In English, the Japanese phrase “kihon waza” is sometimes translated as “basic techniques”. I don’t really like this translation, because many Western minds grasp this to mean “the basic stuff I need to learn, get out of the way, and then move on to the advanced stuff”. The translation I prefer is “fundamental methods.” These [...]
From terrorists, to drunken and disorderly passengers, to simply the unruly – air crews continue to face threats to the safety of themselves and their passengers. With the ultimate responsibility of the safety of everyone on a plane, I’d like to see airline crew-members regularly trained in combative self-defense and defensive tactics.
I am aware that [...]
The failed attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines Flight over Detroit should serve as another wake-up call to average citizens around the world. Once again, a tragedy may have been averted by the actions of passengers and crew acting to subdue the terrorist. We see the same spirit that led the passengers of United [...]
First – there is nothing wrong with women, or anyone, wanting to learn to defend themselves. Protecting yourself and your loved ones from physical harm is a natural instinct. Second, I personally have taught “women’s self defense” classes throughout Boston – particularly during heavy activity by two serial rapists in the area.
I do think that [...]
There’s an old rule of thumb in the martial arts that less than one percent of those who start out will last long enough to earn a first degree black belt. Less than one percent of those people will stick with training long enough to earn a second degree black belt. I’m sure that this [...]
I am a big fan of unconventional training and, since awareness is the greater part of self-defense, here’s an unconventional drill you can do during the day:
I once read that the first thing a professional burglar does after breaking into a building is to look for escape routes. This would be pretty important should someone [...]
Courtesy
Martial Arts practice begins and ends with courtesy. At the beginning of our practice we “bow in” with a short ceremony, at the end we “bow out”. The ceremony is spiritual but not religious, and is a very important part of the training.
The importance of the ceremony is that we are shifting from our [...]
We believe that any training for self defense, whether that’s martial arts, or gun training, or anything else, must emphasize safety. It makes no sense to get hurt while training for self defense.
Most of us have jobs and family commitments that would be impacted by an injury, but injury recovery also detracts from the time [...]
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Martial Artists Images From Flickr
