The term self-defence probably conjures up pictures of combat up close and personal and a tussle in which blows are traded.
Let’s take a closer look at the theory and practice of self-protection and then briefly consider how you stand in the eyes of the law when you need to defend yourself.
Situational Awareness
Perhaps the single most effective key to self-protection is to avoid that need for self-defence altogether. Avoid getting hit and you automatically protect yourself.
Easier said than done, you might say. But what it takes is really quite straight forward – a self-awareness that informs you about the situation around you, your position in relation to any threat or danger, and the steps you take to maintain a distance from that danger.
Self-protection
No matter how keen your situational awareness, there will be times when you simply cannot maintain the margin for keeping a safe distance – you need to guard yourself against whatever threat may be coming your way.
Maintaining a close guard – almost like a fence permanently around you – may help keep any aggressor at bay. Preventing the first blow is usually critical – it’s in that first strike that many an altercation is settled from the get-go.
Techniques
The UK’s Combat Academy reckons that most fights end up in a clinch or on the ground – and you will do well to learn the skills you need to fight back and defend yourself in either of these positions.
A clinch results from your opponent or aggressor grabbing hold of you, so you need to know what to do to free yourself from such a restraint. Learning to fight while on the ground is equally critical because any stronger and heavier opponent who can smother you when you are prone on the ground poses a significant threat – you need to work yourself free.
Pressure Points and Bio-mechanics
Additional skills worth learning – because of their effectiveness in overcoming even a stronger and heavier aggressor – are those involving pressure points on the body. You might be surprised by how much damage and pain you can cause through the correct application of holds on pressure points.
Other skills, which make the use of pivot points and leverage are borrowed from the martial art of jujitsu – by using the energy and body mass of your opponent against them, you can overcome a stronger and heavier person.
Psychological Preparedness
Through mental preparation and acquisition of just a handful of physical techniques, you should aim to overcome any fear of being attacked – whatever the circumstances, you have self-confidence in being able to stage a counter-attack in self-defence.
Allied to your own state of preparedness is an attempt to get into the head of any opponent. If you also understand their psychology – even on a superficial level – and know why they might be attacking you, you have already scored a valuable advantage.
The Law
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) offers some helpful advice to explain how you may stand in the eyes of the law when you are forced to employ any of the above actions for self-protection.
The law is sometimes unclear and opaque – and we are certainly no experts to offer legal advice – but the guiding principle explained by the CPS is that anyone who acts in “reasonable good faith” to defend themselves, their family, or their property, should not themselves be prosecuted for such defensive actions of self-protection.
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