Unlocking Two Secrets To Prevailing Against A Life Or Death Attack
I can’t blame you if you’re thinking I’m oversimplifying self defense; or mayhap you’re thinking that the title of this post is another case of Hammer Hyperbole. Well, maybe you’re right on both counts, but, fact is, I could give you endless one-on-one self defense classes for the next two years, teaching you the most powerful and effective countermeasures ever imagined, even hard wiring those perishable skills with thousands of reps, and within the first 10, maybe 15 seconds of any half-assed, amateur assault, I can pretty much guarantee you’re going to fold like a $9 tent in a wind storm.
FOLD like a $9 tent, that is, unless you do two dog-crap simple things. Simply by (tactically) breathing and talking you can unlock what I call the Dynamic Psychomotor Power (DPP) I know is locked up not too far from the surface of every one of you. You all have the key that can switch you from the “normal” mode to your DPP, but, tragically, when attacked, 9 out of 10 people hold their breath and say nothing. If and when they do speak, their words lack power, determination. The tone is weak.
I have said this before in several of my posts. In the past 20-some years I have trained thousands of men, women and children. About 95% of the men and 100% of the women – during realistic scenarios featuring a spontaneous attack – freeze for a second or two and hold their breath. Also, the great majority of students – male and female – stay silent during their counterattacks. I urge you, as I do my students to prepare yourself to breathe and yell at least before launching any counterattack (there is evidence that talking while you are performing physical self defense techniques actually weakens and slows your actions) for the following reasons:
· Breathing enables your brain to think and act by sending oxygenated blood from the heart to the brain. By holding your breath you actually freeze your motor skills from going into action.
· By holding your breath you influence a short-circuiting of the conventional cycle of threat perception and technique resolution. In effect, the lack of oxygenated blood induces a form of panic and causes us to rely on our Primitive Brain instead of our Neo Cortex (Smart Brain).
· Hyper vigilance, or Freezing In Place. Nine out of ten victims freeze in place when first touched by an attacker. By breathing and responding verbally to the Bad Guy’s unwanted invasion of your personal space (a predictable pre-attack strategy), you not only kick start your Central Nervous System, and, in effect, your (combat) motor skills, but you immediately identify yourself as someone who is ready to fight. Here and now, you are ready to go.
· John Hall, the ingenious founder of Kid Escape and Date Escape, goes one step further. He not only advocates tactical breathing and verbalization, but he even suggests women breathe loudly and rhythmically as they walk across a dark stretch of parking lot and to speak out loud a veiled threat or two (Loud breath, loud breath, Oh, yeah, come on; loud breath, etc.). Hall suggests that a potential attacker, hiding behind a car, would not choose this Bundle Of Noise as a victim, but, if he would choose her, she would have already unlocked her DPP (Dynamic Psychomotor Power) and, if need be, would be primed for the fight.
As Always. Stay safe.
Hammer