Freezes

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

“Processing an experience is something you can do later, when you are safe. In the moment of assault, moving is required, not understanding.” - Rory Miller, Facing Violence

In order to achieve results the martial arts self-defense community would require a practitioner to understand what freezes are, i.e., the types of freezes they need to train for:

1 - Tactical Freezes.

2 - Psychological Freezes.

3 - Non-cognitive Mental Freezes.

4 - Cognitive Freezes.

5 - Social-cognitive Freezes.

6 - Pure Social Freeze.

Note: Did I peak your curiosity? Well, then read the book and ask your SD instructor about learning and training for the freeze!

In my limited experiences and my limited exposure to teaching about the freeze in martial arts is “Nil.” Nil meaning that in my day, early training in MA-Self-defense there was never even a mention of the freeze. I think the few who had experience with self-defense knew of it but due to perceptions and social conditioning they didn’t want to talk out loud about it. It has a stigmatism I suspect comes from media and misinformation and social ego pride status type influences. A bit like guys and masterbation, they do it but you would never get them to admit it either in private or socially, etc., i.e., it is not discussed, ever. But, “We all do it!” (NO, I am not admitting that I have ever done it, but others have right? ;-) )

Adding this subject, as well as many other missing subjects of self-defense, back into the program will go a long way to teaching that the freeze is there and inevitable and that admission will allow the MA-SD community to teach how to handle the freeze. If you don’t know what it is, why it happens and what you need to know and do to get passed it then when you freeze, your dead. 

bibliography:

Miller, Rory Sgt. "Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected." YMAA Publishing. 2011.