Civilian & Security Self-Defense
The Self-Defense concepts within SnowTiger training, taught to civilians & security personnel, involves a process of the application of philosophy / theory / execution of martial principles, practices and techniques to achieve self-preservation. In practice, Self-Defense is 80% inspection and avoidance. The presumption is that if the practitioner has to apply technique, he has failed to properly assess the situation in order to avoid participating in combat.
The primary rules in self-defense are:
> SITUATIONAL AWARENESS;
> THREAT ASSESSMENT;
> INSPECTION, ANALYSIS & AVOIDANCE FOR THREAT ELIMINATION, WITH ENGAGEMENT AS A LAST RESORT;
> DEVELOPMENT OF A WORKABLE SPEED PLAN;
> THE SKILL & PHYSICAL ABILITY TO REMOVE THE THREAT WITH MINIMUM HARM TO SELF;
> THE TEMERITY TO OPERATIONALIZE THE SPEED PLAN.
The predominant idea behind self-defense, utilizing a combat art, is for the civilian (or security personnel) to primarily avoid a potentially violent encounter by having prevented the encounter via awareness of their environment, by determining the threat level and eliciting a rethinking by the perpetrator of their plan of action due to the perception that engaging will be detrimental to or painful for them.
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Anyone that has been a victim of a violent attack knows.... this isn't the movies, it shakes you to your core. The suddenness of an attack is sometimes debilitating to your equilibrium and knocks you off-kilter and once you realize that the perpetrator has you at a disadvantage (they planned the attack) and that your response is probably accounted for with counter-defense attacks in their arsenal, then you will acquiesce to the reality of combat.
Your best defense is an attack. When you are attacked, attack them back. Your blocks should be strike blocks, destroying the weapon that comes at you, breaking it, then move to the secondary strike, the stun-shot, then to the primary strike, the kill-shot...
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You do not need to be pretty in your execution of technique. In real combat, gross-motor skills are the likely go-to in your repertoire of technique. Battle-hardened techniques are what works, all the time. Leave the pretty, fancy stuff for the movies. Be practical, refine your movement, go for the soft tissue, take the legs out, angle (don't be a target) and execute your skill with blinding speed and efficiency. Pain is the best deterrent. Inflict as much pain as possible, as quickly as possible, without mercy. Every man has a weakness, every man feels pain. Get to it quickly.
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