Congratulations on making it to Lesson #10 in your Self-Defense Basics Course!
In the final lesson of the series, I’ve got some advice to toughen up our spirits. Then we’ll review the entire course.
Congratulations on finishing what you started! 🙂
SELF-DEFENSE BASICS COURSE
Lesson #10 – Transcript
Howdy. Ando again from Happy Life Martial Arts and this is it! Congratulations on making it to Lesson #10 in our Self -Defense Basics Course.
You did watch all the other ones, right?
Well, either way, in today’s lesson, I’ve got something new and a little review. Let’s get to it.
Remember way back in Lesson #1 when I suggested that you make yourself comfortable? Well, once you’ve succeeded in doing that, the next step is to make yourself uncomfortable.
That’s right. I’m now asking you to purposely add some discomfort, some tension, maybe even a little pain into your daily routine. Why?
Because there’s more to self-defense than just learning how to hit a bad guy—there’s also learning how to take a hit.
The more we can train ourselves to keep our cool and stay focused under pressure and even in pain, the better our chances of surviving a violent attack.
So, it’s time to toughen up. How? In Lesson #6, we talked about stepping into stress on purpose. The idea was to spend some time with things that annoy us, frighten us, shock and disgust us, so that we could begin to control our feelings towards them.
But that was just psychological. Let’s take a step deeper into stress by getting physical.
No, don’t worry—I’m not going to ask you to hit yourself in the head with a hammer. Let’s save that for the next course. But here are a few safe ideas to put stress on your body so you can train your brain to deal with it.
For example, the next time you feel hungry, be hungry. Skip a meal just to prove to yourself that you can break your routine and still survive.
Or how about the next time that you feel too hot or too cold, just be hot, be cold.
Don’t misunderstand me—I’m not asking you to get sick or to hurt yourself, I’m asking you to give yourself chances to test your will power.
I’m asking you to purposely make yourself uncomfortable so you can prove to yourself that you’re not a whiner and you’re not a quitter. Every time you do that, you’re building up your spirit to be a little tougher.
Let’s kick it up a notch. When was the last time you took a cold shower?
The first time I tried that, I gave up right away. I thought I was going to die. But then I realized something—if I can’t take a cold shower, how can I take a punch? If I can’t stand up to cold water, how can I stand up to a violent attacker?
Once I thought of the shower as a chance to test my will power, everything changed. It became a lot easier. I still hate it, but I can take it. And that’s the whole point—training your brain to deal with discomfort.
So, if you’re not already doing it, give your brain that challenge—
Go start a fight with your shower!
It’s a little bit creepy to show you video of me in the shower, so let me give you another challenge that’s more family-friendly. Back in Lesson #5, we practiced dropping our weight into a squat stance.
Let’s do that again, but this time, I want you to hold it. Like that. Keep your back straight, relax your shoulders, keep your knees aligned over your feet, and just see how low you can go.
Now, you might have heard of Kung Fu students holding a horse stance like this for hours at a time, but don’t worry about that—I don’t. Just drop low and see how long you can go.
Now, don’t get the wrong idea about this.
The goal is not to make your legs stronger—the goal is to make your soul stronger.
When you feel your legs shaking, that’s your body screaming at you to give up… but every second you hold on, that’s your soul telling your body, “No.” Every second you keep going is more proof that you are tough.
Of course, if you have bad knees or odd feelings about horses, you can test yourself the same way in a plank position, either on the hands or on the elbows.
Or just pick any position that you find difficult to hold. The idea is simply to test your will power. Make it part of your daily routine to feel good by making yourself uncomfortable.
Okay, that’s enough of that. Here’s something to think about…
We all want the same things out of life, don’t we? Safety, success, happiness?
It’s not what you want that makes you special, it’s what you’re willing to do to get it.
If you whine, complain, and quit every time you’re confronted with stress, pressure, and pain, then you’ll get nothing. You might even lose what you already have.
So, train yourself to stand up and toughen up. Train yourself to survive. Train yourself to win.
COURSE REVIEW
By now, you know that self-defense is more than just learning how to punch and kick—it’s a way of life. It’s a constant practice of placing yourself in a position to survive and succeed no matter where you go or who you’re with.
In this course, I’ve shared some simple ways to train to do that every day. Here’s a quick review.
You wake up. Pillow on your belly. Give it a bump. Kick off the covers. Scoot off the bed.
Pump up your spirit. Pound the pillow with hammer fists and elbows.
Take your pillow, slam it into the wall. Head butts, palm heels, elbows.
Now be a bullfighter. Pull it in close, turn. Stay on the attack.
Say thank you to your pillow. Now set it down and make the bed as fast as you can.
Now, fast feet. Run in place as fast as you can for 30 seconds. Then sprint to the bathroom.
When you get there, mirror. Drop into your squat stance. Catch your breath and while you’re waiting, maybe brush your teeth.
Rinse your mouth. Look at yourself. Practice telling people how you feel. “Hey—I don’t like that.”
You’re getting hot. So, jump into the shower, turn on the cold water. Don’t scream. Don’t flinch. Just take a cold shower.
Next, towel off and get dressed as fast as you can. But wait—before you go anywhere, put it all together in a quick round of shadowboxing or shadow-defending.
Create a scenario for yourself—the scarier, the better.
Take a strong stance. Tell someone to back off. Move your feet. Protect your head. Attack. Drive to the side.
Pretend to take a punch to the face or get stabbed. Take a fall and then fight to get back up to your feet.
Yeah, I know—fighting phantoms in the air seems a little crazy, but it’s a wicked smart kind of crazy. The best fighters in the world all practice shadowboxing or visualization in some form. And now, so do you.
Okay. With all of that done, now you can stand tall, take a deep breath, and smile.
Smile because you remember that you are a cause worth fighting for.
Smile because you’ve done something to prepare yourself to go out and make your world and maybe the whole world a better place.
My final tip…
Even if you make a couple of these ideas or all of these ideas a part of your daily life, you still might find yourself getting sucked into the belief that you are not prepared for a violent attack. You play the “What If” game.
“What if I don’t see him coming? What if he has a knife? What if there are two or three attackers?”
Look—the truth is you can’t prepare for every situation.
You can only train yourself to respond to every situation with focus and confidence.
You can only train yourself to trust your ability to figure out what to do if trouble comes your way and then attack it with a fierce fighting spirit.
Never forget that you are a powerful person.
You may have been led to believe that you’re not, you may have talked yourself into believing that you’re not, but your power is still there.
Like the sun, sometimes it’s hidden by dark clouds, but it’s always shining. In the same way, even when you can’t see it, even when you can’t feel it, your power is always there.
The power to make a decision. The power to take action. The power to make a change.
So, come clouds or clear skies, let your light shine everywhere you go and in everything you do.
Let your light shine!
If this is the end of your self-defense training, then congratulations on taking this video journey with me. It’s been an honor.
Of course, I hope you’ll build on this course by finding an in-person class in your area. Who knows? Maybe we’ll train together someday.
No matter what, I hope you’ll always find some time to work on your own empowerment. When you make yourself healthier and happier, you increase your ability to make other people healthier and happier, too.
So, never feel guilty about setting aside some “me time”.
Think of your “me time” as “we time”. Give yourself some love so you’ll have more love to give to the people in your life who deserve it.
Speaking of other people, if you found value in these lessons, let me ask one last time to share them with someone you love or everyone you love! If they choose to skip it or trash it, hey—at least you tried.
Until I see you again, say what you need to say and do what you need to do until you can find your smile. Then let that smile be your shield and your sword.
Keep fighting for a happy life!
Thank you for sharing these lessons with someone you love!
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