don’t need to strike first. Look at this as your action causing your adversary to drop back in his loop leaving them only reaction. Your action changing his reaction to something less violent and so on.
Make your action one done before violence hits. Train to act over reaction in your training and practice. If you reach the next stage make your actions to counter the assault small and by reflex to stop your attacker in his tracks. Make your actions such that you keep out of violent conflicts and if that isn’t possible you act accordingly along with survival of violence, legal and health/psychological ramifications.
Make your skills less about your karate and kung-fu moves and more about the goals that provide avoidance and deescalation over the type of action that results in death or grave bodily harm - yours as priority and your adversary’s if possible after you gain safety and security from harm as well as others exposed.
Action beats reaction, for sure, and the type of action is important as well. Make it about phases you can take before reaching the violent part. If you are attacked by surprise have your mind set with a plan to break that cycle and take a superior level in the loop over your adversary to “get-r-done.”
Note: I am being simplistic to get an idea across, there is far more to this than what I present. See the bibliography.
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:
Ayoob, Massad. “Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self-Defense”Gun Digest Books. Krouse Publications. Wisconsin. 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. "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
2 comments:
<< ACTION OVER REACTION >>
IMHO, traditional karate is about the development of mental discipline. The conscious, mental capability of the person drives the physical capability. This differentiates traditional karate(s) from the sport-based fighting methods we see in MMA.
Traditional karate schools typically don't come out and state what the author is saying here. Because mental development is an explicit foundation of karate training, the principle of action over reaction is implicit.
No question that fast reactions can be effective. In traditional karate done right, though, we don't react to what our opponent has done, we deliberately act. We response in a precise way, with the correct technique at the exact time.
All too many train karate like a sport. They develop physical- based skills reliant on mere reactions. What they become is an athlete, sometimes highly skilled ones. What they lack is the powerful dynamics of a traditional karateka to continuously change as the martial circumstances evolve....
Normally, I don't approve "anon" comments but in this instance I appreciated the response. I prefer folks to comment using their identities.
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