Self-Defense: On The Way To The Total Approach
As follows from our previous discussions, we can't consider
self-defense in a simple way as just an experience of shooting or hitting
attackers. Real self-defense is much more complicated; it embraces a
huge variety of life skills - rational thinking, social, communicative
and communicative skills, psychological knowledge, physical aspects
and courage. Being the person of a powerful spirit, of unmovable
courage - the primary and indispensable feature of a genuine self-defender.
Violent people - agressors - often merely step aside courageous persons.
Agressors simply avoid them because they usually seek a weak people while
choosing their victims. Thus, the principal point of the total approach
to self-defense is the development of person's inner core, the spirit
improvement. It will give you the self-reliance, the self-possession,
the ability to avoid violent situations and conflicts. There are many
ways to the spirit improvement. What a way to choose - it depends on
the person; we can't give any definite guidances here. Everyone can
find his own way.
Background knowledge (social and psychological awareness, etc)
undoubtedly have an importance for the person who wants to be an expert
in self-defense. Understanding of the roots of criminality, violence
and agression allows to avoid possible alert situations and aids in
defensive system organization.
Physical training is a point of no little importance for
self-defender, but there's no reason of driving it to extremity. Being
the mass of muscles doesn't mean being the real self-defender. Martial
arts training certainly give self-defender a useful set of physical skills
and a spirit improvement, but a person who identifies martial arts
with self-defense, is dead wrong. There's evidently a wide difference
between self-defense and martial arts training, therefore the self-defensive
approach based on martial arts, is strongly limited.
Various weapons undoubtedly play a great part in a self-defender's
life. There are lots of extreme alert situations couldn't be resolved
without use of weapons and probably deadly force. Modern self-defender
can't leave out firing practice, but it's very dangerous for you to
rely entirely on weapons but not on yourself. Diverse weapons and their
characteristics will be discussed later in-depth in another our sections
as an integral part of our total approach. Nevertheless we don't recommend
you to devote very much time to weapons.
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