Essence of Self Defense is a thin list of things that might get you out alive when you are already screwed.  SGT Rory Miller.

Self Defense is a big topic covering areas such as domestic violence to hostage taking.  It is impossible to train for every scenario.  But correct physical and mental training through Karate can help you be ready mentally.

All Self Defense should be based on avoidence.  Good awearness, posture, confidence and common sense should keep you out of trouble.  Never delegate your safety to someone else.  And never ignore what your eyes see.  You are an expert on human behaviour, trust your gut.

Rule for life, you don’t get to pick what kinds of bad things will happen to you.  Self defense is never a choice.  But if it comes you will be surprised.  Always surprised.  If your not surprised then you had some warning and could/should have taken measures to escape or avoid the situation (see the monkey dance).  Real self defense is about recovering from the shock and surprise, whether that is a punch to the back of the head or a hand wrapping around your mouth.

The most common lead up to an attack on a woman is to show a weapon and order her to obey.

If you put yourself in harms way and are the victim of a surprise assault.  You are a rabbit to the wolf.  The attacker is in predator mindset.  They have planned, trained and rehearsed for this encounter.  They know what they are doing with cold logic.  They have a goal. rob or rape for example.  The attacker is ready for the fight and you are inconsequential.  The shock of an attack can cause you to freeze, wondering whats happening and why.  Reasons or excuses are irrelevant when you are fighting for your life.

The predator is looking for weak, dostracted & passive victims.  Practicing good awareness on the street is vital.  Be alert to your surroundings and those around you.  Look for places where attackers could hide.   Display confidence in your body language.  Avoidence is far better then fighting and know that if you do fight, you will fight far less effectively then how you trained.

Fine motor skills degrade or go completely, gross motor skills can degrade also.  Under the extreme stress, that can’t be reproduced in the dojo, a host of chemicals will be released into your system that will effect you mentally and physically.  Skilled techniques degrade under stress, peripheral vision is lost and tunnel vision occurs, depth perception is lost or alltered, auditory exclusion occur, blood pools in internal organs and is drawn away from yor limbs, meaning your legs and arms feel weak, cold or clammy.  Complex motor skills will be hampered.  Perception and memory can be wildly distorted and time may seem to slow.  You can even find irrelevent thoughts will intrude..

All this means that you wont feel most pain and neither does your threat.  Add to that cocktail a mix of adrenalin, alcohol and drugs and it means complience locks and nerve points may not work.  In full survival mode fighting for your life it is not the same state of mind as you where when a wristlock in training hurt.