Everything You thought You knew about Self-Defence is WRONG! Here’s why…

Multiple Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion and Abu Dhabi no-gi World Champion Kyra Gracie

When we refer to self as in self-defence what we are really talking about is the entire universe being in harmony with itself and then there is this one being or group that is resonating at a destructive frequency, similar to what a cancer cell is to the human body. First we should define the term self.  When used in this context it is really referring to the ability to understand that we are all one.  There is no me. There is no You. There is us though. If you defend only yourself and that threat goes on to assault someone else then You were not successful. It was not neutralized. To defend ourselves means we should also extend our protection from only our person to all people on this planet which we all share.

To be a good citizen of the planet You must protect yourself and everyone else as well.  Fortunately violence is the last step in self-defence and not the first. The first step in self-defence is awareness. This is the key to life. From when we can look at things with our full consciousness we can get a sense of possibilities available. If someone is acting like they may cause trouble and they’re walking towards you on the sidewalk, and If you are aware of your surroundings you may decide to cross the street before they get to you.  

Remember this, every stranger is not your enemy, some strangers might actually be your friend and come to your aid in the event of an attack or potential attack. They might be reluctant to help you though if you just walked by them and treated them like a criminal when they did nothing wrong. So try not to pre-judge your fellow human being because that is the cause many conflicts in this world.  It’s a balancing act because intuition is one of our strongest abilities. Learn to trust your intuition but first you must be able to see things and situations clearly so pre-judging doesn’t cloud your good judgement.  It’s a good idea to learn as much as possible about other cultures so as to not offend other people who think differently from You. For example everything you do in the corporate world will get you killed on the wrong street. Turning your back on a thug will leave you with no head back left. Flashing cash on the wrong street will leave you broke and possibly beaten if you don’t hand it over. Ignoring someone, making them feel invisible is the number one way to get hurt on the mean streets. With some people confronting them will make them second guess. With other people keep moving while talking your way out might work better. While some others only understand force.

Sometimes a potential attacker might engage you to probe for weakness. They want to see if you’r a sucker or not.  Once you prove yourself it de-escalates. They don’t have the right to do this but that’s the reality of what happens on the street. All the training in the world might not help you in a physical confrontation. Weak people attack other people.  This means they will probably trick you first so they can get an advantage. All an attacker wants is an easy prey.  They don’t want to work really hard for it and they don’t want to get injured because that will slow their hustle. They want someone with headphones on, talking on the phone, distracted.  A woman digging in her purse for her keys. They want someone already acting scared so they can say don’t move and You freeze. They want someone who leaves their car door open in a dark underground garage. If you can show that you don’t fit their profile of what a victim is then you may get away without violence. Many attacks happen from people we know.  Many women and their boyfriends kick off. This is called a domestic dispute.  We’re not pointing fingers but what do you do when your girlfriend is so pissed off she wants to kick your ass and she’s strong or skilled enough to do it. Hopefully intuition says leave the premises.

Self-defence also includes defending the planet because if the planet doesn’t survive then neither will we. Self-defence also includes protecting loved ones, animals, anyone that cannot defend themselves and those that can. If one person stands up to a bully other people will also find the courage, so in this case using your voice or showing intent to get physical through actions can be crucial in de-escalating a bad situation.

 Attackers are master manipulators and to even the playing field You must learn to be one too. Your mind is your greatest weapon you posess. Appearing to agree with them or giving the impression that they have the upper hand is a good strategy to insure that they get overconfident and make a mistake that you will be able to capitalize on since You set it up that way by being proactive.

Here are the 4 steps to Self-Defence

1. Awareness

2. Avoidance

3. Negotiate (talk your way out)

4. get Physical

This is my client Margo talking about how she used her training to successfully defend herself!

This is Karen talking about my C.A.T Self-Defence program!

Think of me as your resource for self-defence and fitness for You and your network of friends! If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask!

To join our Counter Assault Program (C.A.T) and learn how to defend yourself please contact us below and leave a reply and we will contact you and set you up in one of our small group classes which are ongoing and continually forming.

Have you ever thought to try Personal Training for fitness? This is available upon your request! -Bless

What does the word MENTOR mean to you?

In martial arts there is always a master and apprentice.  They say they come in two’s like the Sith in Star Wars.  Nowadays the modern term is mentor and student but it means the same thing.  Examples of mentors in movies are Professor X leader of the X-Men.  Tony Stark  who is Iron Man in the Avengers.  Jor-El, Kal-El’s father in Superman.  In real life Oprah Winfrey plays a huge mentor role to a lot of people, also there was Mother Theresa. The truth is that usually our mothers were our first mentors then perhaps our fathers or we just branched out into the world until we found someone to take us under their guidance and show us how the world works.  When I branched out it was to my coaches in sports but they didn’t really act as mentors.  I don’t remember my coaches really delivering any life messages.  They just wanted us to get ready for the next game.  Forget about our last loss and Win as a team.  

It wasn’t until I arrived at martial arts in my early teens that I met someone who took the time to explain athletics to me in a spiritual way.  It wasn’t that he was reading to me or preaching to me or anything like that. No mumbo, no jumbo.   Spirituality in the martial arts is very direct. What he said was that I should be able to break a board with a punch. When  I looked at the board it seemed impossible to me and I told him so.  He said that if you don’t believe then you won’t break the board.  If you only intend to hit the board and not go through it then that’s exactly what will happen and that hurts.  You are this board and this board is You. Then he never let  me break it until I went to my first belt test for yellow stripe. When I broke the board during my grading it was then that I understood that the board was an analogy for barriers within my mind. The board didn’t even really need to exist because with the proper mindset whatever that barrier is made out of if it’s physical or mental or spiritual, it would have broken the same way.  That’s a mentor.  

My instructors would show me something and let me figure it out with their guidance and always relate it back to how everything is interconnected.  In martial arts the saying goes that you fight how you train.  My trainers would watch everyday behavior in the gym and say as a result of correcting this it’s going to carry over into your everyday life and make you a champ there too.  Now that’s a mentor.  

My trainer would say that you can’t rush training.  It’s a lifestyle so we’re not going to cram for the exam just because you have a tournament to compete in tomorrow. We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing which is chasing perfection which is impossible to achieve but worth searching for.  

I told my kickboxing mentor that I was tired during training one day and he said tired  people can’t talk and they definitely don’t stand up and talk, how about I stop training you and we’re just friends?! I never said that to him again.

My Jiu-Jitsu mentor was watching me one day and he says to me Lee Jiu-Jitsu is a microcosm of life so what you’re doing right now is going for the submission before getting the position, I bet this is what is going on in your life right now too.  And it was, he was right.  I was working on a lot of projects at the time and not getting anything finished.

In conclusion a mentor is that rare person who can connect all the dots for you and show it to you in a way that you can now learn to connect the dots for others.  It is their duty and sacred trust to instill in you that it’s a responsibility to pass it on to the next person that you can help allowing this legacy of information transfer to continue.  

So choose your mentor wisely, make sure it’s someone who you believe in and who believes in You. Get the message they’re trying to give you and find your own path eventually once the apprenticeship is over which generally lasts  4 or 5 years.

 Eventually, this way what you’ve learned will  be assimilated and become a part of your art and an expression of yourself.  There’s a quote that goes seek not to be like the masters of old but to seek what they sought. -Unknown

Fightclub News Update 

Women’s self-defence classes will be resuming every saturdays at 2! Message for details and to reserve your spot.  leejitsu@gmail.com

Our Docudrama will be continuing this fall season featuring the newest addition to our fightclub, Chelise the lioness of Concrete Jungle! This girl is on fire! 

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