Awareness: A Partially Understood Tenet of Self Defence

My latest article:

http://www.clubbchimera.com/?p=463

Any feedback, as always, is most appreciated. I hope you enjoy it.

Nice article Jamie

Good to bring the material thats out there in different sources together in one conscise article.

Good work

Al

a great article mate, like you said

too many people concentrate so much on the physical side of SD. of course it is important but we need to train this stuff more.

Great article mate
mick x

First rule of fight club...be aware.great stuff jamie.

Hi Jamie

Just read the article and must say there is some real food for thought there. Thanks for posting the link.

Especially liked the bit about multiple attackers. We did a drill with Tony Somers last Saturday dealing with just this topic. It was a two minute drill with anything up to fifteen people attacking you and you had to defend to the best of your ability. I wanted to do it to see how well I would stand up to it; my cardio, my ability to cover and strike when needed, my grappling when people were grabbing hold of me so someone else could hit me. Well, it was a real eye-opener; I completed the drill with bumps on my face and bleeding from the back of my head. There were also a burst nose and some vomiting from the exertion. I'm filming the masterclasses for Tony and Aidan Carroll and looked back over the footage; studying people responses and what worked. I got someone else to film mine and saw where my weaknesses are and what I need to work on. I'd love to do that drill at least once a week as it really tests many aspects of one's skills.

To quote you, Jamie, "In conclusion, being aware is the practice of living in the present"...this reminds me of the brilliant book, ‘The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle. And it is so true; when you are truly present, there is a calmness, a relaxed demeanour and not one of paranoia. This is something I am constantly working on as it increases one’s general awareness and also makes you a happier person as you are living in the Now and not in the past or the future which have no bearing on this moment. I spent years thinking I was just being ‘aware’ but was actually more paranoid than anything else as sometimes I couldn’t tell if I was being irrational or not. This came from years of hanging around with the wrong people; the kind who were your friends one minute but at the end of a drinking session where trying to take your head off because of the tone of your last sentence!

I think you touched on a very valid point about the difference between awareness and paranoia. Much like the subtle differences between confidence and arrogance…there is a thin line between both. I now practice awareness with much less paranoia and feel more capable of deciphering the two.

Keep up the good work Jamie, love reading your stuff and hope to train with you again in Dublin sometime…really enjoyed the last seminar.

Keep well


Jonny

Great article there Jamie. Give's good material to mull over as always. Thanks

Thanks guys I really appreciate the feedback and the kind words. Al mentioned it was good to have all the information from different sources in one place that was part of my intention. Geoff and Peter cover a lot of these proven and popular methods in their published work, and the Cooper Colour Code, the OODA loop together with other awareness drills like the Tueller Drill are put under critical analysis on my "Self Protection Information" reference page http://www.clubbchimera.com/?page_id=262 As for the awareness versus paranoia, again I can't claim to being first on that topic either. Both Marc "The Animal" McYoung has covered this topic http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/cultawareness.htm and so has Matt Thornton http://www.straightblastgym.com/awareness_vs.htm Albeit they both did it different ways.

The area that I covered for the first time was on self-awareness. Surely an uncomfortable topic that the martial arts coach should address if he is to remain honest and be willing to progress. Too many martial arts instructors from every field display bad self-awareness. Some resemble cult leaders, others are like bad magicians, even more act like playground bullies who never grew up and still more act like they would be better suited selling tarmac door-to-door. Happily this forum seems to have done a good job thus far in not attracting coaches of this ilk, but I believe they are in the majority and, if that is the case, it is only healthy for us to be aware of the way we act.

Anyway, I am really glad you guys liked it and I hope you will continue reading the series. My next one focuses on the topic of courage.