by Damian Ross
Founder, The Self Defense Company
We’re all disabled in some way. There are somethings we can do very well and other things, well…not so much. That’s just the way our maker put us together.
Self Defense Company Instructor Roger Jones teaching the Self Defense Training System to a group of disabled students at Bergen Community College.
We’re not the same person we were yesterday.
The one thing that never changes in life is change. We get old, sick, injured, overweight and in some other way impaired. Hey, stuff just wears out!
The problem is if we’re not consistently training, in our minds, we’re still the person we remember in our prime, not the person we are now.
You can enjoy that disillusion until you actually try to do the things we did before. If anyone has kids, teaches or coaches…you know. Eventually the worm turns for us all.
Then we’re quickly reminded (usually accompanied by a fist full of Advil) that we’re not that person and we must have the courage to accept our state of physical and mental readiness and adapt other assets to accomplish the same goal.
While I’m not the same person I was in my 20’s and 30’s, I’m a lot smarter than that knucklehead. So I find my “self defense work arounds” to accomplish the same job.
Training is both about learning and exploration. After you’ve learned something, you need to review it, not only to keep sharp, but to make sure you can still do it! And if you can’t do it, you need to come up with a new solution.
That’s how you “TRAIN HONESTLY.”
Be honest with yourself and be honest with the problem.
With that in mind it doesn’t matter if you’re a man, woman, disabled, older, smaller…etc – the process of exploration and assessment is the same for everyone – figure out what works and concentrate on it.
So when people ask if we offer specific self defense training for the disabled or women’s self defense.
The answer is YES, its called the Self Defense Training System.
To put out a specific program for “women” or the “disabled” is short sighted and ignorant. First of all, as a woman, or more to the point, as a human being you will have different assets – size, strength, athletic ability and common sense.
Self defense it is ALWAYS the smaller and weaker vs. the bigger and stronger.
It doesn’t matter if you’re in a wheel chair or lacking a penis – self defense is about your ability to take advantage of your physical and mental assets and apply them to the situation.
If every wheel chair bound person the same? Hell no – some of those men and women do triathlons!!!
It always comes back to the SAME THING – what can you do?
The problem is you’re going to have to do a little work to figure it out.
YES I said you need to do that 4 letter word…WORK.
That is correct, I’m not going to wave my magic wand and tell you exactly what you should do. Even if you were standing in front of me, I still couldn’t tell you what works for you.
You’re not a child, you’re an adult who has lived a life. You know what “feels right” and what doesn’t.
If you don’t feel strong doing something – scrap it. Many times, what works for you will not work for some one else and what works for you right now might not work for you later.
There was a time where the Chin Jab didn’t feel right to me, as of late (some 10 years later) I like it! My body had changed in some manner that I was unaware of and BAM, the Chin Jab clicked. Whodathunkit?
Point is, self defense, like life, is personal exploration. Each day/month/week/year your physical and mental assets change and you must adapt. There was time that I would depend more on power than technique. Now I will be more apt to use a weapon of some sort (ah yes, weapons…the fountain of youth!).
Never put yourself in a category of old, small, young, disabled, man or woman. You are a person with specific assets.
The purpose of The Self Defense Training System is to help you grow and adapt throughout your life…from the cradle to the grave.
Even though the training is “simple and easy” it still requires effort. If you don’t want go through the effort to “click a button and hit a target” to figure out how to save your own butt…I doubt your will to survive.
The real issue is people are always looking for excuses and not finding solutions.
I can think of dozens of excuses no to train, but only ONE reason to train.
That’s TRAINING HONESTLY.
Damian Ross
The Self Defense Company
