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"Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put water into a teapot it becomes a teapot. Now, water can flow like a river, or it can crash like a waterfall. Be water, my friend." -- Bruce Lee
I am fond of pointing out that personal safety is about options, not restrictions. A lot of the personal safety tips floating around out there, especially those geared toward women tend to place restriction on them and their normal everyday activities. They tend to treat women as if they are different from men. Example, how many times have your heard men being told not to go anywhere alone or to hold onto their wives hand when in a congested area for fear of being separated from them or possibly abducted?
For safety tips to be truly effective they must be equally applicable to both men and women. While I would agree that some tips might be more applicable for women than men, it doesn't mean that women don't have the right to live their lives the way they see fit and apply safety measures that best suit their lifestyles.
Also, solid safety tips will avoid absolutes. An absolute is something that causes restrictions. Examples: never, always, don't, only, etc. Such as ALWAYS go out in groups or NEVER travel at night. Most of the time these types of tips aren't practical or possible. Also, tips that tell the readers to degrade themselves should be avoided as well.
Women's safety seems to be about awareness and confidence.
The confidence part comes from getting experience working out scenarios where the woman is confronted or mock assaulted and she responds with full contact force as much as possible with verbal commitment.
If I were training a woman to defend herself, I'd show her a couple of moves. Let her get the basics down and up the intensity a little more each time so she could learn to respond without fear.
You've got to let her take full-contact shots at you (with gear on) so she can see what its like to hit a solid target.
A woman's course on self-defense should go over the use of weapons too: anything they can use.
Women's safety seems to be about awareness and confidence.
The confidence part comes from getting experience working out scenarios where the woman is confronted or mock assaulted and she responds with full contact force as much as possible with verbal commitment.
If I were training a woman to defend herself, I'd show her a couple of moves. Let her get the basics down and up the intensity a little more each time so she could learn to respond without fear.
You've got to let her take full-contact shots at you (with gear on) so she can see what its like to hit a solid target.
A woman's course on self-defense should go over the use of weapons too: anything they can use.
You are absolutely correct regarding the self-defense aspects of the program. However, there are so many other things that need to be covered, which can help build confidence in not having to use self-defense skills. As the saying goes "self-defense is what we use when our personal safety has failed". The first thing that should be covered is how to enhance mental and emotional conditioning. This alone can build confidence some people never knew they had. The students need to understand that proper awareness training can greatly decrease the chances of becoming a vicitim and it applies to all aspects of crime prevention and personal safety. They must understand that effective escape strategies are better than "fighting" any day of the week, of course unless they have no other option. Then they must be taught how to use de-escalation tactics to effectively defuse potentially violent situations. If and when all of the previous options have failed they can then utilize their self-defense skills, which should be based on research into physiology & psychology. The skills should be instinctive as well gross-motor based, making them easy to learn, easy to retain, and easy to use under the stress of a real assault. As was mentioned, the participants should be allowed to test their de-escalation, escape skills, and self-defense skills against a padded assailant in various simulations.
On a side note- it's rare that anyone can learn to respond without fear. Fear is a natural biological safety mechanism designed to help us recognize potentially dangerous situations as well as escape such situations unharmed. As a final option it provides us with increased strength, speed, and fighting abilities. The key is teaching the students that fear is natural and necessary. Then show them how to embrace it and use it to their advantage through stress inoculation drills and padded assailant simulations.
On a side note- it's rare that anyone can learn to respond without fear. Fear is a natural biological safety mechanism designed to help us recognize potentially dangerous situations as well as escape such situations unharmed. As a final option it provides us with increased strength, speed, and fighting abilities. The key is teaching the students that fear is natural and necessary. Then show them how to embrace it and use it to their advantage through stress inoculation drills and padded assailant simulations.
Steve Zorn, ICPS
Yeah, thanks.
From the helper or trainer's end, you have to be able to take a punch too. If you can't take a decent woman's shot, then you're not going to be able to help her get better.
Some women have a fair amount of power if they're built for it.
Women's safety seems to be about awareness and confidence.
The confidence part comes from getting experience working out scenarios where the woman is confronted or mock assaulted and she responds with full contact force as much as possible with verbal commitment.
If I were training a woman to defend herself, I'd show her a couple of moves. Let her get the basics down and up the intensity a little more each time so she could learn to respond without fear.
You've got to let her take full-contact shots at you (with gear on) so she can see what its like to hit a solid target.
A woman's course on self-defense should go over the use of weapons too: anything they can use.
inmop, we socialize women to believe they are helpless and weak. and its worked, many women have truly internalized this belief of being helpless and weak, and thats the most important thing they need to get over if they truly want to defend themselves.
victims often get victimized repeatedly because predators can smell victims like sharks smell blood and they will keep coming after you as long as you keep believing you are helpless.
inmop, we socialize women to believe they are helpless and weak. and its worked, many women have truly internalized this belief of being helpless and weak, and thats the most important thing they need to get over if they truly want to defend themselves.
victims often get victimized repeatedly because predators can smell victims like sharks smell blood and they will keep coming after you as long as you keep believing you are helpless.
-hoduken
Through training and working out defense scenarios, we help women learn how to defend themselves.
Part of that help takes place when they learn counter-offensive techniques and can do them under increasing pressure.
Through training and working out defense scenarios, we help women learn how to defend themselves.
Part of that help takes place when they learn counter-offensive techniques and can do them under increasing pressure.
i think "sport arts" are a great way for women(and men) to develope tenacity and physical/mental toughness and get over that feeling of helplessnesss and being a victim. these arts can help people regain some control over themselves through pushing themselves constantly and striving to get better. boxing, judo, jiu jitsu, muay thai are all great, competitve arts that will require people to train hard, think , react under pressure, and be confident of themselves. i beleive these arts can help women more than the average self defense seminars and classes.
most of the awareness stuff that is in self defense seminars and classes is common sense(at least it was to me), and women need to just pay attention to that info mroe cause its all stuff they have heard a million times before. you know, dont go places alone late at night, dont accept drinks from strangers, look through the peephole before opening the door, dont park in bad area, look both ways before crossing the street etc....
you know, dont go places alone late at night, dont accept drinks from strangers, look through the peephole before opening the door, dont park in bad area, look both ways before crossing the street etc....
I don't know anybody that never goes to places alone at night.
this is exactly what i meant about needing to pay better attention.....
The worse thing about some women's self-defense classes (or even well-meaning people giving SD advice) is that they expect you to act like you're three and never go anywhere late at night, or walk by yourself, or leave your car, or ever have a drink, and on and on and on. Totally unrealistic.
The worse thing about some women's self-defense classes (or even well-meaning people giving SD advice) is that they expect you to act like you're three and never go anywhere late at night, or walk by yourself, or leave your car, or ever have a drink, and on and on and on. Totally unrealistic.
thats why you should train in a sport art instead.
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