PHILOSOPHY; SUB-PRINCIPLE: Mind

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The mind, mind-set and mind-state, about our ability to deal with conflict and violence. Conflict and violence, regardless of societies stand on it, is a part of the human condition and we deal with it at one level or another in our daily lives. Everything about life is about our mind, how we deal with things is about our mind and to handle conflict and violence is … wait for it … about our minds. To train the mind is to train the body is to train the mind. The mind-body connection is to be connected by a philosophical sub-principle of yin-n-yang. Not as to separate and distinct things but two things that are one. 

When it comes to self-defense karate and martial arts it becomes physical and it is that physical most consider the root to martial arts but reality will tell us that it is all about the mind. The mind-state-n-mind-set we acquire, build and harness is what will take us through all conflict and violence. 

One person of professional status said something that most fights end when the person gives up, a mind-set or mind-state. It is not about a greater physical ability but rather how we perceive things as they get physical. If one has a strong, resilient and powerful mind then no matter of the physical prowess, i.e., a larger, stronger adversary for example, of an adversary the person with the strongest mind will prevail.

Therefore, creating a mind-set/mind-state becomes extremely important in self-defense. That means a practitioner must open the mind to all aspects of conflict, violence and self-defense (why self-defense was added as a principle). If you don’t know what you don’t know then how can you create a strong and resilient mind-set/mind-state?

Some speak to intestinal fortitude but that is just another symbol of the mind-set/mind-state. Exposure to conflict and violence allows a practitioner to accept it and to build a mind-set/mind-state that will prevail even when they are attacked, placed at a disadvantage, exposed to pain, damage and a close in adversary who is hell bent on dominant position  while causing your brain to lock up who may also be using a weapon with damage coming fast and furious holding you immobile from acting leaving you in  a position without power to apply effective defense and so on. You have to know this, accept it and then make the moral and legal distinctions while choosing the appropriate actions to achieve self-defense. 

I.e., your mind contends with the following:

If you have been targeted for a blitz attack you will find yourself in the “losing column.” It is a full fledged head on assault with aggression, surprise, pain, fear, and it will be sudden, i.e., hard fast and close. It will NOT be like sparring no matter how hard or intense you spar and no matter how intense and hard any competitive match may seem. In all likelihood it will be way out of your comprehension. The following are taken from the book Scaling Force by Rory Miller just to give you an idea of what you are up against in the study of self-defense martial arts (emphasis added by me).

• In the attack everything feels all wrong.
• The adversary/attacker made sure to set things up so you would be at a disadvantage - big time or he would not have attacked.
• He will be close and fast.
• Pain and damage are coming in fast and furious.
• Your brain will be locked/frozen in the OO bounce as the adversary hits you four times before your brain registers, decides and, hopefully, acts.
• If attacked by someone with a weapon, the speed remains fast and furious but the damage just increased - a lot.
• Your mobility will be hampered, the attack close.
• All your self-defense strikes must be effective at that close range.
• You just got blitz attack, in most cases, from the flank or rear. 
• Your targets and power must be adaptable to different ranges and positions, you need to know how to damage someone behind you.
• Expect your body to be controlled.
• Expect it to happen in an enclosed space with bad footing and limited visibility.
• This level of force is considered a desperate situation and the damage ugly.
• You may have been shoved against a wall or vehicle, unbalanced, awkwardly twisted, or falling.
• You may be reeling from a punch or kick.
• You may be stabbed or shot.

In the end, your self-defense must be able to fight effectively in all the above conditions along with injuries, etc. This is what your self-defense training must address and consider this a short, terse, not comprehensive list of how an attack happens. Assume as well that all the above will also be compounded by your adrenal flooding with those physical effects to deal with as well.

Then and only then does one take on the actual karate and martial arts practice and discipline. Taking karate and/or a martial art for self-defense without such reality based knowledge, training, practice and experience makes that marital art merely a method of health and well-being. Making the mind strong, steeled to the dangers of conflict and violence allows us to act, to give ourselves permission to act while maintaining the self-defense square’s integrity. 

Bibliography (Click the link)