Bela Diri – Self-Defense

Many readers may or may not know that there is an epidemic of homelessness in the United States.  Many major cities have large populations of individuals living on the streets.  A significant number of these people suffer from mental illness and/or addiction.

I bring this up as a lead in to this week’s subject: teaching self-defense.

You see, in the past 12 months I have personally had four encounters with homeless and/or mental disturbed people harassing my co-workers, friends, and family.  Three of those encounters have been in the last eight weeks!

Fortunately, each of these encounters was resolved via verbal de-escalation.  Each time, the initial intended target, or so it would seem, was a young woman minding her own business when the would be attacker came into a place of business or approached in a parking lot and began to behave in an inappropriate or threatening manner.  As soon as I made my presence known and calmly asked these people to leave, the perpetrators retreated.

But it has not been just me.

In early December, a mentally ill homeless man came into the massage school where I teach and sub-lease space for my clinic, and sexually harassed the receptionist who had been left by herself when her co-workers ran an errand.  As he exposed himself she was so frightened she didn’t call for help.  I was less than 20 feet away in another room, and would have been able to hear had she been able to scream.  Fortunately he left without further incident.  Since then the school has beefed up security and the staff is taking numerous precautions as this same individual has returned several times.  The last two intrusions were among the incidents I was able to to intervene on.  The police have declined to take any action despite these incidents being recorded on security cameras.

In Mid-January, one of my brother’s grad school friends had a mentally disturbed homeless man enter her family business, scream obscenities and threats, damage property, and then wander off.   Fortunately, no one was physically harmed.  The police showed up 30 minutes later.

This young woman came to try KunTao Silat the next day.

Now, the natural impulse for many martial artists, especially younger men, is to have the “kick ass” fantasy.  The pervert shows up, and you open up a can of “whoop ass,” dishing out incredible punishment that not only ends the threat but impresses the bystanders.

The truth is, in real life if a situation gets physical, you have already made several tactical errors.

Despite what your hormones and your monkey brain tell you, an actual combative encounter should be the last resort.  Even if you KNOW that you are going to win, remember that the altercation is just the beginning.  The aftermath is the real party.

Did you get blood on you?  Welcome to blood tests looking for HIV, Hepatitis C, and load of other life altering maladies.

The authorities will actually do something post incident: question the hell out of you and anyone else present (including the perp).  Even the most cut and dried cases of self-defense or the defense of others will incur time and energy establishing your right to act.  Depending on how the violence plays out, and particularly how it looks to witnesses and when played back on security or cell phone footage, you may face charges for excessive force.  In this age of social media and social change, you could even end up on the evening news looking like some kind of thug, or worse, depending on how others decide to frame your actions.

And then there is the psychological aftermath.  Even if you have experience sparring and competing, the first “live fire” experience that comes by surprise with no ref and no rules will likely introduce you to a level of adrenaline and psychological distress you did not know was possible.  Even in a “best case” scenario assuming that you win the struggle and suffer little to no physical damage, you may very well still have emotional scars.  As one instructor with a background in law enforcement, private security, and the Marines told me, “It’s not what they tried to do to me, it’s what I did to people that keeps me up at night.”

And that’s just if YOU are the one dealing with the hostile party.

Let’s talk about teaching other people.

This young woman wanted to try KunTao Silat so that if another incident happens she has some means of action beyond waiting for help from the authorities should she come under physical assault.  This is totally normal.  KunTao Silat can indeed impart highly effective skills of physical protection to practitioners.

But remember that when we start talking about Bela Diri: “Self-Defense,” we are talking about a whole lot more than just learning the stances, djurus, and langkas.

First off, in a real emergency, most people freeze.  Even hardened professionals freeze when startled, they just have an amazing capacity to break out of it quicker than us lay people.  They also tend to see a problem coming from a mile off and take measures to either avoid it or force the encounter to happen on their terms.

So even with the most hardcore training possible, it is likely that a student will still freeze if suddenly attacked.  This is why KunTao Silat’s “Palm Waving” blocks and other fundamental defensive responses are typically practiced from a relaxed, natural posture to simulate being caught off guard.  These motions are also very offensive in nature:  rather than passive blocks or parries, KunTao Silat advocates an immediate counter-assault.  This aims to cause a freeze response (or ideally physical damage) to the attacker as an unconscious reflex on the part of the defender, buying the victim time to break the freeze.

Students need to train with escalating intensity as they advance, play Sticky Hands, and move towards Free Play (no holds barred free sparring) to give them the best chance possible.

But this is just a start.

It is one thing to take turns punching or slashing at each other with knives to practice your techniques.  A disturbed or predatory individual will not “square off” with you to see who is tougher.  They will use subterfuge to get close enough to strike with as much force as possible.  And you probably won’t be in an open space with lots of room.   Does your drilling or sparring take this into consideration?

Oh, and criminal statistics show us that men attack women differently than they attack each other.  Did you know that?

Do your preferred applications from our Djurus work on a man fifty or more pounds heavier coming at you with full force and bad intentions?  If not, how can you expect to show a one hundred pound woman how to fend off a much larger attacker in a parking lot, alley way, or apartment stairwell?

Remember that any martial art is like a textbook of principles that evolved from a certain set of circumstances.  KunTao Silat grew out of the centuries of brutal, nearly constant cross cultural conflicts of the Indonesian archipelago.  There is a LOT of functional material that is applicable across different violent contexts.  But you need to recognize which context you are training for.

I highly recommend the works of Rory Miller and Marc “Animal” MacYoung as further reading on the subject of self-defense.  Both men can explain, quite eloquently, the legal, ethical, and practical considerations of training for “self-defense” specifically.  I am also happy to answer any questions I can, and refer you to better sources for questions I cannot.

Dr. Jon