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.

Pedagogy or Andragogy of Martial Training

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

First, one of the best ways I can come to understand words is to work them out by defining them then relating that to the subject matter of the articles I write. All this is to learn, a learning process, where words are later used to create or manufacture concepts, concepts both small and big. It is these words and concepts that help me teach, teaching is also defined in two ways as to terms, i.e., why this is partially about the terms: pedagogy and andragogy. 

So, let the fun begin!

Pedagogy: the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept; the art, science, or profession of teaching. (Andragogy: [the method and practice of teaching adult learners; adult education; the art or science of teaching adults] is an adult focused teaching approach while Pedagogy is a child focused teaching approach. Both methods of teaching are problem centered.

Simply put, teaching in the dojo can be about both terms, all dependent on whom is receiving the lessons be they adults or be they young adults or what some call children. I taught the andragogy methods, specifically to adults with the age of eighteen or older. I occasionally had young adults from the age of eight to eighteen but not often. Honestly, at that time I used the same teaching model for them and they were mixed in with adults. Anyway…

The source of inspiration for this lesson came from an article written at the God’s Bastard blog, here is her post on the subject to which I extracted what I felt were interesting tidbits that I will diverge from her subject and intent to go out on a limb toward something different. 

My first thought is about the comparison of how ancients, military like, training looked at perspective personal as more of a commodity to be used like cannon fodder. In short, much like military training today that makes the training centered on intent and function of the military to engage in combat and destroy the enemy. This introduces the concept of “attrition.” Those with the potential and capability endure and reach the end goal of becoming military and basically trained. There are those who don’t have the potential and capability and are often culled from the herd. 

In martial commercialized training and practice culling students away with training that reaches the essence of the martial disciplines, i.e., protection, defense, and military combatives, would not be profitable and the attrition rate would be, for civilians, astronomical. In short, except in few cases, it won’t work commercially. It won’t work in most cases in regard to civil defense and protection either. This can be exacerbated by today’s culture and drive for certain types of gratification without suffering the spears and arrows of a true martial discipline, i.e., injuries, grave harm and even possibly death. Hmmmm…

The social reality of modern times looks down on the facts of aggression and violence and more so about its citizens causing grave harm and possibly even death. It is our social reality that it is the job of professionals like the police and military, etc.

God’s Bastard wrote, “didn’t particularly matter if a small proportion of individuals quit or broke during training. As long as a sufficient number of people made it through, getting rid of those less apt was a good strategy,” which is so true in the military but so not true for today’s commercial oriented martial disciplines. This is why, her article, is informative because she provides one person of many who actually has successfully translated their experiences, one as socially driven and the other not so socially driven of a nature, to experiences that speak to not just other professionals such as police, corrections, etc., but to the martial arts communities who focus on self-protection/defense methodologies. 

I am always trying to drive home the importance of intent in training attempting to drive home that there are glaring differences in the models within the martial disciplines and that making the differences of a glaring and obvious nature through words and concepts is absolutely critical to achieve success not just in training and practice but most importantly in the application be it sport, self-protection/defense, combatives of the military or those civil professions like corrections, policing and others like security, etc.

Learning the atomistic, atomism’s, does NOT hinder or cause freezes in applications because done properly those details are handled by the mind, brain, such that only those critical pieces of memory are used by the brain to create and manufacture concepts that are applied appropriately while other details are either already discarded when new appropriate concepts are created or simply ignored because of relevance. It is how humans work, breaking things down into the smallest and simplest forms, learning them by word, others and actions of experiences then creating/manufacturing concepts to be used to trigger principled-based methodologies to achieve specific objectives and results will work because those professionals have demonstrated through experiences that they WILL WORK

You probably already know that this is how our species passes forward those insights, experiences and understandings in conceptual form that allows those yet to gain experience(s) to do so with a modicum of survival capabilities. 

You see; you feel; you can experience how all this works, a person is able to create new relevant concepts by the words, word patterns and perceptions/beliefs they convey by blogging, video’s and other media with emphasis on the highest form of passing along things, in person, to achieve the creative process. I read this post by God’s Bastard, then I was inspired to take it in a different direction and thus achieved concepts that help me learn and by osmosis, kinda, pass it forward in both its original state, see link above, and this slightly new or different perspective…sooner or later the concept is accepted and the users learn, grow, evolve and prosper. It is how life has endured all the trials and tribulations of nature. Ain’t life great? 


Bibliography (Click the link)

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