Small Baby Steps

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. Oh, and just because I wrote it and just because it sounds reasonable and just because it makes sense, does not mean it is true.) 

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.

Want to learn, then make sure you take very small baby steps. Take the study of self-defense, it comes in a basic form in the book, “In the Name of Self-Defense,” by Marc MacYoung where his teachings are so large, so filled with lots of things that it takes many readings and many reviews to slowly pick up the information. The information that you can and should use when you take on the training and practice necessary to defend and protect.

I am a long time practitioner of martial arts, a martial art in a narrow spectrum of a striking art or system. Part of that system is about self-defense. In that light I have always sought out more about SD. I have found that even that endeavor was stunted by assumptions and even prejudices. I made assumptions that those who were teaching me also held the credentials that validated all they taught in SD. That assumption was a major flaw and mistake.

What I was taught had and has its benefits for martial arts and self-defense but with one big issue, it was incomplete. It is and was missing so many very important and critical and necessary parts that it is pure luck that I am not in prison or not dead. So many of us are lucky in this but all it takes is one time to be unlucky.

Yes, you can learn some physical principles for self-defense and make it work. Alone, that is both good and bad. Good that you can learn something like that in short order but unlucky because the bad is not learning all those missing parts.

The physical is the easy part, applying it against another human being while under adrenal stress conditions and effects is another totally different thing. In order to understand this you have to learn it, the very big subject with all the material even without the actual experiences, thoroughly because you will need that knowledge to avoid and/or apply self-defense. 

As I study I don’t just stop and assume I know and understand it so I go back and study it some more and that means, in this example, I take a lot longer to read, study and assimilate stuff over time. I practice, practice and practice some more by reading smaller parts, taking time to absorb and contemplate what I have read and studied then I do it over again. The only step after that is the appropriate mental and physical training and practice that will provide me the tools to make “The Leap” in self-defense. 

We as humans often feel the need for instant gratification and in the SD world we want to be capable instantly and that just is not possible. There is a reason the military, police and other professional violence and conflict people try to learn as much as possible in the training arena. Your brain has to have something to draw from to even understand and learn from superiors who have the experiences necessary to mentor the rookie. The rub in SD is you won’t have sensei or senpai to mentor you when you are under attack. You can only hope they do that enough in training that you can make the leap and get-r-done.