Emotions can run amok in a stressful situation.  Those can be useful if you have practiced using them.

Many people think only of anger as a useful emotion in a violent encounter.  The truth is that anger, fear, hope, and love are all useful and should be there.

In a previous blog I mentioned that the ability to turn the emotional intensity up or down is sometimes called "killer instinct".  I offered some thoughts on why that skill is important.  I also mentioned a simple way to train to "turn it down".

Today I will offer a way to train to turn it up.  You can do it with no equipment at all.  

Part 1 was about basic strategy when facing more than one attacker. 

Now we cover your escape.

Know your exit and work towards it.  If the attack is drawn out more than a few seconds, you are going to get really tired.  There is no good way for it to end once they swarm on you.  You must escape.  Use every weapon and trick at your disposal.

Being threatened with violence is bad.  Being threatened by two or more people at the same time is exponentially worse. 

It's not an impossible scenario, you just have to keep the right goal in mind.  In a multiple attacker situation, forget about movie heroes beating down 6 guys and walking calmly away.  You probably don't have a script and a stunt double like they do.

Self-defense on the "ground" is probably the most uncomfortable thing to learn for most women.  There is no "personal space".  It's hard to move.  It's too much like a real sexual assault.  That, of course, is why it's so very important.

It's time for "answer a question with a question"!  The answer to "Do Martial Arts REALLY work" is "Does football REALLY work?".
To paraphrase Bruce Lee, if you learn how to "do" football and you lose a game, it doesn't mean the plays were bad.  It doesn't mean the technique of throwing a pass is no good.  It means simply that you have not developed the attributes required to apply those skills against that particular opponent.

"I've Got a Secret"
Are there any words more enticing to the human mind?  We all want to learn the "secrets" to wealth, fitness, love, personal defense, whatever.

In the video here you see some people who have bought into the idea that there are secret methods that will make them safe - invincible, maybe.  You also see what happens when they meet people who don't share those beliefs.

     Martial arts seem to provide a never ending showcase for self-delusion.  It was only natural that fraudulent schools of "Kung Fu" would spring up across America when Bruce Lee made Chinese boxing famous in movies.  Likewise, in the 80s it was hard to walk down the street in any town without running into would - be "ninja".
     Frauds and cons have been with us always.  That is no surprise.  What IS  amazing to me is the number of people who manage to con themselves. 

Look at the video here.  Consider that somehow, this "master"'s students have become convinced that he has a mystical power to paralyze them with his Ki - the mystical "life force".
 

Look around you.  Do you see any weapons?  Is there anything nearby that could be used in your defense?

Weapons are easy.  Once you understand how they work, almost anything has some potential as a weapon.  Do you have a coffee mug or a stapler?  What about scissors?  Is there a magazine nearby?  What about a newspaper?  These can be quickly rolled into serviceable weapons.