Toughen Up Self-Defense Training Tips

What does morality have to do with self-defense?

Well a lot actually.  People’s behavior is directed and controlled by their beliefs and values.  There are a couple reasons why I think its important to clarify, and perhaps correct or modify your beliefs and values, if you want to develop an effective self-defense strategy.

First of all, you have to get clear on your belief in your god-given right to feel safe and secure in your life.  You have to be clear on your right to stand up and protect yourself even if it means challenging, confronting, injuring or even killing your attacker.

Believe it or not, some people have a hard time with that.  There are people who will allow themselves to be bullied, victimized and abused because they don’t feel that they are important or deserving enough to be protected.  That’s just plain wrong.

Violence, in and of itself is not necessarily, “BAD.”  Violence can actually be “GOOD.”  Its a matter or application and context.

Is it BAD for a child to fight off a pedophile trying to drag her into his vehicle?  Is it BAD for a woman to inflict a serious injury on a rapist or serial killer?  Is it bad for a good Samaritan to intervene on behalf of a weak, defenseless victim being pounded on by some dysfunctional piece of criminal shit on a street corner?  I DON’T THINK SO!  It’s good!

Violence is only either good or bad as a result of the context in which it’s applied.  If you don’t have a crystal clear sense of this “righteous application of violence,” your ability to successfully protect yourself and your loved ones is in jeopardy.

The second thing that you need to do is sit down and take a good, hard look at what is worth fighting for and what isn’t.  People have been killed trying to protect trivial possessions or fighting over issues that aren’t worth fighting for.

When a stressful incident activates our sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight response) our thinking and decision making skills deteriorate.  Sometimes, in a confrontation we panic and either fight for something that isn’t worth fighting for or fail to protect what IS significant and important in our lives.  Sometimes we lay down and give up and then spend the rest of our lives wishing we’d fought back.

For the purpose of our discussion, lets get clear on a couple of definitions:

Values are what we place great importance on in our lives.

Belief is our sense of certainty about the way thinks are.

Your efforts to think about this and figure it out BEFORE you find yourself in a threatening situation is crucial.  I encourage you to do some soul searching and examine your beliefs and values about self-defense by answering these questions:

1.  What do I believe about my right to protect myself from physical harm; even if it means hurting or killing another human being?

2.  What do I have in my life that’s worth fighting for, even if it means that I might be beaten and seriously injured trying to protect it?

3.  What do I have in my life that is NOT worth fighting for and running the risk of death or a serious injury if I do?

4.  What would I lose or miss out on if I was killed or seriously injured by the violent actions of another person?  What am I prepared to do, so that never happens to me?

5.  What am I prepared to do TODAY to prepare myself for a threatening encounter that may or may not happen to me in the future?

6.  What are the positive benefits I can gain in my life by investing time and energy into self-defense training even if I end up never having to defend myself?

People behave, whether deliberately or by default, on the basis of the values and belief’s.  You need to examine your values and belief’s and determine whether they are “empowering” in that they help you get what you want out of life or “disempowering” in that they prevent you from achieving it.

If you have disempowering belief’s, that compromise your ability to successfully defending yourself,  you need to change them.  Belief’s are like habits, the best way to change a bad one is to replace it with a good one.  Once you do, seek out evidence to reinforce the validity that your chosen belief is true.

What do you believe about your ability to defend yourself?

Belief And Value Clarification Exercise

Grab a pen and paper, or fire up a blank document file on your computer and brainstorm a list of the beliefs that you have about your personal safety and your right to feel safe and secure.

Here’s a few examples to get you started:

• I have the right to be left alone, not be hassled, harassed, bullied or taken advantage of by others.
• I have the moral and legal right to protect myself and my family, even if it means injuring another person.
• My physical, mental and emotional well-being is important enough for me to take the necessary steps to protect it.
• My body is sacred and I have the right to maintain, condition and protect it.
• I am totally responsible for ensuring my own personal safety.
• My health and my family are my top priority and I will do anything to protect them.
• My religious beliefs are in harmony with my right and willingness to do what I have to protect myself.

… you get the idea.

Getting clear in your own head about your values and beliefs about self-defense and personal safety BEFORE something happens will have a significant impact on your performance in a confrontation.

Enff said.