There are many self-help books on the market, especially in the martial arts, that purport to teach readers self-defense.
I believe most are well-intentioned, and much of the advice is honorable and helpful.
But there is no book of wisdom that can make you the warrior you’ll become through steady, long-term practice under expert guidance in a dojo or martial arts studio.
There are several reasons I say this:
(1) Your reflexes will become much faster with consistent practice. If you’ve seen the movie with Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” you’ll remember the dinner table scene when Pitt drops a wine bottle and Jolie snares it out of thin air, without any muss or fuss. Instantly, Pitt’s character knew she had training, and he needed to be wary.
If someone throws a punch at your face, your body needs to know exactly what to do without the intervention of conscious thought. Dojo training is behavioral, reflex-building training, and no book can teach that to you.
(2) In dojos you practice with other people, with partners. You just can’t act and react the same way, by yourself, with a book or by watching video.
(3) You can actually see what happens when people get angry or temporarily lose control. I’ve broken ribs, and mine have been broken, twice. It’s amazing how little force is required to do this, or to put people in the hospital.
(4) Your misconceptions about the glamour of violence can be dashed, safely. Fights aren’t pretty. That’s a great lesson for any punk who thinks he can get away with intimidating people and never get hurt, himself.
(5) You can get so good that the odds of using your skills diminish, tremendously, making you and those around you, much safer.
I’m sure there are other reasons for joining a dojo, but these come to mind. If you’re ready to learn, poke your head into a training hall, and get your nose out of books!
Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com
