SD: Getting Real Life Experience

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. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding.)

I practice a martial art. I tend to work toward a more self-defense oriented practice and training. One of the most beneficial aspects of this type of discipline is “experience.” To truly know, understand and apply self-defense martial arts is to gain appropriate experience and that begs the question, “How do I get experience?”

Well, you could find someone that is a professional and then ask them to mentor you in conflict and violence. After all, as stated in the book Scaling Force by Rory Miller and Lawrence A. Kane, police who start off are required to be mentored by a more experienced officer to assist in building experience. These professionals and author of such fine works also will let you know that there are no mentoring done for conflict and violence in martial arts. You won’t find your sempai or sensei volunteering to take you out on the streets and provide you that mentoring that will teach you how to handle all kinds of conflict and violence. Go ahead, ask them.

As my previous postings have expressed, there is a lot missing from martial arts concerning self-defense and this one, mentoring for conflict and violence, is one of the big ones. Those same authors as will other professionals will tell you that when you are attacked in a violent way you will not have your sensei, your sempai or dojo mates there to cheer you on and shout encouragement and advice in handling an adversary. It is also true that all your kumite and tournament competitions will not get-r-done either - mostly. 

So, the question remains, how do you get real life experience so that you can at least use it to validate your martial arts practice? For most, you can’t and you won’t and you in all likelihood will never have to gain that experience. But a few will and the only way to gain any experience that will address your taking that leap across the abyss of no-experience is to train with folks who provide what some might call, “Reality based stress adrenal flooding no bullshit” training. It is out there and you can find it, if you look.

Want to find some sources for reality based training programs? The bibliography that follows references such places, so, get to work.

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
Strong, Sanford. “Strong on Defense_ Survival Rules to Protect you and your Family from Crime.” Pocket Books. New York. 1996.
and more … see blog bibliography.

My Blog Bibliography

Chiron: http://chirontraining.blogspot.com
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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