Additional Fun with Self Defense

Today was a particularly interesting lesson at self defense class: ground work. It was a special request by Chigusa, one of our classmates. While the guys in the class approached it as "how not to get pummeled to death if you end up on the ground", for the girls it was more a matter of "how not to get raped". Definitely valuable material, but also slightly awkward. It was rather entertaining to watch the two instructors during demonstrations since they are both big manly men, but it was a little odd when it was time to actually practice. Normally, we practice mostly in pairs with other students, but today we took turns practicing with the instructors.

We approached it in graduating steps. First, it was what to do if you are on the ground and they are coming toward you. Solution: keep kicking at them and rotating so they can't get close enough to you. We practiced this with the instructors so that we wouldn't be afraid to use a good amount of force. Though we could accidentally injure the other students, it's a lot less likely that we'd manage to hurt the teachers. As such, we're more comfortable really using the techniques. I think I did a pretty good job with the kicking; I managed to knock one of the teachers over. Next we practiced what to do if they are relatively close to you on the ground. Then, it was what to do if they are literally on top of you, and pinning down one or both arms. Although it was strange to have one of the teachers straddling me and pinning my wrists to the mat, what really made me uncomfortable was the possibility that maybe I wouldn't be able to get him off me. What then? I was worried that I might be about to discover that I was in fact helpless. That would basically have undermined the whole purpose of the class for me, since I'm taking it largely to increase my confidence in my ability to protect myself.

Fortunately, with the techniques they had taught us, I didn't need to be especially strong in order to get free. It took a little practice, but I was able to unbalance the teacher and throw him off of me. One particularly cool technique they taught was an attack to the elbow. You twist the person's wrist to lock their arm, and then strike their elbow with as much force as you can and roll them off of you. We only practiced this one on the instructors because there is a very real possibility of injury. It doesn't actually take that much force to hyper-extend someone's elbow if they aren't taking measures to protect it. The teachers said that if you do it with your full strength, the person will go flying away from you.

Tomorrow I'll likely have a sore wrist from practicing wrist locks; when Douglas (the lead teacher) demonstrates them on you, you find yourself almost instantly on your knees. They look incredibly simple and require very little force if you're doing them correctly, but in reality it takes a fair amount of practice. I kept trying them on Michelle, my practice partner, with little effect. It took a lot of coaching to actually do it successfully. As Michelle said to Douglas, "It doesn't hurt like when you do it." I think it was helpful that he demonstrated them on us so that we knew what they were supposed to feel like. Michelle also had a hard time using them on me; she could twist my arm a considerable amount before it had any effect. I think it'll take a good deal more practice before we can do them on our own.

Douglas closed the class with a message about weapons. It rather reminded me of Dad's discussions with his friend who is so knowledgeable about concealed weapons. Douglas recommended keeping a blunt object of some sort by your bed or under your pillow. Pens are great because they are very effective, and they won't raise suspicion if you have to explain things after the fact. Flashlights are also useful, but you have to hold them in a regular flashlight grip; if you hit someone with the handle part of the flashlight, you've turned it into a weapon, and it might not be so easy to write off as self defense. I'm thinking of investing in a nice, heavy flashlight. It's pretty good advice to have one within arm's reach in any case, since an earthquake in the middle of the night could cut the power and leave me in the dark.

Overall, I think this was a pretty successful and useful evening of class. When a woman takes self defense, chances are it's rape that she's trying to avoid. It's good to know that even if you are on the ground, you can still fight. It doesn't matter if you are pinned down; there's always something left you can do. Although I might not remember the exact techniques we've been studying, I think that the practice sessions are at least getting me trained to keep moving and keep fighting. If you can keep your attacker off balance, there isn't a lot they can do to you.

So that's how my Monday nights here go; simulated sexual assault. Great start to the week, don't you think?