In my effort to make this blog a quick and easy read, I take one major approach or idea.
Nothing fancy. Just quick and direct.
Self-defense, or protecting yourself, in essence, is a way to protect your body and mind from harm. To practice this defense of protection, you work on capability.
You might never have to use physical self-defense skills in a life-threatening situation, but being in training for it, you grow your confidence in your ability, your health, and your mind. It’s a win-win.
So, what is the best way for you to become capable? Assuming you have a good working body at your disposal, becoming capable of protecting what is near and dear to you depends on a couple of factors.
It is not necessarily in this order, but are you a male or a female? Are you strong or not? Are you fast or slow? Do you have courage? Are you tall or small? Are you flexible or very sturdy? Everything matters because it needs to work for you.
You can imagine that you don’t want to take a blow in the oval twins if you are a male. If you have long hair, you don’t want that to be pulled.
Regardless of sex, we all have our pros and cons. Females have an advantage in many ways they don’t even know, or if they know, they forget to use it. So, it comes down to style and functionality.
The technique is critical. When I was in Hong Kong taking lessons from a renowned Sifu in Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee’s style), I was impressed by the kicking power of those girls. They kicked 100% harder than I could at that time because of a better kicking technique. A good teacher will teach you the right technique. A great teacher will let you use the right technique that fits you.
I never believed that one style is best. If you want to be able to defend yourself and you are just starting out, and you wrestled a little bit with your siblings, and you remember that you love to bring the fight to the ground, then please, don’t take Taekwondo lessons, just because your father did it too. Go to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instead.
When taking Sport Naturel lessons, you will be working on protecting your body. First, in general, to see where you are. Then, you will be steered towards the style that benefits you. You will be able to find out what some people take years to understand and find out in months. Pretty great stuff.
And by the way, Self-defense is not about waiting to get punched. It explains what you are trying to accomplish, but that can also be done in a proactive offensive way. Just to be clear.