What Is Real Self-Defense?

I bet the image to the left is not too far off from you first thought when I mention self defense (Ouch!).  Not too long ago it was close to my first thought as well. As a martial arts teacher it was also my main focus. It was my goal to prepare my students against the threat of a physical attacker.  Over the last few years I realized I have been touching on such a small part of what self defense actually is, and I must expand my thinking to really benefit the students who look to me for guidance.

Self Defense means, to me, defense against anything that could harm you. Poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, low self-esteem, lack of education, discrimination, the list goes on. In fact I will argue that working on those things is more valuable than a proper punch or kick as only a small percentage of people I teach will need to use their physical techniques.  Don't get me wrong, I do find a lot of value in learning how to physically protect yourself. I also think the things you can learn during your training can carry over into other areas of your life. However, once we expand our definition of what true self defense is, we start realizing we could be doing a lot more to protect ourselves (and to fellow martial arts teachers out there, prepare our students). Imagine if, eventually, the picture to the right was also the kind of picture people thought of when someone mentioned self defense training.

 As a teacher, I believe it is my job to challenge people's thinking. I will never tell anyone how to live their life, as it is everyones right to live the life they want. However, I feel we all should be open to being challenged by others we respect. To be willing to reflect and admit where we could use a little improvement.

So I guess you could consider this a blog about self defense. However you will not see many (if any) posts about physical technique. What you will see is my journey, the evolution of my thinking, and hopefully something that will inspire you be more of the person you would like to be.