SCENARIO
#1: You are waiting for a friend outside a local convenience store. Suddenly
you notice large man walking rapidly toward you. He is looking directly
at you and his clothes are in disarray. You feel panic, but you force
yourself to remain calm. Unfamiliar with the effects of adrenaline and
uncertain what to do, you do nothing. The man steps right up to you. Before
you have time to react, he grabs you by the throat, squeezes and demands
your wallet. Unable to breathe or speak, you are barely able to comply.
After pocketing your wallet the man departs. But not before he gives a
final vicious squeeze that permanently damages your vocal cords. In this situation, your mind mode was conscious, your body state
was adrenalized, and your emotional mode was calm/controlled.
Since you had never decided how you would handle this
type of situation, you were completely unprepared. As a result you did
not act to protect yourself and received a serious injury. SCENARIO
#2: Same situation as scenario #1, but this time you have recently attended
a self defense seminar in which your practiced situations similar to the
one described. As a result of your training you recognize the impending danger. Confident
from your training, you remain calm. You think to yourself, “If
he grabs my throat with his right hand I will kick him in the groin with
my left foot, then I will pivot and use a downward strike with my left
elbow to remove has hand. Next I will grab the rear of his neck with both
my hands and knee him in the stomach; finally I will knock him out with
a side strike to his neck. But if he grabs me with his left hand I will
…” You prepare yourself for the throat grab as the man reaches
for you. But instead of grabbing your throat he grabs your hair and slams
your head against the store’s brick wall. After you fall unconscious
to the ground, the man removes your wallet and walks away. In this situation, your mind mode was conscious, your physical
state was neutral, and your emotional mode was protective.
You had decided and trained for this type of situation.
As a result you recognized the impending danger. But no effort was made
to deter the aggressor. In addition this combination
of mind mode, body state, and emotional mode is ineffective for handling
the physical violence of the disrupt stage and you were
quickly overwhelmed. This result is typical of self defense training that
does not take into consideration the importance of the Mind Body
Emotion Principal. SCENARIO #3 Same situation as scenario #1, but you have now recently graduated from
an intensive self defense program where you have learned techniques of
pre-emptive strikes (Targeted, Unexpected, Focused, Explosive Strikes–TUFES)
and follow up techniques to cause serious injury. You learned how to transition
your mind into violence mode and your body into fight mode in order to maximize your attack. The man approaches you and crosses your boundary zone. Wordlessly,
you spring forward and strike him in the throat crushing his Adam’s
apple. You then perform a neck twist take-down that sends the man crashing
to the pavement, where he lies unconscious. After the police arrive, you
learn that the man had just been in a car accident. He was reaching for
the pay telephone next to you when you struck him. In this situation your mind transitioned from conscious to unconscious mode. Your body transitioned from neutral to fight state,
and your emotions transitioned from calm/controlled to violent mode. This is the proper combination to execute the disrupt stage. You had clearly decided and trained. But due to
the lack of the deter stage you never received confirmation of malicious intention or the trigger to act. As a result you
are now in jail for assault with intent to kill. SCENARIO #4: Same situation as scenario #1, but as the man approaches you look directly
at him and state clearly "what do you want”? Responding to
your voice he looks at you with a sinister smile. Immediately your intuition
senses danger. You raise your hands forward and forcefully state “back
off!” (deter stage). The man ignores you and you
escalate your verbal intensity and yell “BACK OFF !!!" The
man continues to rapidly move toward you (you have now received confirmation of malicious intention). You mind becomes more instinctual (mind is in
transition mode) and your body is filled with a surge of fear
and energy as it is charged with adrenaline brought on by your yelling
(body is in adrenalized mode). You are filled with an overwhelming
urge to protect yourself (emotions in protective mode). As the
man reaches out (you have now received the trigger to act which
transitions your mind to subconscious mode, your body into fight mode, and your emotions into violence mode) to grab you, your
hand instantly shoots forward into his face, two fingers strike his eye
(TUFES). Filled with the motivation to stop him from harming you, you
strike him repeatedly with the heel of your palm in the bridge of his
nose while continuing to yell “BACK OFF” (disrupt stage). The man filled with pain and unable to see through teary eyes
hesitates (you have now created your opportunity to escape).
Sensing this opportunity to escape (your mind moves back to transition mode, your body goes from fight to flight state, and
your emotions go from violent to protective mode) you
flee into the safety of the store (disengage stage). In this situation you applied the Not-Me! System of Self Defense. The
use of the verbal boundary in the deter stage provided
you with confirmation that the man was dangerous. Had the man
intended to use the telephone as in the prior example, he would have surely
responded and stopped upon hearing your verbal command of “BACK
OFF”. Once your conscious mind had been convinced of the
danger, your mind began the transition to subconscious mode.
Your subconscious mind sensing danger and the need for immediate
action called upon your body for the adrenaline surge putting your body
into the adrenalized state. When the man reached out for you
he crossed your boundary zone and you received the trigger to act which transitioned your mind into subconscious mode, your
body into fight state, and your emotions into violence mode. You now have maximized your effectiveness to disrupt your aggressor. You used the strategic tactic of attacking the attacker and the
physical tactic of “Targeted Unexpected Focused Explosive Strikes–TUFES”
to instantly and repeatedly strike and the man in a sensitive area in
order to create an opportunity to escape. The man most likely
expected that you would, similar to his previous victims, use a slow predictable
defense (i.e. you pull or flail at him weakly as he grabs your throat).
Upon creating the opportunity to escape, you immediately disengaged and fled to safety. The longer you remain in a violent confrontation the
more likely the attacker will recover from his initial shock and used
his physical advantage to injure you. It is important to continue to yell “BACK OFF” or “STOP”
while striking for several reasons. First, the attacker will be reminded
that he has a choice. He has the ability to disengage and leave you alone at any time. Your goal is to change the attacker’s
malicious intent into motivation to avoid pain and injury. The yelling
will also serve remind you that your goal is to stop the attacker from
harming you not to engage in a fight and subdue him. Thirdly, it will
let others around you know that you are not the one who has initiated
the aggression and that you are the one attempting to stop it and get
away. Lastly, for many people the process of yelling increases their energy
level and adds physical power to their strikes. Keep in mind that the man has purposely selected you to be his target
due to his physical advantage. Therefore, he was mentally unprepared for
your counter-attack.
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