Multi Dimensional Paradigms of Self Defense

Erik Kodo has come up with a multi-dimensional explanation about WHY self-defense is not just about studying an ultimate fighting style or scenario based training.

This blog is brilliant. A must read

THE MULTI DIMENSIONAL PARADIGMS OF SELF-DEFENSE

Self defense or not?

Just because you call it self defense does not necessarily make it so.

KNOW the law!!!!

Who are you feeding

IRON OR GOLD

I am an avid reader of the Game of Thrones, fantastic book series. In the story, the Greyjoys have a saying about “Buying with gold or buying with iron.” The tradition is that men get their jewelry, decorations or treasures from the people they slay at war, they bought it with iron…. their swords. Girls, ladies, women and dandies buy their jewelry, decorations and treasures at the market using gold coins. I find this awesome. Not that you had to kill someone to get what you needed/ wanted, but you had to pay a price of the flesh, of the mind. You had to earn it, work for it.

Same goes for good training. You can’t buy it; you have to pay for it with sweat, blood and tears. And same as those warriors who fought the most and had the most “treasures”, the more hard work you put in your training, the more benefits you will reap. But instead your treasures will be good health, great fitness level, confidence in time of conflict, victory in battle……. whatever your battle is. And don’t fool yourself; we are ALL fighting a battle of some sort.

Be smart, stay safe

CLASS RE-CAP

Wow… what a week. There is something to be said about being surrounded by the best of the best. And not only are they the best but are all too willing to help us learn, grow, improve and become the best we can be.

A great teacher cannot help you transform yourself into a duplicate version of him but his glory lies in his ability to help you become the best “you”.

Kasey beat me to an awesome re-cap of the entire week so I will avoid the repeat and just throw in what I have taken away from those amazing teachers.

It is going to be hard to describe what we did without giving away any of the actual class contents. If you want that… attend the class… there is no replacing it.

Here are the major highlights for me.

· Solid structure. Hitting someone with a brick wall has a lot more effect than hitting them with a feather pillow. If your body is well structured, your arms and legs will not collapse on you and you will be able to hit with a lot more power than if you let your arms turn into spaghetti. Speed is nice but structure gets the job done. And with my size difference, I NEED all the structure I can muster. I have taken away some good exercises I can do by myself to test out my structure. Kasey's sword class only re-enforce those lessons. It’s much harder to control something that is far away from you. If your structure is sound, it can be done without breaking a sweat. We can all take a lesson from architecture. If the structure of a building is not sound, it will collapse.

· Subtle movements that pack a lot of punch, minimum effort vs maximum results. Check this photo of the hole in the wall that was created when I “sneezed” a big guy in the wall…. Call it what you want but a rose by any other name would be just as awesome.

We worked on power train, continuity of movement… never break the chain. Another thing that is extremely important for smaller people. When I keep the power train intact, I can be one step ahead of my opponent. I can “feel” what he will do next and it makes me look like The Flash. I never allow a break in the control I have and give him a chance to re-coup. A break in the chain may mean my collapse

· We worked on drills, boy did we work on drills. It was awesome… loved them. It is a great way to reinforce the principles what we were working on and to ingrain new concepts.

· We learned about conflict communication, how to avoid or recognize traps and pitfalls into every communication: be it a relationship, work, professional, social. A must for everyone!!!!

· We learned about the dynamics of violence: how bad guys act, how and why violence happens, how to recognize and avoid most of it. If you are going to spend any time learning to defend yourself, you NEED to start here!!!!

· My favorite lesson was to learn to shut off my thinking pattern. One of my biggest draw back has always been to try and plan ahead: if he does this, I will do this , then he will react this way and I can counter with this. This does not work unless you outweigh your opponent by a good 100lbs then you can use your strength to patch up the mistakes. But if you get in that habit, there will come a time that it will not serve you well, I don’t care how big and strong you are. Forgetting to "do" martial arts freed me to finally do the martial art I had in me all along. I started to look for “gifts” instead of pre-planning. There is always a gift handed to you somewhere… find it. This was wonderful. The Plastic Mind drill….. totally rocks!!!

In this golden age of “Combat system” and “self-defense gurus”, it is refreshing to talk to people who are not learning their trade through Hollywood bull crap but through actual real life experience. They know the difference between …. “Hmmmm… that looks cool so it should work” and “Dude… you try this and you will get killed or go to jail”. They have seen it, tested it and refined it.

If you can’t take care of yourself after this clinic, you slept the whole way through.

Be smart, stay safe!

WHO'S THE MASTER NOW

BEING A MASTER

You can become an excellent chef or cook. You need good recipes, patience and a little hard work. But you may not necessarily become Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse or Bobby Flay.

You can become a very good artist. You need some lessons on how to, some good supplies, patience and elbow grease. Bob Ross has certainly demonstrated the joys of painting and how easily you can achieve it. But you may not necessarily become DaVinci, Renoir or VanGoh.

You can learn how to sew and complete most of all your sewing needs. You need a good sewing machine, some thread, good patterns, fabric and a little know how. But you may not necessarily become Versace, Dior or Coco Chanel.

You can learn martial arts, become beyond proficient at your katas, your breaks, your one steps. You can win gold medals in tournaments. But you may not necessarily become Bruce Lee, Morihei Ueshiba, Gichin Funakoshi, Gene Lebell, Jigoro Kano or Masutatsu Oyama.

You may learn MMA, train hard, get in great shape and learn all the best moves. But you may not necessarily become George St Pierre or Randy Couture.

Where am I going with this? Anyone can learn to become accomplished at things. But to become a master at it is an entire different story. To learn basic techniques and become proficient with them will make you good at anything you apply yourself at. But the mastery comes from understanding the basic principles that lie beyond the techniques, from being able to see the building blocks and re-arrange them for the best possible outcome. It comes from the use of practical applications, knowing when theory needs to go out the window and when it’s time to adapt, re-adjust. You need to go beyond step by step instructions. But it is even more than true understanding. Anyone who has been there can testify how this flows right out of you, like you are only a conduit to the flow of energy, the inspiration, the passion within. You want to learn from a true master? First find someone who is passionate about what he/she does and has the courage to follow this passion.

I strongly believe that most everyone is meant to become a master at something. But I also strongly believe that most everyone will never achieve this level. Is it out of laziness? Fear? Lack of courage, determination, passion? It’s hard to say since so many factors can be involved. Don’t let the little voices talk you out of living your passion. Listen to your heart. It may not be easy but it certainly is worth the prize at the end of the road and the treasures you will accumulate along the way.

THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO.

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST
Subject: Emergency
The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.



THIRD
Subject: Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

FOURTH
How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
And Finally...

FIFTH
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now. This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends.