Using Effective Body Language To De-Escalate A Real-World Self Defense Situation

Are you trying to develop the ability to defend yourself in a real world self defense situation - against a real attacker who wants to do some serious damage to you? Well, you should because statistics show that there is an assault every 17 seconds!

This article focuses on a key ability in an effective self defense plan - one that involves using body language to de-escalate a potentially violent situation. If you are serious about really wanting to learn self defense, and not about becoming the next MMA fight champion, then you need to learn the lesson in this article!

You know... being a master of the martial arts or a self defense expert is very different than being a master or expert in any other endeavor. Do you know what I mean?

What I mean is that, any other master or expert has the luxury of scrapping whatever he or she is doing if it doesn't work out right. They have the ability to take a flawed attempt at something, re-work it, and go at it again.

But, you and I don't have this luxury. Because, in a self defense situation - in a real-world attack coming from a brutal assailant who wants to beat, break or kill you - there is no "do-over." If you don't get it right the first time - you may never get the chance to do anything ever again!

So, it is in your best interest to make sure that your training - your self defense "bag-of-tricks" - has more than just step-by-step self defense techniques in it. You need to make sure that you are skilled at doing those things which, if done right and used on the right types of attackers, can literally stop the attack before it ever gets physical.

And, one of these strategies is the effective use of body language to effect control of your assailant's perceptions, and therefor his or her decision-making.

Here's an example of what I'm "NOT" talking about. And it's best explained by way of a quick story about my own early days in my martial arts and self defense career. Maybe you can relate to this story on a personal level.

One of the first things that I was taught when I first began my training was that I needed to be ready all the time. Okay. Awareness. That makes sense.

Then I was taught to take up this "ready position," which looked like a fight position. You know, hands up - body bladed, legs bent.

Now, I can be a real smart-ass sometimes but I couldn't help thinking, "If I'm supposed to be ready all the time... am I supposed to walk around like this?! It would make it difficult to make friends, to say the least!"

Now, I know that's not what teachers meant. And, this wasn't an isolated incident either. It was taught almost the same way, with the exception of the "stance" details, practically everywhere I went to train.

But, the real clincher was when I was told to face my opponent and say these words...

"I don't want to fight!"

Now, whether or not you know that 55% of human communications is non-verbal - that it's about body language - you can still see the contradiction here, can't you?

Here I am - here you are - standing in a combat stance in front of somebody who's threatening to harm you...

And you say, "I don't want to fight!"

Bull$h!t!

He may hear the words that your uttering. But he can damned well see the message that your body is sending! And, it doesn't say, "I don't want to fight." No. It says...

"Bring it on!"

Which is NOT a self defense mindset!

The point here is that, when you are trying to master the realm of self defense, you need to make sure that your words and your actions match. Hell, that should be the Golden Rule for every part of your life.

If you want to have the greatest chance of controlling and neutralizing a self defense attack, you need to make sure that what your body is saying, matches what you want him to be "hearing."

This goes equally well for attack modes, as it does for defensive ones. If you're trying to de-escalate a situation, then stand in a position or manner that says, "I'm not a threat and I really don't want to fight." You can do this and still be able to pay attention and move if you need to.

Similarly, if you are trying to convey your willingness to give him the worst day of his life if he comes at you, your body language, facial expression, and "presence" should tell him that - without you having to utter a single word.

When you get a handle on controlling your own body language, you will also find that you have greater control and influence over the perceptions, decisions, and actions of those with whom you interact. And, no one is more important, and deserving of your mindful attention...than a violent attacker!

Effective self defense requires more than just a few "karate moves." It involves the ability to think strategically, and understand how to defend yourself with as little wear-and-tear on you as possible.

If you really want to know what most people don't know about how to master self defense and how to survive a real street attack, read my newest self defense book: "Fight Smarter - Not Harder!" It's available free at: http://www.warrior-concepts-online.com/street-fighting-self-defense-book.html

Jeffrey M. Miller SPS, DTI is an internationally-known self defense expert. Each month he teaches literally thousands of students through live seminars, corporate training events, and his online self defense courses, the lessons to be able to survive in Today's often dangerous world. Jeff says, "If you really want to learn how to protect and defend yourself against a violent attacker, then I can show you how to survive any attack - guaranteed!"

Learn how to kick: Kicking effectively in a self-defense or Combat Situation part 4 of 10

This 10-article series will deal with the various components that must be Add be calculator, when considering the use of a particular kick in a combat or self-defense situation. These ten components can also be used by the tournament competitor, although certain segments should be changed slightly for the tournament aspects of kicking, rather than the more intensive nature in order to use a kick or kick in battle. Although all of these individual components is important, is the most effective when combined together and utilized properly executing a kick.

Although I am only going to discuss one of the components in this article, here is the complete list of all ten of them.

1. Your kicking ability

2. Your intended use

3. Environment

4. Telegraphing

5. Striking the Implementer

6. Striking correct objective

7. Initial impact

8. impact

9. Deviation or follow-up action are

10. Return to the fighting position

Component four; Telegraphing:

Telegraphing can and will take many forms. Most are subconscious nature, while the other is done deliberately, but inadvertently. Most people would not not and deliberately telegraph their intentions to their opponent, but end up doing so in any event, primarily due to lack of proper training. What I would do in this article is to present you with the most common forms of telegraphing when kicking and the three most effective ways to eliminate them.

Verbalizing:

Verbalizing your intentions is usually done by opening your mouth and declaration to your opponent that you want to kick his ass or words to that effect. This not only telegraphs your intentions to your opponent, but it can also be used against you if your opponent decides to take you to the Court on a civil case after the dispute has arisen. It can also be used against you, if the authorities are involved and it turns into a criminal case.

Your foot and what comes out of it can be one of your greatest assets, or one of your worst enemies. So instead of opening your mouth and tells your opponent your intentions are keep closed and let him wonder.

Eye Contact:

Ever wonder why the United States Secret Service agents wear sunglasses? No, it is not to look cool or really to keep the Sun out of their eyes. Although it is the original purpose of the sunglasses. The Secret Service's primary purpose is for wearing sunglasses is to keep people from seeing where and what their eyes see. This gives also disable the perception of that they are looking everywhere at once.

One of the most common telegraphs a person want to do is to look at part of the body, to which he intends to strike on their opponent. This is a dead giveaway and should never happen, unless you are able to carry out deceptive strategy.

Ideally, your eyes focused on your opponent like a flashlight with mid light centered on your opponent's upper chest. While your peripheral vision scans his whole body like the external view of the flashlight. At no time should your eyes be focused like a laser beam on a single point of focus.

Facial Expressions:

Have you ever heard of a person has a "poker face?" This means that the person concerned does not give off any signs of emotion, betray his emotions. This is quite common in poker players and should be one of many goals, you will want to strive to reduce the chances of accidental telegraphing your intentions to your opponent.

Keep your face so cold and emotionless as face on a Granite statue.

Shoulder, Arm and upper body movements:

Hunching over the shoulders and torso in the waist is often very good indicators that a person gets ready to kick. Another is to lower hands before kicking in.

Always see yourself in the mirror and look close to yourself and what you do before and during the opening of your kick. Write them down and then remove them.

Finally, your goal should be to have a ' poker body ' go with your poker face.

Shifting your weight:

If you are a relatively inexperienced on kicking in, you will almost always telegraph your intentions to kick by significantly shifting your weight onto your non-kicking legs. This is almost always accompanied by a reduction of the hands.

If you are an experienced kicker, there should be no noticeable difference in your weight distribution on the eve of the kicking. This is of course dependent on you executing each component of kick correctly.

Improper opening of Kick:

This is usually done by either one of two things; not set up your kick with another technique prior to initiating the, and/or lifting your legs with your thigh muscles to kick rather than correctly takes advantage of your foot and ankle to lift your legs up.

The 3 most common ways to eliminate Telegraphing:

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

1. Practice the correct technique:

This is pretty much a no-brainer here. If you have a 99% of properly kick and 1% incorrect, so you have an incorrect kick. You must practice (regularly) to each component of kick correctly and with correct mind-set, in order to achieve the maximum amount of productivity and efficiency out of your kick.

2. Practice with a competent education Partner:

You partner can and will have a different perspective on you and your kicking skills and will be able to critical feedback necessary for you to improve these skills. Have a good training partner is invaluable to improve your kicking skills, so when you find one, do not take them for granted.

3. practice in a mirror in front:

The mirror is without doubt my favorite piece of equipment for use in order to improve the effectiveness of my spark. Should your goal is to be able to perform your kick the impact before the note in the mirror that you actually have kicked. Of course this is not easy to do, it should not.

Ideally your kick strike your opponent before he sees it, and before you even realize you have cast it.

Shawn Kovacich have practicing martial arts for over 25 years and currently holds the rank of the 4th degree (Yodan) black belt in Karate and Tae Kwon both Do. Shawn has also participated in such prestigious full-contact bare border karate competitions as Shidokan Open and Sabaki Challenge, among others. In addition to its many holdings is Shawn also a record holder of two time world for endurance high kicking certified by Guinness Book of World Records. Shawn is the author of the highly acclaimed achieving Kicking Excellence Series and can be reached via his website at http://www.kickingbooks.com:

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