Your first line of defense should always be avoid conflict by making yourself a hard target – someone who is rejected during a bad guys selection process. Sometimes, despite your best efforts “stuff happens” therefore you need to know how to handle conflicts. Any conflict has three phases Awareness, Alarm and Action.
Awareness
During the awareness phase you stay constantly as to where you are what you’re doing and what’s going on around you. You should be in this stage all the time to prevent a conflict from occurring. But your awareness allows you to realize early as possible conflict is indeed imminent – hopefully before the situation it’s completely out of control.
Signs you’re in AWARENESS PHASE:
– Where am I?
– Who is around me?
– Noting environmental conditions
– Maintaining personal security level
– Looking for suspicious
– Listening to your gut feeling
ALARM
Once you become aware that something isn’t right you enter the alarm phase. Even if you don’t know exactly what is wrong or whether there is really anything wrong – at all enter a state of heightened awareness this is your body’s way preparing deal with a crisis. This is also a good time to shift course, and to hopefully avoid potential conflict.
Signs you’re in the alarm phase:
– Feeling something is not right
– Recognizing the Potential Threat
-Auditory and exclusion (tunnel vision) occurs. – Decision making ability is impaired
-Shortness of breath
-Adrenaline rush (flight)
ACTION
Now there’s no longer any doubt like it you’re under attack. Whether
it’s verbal, mental, or a physical altercation, you have to take action.
Your well-being is at stake – maybe even your life.
Whether or not you’re prepared to respond appropriately and effectively will determine the outcome of the situation.
Possible responses to the Action phase:
-Remove from situation
-Defend
-Panic or paralysis(fear/giving up)
-Attack
-Counter attack (instinctual)
Once you’ve entered any of these three phases self defense your mind and body are warning you are now in escalating into a possible criminal act or crisis situation. Recognizing a potential harmful situation in the awareness or alarm stage, you can likely avoid the action stage. Remember this is your body’s natural defense system so listen to it.
(Article original written by COBRA founder, Chris Sutton in the book “The Psychology of Self Defense”)
For more information on safety and self defense classes, seminars and for also your Corporate training needs please contact:
Michael Alban
COBRA Self Defense North NJ
201-556-9799
email: mvptkd@gmail.com
