Principles of the Soft Answer

You do not have any quarrel with any person, or rather with any aggressor. You do, however, have a quarrel with the aggression that the aggressor engages in. It means that you are not trying to defeat the aggressor. That is a “win decisively” strategy that should only be used in a life and death struggle such as war, or in competitive sport as long as the rules are obeyed. But these situations are beyond the simple realm of self-defense.

There are many shades and degrees when dealing with this subject, many of which are wholly unpleasant to contemplate. In a confrontation, a trained martial artist will likely be held to a higher standard in the eyes of the law. And if you are not careful the line between aggressor and defender will be blurred in the courtroom. There is a saying that is being repeated more and more these days. And that is when you have to defend yourself against aggression; you will have to do so twice, once on the street and again in court. Therefore, when warranted, you only do what is necessary to thoroughly neutralize the attack and degrade an aggressor’s will to continue his aggression allowing you to escape. Thus you can return to normal living conditions as quickly as possible.

Awareness

Everyone, especially martial artists, police and military personnel, have heard of situational awareness. It is a term that is usually used to define all the other forms of awareness. But in life, there are different types of awareness. Situational awareness is that awareness of your immediate surroundings. It is conscious in nature, and therefore, is slow and reactionary. It is tactical not strategic and, all too often, by the time it kicks in, it is usually too late to do anything but react to a threat. But a more effective self-defense requires that you act and not react.

The best way to do this is to go beyond situational awareness. Effective self-defense lies in the development of predictive awareness.

Predictive awareness helps you avoid those places where there is a higher chance of having to defend yourself or someone you care about. It also warns you of a threat before your situational awareness kick in. It helps prevent you from overreacting. In fact, if developed, predictive awareness is the function that turns on your situational awareness sooner and therefore allows you the ability to better prepare yourself if needed. It is intuition-based and has been called a great number of things including: intuition, a gut feeling, a sixth sense, women’s intuition, foresight etc.

This predictive awareness, believe it or not, is something we are all born with; but is usually suppressed and is therefore undeveloped in the majority of the population (particularly in men). But, if developed allows the first principle of self-defense and its essential elements to work.

General Principle of Self Defense

The first principle in self-defense is that all things exist to act or be acted upon. It is an eternal principle that is true in life as well as the self-defense paradigm. It is the goal of everyone to have the freedom to act and not to be acted upon. When we live foolishly we are acted upon by the consequences of our foolish actions. Only in living right can we fully be individuals. Our lives are truly ours.

In self-defense, when you are attacked and you react to the attack, you are being acted upon. An attacker forces you to either submit to his will or react according to his action. For example, if an aggressor punches and you merely block, you are being acted upon. You are being forced to react to his aggression. However. if you were to use the forward motion of his attack to apply a joint lock, therefore degrading his structural integrity, you are acting. You are creating something (a neutralized and submissive aggressor) from something old (a bully) using already provided resources (the forward motion of his attack).

Essential elements of good self-defense

The concept of self-defense is based on essential elements or principles that once learned and effectively applied greatly enhance your ability to act decisively and prevent your own victimization. They can be narrowed down to three.

1. Adequate warning
2. A good strategy
3. Effective tactics to implement the strategy

Adequate Warning

Warning is the most important element of good self-defense. And yet it is the most neglected in most commercial self-defense courses. The principles of warning in the self-defense paradigm are the same as in the arts of war. They are as follows:

Posturing (or political warning)

The way enemy nations talk to each other are surprisingly similar to the way two teenage boys who are about to fight talk to each other. For example, what did President George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein do for months preceding Operation Iraqi Freedom? They postured and threatened. Such posturing is indicative of a seriously threatening situation should it be allowed to escalate.

In dealing with a potential situation calling for active physical self-defense, some preceding indications are present. Below are but a few:

Threatening facial expressions

1. Raising of the voice
2. Clenching of the fists
3. Verbal and/or physical intimidation (Examples: A man puffing up his pectoral muscles, threats and insults, finger pointing to the face, standing nose to nose engaging in a stare down contest etc.)

Strategic Warning

Strategic Warning deals with the physical movement of the combatant parties announcing his intentions prior to the commencement of hostilities. Here are some examples:

1. Fighting stances
2. Physical advancing
3. Hands in Pockets while advancing or engaging in posturing (see above)
4. Light pushing and shoving

When a student sees this behavior while engaged in an argument, he should immediately cease arguing and leave the area or be prepared to defend himself. In a military conflict this would be characterized by the positioning of combatant forces.

Tactical Warning (enemy at the gates)

This is the initiation of hostilities. If you have not already caught on the aggressor’s intentions by now, it is too late to avoid a fight and you are likely to be injured to a greater degree. This is the epitome of being acted upon. You cannot implement any real strategy here. The best you can do is damage control. This is what happened at Pearl Harbor and on September 11th.

Here are some examples of tactical warning at a much smaller level:

1. Heavy pushing
2. The sucker punch
3. The tackle
4. Chambering in preparation for a punch kick

However, if you caught on to the aggressor’s intentions prior to this phase, than you have a better chance of either avoiding a fight or taking the initiative and exploiting an advantageous position that results in the achievement of tactical surprise. You are prepared for the assault. You have the ability to act and not be acted upon.

A Good Strategy

It seems that most people believe that strategies and tactics are the same thing. They are not. Strategies are the plans you use to achieve your objective. (I.E. swiftly defeat the effort of the opponent to allow escape or win decisively) Tactics deal with specific actions or methods you use to implement your strategy. Here are some examples of good strategies:

1. Attack his Command and Control (C2) functions (e.g. the head and face)

2. Attack his logistical function (blood and breathing apparatus)
3. Compromise and degrade his structural integrity (Bone and muscle structures)
4. Compromise his sense of balance
5. Make him want to get away from you (submission to pain threshold)

These strategies can be adopted separately or together depending on the order of importance and the desired results.

Effective Tactics

To implement your strategy you will need effective tactics. Here are some general examples of the types of effective tactics according to the strategy pursued. These tactics are attacks on the body’s centers of gravity.

(NOTE: Definition of centers of gravity-
Those areas, characteristics and capabilities from which an aggressor derives his freedom of action, physical strength or will to fight.)

Attacking C2 functions

Using percussive techniques (strikes, punches and kicks) to attack specific targets of the head and face. Example of targets includes but are not limited to:

1. The sides of the nose and/or the bridge of nose
2. The cavity just below your earlobe at the aft end of the jaw (Mastoid Process)
3. The cheek just forward of the bulge that occurs when you clench your teeth. (Such a strike can theoretically cause dizziness and a concussion)
4. The temples (Can cause serious injury or death through internal hemorrhage)
5. The eyes (Blindness)

To attack these targets as well as others on the head and face degrades or destroys the decision making ability of the aggressor and can immediately halt further acts of aggression. (NOTE: One must be careful because the striking of these points and others can result in serious injury and/or death. There are ways of attacking some of these points without causing serious injury and caution must be exercised to prevent undesired results.)

Attack logistical function (blood and breathing apparatus)

This can have some serious effects on the ability of the aggressor to continue the fight. Basically, he can’t breath. Therefore, he can’t fight. NOTE: While I have included these tactics here, I do not recommend the first two unless your life is on the line and you have no other recourse. There are much safer ways to achieve your objective. These tactics are not “swiftly-defeat-the-effort” tactics. They are “win decisively” tactics.

Examples of these tactics include:

Choking- there are different types a chokes and they don’t all specifically attack his breathing. The carotid choke, for example, attacks the blood supply to the brain and is very fast and effective. Choking the windpipe, while effective, takes longer and requires more strength to complete due to the squirming and writhing of your opponent (Unconsciousness and/or death can occur)

Attack the Xiphoid process located just below your sternum. (Serious injury and/or death) NOTE: Again, your motives must be clear if this tactic is used because by attacking and breaking the xiphoid process you can, theoretically, puncture a lung.

Striking the stomach just below the Xiphoid process. This area is sometimes called the “bread box.” This can knock the wind out of someone. Definitely a more desirable result than the first two because it is effective in that it allows you to escape while not causing serious damage like attacking that Xiphoid process and it’s quicker than choking.

Compromise and degrade structural integrity

This is a favored method of many martial artists because the desired results can be achieved without serious damage (depending on the pain threshold of the opponent). Joint locks and percussive attacks can achieve this. The body is built much like a building with joints and hubs that act as connecting points to the muscular (walls and insulation), nervous (electricity) and skeletal (self-explanatory) systems. (e.g. elbows, knees, wrists, ankles, pressure points etc.) And they all can be targeted with great effect at varying degrees of severity to achieve a desired aim.

Compromise the aggressor’s sense of balance

This is achieved by using throws. Another favorite of mine because you don’t really have to employ percussive techniques and therefore cannot be blamed for throwing the first punch. Aiki jujutsu and Aikido are famous for this

Nerve and Cavity Press (Make him want to get away from you)

Another favorite, because these often don’t require much power at all to achieve the desired effect, and therefore, is the epitome of employing a soft answer to halt aggression. This method however requires a high degree of skill. Practicing these techniques can be fun if done in moderation and with a good attitude. Of course, that depends on the areas you press. Some areas can cause unconsciousness and even death when pressed. Others (the fun ones) just cause a minor “electric shock” or an acute pain. There are theoretically hundreds of these points on the body. I will include only a few:

• Pressing the thumb on the sides of the sternum
• Pressing the areas below the arm pits
• Pressing the throat just under the Adam’s Apple (not a “fun” point)
• Pressing under the mandible (jaw lining)
• Pressing along the collarbone
• Pressing the cavity just below your earlobe at the aft end of the jaw (Mastoid Process)

Again, there are literally hundreds of areas to press with varying effects. Many you can use on yourself to find where they are without killing yourself.

Conclusion

The principles above are basic in nature. There are many more and as the student learns them he will also, as a result, achieve an amazing sense of self-awareness. This is to be encouraged. By studying self-defense, it is my hope that students embark on a journey of self-discovery and advancement. We have information capabilities that the masters of old did not. What took masters decades to learn as “secrets” we can learn just by going to a library or bookstore and paying attention. The Internet, if used properly, provides information wealth untold. However, it still takes the patient and often-parental hand of a good instructor to help guide the student on his path. A good instructor can provide that sense of balance and direction that the student needs in his research. A good instructor has the student’s best interests at heart and provides perspective and experience of which no money can buy. And thus it is.