Las Vegas Martial Arts Blog

Self Defense Education There are three sure-fire ways to teach your child to be truly ‘Kid Safe’.

A child needs to know there are two types of self defense. Physical, which gives them the tools needed to keep them safe. And mental self defense, which empowers them with the awareness and common sense to keep them safe. This is an exerpt from a seminar I did to educate parents and children on helping them with the mental self defense to make them “Kid Safe” kids.

Levels of Safety
By teaching our children there are different levels of safety and those levels depend on the situation they are in and the decisions they make in those situations, we can better train them to use their instincts, intuition, and even fear as safety tools. This is an easy way to explain to our children how to trust these instincts.

Every time we travel through a busy intersection, there are traffic lights there to tell us if it is safe to pass through. If the light is green, that tells us it is safe to pass, if the light is yellow that means we must use caution and to be careful and to prepare to stop. If the light turns red, that means danger and do not proceed or you may become hurt in an accident.

We can use these same lights, instead of traffic lights, as safety lights, to know when we are safe, to use caution, or to let us know we are in personal danger.

If our safety light is green .. This means we are safe and everything is normal.

If our safety light turns yellow ..This means that our intuition, instincts, or our gut feeling is telling us something is wrong!

If your safety light turns red ..This means we are in immediate danger and have to act fast.

We have to train ourselves to recognize different situations we are in and be aware when that situation makes our safety light change from green to yellow or to red.

When our safety light turns yellow this is the time to slow down listen to our little voice inside of us called intuition, think about the situation we are in, and what is the best course of action to take to keep us safe and return us to a green light. For example,

We are swimming and we notice that the water is really deep and we are becoming tired…we should return to the shallow water and take a break, which would return us to our green light. But if we continue to swim in the deep water, we may become tired and find our self in a dangerous, red light situation.

Our head is beginning to hurt and mom is a sleep instead of waking and asking her for some medicine, we look in the medicine cabinet and find what appears to be the aspirin she normally gives us and we take it. This is defiantly a red light situation, because you could be taking the wrong medicine and become very sick. But if you had just woke mom up and told her you had a headache, you would have stayed safely in the green light.

Someone knocks on the door of your house. Anytime this happens, as a child you need to understand that this is a yellow safety light and you need to proceed with caution. First you never open the door unless you and your parents personally know the person. Like a friend of the family or a neighbor. If you do not know the person, which means have you never seen your parents speak to this person, you never open the door. Even if they say they are a policeman, fireman, or repairman. The decision that you should make to put yourself in the green light, would be to go find your parents and let them open the door. If you open the door, you could be putting yourself in a red light dangerous situation. If your parents are not home you should never, never, open the door for anyone. This is always a safety red light.

A person at school that is known to be a bully is standing at the end of the play ground. Knowing this your safety light immediately turns yellow. If you avoid that end of the playground your light will return to green, if you go to that end of the playground you may find your self in a safety red light.

By being aware of our surroundings and making smart decisions when we are in our yellow caution light, we can get back to our green safe light and avoid the red danger light.

Remember, it is OK to be afraid when our safety light turns yellow. Fear is what helps our intuition and instincts work. We should always trust our instincts and listen to our little voice inside. Remember, our little voice is always right.

Parents, by arming our children with mental safety so they can
make quick, safe decisions, it gives them the confidence and focus to handle any type of situation and safeguard them for the future.

About the Author
Michelle Annese is a 3rd degree black belt with 15+ years experience teaching industry specific self defense and safety for women and children. She is author of The Realtor Survival Guide, Protection for Women, and The SafeGuard System for Kids. For more information on how to protect yourself and your family go to http://www.michelleannese.com Check out other articles by Michelle Annese and get her free safety tips e-newsletter.

Tags: Wing Chun, Kung Fu, Las Vegas Kung Fu School, Las Vegas Wing Chun School, Lo Man Kam, Lo Man Kam Wing Chun, Martial Arts Self Defense

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One of the most popular self-defense weapons in use today by the average citizen and police officers alike is the “Kubotan” (pronounced: ‘koo-bow-tahn’), or simply the self-defense keychain. The versatility of the this effective little item is that it lends itself well to being used in different ways by people with different martial arts backgrounds, as well as by people with no formal training in the martial arts whatsoever. In fact, this is perhaps one of the Kubotan’s greatest advantages and therefore strengths, in that it can be picked up and easily used by any martial artist, regardless of style or principle fighting method. Regardless of whether a practitioner has studied the techniques of Aikido, Jujitsu, Karate, Kung Fu, and, yes, Ninjutsu – the art of the Ninja – the self-defense keychain fits easily into, and increases the power of just about any technique.

As an example, a Karate-oriented practitioner who is trained in, and has a preference for striking techniques, can utilize the ends of the weapon for painful blows to soft tissue areas or disabling strikes to an opponent’s vital points. Conversely, a practitioner schooled in a grappling-based system like Jujitsu or Aikido, may feel more comfortable using the Kubotan for hooking, trapping, and pain compliance techniques, using the leverage and intense pain generated by the weapon to immobilize and neutralize an opponent’s ability to get at him.

Certainly, any school or practitioner that takes the view of having no preferential fighting method – that means that he or she is comfortable with both striking and grappling – will have even more options with this weapon. Composite styles, like ninjutsu and many other authentic warrior arts, find that the Kubotan, to them actually a simplified or modified version of what they call an eda-koppo stick, allows them the flexibility to go from striking-to-grappling and back again with no trouble whatsoever.

Even for those without experience in a formal martial art, the Kubotan provides an economical and easily-learned method of self-protection. This powerful weapon can, and should, also be a part of any good self-defense program. Its ease-of-use and relatively short learning-curve make it the ideal “first-weapon” for beginning students. It can be used to provide a level of comfort, security, and preparedness while the student is learning more scientific unarmed techniques, tactics, and strategies that naturally take more time to internalize.

For many, the self-defense keychain weapon is a tool of pain, pure-and-simple. Regardless of whether you’re using it to strike, dig into sensitive areas, or apply crushing pressure to small bones and joints, the fact is that you don’t need years of training to be good with it. You can practically, with little-or-no extensive training, pick one up and be ready to at-least hold-your-own against most common attackers.

Please note that I’m not saying that a certain level of training wouldn’t significantly increase your ability and chances of success, especially in a more aggressive situation, but for most of the assaults and types of attackers you’ll most likely encounter in Today’s world, it’s the perfect starting point for most new students.

As always, my advice is to find a qualified instructor, or a professionally delivered course, where you can be introduced to the weapon properly. Then, when you have the basic ideas and principles, combined with the fundamentals of unarmed self-protection tactics, you can go on to explore the full potential of both the weapon and it’s uses against a real-world assailant who might want to do more than slap you around.

Jeffrey M. Miller is the founder and director of Warrior Concepts International in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. He is the author of the “Foundations of Self-Defense Mastery” eCourse, which is available free of charge to subscribers of his self defense newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter at: http://www.warrior-concepts-online.com/newsletter-subscribe-self-defense.html He is also the creator of the EDR: Non-Martial Arts Defensive Training Program, author of the book, “The Karate-Myth” as-well-as the powerful, “Danger Prevention Tactics” video. Find out how you can get his book, FREE, when you order “Danger Prevention Tactics” here: http://www.warrior-concepts-online.com/self-defense-video-dpt1.html Additional information is available by visiting on his site.

Tags: Wing Chun, Kung Fu, Las Vegas Kung Fu School, Las Vegas Wing Chun School, Lo Man Kam, Lo Man Kam Wing Chun, Martial Arts Self Defense

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My only experience in the martial arts was a three week long experiement with kung fu. I went to the class to see what it was like and to learn about the thing that took many of my friends captive on every Tuesday and Thursday night. I cautiously entered the Chinese restaurant with my friends and proceeded into the basement where the class was held. I was not fond of the huge mirrors lining the longest wall, but I didn’t mind the incense sticks that burned in little holders around all four edges of the room. It didn’t take me long, however, to learn that martial arts wasn’t for me.

My little bout with martial arts taught me a lot about myself and a lot about martial arts. In all honesty, I expected to arrive at kung fu class and find it to be easy and mindless. I would soon learn that kung fu, like all of the martial arts, requires a level of strength and discipline that I could only dream of possessing. Each person in our class came prepared to work hard and to do this they left the troubles of their lives at the door. Entering the martial arts room meant entering a new world for them. A world that required everything and more that they had to give.

Martial arts isn’t for the physically weak, that is for sure. I left feeling pretty confident after attending my first class. It wasn’t until the next morning when each step I took sent shooting pain in every direction of my body that I realized the level of torture I had done to my body. My kung fu friends said that this level of pain was normal and that eventually my body would get used to the hard workouts and it wouldn’t hurt so badly. Unfortunately, my three weeks of staggering pain were enough for me and I never made it beyond the pain stage. Sure, I had experienced pain from sports or tough workouts before, but no pain that compared to the pain I received from an hour of martial arts.

Everyone I know who sticks with the martial arts really loves it. I guess bodies begin to crave the strength and discipline that the martial arts require and so the workouts become something to anticipate rather than dread. My friends who have continued with the martial arts have developed this amazing sense of mental fortitude as well. They are able to make it through not only the hardness that the martial arts bring but also through any hardship life presents. Their classes are a training ground that teaches them to press on and endure all that happens in life.

So, while I never stuck with the martial arts long enough to fully understand them, the things I took away from my three weeks of kung fu are lessons I will continue to ponder for a long time.

About the Author :

Kirstine Pallette, while not an expert in marital arts, is a strong advocate for the benefits of the arts for other people’s lives. Check out www.martialartsgroup.info to learn more for yourself.

This article is distributed by: www.iSnare.com

Tags: Wing Chun, Kung Fu, Las Vegas Kung Fu School, Las Vegas Wing Chun School, Lo Man Kam, Lo Man Kam Wing Chun, Martial Arts Self Defense

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Let’s speak about the psychological aspect of a street collision. You should differentiate two items. You must realize, whether your fight is a result of a usual domestic conflict, or you are attacked by a robber, killer or bandit. Your actions will flow depending on these circumstances.

If it is an everyday domestic conflict that happens in the street (someone pushed you or your leg, disturbed the queue order etc.), you should not use your fighting knowledge and skills to put your opponent out of action.

As a rule, all these conflicts occur because of trifles, and you need to behave normally in this case, let’s say naturally. When this conflict happens, no one wants to fight actually, but just gets rid of the negative energy that was accumulated.

Those who express harshly their negative reaction are not dangerous at all in most cases. He will threaten you, make expressive gestures, grab you with iron fingers but nothing more will happen. This is nothing but the pose which does not contain real threat at all. However, there are exceptions in this case too. You must define at once who is dangerous and who is not.

I would like to precise one thing. Though laws and principles of a hand-to-hand fighting are the same, a sports battle in a gym differs greatly from that one happened in the street. If you are calm when fight in a sports gym and don’t worry about fatal injury, you will be extremely nervous when come across your real enemy in the street. You won’t fight according to rule (as you do in the sports gym), you need to act most quickly and cruelly sometimes for your effective self defense.

The psychological aspect plays a very important role in the street scuffle. You must prevent your enemy’s attack or take the lead over him. Therefore, I advise you on no account not to start fighting if you see you can avoid it.

If you cannot do that and you know you will be attacked inevitably, you should act quickly, harshly and be the first with attack actions. Lots of things depend on who starts the battle first. This is the main distinction of a street fight. When you train in the sports gym, it is not important at all who will attack first. Both fighters are ready to attack and defense.

It is not the same thing in the street fight. Opponents rarely stand at the certain stances (as in the sport gym) and are situated in close distance quite often. In other words, they are in the hitting zone of each other. Hence, a person who starts his attack first has a huge advantage. Attack here means just the most harsh and strong action and not the expressive gestures at usual domestic conflict.

I always feel awkward when I am forced to come into such conflict. When I see a person standing in front of myself and offending me, I feel ashamed for this conflict that occurred. This person cannot be dangerous for me, he is completely defenseless.

I know that I can put him out of action in a moment, but my consciousness does not let me do that. As we see, such clashes that happen in shops, public transport, streets etc are not the fight itself, but just an everyday conflict.

Real fight happens when your enemy or enemies are certain in their superiority over you. For example, it may be numerical advantage, force advantage or armament advantage.

So, I strongly recommend to you: try to avoid street fight at any cost. If you see you are about to be attacked, you need to act most quickly and harshly. You must always remember that if your enemy is eager to fight with you, he is sure in his superiority. If he is alone and is not too strong or high, but still wants to fight, it means most likely that he is either armed with the weapon or instructed of some martial art.

About the author:

Alexander Popov is the leading expert in knife and hand-to-hand combat in the version of Spetsnaz GRU. Spetsnaz martial arts videos and ebooks: http://www.spetsnaz-gru-smersh.com

Tags: Wing Chun, Kung Fu, Las Vegas Kung Fu School, Las Vegas Wing Chun School, Lo Man Kam, Lo Man Kam Wing Chun, Martial Arts Self Defense

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