Healthy Buffalo/Crying and Writing

  There is a phrase used when taking Knife Control Concepts that, outside of flow, is kind of one of the more foundational concepts of the program. It’s rather crass so I will give you a more elegant version of it and let you use your imagination, “Keep your crotch in the dirt.” When teaching self-defense, I emphasize movement over moves because reaction verses response is more effective in my opinion. A person during an altercation is not likely to pull from their brain and execute productive exact moves to counter the other, at least not without a massive amount of repetition. If you throw in adrenaline dumps and freeze responses, “Flight of the Sword D,” against sewing machine stabbing is probably not going to fly. Pun intended. Its going to be an ugly scramble at the very least. That is why I love the KCC curriculum so much and why I am so pumped to see it in action with other things.   With Knife Control Concepts you are learning to use the other persons energy against th...

  In every class I have taught I use a demonstration of calling on a random gal to come up to the front. I stand about 10-15 feet away and then start walking towards her at an even pace. Speaking in a harsh tone about my neck hurting, I use blame language, something like, “Lady it was you who hit my f*%king car!” To date there has not been one woman who hasn’t froze. They stand there wondering what the hell is going on and blink at me immobile.    I am 5’6’’, usually wearing a brightly colored T-Shirt with a stupid saying, they are in my course to become safer, and yet they are rendered stock-still. Mostly due to bewilderment, some to language shock (see my article here on why this is very important), some a bit of confusion, but that’s exactly it, these are all normal responses to even if I was a 200-pound man, same phrasing, walking up to them in a parking lot. In the end they are rendered stunned, and that person is in their space set up perfectly for a surprise blow w...