MIND SETTING

Most self defense systems, martial arts, etc. fail to one extent or another in that they don’t consider what effect real violence has on the one being attacked. As Winston Churchill said “No matter how enamored one is with their plans, from time to time one must consider the enemy.”
A real world attack will be at such speed (the attacker knew what was coming, you didn’t) and so violent that it will overwhelm us. It is not uncommon for the person being attacked to just freeze. Mix in the fear of injury, the “this can’t really be happening” thoughts and the fact that we may have taken damage and been dazed before we know what’s going on all work very much against us.
Mind Setting is the best thing that we can do to prepare for this random, sudden violence. Mind setting is rehearsing and visualizing actions in your mind. Military and Law Enforcement do this all the time. Very interesting is the fact that as violence in the U.S. has skyrocketed in the past few decades murders of citizens have also skyrocketed but murders of police officers since the mid 1970’s have decreased by 43%. This is attributed to what law enforcement started preaching and training at that time……Mind Setting. Mind Setting is making a plan for whatever the attack is. For example, think about what you would do right now if someone were to kick in your front door, what you would do if you opened your eyes in bed at 2 a.m. to find someone standing over you, if you were suddenly surrounded by three large men in the parking lot at the mall, etc. etc.
Decisions about what you are going to do in a violent attack must be made well before the attack happens. The people who survive violent attacks are those who go off with rage….and do it immediately. When you are watching the news, reading the paper, etc. and come across a violent crime don’t think “poor person” and move on or worse, “that couldn’t happen to me”. Think about exactly what you would do in that situation. I’m not talking about thinking how you will devastate four attackers with spinning high kicks (that is dreaming) but think about how you can escape (either right away I am running or I will smash this guys face and then run….if i am blocked i will kick and punch and hit with anything i can find on the ground until i can get out of there, etc.). Go over and over “what would i do” for every situation possible. If you think it can’t happen to you, you won’t plan for it. The U.S. government’s own Justice department states “Every U.S. citizen now has a realistic chance of being a victim of random violence.”
When attacked Mind Setting gives us the “been here, done that” feeling and gets us moving into action. When mind setting 1) visualize you being in the crime. Not watching….in the crime. 2) visualize your actions to escape and 3) visualize being shot or stabbed or hurt in some way and still escaping (the subject of another blog…very important).
Why Krav? We do drills at the end of every class. We hate doing them because they wear us out but these drills are the most important thing we do in class. What is a drill? Think about it. In a drill we are being the victim of an attack. There are usually two or more partners pushing us, we are fighting back, we are going all out, etc. This is Mind Setting…..but doing it physically. When attacked in real life by two or more the “been there, done that” comes out as we have been there and done that!!
“You are not paranoid when you worry about people out there who might try to kill you when there are people out there who might try to kill you” SGT Strong

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