Tough or Smart - What's Your Most Powerful Self-Defense Weapon: Mind or Body

                                     
===== The Mental Approach To Self-Defense =====

The Mental Approach addresses the "big picture" of predatory situations. In my self-defense system for example, there are "SEVEN" separate and interrelated aspects of a comprehensive personal safety or self-defense system.

The intent of this mental approach is to make you "smarter" and more capable of avoiding, diffusing and responding EFFECTIVELY by doing the RIGHT THINGS in a volatile situation. By the "RIGHT THINGS," I'm referring to the most effective response strategies to successfully resolve a threatening or volatile situation.

Fighting back with physical self-defense techniques is only part of staying safe.

===== Benefits Of The Mental Approach =====

An accurate understanding of the dynamics of predatory situations increases the odds of anticipating, avoiding, recognizing and responding to them. The "best" result to a violent encounter is not when you manage to fight your way out of it. It's when it doesn't happen in the first place!

Not all volatile situations can be solved by fighting. Effectiveness in a self-defense situation allows you to assess and evaluate the circumstances and select the most effective response strategy to implement to gain or regain control.

A sense of control that accompanies proper mental training decreases the stress and fear associated with volatile or predatory situations. And that increased sense of control and self-confidence can reduce the potential of being victimized.

===== Drawbacks To A Mental Only Approach =====

An "information-only" approach does not significantly change the body language that you project to a potential assailant. Although some self-defense instructors imply that you can "fake" non-victim body language by walking briskly, standing straight, and "pretending to be confident." That will only go so far. Pretending to be coordinated, strong and physically fit is easier said than done.

Knowing the best response option in a given situation, be it running away or fighting back, is of little value if you can't successfully pull it off. If you haven't developed your skills and fitness levels by ongoing self-defense practice, how likely are you to out-run or out-fight an assailant?

===== One OR The Other Is Incomplete =====

You've probably figured out by now that ONE OR THE OTHER of these two approaches is an incomplete approach to being able to defend yourself. An optimal strategy is to combine and balance your ability to make smart, effective decisions with the ability to carry those decisions through to a successful conclusion. BOTH mental AND physical elements are required for optimal self-defense success.

Be effective first, then be efficient. A medical equivalent might be to "Diagnose First The Perscribe." To successfully resolve a volatile situation, you need sound judgement to decide on the best course of action AND the physical skills and ability to implement your game plan.

The degree to which you pursue each approach has a lot to do with your capabilities, limitations and the goals you have in relation to your study of self-defense.

If you are smaller, weaker, older for example, your emphasis should lean more toward personal safety strategies and be supplemented with physical skills training. If your self-defense goals are simply to avoid victimization and to stay out of trouble, then learn everything you can about the dynamics of volatile situations.

On the other hand, maybe you are fit, athletic and skillful. Perhaps you already train regularly and feel capable of "holding your own" if you have to defend yourself. If thats the case, here are a couple pieces of advice to consider:

There's always someone tougher and meaner than you are! Even highly skilled fighters and martial artists need awareness and avoidance skills. Physical techniuqes are of little value if you are set up, sucker punched, or ambushed. NOBODY wins a fight. You may defeat your adversary and "still" be injured yourself. Also, just because you didn't instigate the confrontation doesn't mean that you won't find yourself being criminally charged or civilly sued for defending yourself.

The point I'm trying to make is that the BEST approach to self-defense training is to learn to do the right thing by learning everything you can about the dynamics of predatory situations AND engage in regular self-defense training so that you can "do things right" by developing the skills and conditioning to carry out a desired self-defense strategy.



By Randy LaHaie