First Things First In Self Defense

In self defense, or personal protection, I believe it is important to prioritize one's actions. For example, I have had people ask me, as a martial artist, if I could teach them what to do if they get jumped by three guys in an alley. My answer is always to not go in the alley in the first place.

I have also come to believe in a little "preemptive self defense". Now, I don't mean to jump the guys in the alley first, this is much more effective, and much more difficult and it is something I need to work on.

If one is worried about oneself or others being jumped in an alley in a bad part of town (first, as I said before, stay out of the alley), the next step is to start improving the conditions of the environment so that people will not feel they need to resort to jumping others in the alley.

And I thought stancework was hard.

As a small step in that direction, I had my students, at their last belt test, perform random acts of kindness. Just a small step to improving the environment around them.

More to come.