Greetings and thanks for stopping by. Trusting this latest blog finds you in good health and spirits. If not hopefully something you read here will move you in that direction. At Doshe we spend a great deal of time supporting safety, and creating safe spaces. For this reason, I often share that the primary role of a Warrior in a civil community is to maintain peace, and to defend the members of the community against internal and external forces seeking to cause harm. Hmmm... yep, that sounds like creating safe spaces to me. Over time Warriors were replaced by armies of Soldiers trained to attack and kill for the purpose of establishing control. What's my point? It's time for the Warriors to return.
It saddens me to see self defense being 'packaged' in the Soldier model, particularly for women of the world today. It saddens me to see so many gearing up for battle when clearly, we already have more violence and weapons than we can deal with, and it's not making us any safer. The current trend in self defense is, learn to fight so you can be safe from the "dangers of the world". Now for the sake of clarity I AM NOT bashing hard styles. I have trained in hard styles and simply offer some insight to anyone interested in looking at self defense through a different lens. In fact I chose this particular clip because it contains some relevant and helpful information.
This is a real life situation for far to many women in the world today. The missing piece in this is that often the danger is in our homes, our thoughts and our actions or inactions. I have trained in martial arts for over 30 years and have only had three physical altercations in that time. All three where with people I knew and trusted, two occurred in my home and one at my work place. In hind sight there were signs that I ignored, signs that could have prevented all three. So what happened? Where was the chink in my armor? I was learning to go to battle, I was training to fight off attackers...
"Looking at Safety in 2011 -Pt. 2 The Woman Warrior" coming soon.
"Looking at Safety in 2011 -Pt. 2 The Woman Warrior" coming soon.
It was hard watching this I have to admit. I see this kind of grabbing when I see the girls that I teach fight each other to be honest. Had to exhale a couple of times. I like to techniques though and want to practice. Curious about which pressure point he was talking about. Seems smart to grab fingers first in some cases, then with the knee ...ugh!
ReplyDeleteAlthough April is ending, it is Violence Against Women Awareness month. So, your words are right on time. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteLatrice, thanks. You have touched on quite a few things, yes this is hard to watch. It is unnerving and somehow slightly empowering. The use of such a large man and a significantly smaller woman only made it more so for me. This is what I'm referring to regarding the selling of fear and soldier skills. The other point that you raise regarding our youth -again violence and girls (young women) specifically, speaks to the need for creating safe spaces. Most of use grew up with some violence in our schools however the behavior we see to day has reached epidemic proportions! I'll speak more on that though in future post...
ReplyDeleteRe: the pressure point -I believe he is referring to body mechanics and the way hinge like way knuckles work. If you make a fist, as though you are grabbing something -like your pants for instance, and use the opposite hand to press against the back of your fist you will notice the knuckles flatten a bit, loosening the grip. In his example though she uses both hands and body leverage which delivers much more pressure to this area than one would experience using one hand. For a better understanding I suggest trying it with a friend. Great question.
Hey Felicia, you are absolutely right April is Violence Against Women Awareness month AND the close of V-Day season! www.vday.org/home. Thanks for stopping by I'm always glad to know the information is relevant.
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