A Very Good Article by Scott Sonnon

[tellner]

A summary wouldn't do it justice. Take a look at the original.

 

[Meathook]

A summary wouldn't do it justice. Take a look at the original.

Very nice points. Especially helpful, I thought. I really like the concept of the second point he made, I call that 'hiding the hook under the worm.' By that i dont mean im intentionally baiting anyone, rather, I'm just not fully revealing what I'm capable of, my father said it best, he told me once 'always hold something back so that others dont completely know what you're capable of.' These days in this country there are a lot of suckers, don't be one. My training in american kenpo in the mid 90's did so much damage to my martial thinking and attitude. I trained under Jeanette Wilde, and if you werent there you really cant comment. Besides its not kenpo i have a beef with, its my instructors thinking and attitude towards other arts in comparision and the attitude that an 'average joe' was any less dangerous than anyone else. it wasnt untill I trained under Mike Stidham that i really gained some respect for my opponents, cause i was floored at least twice and had my elbows ripped on the mat several times.
After I left that Mike started doing the ultimate combat experience and in my estimation he really takes advantage of people. He reguarly has put people that he knew prior to the fights occurance should not have been in there in with ringers, roughians and brutes. So, this is where I am now, I self train, I have more material on you tube then I could ever master and Ive developed the kind of respect that garners me the oppurtunity to never be a cow, a pig, a sucker or an easy stepping stool for the local 'experts' and instructors pre made fighters in each of their networks of destruction. Good Medicine!

 

[KenpoTex]

some great points there...thanks for posting that.

 

[bluekey88]

Great article! I really like the points having to do with self-esteem and self-worth and how they relate to the "interview" process predators use to choose victims. I've not seen these points emphasized much in similar articles on awareness and self-protection.

the idea that you must like yourself enough to want to protect yourself from harm is really insightful and important.

Peace,
Erik

 

[CoryKS]

Good article, interesting site. Not sure what Flow means in his usage, but it sounds like there's some Chikszentmihalyi influence there.

 

[tellner]

Good article, interesting site. Not sure what Flow means in his usage, but it sounds like there's some Chikszentmihalyi influence there.

That's exactly what he's referring to.

 

[shesulsa]

Very good article. Thank you!

 

[thardey]

My favorite quote: (They're all good, but this was a new perspective for me.)

Its time to fight when the situation is no longer acceptable to you. Rarely do you have to fight. Rarely do you encounter a situation that is truly unacceptable. The obstacle is not that you fail to choose to fight, for it is not a choice but a fact that when something is unacceptable to you, you will act upon it in some form. The failure comes in realizing too late, and then you are playing “catch-up” with your very life, when you are surprised or not properly prepared with a flexible and comprehensive self-protection doctrine, you are not given the opportunity to enter the fight. If so, your actions may be inappropriate or insufficient. Anyone can successfully negotiate personal violence as long as he is given the ability to act appropriately.

I think this type of thinking is also appropriate for some of the other threads going on right now about defending yourself from robbers.