Practical Budo on TV

Lise and I only had three minutes (the other guest on the show was Vince Flynn) but I feel things went well.  We got to speak about:

• Awareness
• Threat Assessment Scanning
• Counter Ambush

Then Lise got to beat me up with a couple techniques.(she looked great)  Not bad for three minutes. 
Maybe Vince will cast me as Mitch Rapp :)

If you didn't get a chance to watch you can check out the link below

http://www.showcaseminnesota.com/show/client_article.aspx?storyid=880005

Violence Dynamics (learning lessons about real world violence from the news)

The three attempted sexual assualts happened on Friday and Saturday, police said.

Last update: October 25, 2010 - 8:48 PM

Minneapolis police warned on Monday of three attempted sexual assaults against women in south Minneapolis since Friday, saying that in each case the women were walking or jogging alone when a man approached them.

One incident happened early Friday, the other two on Saturday. The department urged people to stay alert, avoid traveling alone and call 911 to report any cries for help.

Police gave these accounts:

A woman said she was near the 2100 block of E. 37th Street at 4:30 a.m. Friday when a man grabbed her from behind and molested her. The suspect was described as a Hispanic male in his early 20s with a slender build, inch-long black hair spiked up in front and a faint moustache.

Another woman said she was near the 1700 block of E. 33rd Street at 2:30 a.m. Saturday when a man made "lewd comments" and then grabbed at her body.

The women in both of these attacks fought the suspect until he fled, according to police.

A third incident took place at 9:25 p.m. Saturday when a woman jogging past the intersection of E. 51st Street and Woodlawn Boulevard was grabbed from behind. When a vehicle drove past, the man ran away.

Anyone with information about the crimes is asked to call Sex Crimes Unit officers Sgt. Brian Carlson at 612-673-3064 or Lt. Nancy Dunlap at 612-673-3790.

MATT MCKINNEY

Before we disect the news article let me state I am not second guessing the victims.  They survived.  Their tactics worked what more can you ask?  Second I am not blaming the victims.  Blame and responsibility are two very different things.  These events can serve educational purposes - learning from how violence actually happened in the past to prevent it from happening in the future.

AVOIDANCE

- Violence happens in places -

2100 block of E. 37th Street at 4:30 a.m.

1700 block of E. 33rd Street at 2:30 a.m.

Do you really need to be out from 2:30 - 4:30 in the morning?  If so, you need to understand that is dangerous and raise your level of awarness.

COOPER AWARENESS LEVELS:

These color codes help recognize, evaluate, and avoid potential threats. They are used to measure rising threat and make most situations avoidable. The following are the colors in ascending order of awareness of danger: white, yellow, orange, and red.

Code White

• You feel secure, whether or not you are actually safe.
• Awareness is switched off.
• You are unaware of your environment, its inhabitants, and their rituals of attack.
• All attackers look for victims in this state.

Code Yellow

• You are cautious. You should spend most of the time in this state.
• Awareness is switched on.
• State of threat awareness and relaxed alertness.
• You have a 360-degree peripheral awareness of such environmental danger spots as secluded doorways, entries, and alleys, as well as such psychological triggers as adrenal dump and attacker ruses. Be aware of people, vehicles, behind large objects, dark areas, etc.

Code Orange

• You are in danger. You are aware of a potential threat.
• State of threat evaluation.
• Specific alert. A possible target has been identified. A particular situation that has drawn your attention and could present a major problem. Someone may be giving oral indicators such as direct threats or using suspicious language. Focus on the potential attacker.
• Check to see if there is an avenue of escape, potential weapons available, and if others around you are friend or foe.
• Decision is made to take action.

Code Red

• You are in conflict.
• State of threat avoidance.
• Fight or flight. Flee, defend, or attack. You have evaluated the situation, and if there is a threat, you prepare to fight or run.
• Never stand or fight if there is a possibility of fleeing.
• Carry out decision to act made in Code Orange. You don't have to think; no indecision on the course of action; you are prepared.
• If use of physical self-defense techniques is necessary, use the level of force appropriate to the threat. E.g., don't treat someone who pushes you because he is rude like someone who is trying to stab you with a knife.

VIOLENCE DYNAMICS
- Asocial violence -
Asocial violence does not see the victim as a person but rather a resource (a different species to be hunted). By the time you face a predator attack you must understand that the predator has decided what ever you
have (or the attack itself) is more important than you.

•

When a vehicle drove past, the man ran away.

 

One of the biggest paradoxes about de-escalation and violence prevention is the willingness to commit sincere violence often means you don’t have to.

 

If you convey to him that you know what the stakes are and you’re willing to go there (physical violence) just as fast as he is, then it is NOT safe for him to attack.

A predator will use tactics he has developed to get what he wants from you in the safest surest manor.

The women in both of these attacks fought the suspect until he fled, according to police.


Are you training to deal with real violence?

Road Work

Ok so cardio training sucks.  Have you ever been on a tread mill just watching the seconds on the clock tick by wishing you were anywhere else?  I think we can all agree that cardio vascular fitness is a key element to surviving violence and just general wellbeing.  Running is a martial art that has been taught to every military - ever.  Running to the battle.  Running to safety (cover – concealment).  So if we can agree that running is a necessary evil, how can we make it more necessary and less evil (relevant to close quarters combat / self defense)?

ROAD WORK

Road work is what you sometimes see boxers do.  Boxers practice throwing combinations while they run.  That’s great for boxers but how does it improve quarters combat / self defense  and making cardio suck less you ask?  Well, you will have to customize things for the style you train but this is how I do it.

1) Run outside

Benefits

• Learn to adapt to the weather
• Learn how different conditions effect movement
• Learn the terrain around where you live
• Active Threat assessment training
• Much greater freedom of movement to do more than running (Road Work)

2) Activity Specific Performance Enhancement

What I mean by this while you are running also periodically do fundamental motions or skills of your close quarters combat / self defense style.  For example every 3^rd step I’ll do one of the four basic motions I teach (Irimi, Tenkan, Hiraki, Yoko Sabaki)

Benefits

• Plyometric – explosive power training along with cardiovascular training
• Opportunity do move outside the Dojo in the real world
• Fun

3) Keep a recordEvery road work session try to go further, or faster (not both be careful not to over train) than the last one.  If you have a gps enabled smart phone there lots of free apps that allow you to do this.  Or a simple stop watch for you low tech off the grid types (how are you reading this?)

Benefits

• Stress inoculation - Competition, even just with yourself increases hormonal stress.  Learning what that feels like and how to deal with / overcome it
• Pride – Steady progression encourages you to go out there and get on it even when the devil on your shoulder says “It’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s raining, it’s snowing, your bed is so comfy”

I train this way twice a week with 2 or 3 days rest in-between.  Give it a try, even if for only 20 minutes before work and you’ll never run on a treadmill again. 

Social skills (Charm) used to set up asocial violence

'Hiccup girl' is among 3 charged with murder after fatal robbery in Florida

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A woman whose uncontrollable hiccups brought her worldwide attention is charged in the killing of a 22-year-old man during a robbery.
Jennifer Mee, 19, of St. Petersburg and two others are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Shannon Griffin on Saturday
.
Sgt. T. A. Skinner of the St. Petersburg Police Department says Mee lured Griffin ( Predator charm tactics )to a home ( isolated secondary crime scene) where the others robbed him at gunpoint. Police say Griffin was shot several times.
Skinner says Mee and the others admitted their involvement.
Mee was being held without bond early Monday. Pinellas County jail records did not show whether she has an attorney. Telephone numbers listed for Mee's mother have been disconnected.
Mee's hiccups — up to 50 times a minute for months — gained notoriety in 2007.

Sacred Geometry or grown men in pajamas with sticks

Seeing shapes.  The above chart is how I integrate Kenjutsu into Tai Jutsu training.  In Aikido everything comes from the sword.  Teaching sword work to improve modern close quarters combative skills may seem a contradiction.  Until you start seeing the shapes.  Kenjutsu (all Budo) can be broken into four basic motions:

Irimi – Entering (Diamond or Square)

Tenkan – Circular (Circle)

Hiraki – Opening (Triangle)

Yoko Sabaki – Lateral (Line)

Teaching Kenjutsu is kind of like Danielsan painting the fence.  It might seem silly at first but it ingrains quality techniques.  Kenjutsu helps students recognize the shape patterns.  Instead of having to learn 1000’s of moves (Aikido is said to have 3000 + Judo + Karate + Taiho Jutsu) from which to choose (causing a freeze under pressure) you need only learn four motions.  Of those four motions you pick the one that best fits your:

• Body Type
• Personality
• Capacity for violence
• Unique traits

That one motion that suits you is your counter ambush.  Take that motion and train it to reflex.  So teaching Kenjustu trains students to delineate 1000s of techniques into one basic motion that handles the majority of what happens in the world (outside the dojo HARDER,FASTER,CLOSER,BY SURPRISE/RANDOM).  High speed low drag perfect for modern close quarter combatives. 

Another major reason for Kenjutsu (all Buki waza) training is to understand the concept of fence.  If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball.  If you can avoid getting your skull cracked by a bokken (wooden training sword) you can avoid most any attack.  I can’t do justice to fence in one post and most of it would be plagiarism anyways so for in-depth information of fence read Marc MacYoung's “Ending Violence Quickly”.   Basically the way I teach fence is “Get someplace safe”.  Homma Sensei says open your umbrella under a roof, before you walk into the rain.  You are not fast enough to block a sword (rain), and Japanese swords aren’t really designed to block other swords anyway.  Better to move (under a roof) then open your umbrella (block, counter attack).  Kenjutsu is much more akin to cowboys quick draw first shot to hit wins then say what you see on Highlander re-runs.

Training only in Tai Jutsu (empty hand techniques) it is easy (especially for strong / fit men) to develop habits of taking damage (strike or two) then over powering their opponent (usually smaller / weaker).  Now put a 3’ hard oak bokken in those smaller / weaker opponents hand and see how many shots (how much damage) tough guy wants to take before they move in such a way that more shots / damage is impossible. Pain is an excellent educator.  High speed low drag perfect for modern close quarter combatives 

Yet another reason to train Kenjutsu in 21 century America is that it’s fun as hell.  Buy a couple of pairs of action flex swords (do I really need to explain why you don’t spar with hard oak bokkens) or if you suffer from too much money some kendo gear.  Kumi Tachi (sword sparring) is an excellent force on force training drill that increases good habits:

• Improving your position
• Worsening their position
• Protecting from damage
• Delivering damage to the opponent

It is also fun cardiovascular training.  Competition helps induce hormonal stress allowing students to learn how to deal with stress (stress inoculation)

Okuden (secret teaching) practice your counter ambush with a sword in your hands and see what happens J

For detailed information on Kumi Tachi check out the International Shindudo Association website.

How violence happens (Violence Dynamics)

Man killed off-duty officer over parking space

18-year veteran struck in the head with concrete object

October 17, 2010|By Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun

A 25-year-old Southeast Baltimore man has been charged with fatally injuring an off-duty Baltimore police detective by throwing a piece of concrete at the officer's head during an argument over a Canton parking space, according to police.
Detective Brian Stevenson, an 18-year veteran and married father of three, had gone out to have dinner on the eve of his birthday when he and Sian James got into an altercation in a private parking lot in the 2800 block of Hudson St. about 10 p.m. Saturday, police said. James was charged Sunday with first-degree murder.
James struck Stevenson in the left temple with a "fist-sized" concrete fragment, according to court records. Stevenson suffered "massive head injuries" and was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, where he died about an hour before he was to have turned 38.
Colleagues who investigate violent crime in the city — much of it over petty disputes and perceived slights — were struggling to cope with Stevenson's death and were baffled by the circumstances.

 

"All of them are terrible," Detective Thomas Jackson said of the city's killings. "But a parking space?"

Stevenson, who lived in Gwynn Oak, grew up in the city and as an officer investigated shootings and robberies in the Northeast District. He is the first city officer to die at the hands of another since Jan. 9, 2007, when Officer Troy Lamont Chesley Sr. was fatally shot during a robbery while he was off duty in Northwest Baltimore.

"It's an incredible tragedy for the family, for all of us," Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said outside the hospital, where he and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake met Stevenson's relatives. "The city's losing a fantastic detective who worked to make people safe in this city. It's just senseless."

Stevenson was out having dinner with a longtime friend near Canton Square, and the argument broke out in the parking lot of an eye care clinic. Residents said the neighborhood is typically packed, with some area bars offering valet service and drivers jockeying for parking spots.

Acting on information from witnesses, James was tracked down by officers at a club in Power Plant Live and taken into custody. He was formally charged Sunday afternoon.

1st let me state again that I am not 2nd guessing the actions of the Officer.  His death is a tragedy.  However the circumstances of his death can be studied to prevent similar outcomes in the future.

Bad things happen in predictable places.  If you avoid the places you can avoid a huge percentage of the violence in the world.  What are those places?

·         Bars – Parties – Anywhere people get their minds altered

·         Anywhere that young men gather

·         Where territories are in dispute

·         Private Places

·         Limited mobility or escape routes 

Monkey Dance (MD)

·        Hard, aggressive stare

·        Verbal challenge – “What are you Looking at”

·        An approach, with signs of adrenalization  - gross motor actions arms swinging, chest bobbing skin flushing

·        Squaring off (hey diddle diddle right up the middle) and contact chest bump – push / shove

o       Repeat as necessary until…

·        Big Looping over hand punch (almost always right handed hey maker)

Thousands of generations of man have been conditioned to play this game.  It is very easy to get sucked into and very hard to walk away from.

Important elements about a Monkey Dance. It is between near equals to establish dominance.

No mater who said what, who made contact first or who threw the first punch with all the opportunities for preclusion (leaving) there is no self defense here.  This is a mutually combative situation and most likely both of you are going to jail.

Serious injuries are rare in the monkey dance and usually occur by accident a broken fist or someone slipped and hit there head.  The social violence ritual combat is genetically designed NOT to be life threatening.  Elk “fight” for mates head on antler to antler (damage unlikely) Elk drive off predators by goring their antlers into the sides of the predator puncturing organs (potentially fatal).

When it is injurious as in the story self defense is an option you will be charged with murder.

When two tigers fight one is killed the other is injured.

If you feel yourself being drawn into a monkey dance you must ask yourself

• Is this worth killing for?
• Is this worth my life (ending or being spent in jail)

Unless the monkey dance is being used as a pre-attack interview by a predator the answer is no.

Etiquette

It is easy to get caught in a monkey dance and hard to back out of. Being polite is not fun, it is not natural (100’s generations conditioned to monkey dance), and that is exactly why we must train how to fight without fighting. Being polite is not fun. People are polite (follow the rules of their society) because even though it is difficult it is better than the consequences of violating those rules. How much better would you feel if you told your boss to fuck off? But the consequences of losing your job outweigh the temporary gain of telling your boss off. The further a society gets away from the realities of violence, the easier it is to forget the consequences of violating the rules. In feudal Japan, a society that fully understood the realities of violence, developed reigei (not Bob Marley) which roughly translates as etiquette art. In a time and place where accidently bumping into someone (touching saya) could mean a fight to the death you better understand the rules. Reigei is a means to teach the rules and is a part of traditional Japanese martial arts. The way you enter the dojo, the way you bow, the way you address your seniors, the way you address your subordinates are all reigei. They were ingrained into Samurai from day one and remain to this day because a violation of reigei would at the least earn a beating (Educational Beat Down) up to forced ritual suicide (Seppuku).
When two tigers fight one is killed the other is injured
The more you understand about violence the easier it is to be polite. Inversely the less you know the easier it is to be an arrogant asshole. America in the 21st century has for the most part forgotten the realities of violence. Hence we are plagued with a generation that can say and do pretty much anything they want without consequences. No reigei no etiquette. Do you want go to jail to teach them a lesson? Being polite, avoiding senseless conflict is not weak; it is the mark of a professional (a big dog does not bother with nipping puppies). Reigei is an essential part of Bushido the way of the Samurai as important today as it was then. Just as Keishoukan Budo is the practical application of Japanese Martial Arts for modern close quarters combatives, the art of fighting without fighting is a way to practice the practical applications of etiquette in 21st century America