I have never considered myself special in the Martial Arts world; never wanted any accolades that I could use to promote and market my credibility. In truth, I did not want to be in the limelight. Even so, I still attracted my fair share of unwelcome challenges. My drive was directed to unravelling the accepted illusions created by Martial Artists. When taught, it is like watching magicians performing a magic trick on the unsuspecting. The spin is as diverse as the number of techniques that support the rhetoric. I am sure many devotees would not agree but are ready to justify their success with a good story. I am writing this book to get people to look beyond the blinkered view of media output. There is always a lot more to be discovered than the current loudest noise.
I found during my travels that Martial artists could not allow for unexpected events. They always needed to be in control, so they can dominate the situation. Any suggestion of a random attack was treated like a stage play, leaving no room for error. Interestingly they could not imagine a violent group attack where the little kid with a knife could take the best of us out. The Question I asked, are you ready to experience the freedom of thought needed to survive such a chaotic situation? To me this was obvious that you can be caught out of your comfort zone. So, my focus in the arts shifted from fighting skills to surviving a group attack. What I discovered was not in the bounds of the fighting arts.
Like most martial artists, we all have too many techniques. Much of what we learn is waist. I also became a control freak, making each technique so valuable to an unsuspecting student that they believe the spin wholeheartedly. I must have spent years perfecting these teaching strategies. It was worth it, the enthusiasm paid the electricity, but it was a real time waster. All I personally wanted was a way to deal with the chaos of a non-staged group attack. I had enough of social fights, like facing unwanted challengers and ring fighting. I noticed my thoughts shifting from fighting to survival, so I spent more than forty years following the stories of great fighters and self-defence stylists, only to be disappointed that most of them wanted to show their prowess by having a fight. Even with the most delicate inquiry resulted in a mismatch of what they said and did. As frustrations grew, they had to ask, “do you want a fight?”
To me these people have developed fragile personalities, trapped by technical delusions, and will fight anyone to prove their point. I concluded, ‘I must be talking a different language’. My issue was an uncontrolled group attack, while their perceptions was only on a two-person fight. I did not like their desire to dominate or to be their door mat. I treasured life. It does not take a martial artist to beat up on people. Today, streets are much more like the wilds where unskilled people cause death and injury even to good fighters.
This book aims to promote survival skills as an alternative to the social organized fighting approaches that suppress people’s instincts to deal with multiple attackers.
