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Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Survival Patterns

Caveat: This article is mine and mine alone. I the author of this article assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and/or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this article. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding.)

In a recent reading the following survival patterns were discussed, i.e., the animal patter tends to be, FREEZE, FLIGHT, RESIST. Then it was presented that LtCol Dave Grossman, author of two excellent books (see bibliography) who gives, FLIGHT, FIGHT, POSTURE, SUBMIT (FLIGHT, FIGHT, POSTURE, FREEZE) and so on (actually, if memory serves these all came up in a discussion on the subject between LtCol Grossman and Rory Miller). 

I am not sure if it was Mr. Miller or LtCol Grossman but the inference toward a patter of violence in a category of “same species” provided, FIGHT, FLIGHT (ATTACK), POSTURE, SUBMIT, FREEZE (monkey response toward threat of violence). Granted I may be mixing this up a might so make sure you fact check it in Rory Miller’s books before taking it further but alas the above is like a hint about the subject to set the stage for the remainder of this article. 

In my personal view I feel, without any real experience or data to back it up, that actually for most folks whose first exposure to that level of violence, say level 4 or 5 minimum, would tend to first FREEZE like the fundamental animal kingdom survival pattern. I say this because I tend to think that one would freeze when you consider the OODA loop. You observe an attack or most likely you are attacked by surprise so your “orient” stage cannot fathom what is happening resulting in a freeze while the attacker continues to rain blows about your head and shoulders, etc. 

The above is one of the reasons, I feel, that some professionals will teach you that you have to train and practice for self-defense starting at the point where your attacker has surprised you with a blitz attack locking you in the OO bounce. 

Now, here again is how I perceive it, without any real experience or data to back it up, once you train form that point and that is about breaking the OO loop and actually jumping to the act part you break free and run, i.e. the FLIGHT stage of the fundamental animal kingdom survival pattern. It seems to fit for me at my level of understanding and so far I cannot come up with another way to look at it from the standpoint of someone that is not a trained professional. 

Now, if you are pursued by your attacker after breaking the OO bounce, i.e., the freeze, and you get the chance to take flight you may be pursued by your attacker. If that happens or if you are blocked in, etc., making flight difficult to impossible then you have to RESIST and that, to me, means you FIGHT/DEFEND if you will vigorously and relentlessly till the damage and jeopardy stops, etc. 

The only time I would rely on SUBMIT or SUBMISSION is if it were in a situation where it may work and at a minimum give you time and distance to take other actions such as leave, etc., then that one may take a position after FREEZE or RESIST as the situation dictates. 

Here I stress that this is just my meandering mind considering, without any real experience or data to back it up, what I would use in teaching self-defense for martial arts (Note: this is after presenting/teaching about the full spectrum of self-defense with lessons on both avoidance and deescalation) but also consider that what I present here is more toward that surprise blitz attack with induced pain, fear and relentless that can put one in the OO loop, the hardest place to ACT from that I can imagine. 

All the more reason for those who will actually take training in self-defense should find a variety of places that would and will cover the possibilities and resulting actions necessary for survival and so on. 

Hint, hint, hint: the book that discusses the survival patterns is below, you just got to figure out which so I recommend if you don’t already have these you go ahead and put them into your library. :-)



Primary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Meditations of Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence" YMAA Publishing. 2008.

Secondary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
Ayoob, Massad. “Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self-Defense”Gun Digest Books. Krouse Publications. Wisconsin. 2014.
Goleman, Daniel. "Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition [Kindle Edition]." Bantam. January 11, 2012.
Miller, Rory. "ConCom: Conflict Communications A New Paradigm in Conscious Communication." Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 2014. 
Miller, Rory and Kane, Lawrence A. "Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision-making under Threat of Violence." YMAA Publisher. New Hampshire. 2012
Miller, Rory. "Force Decisions: A Citizen's Guide." YMAA Publications. NH. 2012.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected." YMAA Publishing. 2011.
Elgin, Suzette Haden, Ph.D. "More on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense." Prentice Hall. New Jersey. 1983.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Last Word on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1995
Morris, Desmond. “Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior.” Harry N. Abrams. April 1979.
MacYoung, Marc. “Writing Violence #1: Getting Shot.” NNSD. Amazon Digital. 2014.
MacYoung, Marc. “Writing Violence #2: Getting Stabbed.”  NNSD. Amazon Digital. 2015.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1993.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Written Self-Defense" MJF Books. 1997.
Maffetone, Philip Dr. “The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness.” McGraw Hill, New York. 2000
Strong, Sanford. “Strong on Defense_ Survival Rules to Protect you and your Family from Crime.” Pocket Books. New York. 1996.
and more … see blog bibliography.
Jahn, C. R. “FTW Self Defense.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2012
Jahn, C. R. “Hardcore Self Defense.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2002.

My Blog Bibliography
Cornered Cat (Scratching Post): http://www.corneredcat.com/scratching-post/
Kodokan Boston: http://kodokanboston.org
Mario McKenna (Kowakan): http://www.kowakan.com
Wim Demeere’s Blog: http://www.wimsblog.com

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