ANOTHER LETTER FROM MY VIRTUAL BODYGUARD AL STEELE

Hi, Alex
Yesterday, I saw something on TV that got me so pissed off...

This narcissistic nut was ranting about how rape victims are "weak" for letting themselves be defeated when they are attacked.

Now, any SANE person has to accept that this is complete bullcrap.

But sadly, and I'm sure a lot of you reading this letter will know, martial arts and self defense is FULL of complete NUTS spouting garbage like this!

As part of my training, I teach people how to deal with insult and anger, and how to come the realization that anger is just another form of fear.

But I still cant help but get mad at people saying stuff like that, its just a big fat LIE.

Yes, these people are in fact lying to YOU and THEMSELVES, and not just because they are misinformed.

In an attack of any kind, you cant just SWITCH OFF your emotions. Especially attacks that have happened in the past, or bullying that happened, that's really going to leave a psychological mark on you.

The other reason these guys don't know what they are talking about is that during an attack, your mind AUTOMATICALLY blocks out the most traumatic parts. Its almost like having a safety valve on your memory, so the worst parts don't affect you.

You have probably heard somebody at some point say that you are WEAK, because you FREEZE or PANIC when somebody threatens or attacks you.

Its not weakness, it's a REFLEX.

The important thing about reflexes is they CANT BE CHANGED. Your body has natural reflexes that happen UNCONSCIOUSLY, so why should you try to retrain them? Don't forget that you need adrenaline, it's a powerful drug that your body controls, and it can save your life.

The reason why a lot of people FREEZE on the spot is because they are going into SHOCK. Their minds are trying to BLOCK OUT the traumatic experiences they have had, all those bad memories of intimidation, fear and even social rejection can surface in a self defense situation.

The key to beating the FREEZING and PANIC is to train at RANDOM. That doesn't mean your training partner attacks you when you walk down the street, but they might grab you at any time in any way with extreme force.

Now that might not give you the exact same SHOCK in a real fight, but that's not the point.

The point is you will be able to REVIEW what happened. You cant REVIEW a traumatic experience like rape, no matter what any of those morons say.
It just isn't practical. But you can review less traumatic experiences, like someone putting you in a head lock in a training situation, or swinging wild random punches
at you. As long as you don't tell them what attack is coming, and you start to remember your mistakes, its GOOD training.

But what ever you do, don't beat yourself up about the past. Especially when you hear those morons talking about how they would have dealt with it.
These people usually don't get out enough to even realize what trauma, intimidation or real violence is.

Stay safe,

Your buddy,

Al Steele