In the new year, it’s never a bad thing I think to look back at what you’ve achieved last year to objectively decide if you think it’s been a good year or not. It’s something I try to do every year, and I did last year. To be honest I felt last year was pretty [...]
Personal Safety is not traditional “Self Defence”
Personal Safety is my current passion. I generally don’t like the term “Self Defence”, because it conjures up images of lots of people in white pyjamas, bare foot with coloured belts, practising kicks and punches for weeks on end, and what I do couldn’t be further away from that.
I teach Personal Defence Readiness around Manchester, which is the general public arm of Tony Blauer’s SPEAR System. Whilst yes there are some easy to remember, simple and very effective physical drills, a huge part of the system is about behaviour and psychology, and dealing with the emotions you will feel when in a stressful, potentially violent situation.
Real street ready self defence is a term that’s sadly too often synonymous with simple aggression, so let me share an example of what I mean. This is a message I was sent by one of my female students who successfully used what I’d taught her to avoid getting into a lift with a man who was following her (she was wearing high heels and had her kid in a buggy with her whilst out shopping): I was followed! A real life street Self Defence story
