The Measure of a Martial Artist

I don't know, maybe I'm not understanding something, but I believe that the real measure of a martial artist lies in whether or not their perceived skill actually functions in a "live" setting. I'm wary and tired of seeing a countless parade of martial artists who seem to eagerly cite their "belt" credentials on their websites as evidence of their skill. What does that frayed and old-looking black belt matter if you've never been "battle-tested" so to speak? Who cares if you're a 20th dan; does your experience in dealing with physical violence come from your imagination? Or from reality? Part of a living karate lies with the art being informed by actual live experience with physical violence (a.k.a "fighting"). I mean the whole reason we have karate today is because of the kata; and those kata were created based upon the real experience of the kind of violence that was common at that time (see HAPV). I mean, how can you learn how to cook except by doing it? Martial arts is no different than any other field of human endeavor that requires skill development. The only thing is, what skills is your art developing? Functional fighting skill? Or athletic performance?

Elbow SMASH!
- Hiji Até

The "Threat Paradox"

I was fortunate enough to attend the (free!) "Intro to Personal Safety" event in San Francisco I mentioned in a previous post put on by the non-profit group Impact Bay Area. It was awesome. Yeah, it was only a brief one hour introduction to the organization, their curriculum and a few self-defense/awareness tips, techniques and pointers. But it was awesome. It was exactly what I needed and was looking for. And I'm glad it was what I had hoped to expect (I've been too damn disappointed visiting all these dojo and taking their trail classes and just recognizing that they weren't giving me what I was looking for). It was actually the executive director of the org, "Lisa" that facilitated the intro class. She was great. Very engaging and clear in what she had to say. One interesting note is that, besides being attended by all females, the majority were Asian. I thought to myself, "hmmm. That's interesting. Yeah, there's a lot of Asians in Frisco but they aren't the majority...." Anyway, I just thought that was interesting. (Okay just fact checked the US Census Bureau and "Asians" make up 33.9% of the population as of 2011. Never mind. Thought I was on to something interesting there. Turns out that's probably the result of numbers). Okay. Blah blah bluh. As I was saying the introduction event/class thing was great. I told Lisa that I learned more in one hour about self-defense than I did in 5 years of training at my dojo. Sounds exaggerated but it's true. I'm hoping now to check out more of this group and see if the instructor training is something I'd like to undergo.

But onto why I titled this post "the Threat Paradox"...

If I heard and remembered correctly, this was something Lisa said in reference to the fact that the more a person knows how to defend themselves physically and verbally, the less they will find themselves having to employ those skills. As I reflected on that, something Shoshin Nagamine said in The Essence of Okinawan Karate-Do came to mind:

The ultimate goal of all martial arts is to defeat the enemy without fighting back. (pg. 82)

It's funny because what Nagamine Sensei is saying can come off sounding a bit mystical; like, "how the hell does a martial artist defeat someone by not fighting back? Like is there some magical secret technique that allows me to win without touching the person?" But how then do we defeat the so-called "enemy" without fighting back? I think the answer to that lies with what Lisa said; you need to train yourself to deal with these acts of physical violence and in doing so you'll find that because your inner world is improving with regards to confidence about self-protection the outer-world around you becomes less of a Threat. In other words, you overcome fear. And you find that you project yourself with confidence which is not how you might project yourself if you had a sort of "victim-mentality". Let me be redundant and say it like this (and of course this is only theoretical): If you have a martial pedagogy that develops confidence in the practitioner through the development of functional self-defensive skill, then that person will carry themselves in such a way so as to not come across as being an easy target for predators and thus having less of a need to deploy their martial tools because they are not being targeted as frequently. But I think this is also different for women as opposed to men. Women may be targeted simply because of the fact that they are female. But the essence of not being an easy target lies in that "inner-confidence aura" that one gives off either way...I think anyway. It's probably a bit more involved than I can explain at the moment. But what an interesting phrase, the "Threat Paradox"; it speaks directly to what the Okinawan karate masters were saying. It is ironic that a group like Impact, who distinguish themselves apart from "martial arts" are in fact more closely aligned with the origins of karate and its main philosophical proponents than they think. 

Elbow SMASH!
- Hiji Até

What is this thing they call "Karate"?

I went and visited a martial arts class at the East Oakland Youth Development Center yesterday. I was interested in volunteering my time there and I had time yesterday to turn in my application. Anyway, I sat in on a class of about 10-15 young people (probably ages 5 - 12). The teacher looked to be a mid-30 something Black man. All the kids themselves were Black. I watched as this teacher lined up his students and had them do striking-to-the-head drills. Although this is similar to how my own Sensei taught young people in our dojo, it felt inappropriate to watch this man teaching these young kids how to hit someone in the head. I was also a bit perturbed (okay, I was outright disturbed!) by the sloppy approach he had in running through these exercises. I kept thinking, these young kids need to sweat. They need to be moving around their bodies. Not lined up in messy formation trying to block-punch each other. That doesn't teach them s***. I don't know why I was thinking this. I just felt that there needed to be a holistic approach to what was going on. Martial arts is not all combative technique; there needs to be physical activities that promote flexibility and cardiovascular strength and body movement, etc. (I mean those things go hand-in-hand). Especially at that age; the older kids can be learning the more dangerous stuff, maybe. Anyways, a lot of the kids said the word "karate" in reference to what they were doing. And at first I thought this guy was teaching them some type of Shotokan-style karate because he had them all do Heian Shodan. It was weird to watch them all do whatever this messy kata was set to a too-fast count by the teacher. I was like, "what the hell is the point of having them do that?". They aren't learning anything by running through some form that they aren't even going to explore the bunkai for. And besides that's inappropriate anyways to be showing them any of the brutal techniques in those kata at that age. They could probably learn a lot more by doing a non-martial related aerobic exercise. Or just like have them doing some kind of physical activity that promotes the development of whatever areas that would be necessary for their martial development. I think it was Bruce Lee that said something about martial arts being a "vigorous" activity. That's what I'm itching for in my own training. Again, martial arts or karate in particular should be, and was holistic. That means you are physically fit and you are developing martial skill, among other things. I waited till the end of the class to speak to the instructor. He was Afro-centric in his thinking; similar to what I've encountered in Detroit. He told me he was teaching from an "African perspective" and an "urban" perspective. I thought "okay". Then I asked, "what does 'urban' mean?" I said, "do you mean like you are trying to teach how violence would happen on the street?" Then he got up and explained something about how the "Asian styles" they teach "stances". And I was like, "There are no such thing as stances", remembering what I had read been reading from Iain Abernethy:

 "We don’t get into a stance to do techniques; we do techniques by moving into stances."

What I meant to say of course was that what was typically taught as "stances" were actually just intermediate movements to show how the student should be positioning their body weight in the midst of executing their technique; and that these labels for such things were the result of this mass-based style of teaching that has occurred in the karate world only in the last 100 years or so. And this teacher was right when he said, "Have you ever seen a brother on the street go into a 'stance'?" And I was like, "Of course not dude." What I wanted to say was, "But that's not the problem of an 'Asian' style. That's the problem of karate being taught in a watered-down way when it was formally introduced to the public in the early 20th century." I mean it's insulting to think that my Okinawan karate ancestors would be thought of as stupid enough to be teaching their art in a fragmented way as it is taught today. I was like, "you need to be doing your reading brah. You can't be passing on the same narrow-minded concepts and misconceptions that even some of these 'Asian' instructors are doing. I don't give a f*** what your 'African' perspective is. That's more like a political statement and has nothing to do with teaching them indigenous fighting arts from that great continent." Of course, I said all that in my head. But maybe I made the mistake of sort of getting into it with this guy. I mean, I was already unimpressed and a bit disgusted with his teaching style, so that's my fault. I wasn't at all trying to challenge his knowledge base. It's just that I hate it when people say they doing "karate" and they don't even know what the f*** that means. And even more so, it's like these kids aren't even being given the richness of what that art is. I mean I feel like some kind of "Okinawan karate renaissance man", even though my own training and physical ability is lacking. But that's what I truly want to embody for real. And I'll admit that on this blog and hold myself to that standard. I think cultivating "kisshu fushin" is what a karateka should be about. And of course I should add, what do I know about teaching any of this stuff? Can I do any better? And if I think I know how to do it better, why ain't you doin' it then? If I think this instructor sucks so bad and I think his martial arts skill is nothing, then what do I have to back my words up? I recognize that you really can't challenge the dominant pedagogical approach unless you yourself are a "badass". And what I mean by that is you gotta be wicked at what you're doing. You gotta have a wicked "demon's hand". It's gotta be good. For example, I don't think Bruce Lee could have said any of the controversial things he said if he wasn't any good. He was good. That's why people paid attention to him. Same thing with me. If I'm no good with my karate then I really can't be whining and complaining about how all these teachers don't know how to teach or what to teach. If I'm so concerned about all that, then you do it (talking to myself). That's it right there. That's the standard. You gotta be good. You don't need to be "the best". But you need to strive for always broadening your horizons, always challenging yourself (dialectical thinking) and always training. Don't be telling a student to "drop down and give me 50" if you ain't gonna do that yourself (or can't do that yourself). I don't care if you're Black or Asian or White, whatever. The color of your skin does not determine the quality or content of your teaching character. You need to kick ass with what you know in your chosen field and with what you do. You need to be a "professional". That's what I believe my own Sensei was. But I'll talk about that in the next post.

Elbow SMASH!
- Hiji Até

Goal Setting

So in the last entry I wrote about "personal safety". I actually googled that term because I was curious to know what was active in Oakland that spoke to that. I came across two significant things that I'm wanting to get more involved with to see if that fits my style. One was R.A.D. (Rape Aggression Defense systems) and the other was IMPACT Bay Area. There is actually going to be an "Intro to Personal Safety" seminar/class on the 8th of May put on by IMPACT that I have reserved my space for. I'm excited about all of this because it is exactly the kind of thing I wanted when I walked into my first real karate dojo nearly 6 years ago. Of course I could not have articulated that back then because I didn't exactly have a good understanding of what modern karate actually was. I thought self-defense was a skill that a practitioner eventually just acquired through enough sweat and blood at the dojo. How wrong I was. And my time in Detroit has shown me that. (Don't get me wrong; you definitely need to put in hella sweat and blood if you wanna succeed, but it depends on what you wanna succeed at). This was one of the main things that frustrated me in about the 2nd year of training. I didn't know what I wanted with my karate! And I was confused and angry at myself and I actually quit training for nine months because nothing was making sense to me. What I want with my karate has nothing to do with being a tournament competitor. I never much had an interest in showing off my kata for trophy's or for getting points in a kumite match. While I think it's good to get the experience of performing in front of people (especially for shy guy's like myself), it's really not conducive towards building self-defensive skill. I can't help but think of modern karate as being art for art's sake (a term the author Matthew Fox uses to describe the "consumer mentality" of art) as opposed to art for creativity's sake (a term the same author uses to describe "evolving and for healing people and the Earth"). What I want with my karate now is to be certified in the aspects of personal safety. I want to become a certified "professional" in this area (either through one of the groups mentioned or something else) because I personally believe that this is part of the essence of a living karate. Because karate was developed as "civilian self-defense", I think it's only natural that karateka should be concerned with having functional skill in that area (not just physical skill). Karate was once a holistic martial art. It needs to be practiced as such. Too many people are walking into karate dojo thinking they are learning the "real" thing when in fact it's more like Oriental aerobics. I'm thinking that it might be good for me to continue to train in my style of karate (Matsubayashi-ryu), but of course, while in Oakland I am planning to get involved with other martial arts. Continuing to be a member of my style is what gives me the legitimacy of being linked to my Okinawan roots; but getting certified and becoming a professional in the field of personal safety is what is going to give my karate any legitimacy outside the dojo.

Elbow SMASH!
- Hiji Até

Personal Safety

I was in the city of Emeryville today, which is about 10 or 15 minutes away from the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland in which I live. I was in a busy shopping district with restaurants, hotels, and plenty of businesses. It was a regular 'ol commercial district for middle-class types such as myself who need their Target-bought consumer goods. Anyway, the point is it was hella busy and there was plenty of people. Well, I was waiting to turn left at the light and I happened to look to my left and witnessed a man acting strange near a truck. Then I heard a soft "crash". The man then looked around quickly. I realized he was breaking into the truck in broad daylight. He reached inside for something I couldn't see. Another man in a small civic-type car was waiting. After doing the deed, the car drove off. I tried to follow it with my eyes, but by the time the light turned green, the car was already gone. Curious, I drove to the scene of the crime. It was in the parking lot of a fairly populated restaurant. I saw that they had actually broken into two vehicles, windows smashed. The vehicles themselves were towards the edge of the lot, so it was away from the main entrances, but the lot was highly visible from the street. I'm pretty sure I was not the only one to witness that. It's crazy that in less than a month, I've already been the target of an attempted mugging and now I've actually seen a "crime" in progress. Seeing that obviously got me thinking about a lot of things. What would I have done had I actually been close enough to do something? I feel like, in a case like that I would've just memorized the license plate of the car and its make/model, mentally photographed the individuals involved, and then called 911 to report it. What would I have done had I unintentionally walked up on the individuals while in the process of their deed? I'm not even sure. What would be safe to do? The author Rory Miller says that the first line of self-defense is "avoidance". To not be there in the first place is your best bet at being safe. That means of course not parking in dark areas or on lonely side-streets or in areas where you know there might be trouble (among other things). So, in a case like that where I'm witnessing a crime-in-progress, what do I do? I honestly don't think yelling at the person(s) would do any good. I might agitate the situation into something worse than it needs to be. Again, I think I would have just recorded what was going on and then reported it. I know how much it sucks to come out and find your car broken into. It's happened to me at least 4 times. Replacing a window sucks and it's financially inconvenient. And there is a feeling of being "violated". On a more serious level, witnessing a crime like that (while being petty and materialistic) makes me think about what I would do if I witnessed something far more serious (an attempted rape, or someone getting shot or about to get shot). In the above case, it's only the car that's in trouble. In the latter case, it's the person's life in trouble. Rory Miller warns us to work out our "ethics" before you find yourself in a "self-defense" situation. You won't have time to figure out what to do when it's happening. Again, as I've mentioned in the previous posts, I think it's highly critical that karate get back to what's real and that a dojo becomes about teaching real-life skill and not comic book violence. Imagine a class or a school in 'personal safety'. Yes, you would be learning a cultural art form and martial art, but you'd also discuss and practice various scenarios pertaining to personal safety. I mean, I think you could literally be certified in something like that if there was a course in it. And imagine how helpful that could be for young people and older people alike. High school kids who walk outside their door in fear that they might get jumped on the way home. Working men and women who clutch at their belongings as they go to the laundromat or walk briskly down the sidewalk from the bus-stop. I think at its heart, Okinawan karate can once again be about producing the self-confidence needed to not walk out into the world in fear. I was thinking how easy it was for my mind to start worrying about my personal safety here in Oakland, considering I've seen this twice now in only a few weeks. Easy to become fearful and suspicious and over-protective. I think it's important to incorporate into this "personal safety" training the understanding that your personal items (wallet, cash, card, watch, shoes, etc) are not nearly as valuable as your life. This is a "spiritual" understanding because it transcends the attachment to the physical world and its physical things that we assign value to. This imagined class or course or school doesn't teach you how to hold onto your shit while you fight for your life to defend your personal effects. It teaches you to let go of attachment to these things and to protect your life if need be. I mean, yes I know what it feels like to get pissed off cause some fool wants to take away your money. It's like, "that's not fair." And of course, it's not. The "threat" or the "predator" is not playing by your personal standards or your rules. He/she doesn't give a fuck about what your momma taught you about treating people with respect. It may not be fair but it's because your ego is holding onto those things and those ideas. This to me is partially what it means to incorporate a "spiritual philosophy" in training (letting go of attachment to form). And funny enough, most dojo will advertise this to some degree. But I have not yet come across a martial pedagogy that actually produces individuals who embody "kisshu fushin" (Demon's hand, Saint's heart). Plus, I don't actually think you can "produce" a martial artist like that. I think, honestly speaking, some people are more inclined to this kind of embodiment than others. In our industrial/business model society we get the impression that these things can be stamped into people. But if you read about the pre-industrial environment that karate developed in, the master would not be teaching anybody off the street. The student population would be extremely small, maybe one or two or three. What does that say? To me that implies that the master would be evaluating your character before they taught you anything, especially something as brutal as karate. In our world today, character is not determined by your behavior or your actions. It's determined by numbers. For example, I just got approved for a rental here in Oakland. How did they determine if I was suitable or not to live there? My credit score. Now, having bad credit might say something about the person's personal money decisions, but honestly, numbers cannot determine your character. Who knows why that person has a bad score? I'm privileged in my own middle-class upbringing to have had the financial security to be able to avoid having bad credit, but hell, I could be an abusive, drug-dealing, psychotic maniac at the same time (more on that "abusive" part later). The point of all this off-topic rambling is to say that we need a pedagogical model of teaching karate that corresponds to and is informed by the reality in which this art grew (violence). Without the input of that information from reality, the art becomes what it is today...comic book. It's literally little more than Orientalized physical fitness with just a hint of violence or at least the pretense of it. And what the hell good does that do anybody? It's the same thing with these public schools and why kids drop-out. They ain't learnin' nothin' that is applicable to their lives beyond math, reading, and writing. Peoples lives are at stake and you're giving them a squirt gun to defend themselves. WTF? Again, the point of all this ramble is just to say that I would like to see a school/dojo/class that actually can certify the student in something real (like a degree in Personal Safety). As Bruce Lee once said, your belt doesn't matter much except to hold your pants up. What actually matters is if you can actually fight or if you can actually defend yourself from attack (depending on what your specific martial art specializes in). And, in the case of personal safety, not only concentrating on the "fight" but on the other areas of personal safety/self-defense that authors like Rory Miller have highlighted for us (such as knowledge of self-defense law, your personal ethics, the psychological effect of violence, etc). That's some real shit that needs to seen today, I believe. I could get down with facilitating a class like that.

Elbow SMASH!
- Hiji Até

Tired of the martial B.S.

So, I was driving down International Blvd. again (yeah, it's what I do for fun) and I saw the words "karate" in that pseudo-Oriental type script that's so common. Anyway, the name of the place was "Haywood Brothers Karate" and it had "McDojo" written all over it (not a judgement, just a feeling I got based upon the trophies in the windows and the samurai swords on the wall). The instructor was not there but I talked to an older adult male student. He explained to me that they learned what was called "kenpo karate". I ignorantly asked if that was at all connected to Okinawan karate. He couldn't give me a straight answer. I felt dumb for sounding as if I was challenging his knowledge base.

Since going to Detroit and realizing a great many things about this art of my ancestors, it concerns me even more so now about what is being taught out there, specifically with regards to self-defense. Having read (and still reading) the thoughts of Rory Miller, Iain Abernethy, Patrick McCarthy and etc. it concerns me that a lot of what is passing as "martial arts" or "self-defense" is a bunch of bullshit. I think Jesse Enkamp over at KARATEbyJesse said it best; it's like walking into a gun store and not realizing that you bought a squirt gun. These young people out on these streets, in these schools, they need real skills. Part of what I want to do is get involved with them so that I can learn from them about what they experience on a daily basis, but also to implement a quality, skills-for-life karate/martial arts curriculum that produces functional self-defensive skill in the individual while giving them the critical thinking skills that is so lacking in the martial arts community. To me I'm like, these young people's lives are on the line! You can't be teaching them some cult bullshit and passing it off as "a way of life". You teach narrow-mindedly, you produce narrow minds. I think about what happened to me the other day when those two young men tried to rob me. It was scary. I didn't know what to do. Here I am learning a martial art and after 5 years I still don't know what to do? I know how to score a point in a tournament. I know how to perform my kata for a trophy. But when someone intends to inflict potential harm on me for my material possessions, I'm clueless. And that's what needs to change. It's not about "fighting" someone. It's not about "defending your pride". This is about your life. About your personal safety. About not having to live in fear of others. How can you function as a whole human being if you are constantly sizing up the next guy, worried that you might have to fight? Worried that you might get punked. One of the sayings I like, which I read on Patrick McCarthy's website goes, "A clenched fist cannot shake hands".

I really have no idea of what my purpose in life is. I don't know exactly what my "bliss" is (as talked about by Joseph Campbell). What I do feel is that I have to keep learning and growing. Being a "quantum karateka" means that I keep reading, learning, and training. It means that I keep searching for authenticity, for genuineness, for quality, for truth. It does us really no good if we are teaching martial arts and we have no personal experience with physical violence. It is that experience that informs the art. How I can gain that experience I really have no solid clue. All I do know is that if I were to teach people karate, I would start with being real. And creating a curriculum that revolves around what's real. I'm not interested in blindly passing on the art of my ancestors because of some feeling of "duty". I respect my Sensei, but I'm not going to blindly follow in the master's footsteps. There's too much real shit at stake for that. These Detroit and Oakland streets are letting me know.

Elbow SMASH!
- Hiji Até

Welcome to Oakland

Been in Oakland, CA for about one week now. A lot different than Detroit, MI for sure.

So I went out for Thai food last night. Needed a meal with rice or noodles. Sticky Rice Cafe right there on International Blvd. is a great local business. The Pad Thai with chicken was exceptional. My first time there and I loved it.

As I walked back to my car which I had parked on a poorly-lit, unpopulated residential/business street (probably Mistake #1), I passed by two figures whom I assumed to be a couple out of the corner of my eye because they were walking close together. Because of their hoodies and because it was 9pm at night, I could not see any faces. Of course, Mistake #2: I didn't have my head up, nor did I acknowledge them directly with a look (which is often what I do out of habit; maybe that's just my shy Asian gene). Whatever the case, after closing my passenger door to put my food away, a young Black male in a hoodie was standing right behind me, too close for comfort. I am assuming in retrospect it was the same person whom I had thought was part of that couple (because it made sense that they would have targeted me on the fly and thought I'd be quick, easy money).

Me: What's up man? (Thinking he was gonna ask me for a cigarette or something)
Young Man: I need you to empty everything out your pockets.
Me: Are you serious? (In disbelief, but I obviously wasn't feeling like getting robbed that night)

At that point, another taller young man walked briskly up from behind me (Mistake #3: I had not been paying attention to my surroundings before I approached my car and after I unlocked the door). He didn't say anything, but I knew I was in trouble. I don't remember the exact exchange of words after the above lines. As soon as I realized I was about to get mugged, I went silent. I hesitated at first to take out my wallet. My hands being down towards my pockets anyway, I fingered my wallet with my right hand. Already I knew that I would rather give up my wallet and suffer a little inconvenience losing cash and card than give up my life. I took out my entire wallet, holding it in my right hand. I didn't offer it to him, nor did I say anything. I moved my body to the left away from the car. I don't remember being panicked, but I do remember my adrenaline started to pump. I'm not sure what I was prepared to do. I think I was waiting for him to show me more threat than just words (maybe Mistake #4?) and I was prepared to give him my wallet if he pointed a gun at me or even a knife. But I backed away from him, wallet in hand, feeling like I should get some space between us and sort of prepare myself for an aggressive move on his part. I was also thinking that if he did pull a gun and shot at me, that I would be able to duck behind the car that was parked in front of mine. I think I was prepared to run if he shot. But I'm also not quite sure what I would have done if he moved aggressively towards me. Definitely I was confused on what to do! (which is why training needs to address these scenarios). As I stood there halfway in the street, wallet in hand, looking at the two young men, they seemed to hesitate on what to do with me. It sounded like they were deciding on whether to rush me or something. I remember being scared at that point but I didn't want to run away from my car thinking they might get into it (why I thought that I don't know). Nor did I want to just run away without seeing more of a threat from him (I thought, however stupidly, that I could defend against fists but not against a knife or gun). Fortunately, it never escalated past the point of words and both of them walked quickly away down the sidewalk looking back at me as I looked at them. Once I made sure they were a safe distance away and not setting up to come rushing back at me, I quickly unlocked my driver's side door, got in and drove away.

I feel I was lucky in that situation. With my lack of proper training in these matters, I was hesitant on what to do; and I feel like if it had gone beyond words and the young man pulled a weapon, that hesitancy could have resulted in something far worse.

A few things are for sure in a situation like that:

- You need to know what your Ethics are beforehand. What line you will or won't cross. Can you hurt someone? Maim them? Kill someone? Can you give up your possessions? Do you care about your new shiny cell phone more than your life?
- You need to know what is allowable to do within the law. If I gouge out his eyeballs or smash his throat or give him a concussion, how can I be held liable? Need to know what is "appropriate violence" in that context?
- You need to know what you can do physically. Am I prepared for a punch? A kick? A shove? A grab? What if he pulls a gun? A knife? At what point do I strike?
- You need to fucking pay attention to your surroundings! The second guy that came up from behind me; had I not been against my car, would he have sucker punched me or grabbed me? I was lucky in that respect.
- Need to know verbal martial arts. As soon as I knew I was in trouble, I fell silent. Should I have yelled? Should I have said something? Should I have told him to "back up" in a loud voice? Again, I think I was lucky that it didn't escalate. And of course, I'm not gonna want to escalate the situation with a smart remark or fighting words. That's stupidity. I could have easily turned a lucky-they-don't-seem-like-they-want-to-rob-me-anymore situation into a shit-they-turned-back-on-me situation if I had been trying to defend my ego instead of my body.

Of course there's more to it than that. The author Rory Miller lays out it out pretty clearly in his book Facing Violence:

"There are seven elements that must be addressed to bring self-defense training to something approaching complete. Any training that dismisses any of these areas leaves the student vulnerable." (pg. xiii)

Those "seven elements" are:

1. Legal and Ethical implications
2. Violence Dynamics
3. Avoidance
4. Counter-ambush
5. Breaking the freeze
6. The fight itself
7. The aftermath

I won't make this post any longer by going into any of those seven areas (save that for another time because I'm still learning about all those areas). I just know I need to get crackin' on my training with these things. I'm grateful nobody got hurt, but I'm also frustrated; these things are what a karate dojo needs to be teaching people! I don't care about no fucking tournaments! I don't care about how good my kata looks! I care about having real skills for real situations. Everything else is secondary. And I think this kind of training is what I'd like to get involved with teaching. As one person told me here in Oakland (she's a teacher), some of her students are scared of getting jumped and robbed. That's the kind of real thing training needs to address. Even a small incident like the one that happened to me last night had me frustrated and unable to sleep. Imagine if it had been worse? I think I would have been traumatized. Yes, we want peaceful interactions amongst members of our society; but if we don't know how to face violence (or are unwilling to), then I don't think we'll have any real peace.

Elbow SMASH!
- Hiji Até