Self-Defense: Doing What Comes Naturally

Our body often responds to stressful situations before we can identify the threat.  Consider your hand recoiling from a hot object, your foot lifting after stepping on a sharp object, swatting a bee away...  These reactions happen before we understand the precise nature of the threat;  hot kettle, broken glass, flying insect...

These are our body's natural reflex mechanisms that protect us from harm.

As much as possible our Krav Maga self-defense techniques grow from your natural reactions to danger, giving you have a better chance of defending under stress.

Here are some examples of how we react to assaults:

• Your hands grasp at your attacker's as he tries to choke you.
• You throw your hands up to protect against an incoming punch, stab, attack with a blunt object
• You move your head to avoid a punch, thrown object...
• Your hand moves down to shield or deflect a kick to your stomach or groin.  
• You swat a the hand of an assailant trying to grab you or holding a knife.

From these reflexes we teach you to "pluck" against chokes, to block a circular knife attack, to efficiently move your body away from harm,  to use your arm to slide against a blunt object of kick, to deflect and incoming hand - armed or otherwise.

There are innumerable examples.

Assaults can happen quickly and our reaction time can be very limited.  Under stress your body will react and it is our job to refine these reactions into effective techniques.

Try this exercise.  Consider how you would reacted to various assaults.  What would be your initial movement?

Chances are the techniques we teach flows from this.




Stay Safe,

Christopher Gagne
Lead Instructor, International Krav Maga Federation, Toronto
torontokrav@rogers.com
416-657-1028

Ikmftoronto.com