Lesson 1 - An overview and theory
Lesson 2 - Basic defenses and striking
Lesson 3 - Escaping from grabs and bear hugs
Lesson 4 - Information is power: Prepare yourself
Lesson 5 - When you unexpectedly end up on the ground
Lesson 6 - Neutralizing weapons
Lesson 7 - A realistic approach to training for self-defense
Lesson 8 - Summary and review

Theory

The eight (8) lessons I am about to share with you were designed for the following individuals:

1. Those who live in, work in, or have to travel through, potentially hostile/violent environments.
2. Those who enjoys their life the way it is right now and want to keep things the way they are.

Think about the last one for a moment. Don't you enjoy your life right now? Don't you enjoy being able to read this article with eyes that work? Don't you enjoy being able to smell the smells of coffee, filet mignon, apple sauce, chocolate, flowers or your favorite cologne or perfume? Don't you enjoy being able to feel the touch of your loved ones? How about listening to your favorite music, don't you enjoy being able to listen to your favorite songs at the click of a button (that was pushed by a finger that works like it normally works)? Now imagine if one of those senses were taken away from you - all because you thought you could handle the situation or because "THOSE" kinds of things don't happen to people like you. My dear friend, here is your first lesson:

Life is too short. Don't gamble your enjoyment away. When the potential for violence exists, take extra precautions beforehand. Inconvenience yourself. Do whatever is necessary to flee as soon as you perceive the potential for violence!

Now, even though I will be teaching you some hands on techniques to preserve your safety, personally, I believe that using violence to overcome violence should always be a last resort. Why? Because most of you who are reading this article have common sense, intellect and reasoning. The mix of these three gives you the ability to perceive danger and FLEE before it ever arrives.

Does this all make sense to you?

Now, the first tool to making any self-defense system work for you is AWARENESS. This one tool will allow you the opportunity to perceive violence before it ever happens. And, if you can perceive violence at an earlier period of time, you can give yourself more time to NOT be there when it does present itself. So before I get into the physical aspects of self-defense, please understand that awareness is your best tool to develop at this stage.

How do you develop awareness? By giving yourself an education in the obvious. Let me ask you some questions to help you to develop your overall awareness to people around you:

1. What is your mother stands still, does she lean to her left, to her right, forward or backward most of the time? And when she leans in one direction, where are her hands?
2. Before your mother verbally warns you about something, what does she do with her hands before she speaks?
3. When your ___________ (husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend) is deep in thought, where are their hands? Are their hands open or closed? Is their chin centered or off center?
4. When you reach into the refrigerator, do you do it with your left hand or right hand most of the time? When you do reach into the refrigerator, is the weight of your body on your left foot or right foot? Is the weight on the ball of your foot, the sole of your foot or the heel of your foot? And, does any of this change when you reach into the freezer?
5. When you come to an intersection while driving your car, do you look left first or right first?
6. When you drive down the road and have a car just 30 feet in front of you, where do you focus your attention when traffic is moving very slow? On the road in front of you? On the road in front of the other car? Alongside the car in front of you? In their rear view mirror? In their side mirrors? On their front tires? On the back of their head? On the passenger(s)? What catches your interest most?
7. When your ___________ (husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend) favorite dessert?
8. What your ___________ (husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend) do with their feet right before they give you a compliment? Does that change if they were going to give you a complaint about something you did or said?
9. Do you ever pay special attention to HOW MUCH ($$$$$) a person is wearing? Do most people where you work dress is $100 to $300 worth of clothes and jewelry? $500 to $2000 worth of clothes and jewelry? Or more than $3000 worth of clothes and jewelry? Does any of this mean anything to you? Do you think any of this mean anything to predators?
10. What does your car say about you?
11. What do your clothes say about you?
12. What does your living arrangements say about you?
13. What does your manner of speech say about you?
14. What does your attitude say about you?
15. What does your hygiene say about you?

Now, before I go any farther, let me say this:

The longer it took you to answer these questions, the lower your level of awareness! And think about this: Many of these things you have had tons of experiences with. So you should know the answers. However, if you are like more people, you took a lot of little things for granted. You didn't think you needed to be aware of such things because they had no real meaning in life. And while that may be true, still, the fact remains: You took certain things for granted. Please don't take your personal safety for granted. Rather, develop your awareness to a high level. And if you do, I promise you will see things you never saw before! Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Several years ago, a few guys came to me with "girl" problems. They told me what was going on in their relationship and asked me to comment on what I had heard. This is what I told each of them:

"Well, your girlfriend is much more aware of your world than you are of hers!"

They asked me to explain. I said:

"Have there ever been times when you have sat down to have breakfast, lunch or dinner with your girlfriend, looked at a certain part of the table, saw that the butter was missing, began to open your mouth to tell your girlfriend you wanted some butter, but before you could get the words out of your mouth, she was walking back from the kitchen with a container of butter in her hand and you sat there wondering, "How the heck did she know I was going to ask her for butter?"

Each guy looked at me in amazement and said, "Yeah......."

I told each of them, "Listen, your girl is so aware of your world. She has been around you enough to know how you think, act and speak. She knows this because she watches your face, your eyes and your actions like a hawk!"

"Haven't you ever watched little baby girls? They're face watchers!"

"Haven't you ever watched a mother and daughter in the same room with a group of men? Haven't you seen how they communicate with each other just by subtle glimpses, squints and smirks?"

"If you haven't, you haven't been paying enough attention to their world."

"So, let me give you a little advice. Take the next two weeks, two months or two years and pay attention to what your girl pays attention to. Watch her eyes. Watch what she watches. Pay attention to what she pays attention to and you will learn one of life's most important lessons!"

"If you have been involved in her life for more than a couple of years, she has put you at or near the center of her universe. She knows your favorite color, favorite foods, favorite drinks, favorite TV shows, favorite shirt, favorite shoes, favorite part of the newspaper, favorite route to the grocery store, favorite story to tell, the look on your face when you are frustrated or tired, the look on your face when you want to tell her something, the look on your face when you are angry and even the look on your face when you are trying to hide something (like an emotion or thought). She is very much acquainted with your world. However, because you are not as acquainted with her world, you don't do certain things she prefers you do, and, you do things she prefers you wouldn't do.

"So, watch your girl. Learn from her. Raise your level of awareness to her world and she will appreciate your efforts."

Each guy came back to me and told me how much they learned from watching their girl. They also told me how much it helped their relationship!

Here is another example of how awareness can help you:

Several years ago, I was traveling abroad, teaching seminars with an assistant instructor of mine. All of us were walking through a train station and off in the distance, I saw a group of lads watching people intently. I turned to my assistant instructor and told him to put everything of value into his front pockets. He asked why and I told him to just do it and I would tell him later. When the seminar host saw us whispering, he wanted to know what was going on. I told him I would tell him later.

When we got out of the train station, I told both the seminar host and my assistant instructor that I saw a group of guys watching other people in the train station and sizing them up. I said, "I thought they were thieves." They asked why I thought they were thieves. I said, "Because thieves all over the world have the same eye movement." A thief's eye movement is very different from that of a consumer or traveller. Because I have watched people for thousands of hours and having been paid good money to do so, I am fully aware of what the various patterns of eye movement mean. So, because my level of awareness was at a very high level in this obscure topic of life, I was able to perceive potential threats at a distance and fully prepare for beforehand.

I told you these two stories because I wanted you to see how raising your level of awareness to your everyday surrounding can have a positive impact on your life. While it is true that a high level of awareness can keep you out of harm's way most of the time, it can also pay back some pretty big dividends in other areas of your life as well.

Now, is this to say that awareness will ALWAYS keep a person out of harm's way? No. However, I believe it can prevent A LOT of incidents from happening.

One final thing I'd like to bring to your attention is this:

In addition to raising your level of awareness to your everyday surrounding, I believe you must also develop what I call "emotional resolve" in your life. To me, emotional resolve says this:

"The first moment I perceive a threat or a potential threat, I will take action! I acknowledge the fact that I may look or feel foolish later, but my personal safety is priority number one!"

How can you develop emotional resolve? You must repeatedly be put into an uncomfortable position and develop your confidence by reacting in what you feel is an appropriate manner and RESOLVING the situation. Obviously, this can be done in a hands-on self-defense class. However, you can exercise your confidence by speaking up when people walk on your feelings or are inconsiderate. Now don't get me wrong, I am not talking about being rude to people. Rather, I am asking you to emphasize taking action in an uncomfortable situation.

For example, if the grocery store clerk is verbally rude to you, politely ask him or her to repeat their words. If they have the same shortness or abruptness in their response, call them on it. Ask them, "Are you having a bad day, or is this the way you speaks to all your customers?" Regardless of what happens, realize that you have taken action and have stood your ground. You are in the process of developing a habit of standing firm on your convictions on decency and consideration.

Please know there's no need to get into an argument with a rude clerk over the rules of etiquette. I have used this as one example of how you can develop the emotional resolve to stand up for yourself in uncomfortable situations by taking action to immediately resolve the conflict. Does that make sense?

So, to summarize all I have stated thus far:

1. Don't gamble with your safety. Acknowledge that life is simple, precious and short.
2. Raise your level of awareness to people, their actions and your surroundings.
3. Learn to develop emotional resolve so you can act decisively when something is uncomfortable.

These three will prepare you for the physical, hands-on techniques I will teach you in the lessons to come.

Well, I hope this first lesson has been an eye opener for you! Lesson two will appear soon in the Roy's Corner > Self-Defense Course section.

Here is lesson three

Here is lesson four

Thank you for your time!

Roy Harris

 

Harris International
8250 Camino Santa Fe, Suite J.
San Diego, CA 92121
Web:    http://www.harris-international.com/
E-mail: harris.international@yahoo.com
Phone: 1. 858. 353. 4769

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