Self-defense Modes - Learning To Use One Of Your Body's Own Instinctive Self-defense Systems

To look around at what's being offered in the way of self-defense training

, it would appear that we have to conform to a set way of doing things, regardless of whether it feels natural to us or not. This so-called "conventional wisdom" is like saying that we should all be driving the same type of vehicle or living in the same style of home.

The reality of the human condition is that, we were born with, and have available at our disposal, several different modes of operation. While we generally don't think of these things as such, they are just that...modes of operation.

And they determine how we think, feel, and even move our bodies.

Know what they are?

The "modes" that I'm talking about are...our emotions. Or more correctly stated...our emotional states.

One of the things that I talk about with friends, students, and seminar participants on a regular basis is this thing I call, "The Karate-Myth."

Among other things, like the belief that just because someone wears a black belt around his or her waist means that they can defend themselves against a street fighter bent on unleashing Hell's fury on them...

...the Karate-Myth also wrongfully misleads us into accepting the belief that there is one, best way - one best style - for defending ourselves. Which, of course, flies not only in the face of common-sense, but also in the face of scientific evidence about how human beings operate, develop, and move through the world.

The Base Emotional States As Modes For Effective Self-Defense

When we explore the idea of using our emotions as a foundation for self-defense training and action, we must first look at the base emotional states which combine to produce the myriad of "feelings" that we humans experience throughout the course of our days.

Simply speaking, there are four base modes or emotions from which all others spring. They include the feelings of -

1. Relaxed Stability - this can show up as confidence, and a sense of everything being okay.

2. Defensiveness - the feeling of being overwhelmed and the need for time, space, or shielding against the force being experienced.

3. Aggressiveness - which is not necessarily destructive but, is the direct, commitment to either engage or escape from a situation quickly.

4. Evasiveness - that feeling of avoidance, and not wanting to be involved in the situation that is taking place.

These states can be seen in the conventional "fight, flight, or freeze" model often discussed in martial arts and self-defense classes. With the addition of the "relaxed" mode discussed earlier, we can see that our options are really reduced to the ideas of:

Escaping from a situation

Engaging to shut a problem down, or...

Ignoring or controlling things from a position of commanding presence.

Each of us could be said to have our own "natural" state where we find ourselves most often, but the reality is that every one of us goes through each of these states throughout our day. As we go through different types of situations, deal with different problems, tasks, and people, and work to maintain a state of equilibrium and a general sense of well-being, our states change based on how each situation makes us feel and how we normally think about them.

Sounds kind of weird for an article on self-defense, doesn't it?

Nonetheless, we humans are wired for survival. We have been since the dawn of time.

We are also capable of modifying and adapting in ways that best suit our needs - thereby favoring certain parts of our wiring and choosing to avoid others.

But we cannot avoid the fact that we "ARE" emotional creatures and therefor operate in one or another emotional state, regardless of what we're doing. We may learn best by doing something, then using our brains to understand it, before coming to have an emotional reaction that causes us to favor, dislike, or not really care one way or the other...but in the real world, when stress is applied and we feel threatened...we operate in exactly the opposite manner.

We first react under one of the emotional states (fight, flee, or hold our ground), then, based on what we think we know and what we think we can do, we go into action.

This is a very different model for learning and applying self-defense action than you might be used to, but contrary to "the way things have always been done," it's a model based on scientific truth...not tradition or style.

And learning to use your body's own natural defense systems, like your emotional states, also allows you to tap into your evolutionary tools for survival to more easily and more effectively protect yourself should the need arise.

And who doesn't want easy?!

by: Jeffrey Miller

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