The last post was laying the groundwork for this one. I thought starting with the universally acknowledged evils of micromanagement would make this post more palatable. Instead, Danny Martin gave a very capable defense of an unpopular and nearly indefensible position. Truly well done. Jumping into this anyway, because it is important. Criticism is … [Read more…]
“I want to learn some self-defense moves!” What self-defense instructor has not heard that request? When an instructor teaches a student a physical self-defense “Move” (or technique), he or she is engaging in problem solving. The instructor is providing the student with a theoretical solution to a future problem. This situation is analogous to … [Read more…]
This should probably be a book, honestly. Maybe an e-book. I’ll keep you posted. Scenarios are an attempt at what Tony Blauer calls the constant search for the best fake stuff out there. All training is fake. If you are learning to send people to the hospital and people don’t GO to the hospital, every … [Read more…]
If you are involved in the personal safety/self-defense industry, you will notice a common complaint. The majority of people in the world really are not interested in what you have to sell. Regardless of how important the subject matter is, or that you feel it is, most people do not put a lot of thought … [Read more…]
Largely this will be a draft of an article for Conflict Manager Online Magazine. I’ve been doing a four part series there, the last three are the steps towards application (deriving your principles, a touch of adult learning theory, stuff like that.) So, background– You have to know your principles, understand them. And you have … [Read more…]
Philosophy. Nothing about survival or self-protection or self-defense or whatever you want to call it is difficult or unnatural. This is exactly the problem we were evolved to solve. Not being a victim is part of our deepest wiring. Mind, body and spirit have all the tools. This is not about forging warriors, this is … [Read more…]
Self-Defense Instructor Problem: How do I deal with a person’s whose argument is that violent assault is a societal, not an individual problem, and therefore, it is not an individual’s responsibility to prevent his or her own victimization? As a self-defense instructor or proponent, many times you will be faced with someone who states … [Read more…]
Once upon a time, I’d elected to go into a cell and talk down an extremely agitated inmate, and it wasn’t working. One of the big keys to talking down people in altered mental states (bad drug reactions, stress that makes them temporarily out of control, or truly unstable mental illness doesn’t really matter much) … [Read more…]
How deep is your game?” has been coming up a lot, lately. Erik Kondo, a friend and one of the CRGI team wrote a draft article about becoming a skilled conflict manager. Everything he wrote was absolutely true, but everything could also be distorted or even used against you, if you only relied on the … [Read more…]
Going back to Jeff’s Rules: Everything you teach must have a tactical purpose. Corollary to that, the way you teach must have a purpose as well. How you teach must serve the purpose of teaching. This is about getting stuff into your student’s heads, not showing what is in yours. This is about what your … [Read more…]