Good Self Defence training online..

[Arath]

Hi, this is a non-commercial, or rather, a semi commercial post.
Some months back I was talking online with an american girl whose a friend, and she was telling me how she was frightened of her boyfriend when he gets in a temper. As this boyfriend is 6 foot something and she's much smaller, it really irritated me (I hate bullies). Anyway, I suggested that she join a self defense class - the exercise would do her good, and she'd be much more confident dealing with her boyfriend. But it turns out that all the good self defense classes in her area are too expensive for her.

Okay, so I'm going to try to do something about it. Now, I'm in the east, and I'm an experienced martial artist - so I talked to a few other martial arts teachers here, and we've decided to float an online course. It's reasonably cheap ($100 for a course lasting about 3 months) and it'll teach you everything we can about defending yourself in a bad situation.

However, we're not doing this just for the money, but more to help people like the girl I mentioned, so, for every person who buys the course, we'll give it to two people who genuinely need it for free, and to one other person at a half-price discount - This way we handle our running expenses AND can help the most people possible. And the training is GOOD - very detailed and very personalized, with a master always available (even on a daily basis) for advice via e-mail or even instant messenger. All the Sensei are very patient men, so the training will be thorough, even online.


You can visit our site at http://darkninjaclan.com/

All that we ask is that if you like what you see, and can honestly afford the cost of the course, please pay it. Every person who pays for the course will ensure that we can offer the course for free to many more people. We're already giving a lot of our time to this, and would like to increase that, and help the most people possible.

The motive for this post is unselfish - it's basically to do the greatest good to the greatest number. Those who are interested in the course but cannot afford to pay for it, please contact us directly at this e-mail -
master@darkninjaclan.com
- we'll give priority to those who most need the course, i.e. those who are in imminent danger.

We have a simple site, so any suggestions you might have as to how we could improve things, or reach out to more people, are definitely welcome. Write to us at master@darkninjaclan.com with the message title 'suggestions'

[treelizard]

http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/12/23/escaping-abuse/

[Arath]

Fascinating..

Hmm,
This is really interesting, because as a matter of fact the woman I mentioned in the post is also extremely depressed and falls into the 'just won't leave' category mentioned in the article you referred to (which is superb, by the way).

Generally speaking, one way we try to help students like this is just repeat response defences and attacks SO many times, with some power training, that one day the response simply triggers WHILE the girl is being attacked by her partner. One woman I trained knocked her partner out with a strike to the temple with just this sort of reflex response. She was scared, she didn't want to hit back, but she just did. And her partner toned down his violence quite a bit after that. Of course I won't say that all stories have a happy ending, but I've been teaching teaching teenage girls and women self-defence for years (for free, incidentally) in my locality, and also kids who are bullied by others, and usually get good results with this 'automatic reflex' training that supercedes thought, fear and normal mental response. It's not as good as having someone with the RIGHT mental attitude, but it's the best thing you can give them. If they won't defend themselves rationally, program it into their very minds and nervous systems so that their response is automatic and instinctive, not rational.

I would never have thought of going online with the training except that this woman was so far away, and she had money problems and genuinely couldn't pay for a martial arts course in her area. So I thought it would be nice if I created a course that those who could pay for would pay for, and those who couldn't would just get for free. It's an original concept (or is anything original, arrgghh). Oh, and the self defence aspect is not just for battered women, but also for people who get home late at night, and for women who might not have the victim mindset. Generally I hope to give it out to everyone who needs it but can't afford it, and handle my running expenses on those who can afford it. Hopefully. Hasn't worked so far I'm spending most of my day teaching a LOT of people for free - it takes up every moment of my time and the time of the other masters I've talked into this, barring the time we give to our personal training.

Oh, and that woman I talked of is under theraphy as well; unfortunately, that's one of the reasons she can't afford to enrol in a self-defense class - the theraphy is expensive and takes up most of her spare cash. i would like to have started some sort of free theraphy system as well, but I'm just not qualified for that. What I'm doing, I'm good at, so thankfully I can do it.

[treelizard]

I couldn't tell if your site was a joke or not. Everything you need to learn in just three months?

Online self-defense training is not a solution for domestic violence.

[Arath]

actually, three months is just an arbitary figure I put there - I figure for some students it'll take a year or more, but I didn't want to discourage anyone, and I'm not going to charge extra no matter how long it take a student.

The funny thing is, I'm really doing this to help people. No, the site is not a joke. See, this is how I see self defence - I was stabbed in the face by a man on the street when I was ten, with a spike. The wound healed, but my parents were determined it would never happen again, so they searched ryu after ryu until they enrolled me in my present one. Since then I've not only been in several real-life encounters and escaped without a scrape, but I've also taught self-defense classes (usually entirely for free) to hundreds of women, teenage girls, and others who need it. I tend to focus on the practical, easy to learn systems, but behind those practical systems is a lifetime in the martial arts, and not a little real-life combat experience. For example, every technique I teach has been actually tested by me in a real-life encounter (we lived in a violent neighbourhood) - in my early years of training, I would never 'trust' a technique until I'd used it in combat on the street. Later, when I started giving SD classes in my neighbourhood, my students benefited from this street experience - I would only teach them methods that I KNEW FOR SURE worked. And quite a few of my students have got out of quite a few nasty situation due to my training.
In the case of the girl I mentioned, I personally thought that a good martial arts class would tone her body physically, and so help her into a better mental state, to start with. As for domestic violence, hmm - it's a rather grey zone, isn't it? In my experience of people, a bully is only a bully when he knows he won't get hurt. And when the bullying stops, things get better. So while it may not be a complete answer, sure, it's a partial one.
By the way, I'm not arguing the point, but I HAVE had excellent results teaching girls, and the weaker members of society. I run classes for free in my immediate area, and I usually refuse to teach the strong, preferring to teach the weak how to be confident when dealing with the strong, and how to back up that confindence.
Again, I'm not arguing or supporting my site here, or anything, just stating my experience and views.. I like helping to keep people safe - if there's a scuffle on the street i never walk by and ignore it. I like helping people.

[treelizard]

lol!!!!!!!

[ClydeA]

Another webiste for online self-defense free of charge. This website used to charge for its online video courses has now changed to be free (www.DownloadKarate.com). It does provide a good basic self defense and karate course with over 3 hours of online video covering many topics. Does anyone no another option that is free online training to add to the list?

[piousmaximus]

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39001

[Arath]

Superb..

The free karate site is superb - there should be a lot more of this. I guess there are LOTS of good martial arts teachers out there who would love to teach people to keep safe, but I think they worry about how valuable instruction is through books, videos, over the net, etc.

However, I think that for those students who don't have ANY other alternative, for various reasons, financial, time-based, etc. sites like these would be invaluable.

I personally would like to see a lot more sites like this. I notice the karate site 'comes up on top' in a google search - that is so nice

And they have a section on 'The Art of War' - I like that - we had to study the whole thing as part of our battle strategy training in the Ryu (not to mention dozens of more 'modern' texts) - I often wondered what the purpose of that was - is a single warrior ever going to have to act as a full scale general? - seems unlikely. On the other hand, I spent quite some time as a mercenary and soldier - the strategic training would come in handy sometimes, in combat situations - more often, I'd find myself mentally criticizing my superiors' strategies, definitely not a looked-for trait in a grunt in the army, hehe.

You know, I get a lot of teenage kids applying for the free courses - they're very disappointed when I give priority to women who live in dangerous neighbourhoods and such. It depends on the teenager - some are very mature and I'm glad to teach them. I like to pick and choose my students - it's the same in my SD dojo at home - I often turn away students who lack the right 'spirit' does one say?

hehe, the onion page is funny. And look, what's this 'used his Butterfly Soul Razor technique to stop the heart of office intern Ian Dallas long enough to drive the intern's nose through his brain with a single punch' hehehe. Superb, just superb.

[Arath]

Please post more free sites..

It would be nice if anyone who came upon a free site with good self defence training - or even comprehensive awareness tips - would post a link to it here. As a matter of fact I think I saw a few browsing the net, I'll try to find them and put them up. Till then - anyone who knows good free sites, please post, this would be a good resource for people who need it.
Thanks,
Arath.

[GranFire]

I am a bit puzzled...how is online MA supposed to work? It ain't drawing or writing, it's a physical endavor one has to practice regularly, and correctly!

I am hessitant about the reflex situation, if an abusive partner has reached that level...will a response not trigger worse? It's a deadly game!

And the *toning down the violence* - is that exeptable enough?

Victims of abuse get 'groomed' for the role, a little more every time untill they don't see a way out. The also may get adicted to the adrenalin rush they get from the situation (maybe one reason why so many can't get out of it - life without is just too dull)


Usually the YMCA offers classes that are affordable...or they have assistance available...

[Sagacious Lu]

Don't mess with me man, I'm deadly, I learned from teh ninjers on teh interwebs

http://www.24fightingchickens.com/20...scaping-abuse/

I couldn't tell if your site was a joke or not. Everything you need to learn in just three months?

Online self-defense training is not a solution for domestic violence.

I'm just being silly of course, but you're right on the money here.

[Arath]

Online training..

Hmm, for an answer to how MA training online is supposed to work I suggest you check the site http://darkninjaclan.com/ again, I've updated it and put a possible answer to your question there, right on top. Rather than get into a complex discussion about it here though, perhaps we could start an entirely new thread - something like 'online training - plausible or not?'

I only suggest this because I think it would be nice if this thread became a place where people posted all sorts of free, or cheap online resources like the karate videos (if any - but I'm sure there must be some out there). besides, it's not only battered women who could benefit from such things - as an example, I recently got a mail from a ju-jitsu student who'd moved to another city, away from his dojo, and for some reason could not continue his training in the new city (he didn't specify, exactly why), but he was worried about getting out of shape and wanted SOME form of training, you see.

[Arath]

hmm, as for this 'self defence is not a solution' - I think I already said that it's rather a grey area - can you afford to be so certain of yourselves? I'm not. I offer it as a possible solution that would work in some cases. I HAVE taught dozens of girls and that in the east (you know what the culture is like there, totally male-dominant), and I've got good results in a good percentage of cases. That's just what every psycho-therapist hopes for too. You can't provide an answer to everyone's problems, but if you even have a good batting average, it's not a bad thing, is it? And I have the feeling that those who SD wouldn't benefit won't even be coming forward to take my course, you know (this is an important point). As for those that it would - hmm, since when has it been bad to hit back effectively at a bully? One thing I'll tell you - not fighting back in the hope you won't be hurt worse, is just about the worst SD advice you can give anyone. And it's just as good a way of escalating violence, as the bully perceives no resistance to his behaviour.

[piousmaximus]

hehe, the onion page is funny. And look, what's this 'used his Butterfly Soul Razor technique to stop the heart of office intern Ian Dallas long enough to drive the intern's nose through his brain with a single punch' hehehe. Superb, just superb.

Glad ya liked it, dude. That's one of my all time fave onion articles...immediately thought of it after looking at your site.