Archive for October, 2011

Imagine that you have taken a year of karate lessons from your local dojo and you decided to take a short-cut home from school (through the park) because you are running late and it is getting dark. Oh yeah – you are a 15 year-old girl. You are confident because you hold a blue belt and have actually had some sparring experience – loved it but the other girl – not so much!

Well some other teen boys approach you as dusk falls – asking if you want to party. There are three of them and they are younger than you. You tell them no thanks and as you try to leave – they block the trail in both directions! Still talking they say that have some beers in a cooler nearby and how about having a bit of fun.

Your escape route is seemingly cut off and you don’t want to go with these boys for a “bit of fun” so what do you do?

More on this later but in this post I will examine what fighting spirit is and how it can help one make good self-defense decisions. Also I will talk about the lack of fighting spirit and the ramifications of that. In a nut shell the fight or flight decision in us sometimes has to be made in an instant for us to gain a momentary advantage. If we do not act when we have a tactical advantage – your chances of a good outcome diminish!

Take a look at this video to see what is possible as Dr. Ruthless so aptly demonstrates.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt

[Editor's note] This is a guest post by Allision Gamble whom I received an email inquiring about guest post opportunities. I always like to explore martial arts from all angles and am happy to share her ideas here. About the author – Allison Gamble has been a curious student of psychology since high school. She brings her understanding of the mind to work in the weird world of internet marketing.

Most of us have heard the quote: “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” And in the forensic psychology of a fight, there might be reason to believe it. The brain is an organ comprised of more than a hundred billion nerve cells that together create a network of communication for our entire body, physical and psychological. In conjunction with the spinal cord, the brain relays messages of pain or fear or threat. However, in the case of combat sports, the psychology of the brain can be a powerful tool one may utilize to overcome the body’s physical autonomic responses.

Full Story »