Mind, Body & Self Defence - Self Defence

Self defence is more than knowing how to hit someone in the right place at the right time. It involves awareness, confidence and ability, as well as knowledge of techniques. We try and learn to defend ourselves from attack, and the techniques are certainly effective. But the best self defence is the one you never have to do - you have completely avoided or nullified a situation before it developed. Whether this is from telling a joke at the right time, not walking into that nasty-looking bar or crossing the road if it feels like the right thing to do.

The techniques we learn are for when the worst comes to the worst and you are forced to defenc yourself physically. The techniques are split up in to two main 'families': juho (soft techniques like throws, locks and evasive moves) and goho (hard techniques like kicks, punches and blocks). Right from the start everybody learns the basics, which over the years build up to form the foundations of many powerful techniques.