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.
According the Stanford Strong, author of Strong on Defense, police and SWAT training academies throughout the United States, the core of officer survival training is the survival mind-set. What he then explains as meaning, having bottom-line survival decisions made before violence strikes.
Mr. Strong goes on to stress, “a survival mind-set creates a point of reference, a starting block for that moment when the difference between life or death (or great bodily harm) is decisions made immediately. Survival is what you do when the crime is going down and what is instantly done or not done likely decides who survives and who doesn’t.”
“The advantage of a survival mind-set over everything else is that it’s always with you and ready for immediate use.” This means one must train the mind-set so that when the sudden assault, i.e., the fast, hard, close and surprise attack, hits where there is no space and no time to think or decide as to goals and tactics to remain safe and secure. This is where mind-set come into play or what I prefer, setting a mind-state you can rely on instinctively to “get-r-done.”
This post is my attempt to learn, understand and then apply to my life so that if, god forbid, I encounter violence by surprise that results in both fear and pain my mind-set/mind-state will kick in and allow me to bypass the OOD part and act, Yea!
Martial Arts
Strong on Defense states: “There is nothing wrong with the martial arts except that as normally instructed, they are not the answer to surviving violence. In their pure form, they have many objectives: discipline, control of both body and mind, as well as fundamental principles of martial systems, i.e., mastery of physiokinetics such as posture, structure, centerline, spinal alignment and so on. Crime survival has one objective: to make split-second decisions under the stress of violence and a time of life or death or grave bodily harm.”
Martial arts are mostly studied in our modern society as a means of personal accomplishment, gaining respect for self and others, ability to concentrate, to achieve balance, self-control and development of self-discipline - all a part of survival training but accessible in a violent encounter IF your get that far first by instinctual triggering a proper mind-set/mind-state. Martial Arts is also excellant in exposing a practitoner in experiencing pain - to learn what it is like to be hit, to be knocked down, and most of all to get back up and continue regardless of those things along with experiencing fear and surprise, etc.
Martial Arts can be a tool to combating violence provided the training encompasses that full spectrum of violence as presented in the book by Rory Miller, Meditations on Violence, where he explains how four phases of training that get you there.
Another aspect of martial arts concerning survival of violence is it is just the opposite of the accumulation of techniques, kata, and black belts but rather about reductionism, i.e., trimming moves and applications for efficiency, revamping to break down what is trained for violence defense into simple and easy goals and tactics with fluid techniques and combinations that will be encoded into that mind.
What must not be forgotten and the distinction all martial artists must believe, understand and accept is that martial arts and crime survival are two totally different and distinct disciplines yet both can cross over if the training and practice are adjusted. Even so, the one definitive training requirement is the one that trains the mind or mind-set/mind-state as described in the book, Strong on Defense.
Crime Defense
It starts, especially for civilians who are not professionals like police, military or security, with the study of “real-life crime scenarios.” Training must be related to reality, the reality that comes from the real and directly inter-connected to this type of training. It is about teaching the practical side with stronger emphasis over the art side in martial arts - not neglecting that art side as well. Both are also seperate and distinct disciplines and should remain so in training.
Surviving crime and the violence that is a part of that comes from the mental toughness one develops and that does not come from ignoring crime and violence because it is hard to digest, difficult to see and leaves bad feelings. It is part about education, acceptance and taking the reins and riding forward to create a mind-set/mind-state that will allow other disciplines and tools to be available when violence hits.
Mind-Setting Mind-State
The core of Strong on Defense’s mind-set training is about rehearsal and visualization. One must not assume that this is the end all of training to deal with crime and violence but rather another tool that one should teach and learn in phase one and two of the four phases of training. Look at it as a way of planning your responses to various scenario’s but in a way that they will be available and doable to many scenario’s, not just the one.
When you draw on real-life crime cases you can analyze things, discover mistakes as you perceive them from others, learn and then decide on how you would do it if that happened to you. Mr. Strong wants his readers, I feel, to create survival do’s and don’ts from the study and discussion and visualization of “worst-case” scenario planning.
When facing violence and crime the mind should not be working toward what and why the attacker is doing what they are doing but rather focus should be on “what you are going to do.”
Reality training, if available to you, may supplement and support this type of mind-set/mind-state training but it ain’t the real thing. Since most life or death or grave bodily harm attacks cannot truly be trained physically we have to mentally rehearse with visualization along with group discussions with friends, family and/or dojo mates for martial arts so that you are exposed to different perspectives, perceptions and idea’s to create those mind-set/mind-state do’s and don’ts.
Another benefit of this type of training is it helps build on your awareness, another aspect taught in phase one and/or phase two of violence/crime training. This type of awareness provides those instinctual alarms that we feel, like a spidey sense, to achieve avoidance, noticing quickly those road signs that say, “danger, violence and/or crime ahead!”
Make your planning, mental rehearsal-visualization-discussions, your plan for when you encounter crime/violence. Think of it as planning to make good decisions - from a good system - where you discuss, visualize and rehearse the do’s and don’ts to reduce and/or mitigate the consequences of crime/violence and so on.
When you train rehearsal, visualization and round-table discussions make sure you are aware of self, aware of self-honesty, aware of fear and pain, and aware of fear, pain and injury so it won’t be an obstacle to your acting. Make the first order of business in mind-set training to learn to deal with fear, pain and injury - three factors that contribute to mind-lock, the freeze.
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
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