Please take a look at Articles on self-defense/conflict/violence for introductions to the references found in the bibliography page.

Please take a look at my bibliography if you do not see a proper reference to a post.

Please take a look at my Notable Quotes

Hey, Attention on Deck!

Hey, NOTHING here is PERSONAL, get over it - Teach Me and I will Learn!


When you begin to feel like you are a tough guy, a warrior, a master of the martial arts or that you have lived a tough life, just take a moment and get some perspective with the following:


I've stopped knives that were coming to disembowel me

I've clawed for my gun while bullets ripped past me

I've dodged as someone tried to put an ax in my skull

I've fought screaming steel and left rubber on the road to avoid death

I've clawed broken glass out of my body after their opening attack failed

I've spit blood and body parts and broke strangle holds before gouging eyes

I've charged into fires, fought through blizzards and run from tornados

I've survived being hunted by gangs, killers and contract killers

The streets were my home, I hunted in the night and was hunted in turn


Please don't brag to me that you're a survivor because someone hit you. And don't tell me how 'tough' you are because of your training. As much as I've been through I know people who have survived much, much worse. - Marc MacYoung

WARNING, CAVEAT AND NOTE

The postings on this blog are my interpretation of readings, studies and experiences therefore errors and omissions are mine and mine alone. The content surrounding the extracts of books, see bibliography on this blog site, are also mine and mine alone therefore errors and omissions are also mine and mine alone and therefore why I highly recommended one read, study, research and fact find the material for clarity. My effort here is self-clarity toward a fuller understanding of the subject matter. See the bibliography for information on the books. Please make note that this article/post is my personal analysis of the subject and the information used was chosen or picked by me. It is not an analysis piece because it lacks complete and comprehensive research, it was not adequately and completely investigated and it is not balanced, i.e., it is my personal view without the views of others including subject experts, etc. Look at this as “Infotainment rather then expert research.” This is an opinion/editorial article/post meant to persuade the reader to think, decide and accept or reject my premise. It is an attempt to cause change or reinforce attitudes, beliefs and values as they apply to martial arts and/or self-defense. It is merely a commentary on the subject in the particular article presented.


Note: I will endevor to provide a bibliography and italicize any direct quotes from the materials I use for this blog. If there are mistakes, errors, and/or omissions, I take full responsibility for them as they are mine and mine alone. If you find any mistakes, errors, and/or omissions please comment and let me know along with the correct information and/or sources.



“What you are reading right now is a blog. It’s written and posted by me, because I want to. I get no financial remuneration for writing it. I don’t have to meet anyone’s criteria in order to post it. Not only I don’t have an employer or publisher, but I’m not even constrained by having to please an audience. If people won’t like it, they won’t read it, but I won’t lose anything by it. Provided I don’t break any laws (libel, incitement to violence, etc.), I can post whatever I want. This means that I can write openly and honestly, however controversial my opinions may be. It also means that I could write total bullshit; there is no quality control. I could be biased. I could be insane. I could be trolling. … not all sources are equivalent, and all sources have their pros and cons. These needs to be taken into account when evaluating information, and all information should be evaluated.” - God’s Bastard, Sourcing Sources (this applies to this and other blogs by me as well; if you follow the idea's, advice or information you are on your own, don't come crying to me, it is all on you do do the work to make sure it works for you!)



“You should prepare yourself to dedicate at least five or six years to your training and practice to understand the philosophy and physiokinetics of martial arts and karate so that you can understand the true spirit of everything and dedicate your mind, body and spirit to the discipline of the art.” - cejames (note: you are on your own, make sure you get expert hands-on guidance in all things martial and self-defense)



“All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.” - Montaigne


I am not a leading authority on any one discipline that I write about and teach, it is my hope and wish that with all the subjects I have studied it provides me an advantage point that I offer in as clear and cohesive writings as possible in introducing the matters in my materials. I hope to serve as one who inspires direction in the practitioner so they can go on to discover greater teachers and professionals that will build on this fundamental foundation. Find the authorities and synthesize a wholehearted and holistic concept, perception and belief that will not drive your practices but rather inspire them to evolve, grow and prosper. My efforts are born of those who are more experienced and knowledgable than I. I hope you find that path! See the bibliography I provide for an initial list of experts, professionals and masters of the subjects.

Rule Enforcement

Caveat: This article is mine and mine alone. I the author of this article 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 article. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding.)

First, a short explanation of the three brains model found in many of the self-defense tomes you will find referenced in this article. 

Human Brain, Monkey Brain, Lizard Brain

The human, human brain, thinks in terms of solutions.
The monkey, monkey brain, thinks in terms of winning.
The lizard, lizard brain, thins it terms of survival.

Now, a little bit about how rules in tribal groups were used to educate and condition its members toward a more acceptable form of survival. This model seems, on the surface, barbaric but the alternative we find in modern society tends toward a greater level of conflict and violence where death, great bodily harm and incarceration becomes the norm. 

Rules of Fighting

One, you never pull a weapon on one of yours, your tribe members.
Two, when you have won you stop, regardless.
Three, if you lose you take your beating like a man, no revenge.
Four, winning is not everything and losing is not the end of the world.
Five, when the fight ends, no matter what, you make up.

I actually remember this as a youth. I got into a lot of disagreements with my fellow childhood friends. It often led to fights and those fights never involved weapons and were never truly dangerous (although, like any violent encounter it can lead to death or great bodily harm but more often than not lead to bruises, cuts and abrasions.). I remember we stopped when one or the other gained a win, the other just understood their position and we would stop and consider the end understanding, i.e., one’s position accepted as the rule or new rule. Then we would laugh, pat one another on the back and take off on our bikes to get some sugar from the local 7-11. 

What all this means is what I propose in the following about the lost art of violence to enforce and condition persons toward the rules and toward the need to follow them or receive the beat down necessary to enforce said rules while keeping the level of healthy, fit and capable tribal members that equated to tribal survival. 

The Lost Art of Tribal Fighting for Enforcement of Rules

We seem to have lost this fine art of fighting or violence (at a non-injury/non-deadly level) as it applies to the enforcement of social rules set for survival of the group or tribe. The result is an inability to know when to stop in a conflict with and without violence as well as how to lose. It appears to me we have lost our way and allowed our monkey brains to dominate through emotional conflict and violence where there are no rules except that the monkey has to win at all costs. 

In our past when someone broke the rules there were repercussions that would and could range from a stern look, to a verbal reprimand and when needed to a beat down. This seems, on the surface, to equate to the conditioning that comes from operant conditioning, a form of teaching and learning that is most effective toward reflex responses. Today’s monkey, due to a lost teaching and understanding of appropriate use of conflict and violence as a teaching and learning tool, has become fearful, dreaded death is imminent kind of fearful, of “losing.” 

It makes me wonder how many modern violent attacks were about a feeling that if one loses they die where weapons are easily introduced into what would normally, long ago, be an “Educational (conditioned learning) Beat Down? (phrase coined by Rory Miller)”In those days a solid, non-injurious, beating with punching, often got the point across and resulted in the person toeing the tribal line. 

If we re-instituted that model of learning, at least at the family level and even in the social levels where groups gather, maybe our slide into grievous bodily harm and even death would decline until only the predatory process/resource conflict and violence existed. This may also result in a lot less “innocents” becoming in an instance of monkey dancing, becoming “criminals.” A life time of correct behavior of the innocent can turn into criminal behavior in one single instance. 

Let me say it this way, we have a human brain that is logical and tends to think without emotional interference so that logical, acceptable and socially correct solutions can be determined, reached, and agreed upon. We also know that when emotions are triggered because of fear, anger, stress, etc., that our human brains take to long to kick in and that means the monkey gets in the door. The monkey is going to want to win and if we, as a society, try to suppress our natural tendency toward conflict and violence through suppression of knowledge and facts on this very same subject while ignoring the benefits of the rules of fighting as well as the use of violence as a rule enforcing tool we tend to have a bunch of chattering monkey’s dancing to  the tune of emotional drives with the only and ultimate goal of “winning” that in turn triggers the lizard toward actions inappropriate to the true goal of the conflict and violent situation. 

This comes up in the training and practice (not conditioning although many egoistic pride driven training is about conditioning, the wrong kind of conditioning or goal in conditioning) for self-defense where goals are monkey driven “I gotta win this fight” model. Self-defense is not about winning and not about losing. You don’t win if you fight and win because greater forces, try legal and civil to begin with, will take you to task for breaking the laws of society about fighting. You have to focus on a goal where winning has no place in that goal. 

If we allow such things space in social acceptance toward rule/law enforcement then we open the gate to knowledge and understanding that will allow us to learn and condition ourselves with the logical, acceptable and reasonable solutions of the human brain who will drive those actions kicked in by the lizard brain. This could go a long way toward reducing true criminally unacceptable conflict and violent behaviors.

Primary Bibliography of Self-Defense (Some titles have RBC drills included):
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.

Bibliography Articles on Self-Defense/Conflict/Violence

The main page leading to the articles I have chosen as a starting point to attain knowledge of conflict, violence and self-defense is: http://ymaa.com/articles/society-and-self-defense where you can navigate to the below or you can simply find a title below and click for direct access to the articles. Most of these are actually introductions to the references written by the authors themselves. It is advisable to start here then move on to the more in-depth stuff in their publications. This section will get you a beginning understanding necessary in phase one of learning self-defense. 

I.M.O.P. Principle—Intent, Means, Opportunity and Preclusion http://ymaa.com/articles/2014/10/imop-principle-intent-means-opportunity-and-preclusion
Introduction to Violence: Scale of Force Options http://ymaa.com/articles/introduction-to-violence-scale-of-force-options
Facing Violence: The Unconscious Stuff-Finding Your Glitches http://ymaa.com/articles/facing-violence-the-unconscious-stuff
Violence: What Everyone Needs to Know About Fighting http://ymaa.com/articles/violence-what-everyone-needs-to-know-about-fighting

Secondary Bibliography of Self-Defense (Some titles have RBC drills included):
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.
MacYoung, Marc. “Writing Violence #1: Getting Shot.” NNSD. Amazon Digital. 2014.
MacYoung, Marc. “Writing Violence #2: Getting Stabbed.”  NNSD. Amazon Digital. 2015.
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.
Jahn, C. R. “FTW Self Defense.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2012
Jahn, C. R. “Hardcore Self Defense.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2002.

Bibliography of RBC Drills (Some titles have RBC drills included):
MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.
MacYoung, Marc (Animal). “Taking It to the Street: Making Your Martial Art Street Effective.” Paladin Press. Boulder, Colorado. 1999.
MacYoung, Marc. "A Professional's Guide to Ending Violence Quickly: How Bouncers, Bodyguards, and Other Security Professionals Handle Ugly Situations." Paladin Press. Boulder, Colorado. 1996.
Miller, Rory. “Drills: Training for the Sudden Violence.” Amazon Digital Services, inc. Smashwords. 2011.
Quinn, Peyton. “Real Fighting: Adrenaline Stress Conditioning Through Scenario-Based Training.” Paladin Press. Amazon Digital Services, inc. 1996

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

Wim Demeere’s Blog: http://www.wimsblog.com
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