Deliberation

[Van Canna]

The appropriate emotional response when confronted by someone intending you harm is calm, determined, righteous indignation.

You should be angry that someone has chosen you or someone you care about to be their bitch! Not anger to the point of rage, which will compromise your reaction, but anger that fuels your adrenaline and aggressive counter attack.

Let it fuel your determination and drive and push you past any pain intended to defeat you. Not you! Not today! Not now! Not here! Pierce his heart with your war face and make your enemy realize he has chosen poorly and that choice is going to cost him dearly.

See the fear appear on his face with that realization. See him looking for a way out that is not there; searching for a solution he will not find. See his expression of fear freeze his body as it succumbs to your dynamic delivery of speed and accuracy.

[jorvik]

You know I was just thinking of this ..I've been in a few "Road rage" incidents and in one of those a guy ran into the back of my car, when I got out the care he came at me with wild eyes shouting and blaming me, when it was clearly his fault.........and I had to calm myself down and , force myself into the "nobody talks to me like that" way of thinking.
On another occasion though at work I was in a situation where I had a deadline to meet, another problem arose and then a third thing were I needed to learn a new skill to be able to do it....my heart was pounding, my head was banging and I just didn't feel that I could cope. When I think of this I always think with two problems you can just about cope, but with three it can really knock you over............maybe that is where Sanchin got it's name "Three Conflicts"?

[Van Canna]

No easy answers to any of this despite what we read.

Unintended consequences abound. Damned if you do...Damned if you don't.

[Van Canna]

We're thinking of angry drivers who choose to get out of their cars to confront you; of ferocious dogs that won't give way; of bears who lay in wait for a once-a-year appearance on your favorite trails. There are times you don't get to choose fight-or-flight. And that's what the Kimber PepperBlaster II is all about.

Kimber PepperBlaster II is unlike any pepper spray or mace-like stuff you've ever seen before. Stuff like "Halt!" is a marshmallow gun by comparison. Kimber refers to it as a "less-lethal weapon", and as one of the world's premier manufacturers of 1911 pistols, they know lethality.

Unlike typical pepper spray, PepperBlaster II isn't aerosolized. Rather, each unit contains two cylinders with powerful concentrations of near-pharmaceutical grade oleoresin capsicum (OC) -- a devastatingly effective irritant.

Each cylinder is driven by a pyrotechnic charge and a piston, and the solution travels at 90mph, giving it enough energy to wrap around glasses or a face mask. Unlike conventional pepper sprays, you won't get any blowback into your own face since it isn't an aerosolized mist.

You don't need to worry whether you're downwind. And you get a substantially longer effective range of 13 feet. Instead of a "spray", it fires a compact stream of OC. The effect is immediate, it lasts for 45 minutes, and it allows you to extricate yourself from the situation with plenty of time to spare. And unlike sprays, it's reliable at any temperature, and won't rupture, burst, or depressurize.

I have fired this 'blaster' you can see the cone of OC out to the target.

Two things to be careful about:

1. Since the new design looks like a small pistol, pulling it out may invite the unintended consequences I speak of.

2. You will get a residue of OC on your firing hand, which will cause a burning sensation for a couple of hours.

Don't touch your face or blow your nose or touch any part of your skin with the hand...keep flushing it with cold water.

[Van Canna]

What makes PepperBlaster II different from the first incarnation? The new package is more pistol-like. It has a stubby handgrip that makes it more natural to aim and fire. It will work with right or left hand grips, and it has a built-in notch sight to aid accuracy. It has a swingaway tab for a safety, so it won't accidentally discharge in your jersey pocket. But you can easily push away the tab in an instant when you need to use it.

Each unit has two charges in it; i.e. you can fire it twice.

Just how effective is it? When OC gets in the eyes the effect is immediate, and it causes eyes to slam shut and excruciating pain to kick in. If it gets in the nose and mouth, the effect takes 7-10 seconds and causes no small amount of gagging (caused by irritation to the respiratory system) to complement the debilitating pain induced by the OC. And while it'll incapacitate the assailant (human or canine), it won't cause permanent injury or death.

The Kimber PepperBlaster II weighs 100g. Its dimensions are 4.3" x 2.7" x 0.9" -- easy to fit in a jersey pocket along with a gel or your Blackberry. Like any good weapon it's hard to envision ever needing it, but if the time ever comes, you'll be glad you brought it along.

It is still a dangerous weapon and you better be careful and legally justified in its use or you will suffer all kinds of criminal and civil liability consequences.

[Van Canna]

From the Suarez forum

The Quiet Enemy

There are so many clichés that come to mind when I think about how easily we are lulled into complacency, where we are slowly led to believe a lie. The frog in the pot of water comes to mind immediately. For the couple of people that don’t know, it goes like this, “Throw a frog into a pot of boiling water and he will immediately jump out, but put a frog in a pot of tepid water and slowly bring it to a boil and the frog will cook to death.” You see, the frog’s mind never hits the action mode in response to danger because the danger is not obvious until its too late.

So it is with us. We respond to imminent and obvious threats and actions easily and without thought. We respond to a car rushing toward us. We respond to someone screaming at us. We respond to a misbehaving child. What we don’t respond well to, what we can’t seem to recognize, are the quiet enemies in our lives. Laziness. Apathy. Gluttony. Lust. Selfishness. Greed. Comfort. Work. The list is endless.

These are the little things. The things on the margins. The corners we cut. The excuses we make. The things we don’t do instead of the things we should do. The things we do that we shouldn’t do. It’s a battle fought minute by minute and day-by-day. It’s a battle we are losing every day and the world is telling us its ok.

Except its not. Look, we should never major in the minors, but it’s the little things in life, the little battles won, that make the war easier to win. The battle we fight is one of attrition and we are our own worst enemy. It shows up in what we chose to eat. It shows up in what we choose to do, or not do. It shows up in how we treat those around us. Our laziness, greed, apathy, etc. is apparent in everything we do, if we just take the time to look for it. But we don’t.

So it is with training. Losing in a violent encounter doesn’t happen during the encounter. The battle is lost way before the fight. The battle is lost when we eat one more doughnut or when we decide to sit on the couch instead of getting up to train.

We lose it in our prayer life where we refuse to acknowledge God in our motivations and actions. We lose it bit-by-bit and day-by-day and we think its no big deal. We lose in our marriages, we lose in our work, we lose in our life because we don’t get up and do the hard work of being deliberate about what we are doing.

So, what are you going to do about it? What am I going to do about it? Start being more deliberate today. Look at your calendar for next year. Start to schedule your training year.

What are you going to do weekly, monthly and quarterly? What refresher classes do you need to take? Where do you need to get initial skills training? Companies all over the world right now are working on their vision, strategy and budgets for their business for next year. We should do the same.

[cxt]

Van

Hate to drag a movie into the discussion but there is a scene in the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo that this thread reminded me of.

The serial killer is explaining to his latest victem how people know that something is wrong but they don't want to be rude--how their manners get them killed they know they shouldn't be there, they know they shouldn't come into his house, they know something isn't right. But they can't overcome the social pressure (even if there is nobody there) to be "nice" and "polite."

[jorvik]

Quote
"Hate to drag a movie into the discussion but there is a scene in the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo that this thread reminded me of.

The serial killer is explaining to his latest victem how people know that something is wrong but they don't want to be rude--how their manners get them killed they know they shouldn't be there, they know they shouldn't come into his house, they know something isn't right. But they can't overcome the social pressure (even if there is nobody there) to be "nice" and "polite"

I recommend the books over the film ( although the swedish film is better than the english one IMHO).....there are good bits involving the heroinne in the book, the way she fights and her tactics are something that we can all learn from .I was very impressed

[Van Canna]

So very true CXT...I believe Dan Goleman covered the same in his book 'The Gift of Fear'...

But we are the result of social conditioning...then again people who are not sure what's going on and choose to be rude instead of being polite...many times because they think 'I am tough' ...trigger unspeakable violence...such as being pushed down in front of an approaching subway train by someone his rudeness pissed off.

We have seen rude, stupid people on this forum in years past.

[Van Canna]

Visualizing can be good. Most people that do it though probably visualize themselves being ready and having the tactically superior vantage point instead of from the perspective of just picking yourself off the floor after some jerk laid your head open from behind with a pipe.

Violence is a violent thing and violent recitative predators like and practice their craft usually only when they think they have the advantage.
So try some visualization from both angles.

I don't mean visualize loosing, but include the possible reality of injury and coming from behind the curve to dig deep to turn the tables with that controlled rage you have been cultivating.
Sweet dreams...

[jorvik]

Visualisation for me is about all the things that could go wrong. I like to remember when I was most fearfull, to try and feel that fear again and then to think how I would react to it now and what I would be capable of. Oftentimes in such a situation all but the most basic of things will desert you. I remember one time ,in a road rage event not of my making, the other driver came at me cursing and swearing with his eyes blazing.and I had to calm myself and say " "hang on buddy this is your fault, don't talk to me like that!! I'm getting the police involved," and he took off...........but he was really aggressive.........as to fighting ability, all my fine motor senses left me and the most I could probably do was a bitch slap or a boxing combination of a couple of punches, core concepts and nothing fancy. The shock can be quite unnerving. overwhelming even.

Edit
It would take a great presence of mind ( for me) to be a stylist here, to apply a "style" I'm not saying that it can't be done but it would be difficult for me anyway, to adhear and stick to rigid guidlines, philisophies, tactics and principles..just getting angry enough to apply basic core movements is difficult enough..and being quick, a lot of people move like they have all the time in the world, and you don't.if you train like that........and many do, then you are in for a fall

[Van Canna]

Good points.

One publication worth reading for everyone of us, who trains, is 'Sharpening The Warrior's Edge' by Bruce Siddle_ outlining concepts I discussed extensively on this forum years back.

The most important aspect of any reactive response action when we are subjected to spontaneous perception of a personal threat_ is the seemingly fading 'cognitive processing' of what is truly needed to put a stop to it.

There will be 'hardwired' anxieties that upon surfacing, can wreak havoc with skills we take for granted.

While it is true that if we practice something long enough, something out of that 'something' will 'come out' to deal with the situation_

But_ that 'something' might just not be what would work best under the circumstances because of 'natural degradation' from the effects of the cocktail and from not having practiced enough 'impact techniques' and 'stimulus response' applications of those impact techniques_ something that Siddle outlines in detail based on his research.

For example, when suddenly having to face some big, bulky opponent coming at you _ crazed by road rage, as just one example, you will quickly realize at a subconscious level that you will need 'hammer power strokes' to stop him from bowling you over and possibly smashing the back of your head into the road repetitively.

And these 'hammer strokes' must have a good chance of success against the most common of street violence attacks.

A good teacher, will set aside at least one class per week deviating from the traditional workouts of a style.

In this class, the teacher will need to develop in his students the simple 'hammer strokes' that are natural to a body under the 'primal seize' of sometimes 'desperate' defensive action_ using heavy impact gross motor strikes assigned to natural body weapons, practiced against the proper implements in the dojo...makiwaras...heavy bag...Bob dummy...shields etc.

Next the natural body weapons need to be conditioned/hardened so as to withstand the impact stress upon a human target.

Once these 'hammer strokes' are developed…they need to be applied to the dynamics of field application [stimulus response training] against the most common habitual acts of street violence...and applied with blinding speed...against a fairly committed attack in a safe manner on the floor.

In our dojo we have posted on the wall, the 36 HAPV as listed by Patrick Mc McCarthy_ which we refer to_ It is humbling at times to realize how not 'so easy' it really is _to place those concepts into practice.

[Josann]

Been to this guy's trainings. Good analysis of fear and the cognitive science behind it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEZaRF2fbFc

I believe this fits in with what you are talking about.

[Van Canna]

Thanks for the link Josann. I agree. I have been to several of his seminars at Gary Khoury's dojo, and we also had him at our summer camp years back.

Tony has done some exhaustive research in the dynamics of confrontation, the reason why his concepts are widely accepted even by the police and military,similar to Rory Miller's exceptional presentations.

Another very crucial aspect of any serious confrontation training, goes beyond the physical_ involving an ongoing evaluation of our own emotional profile...as this is what our ultimate safety will hinge upon.

We all share the same emotions, albeit with differences in some of the triggers and display rules, but we experience those emotions differently, and we see examples of this in our daily interactions with people, with life, with oneself.

Our profile reveals to the self, upon introspection, how quickly we become emotional about any words or deeds affecting us...how strongly we experience each emotion, and...the potential pitfalls of any 'highjacking' _
that leads to words/actions we later regret.

[Van Canna]

Here is one very sad example...

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/ ... 23250.html