THE HEART & SOUL OF SELF-DEFENSE

In Memoriam: 
It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved friend, Bradley J. Steiner. May his soul rest in peace.
In his legacy, we are fighting the “Brad Steiner fight” – the good fight. The fight for each person to be the person they want to be and to protect themselves when their lives are being viciously threatened by enemies of Freedom, Peace, and Justice. 
A great revelation that very few who study “martial arts” ever get is self-defense – one of the most important functions of martial training – is dependent not on extensive physical expertise, acrobatic skills, agility, flexibility, and a vast array of “secret” techniques and maneuvers, but upon attack mindedness, extreme offense (technically), and animal ferocity.
This is not popular to tell someone who enters a posh “dojo” (the Japanese term for training gym) in an upscale section of the city and is asked to purchase an expensive course of instruction, a uniform, and to pay a membership fee. 
Most, instead, would prefer to hear the bullshit:
“Here you will learn how to overcome any opponent, no matter how big or strong. Don’t worry, you don’t need much strength – just know-how. Our school teaches you the secrets and mysteries of the ancient, unbeatable fighting arts. After training with us, you will be easily able to defend yourself – even against weapons or more than one attacker!”
To be fair, not every school presents such claptrap; but many do, and it is dangerous to buy into such nonsense. Real self-defense entails risk and, if an attack is very serious and launched by a determined and perhaps armed or assisted violent felon, you can expect to get hurt, even if you are successful in defending yourself. (Now that’s not what people want to hear, is it?)
For more years than I care to remember, I have been teaching people not what they “want to hear,” but that which they need to hear, understand, appreciate, assimilate, and apply. That is what I am teaching you now.
When a person is subject to a sudden, violent attack by a dangerous felon, he must be capable of shifting his mindset to “wild animal” and discarding instantly all traces of decency, restraint, forbearance, fair play, human concern for others, and mercy. None of these things will do anything to help someone defend himself. All they will do is make the intended victim a greater victim and less likely to survive the criminal’s attack.
To effectively be able to deal with a violent predator, you need to start thinking of OFFENSE: Attacking your assailant. And doing so brutally and with techniques that may be relied on to stop violent attackers who are strong, experienced, ruthless, likely on drugs/under the influence, and almost certainly deranged to some degree. Add to all this a determination to either not get caught and go to prison – or to go back to prison – which often prompts these beasts to do horrific things to their victims in a frenzied state of violence.
We who are in this professionally (not as professional sportsmen or as professional classical martial arts people, but as professional combat instructors) know very well what works under the worst possible conditions and against the most dangerous attackers. It has all been wrung out and established in actual warfare. The techniques are simple, uncomplicated, easily learned, readily retained, and adaptable to all sorts of varied situations where serious violence threatens. And with only a small percentage of counterattacking (i.e. purely defensive) actions, the heart and soul of real-world, doable self-defense techniques is Offense.
This means to proactively, relentlessly, and, yes, with cruelty and savagery, go after the individual who attacks you with furious, aggressive actions of your own. This attitude, this tactical imperative, this underlying strategy, this guiding mandate for the use of technique, is THE CORE AND ESSENCE of effective, practical preparation. It is the heart and soul of self-defense… REAL self-defense.
The truth is you need very few techniques with which to defend yourself. If you have no interest in pursuing combatives training to a high level of expertise, merely go to YouTube and look at my “American Combato” videos. Study the series of excellent technique presentations by Prof. Mark Bryans. He shows sufficient techniques that a person who had mastered them would find more than sufficient to drop some lump of street manure in an emergency – but only if those techniques have been thoroughly mastered and are delivered with murderous fury and determination.
My DVD course provides much more than anyone should need to be able to defend himself IF he works and trains hard to master the contents, and IF his attitude in any emergency situation is that of KILL OR BE KILLED!
I fully appreciate many will dismiss my words as “too violent,” “too extreme,” or simply too much for them. They are free to do so, of course. I hope, however, that you take this to heart.
If you do take this message to heart, then you will begin to ready yourself realistically and fully “just in case.” The urban setting today is none too safe or peaceful… or even reasonable. Violence erupts daily and seriously in all of our major cities, and often over nothing.
All who are urbanized and who – despite the drawbacks – see a much more compatible lifestyle for themselves in a metropolitan area, need to accept there is certainly a greater likelihood of violent intrusion and danger from predatory humans in a metropolitan area than is likely to be found in a remote, small town.
Be ready. Be prepared. The first-class intelligence you require (unavailable from any mainstream sources today) is right here in TRENDS, as you doubtlessly already know. But don’t forget the mindset, skills, and tactical savvy that also must be acquired… and which requires a degree of physical action to master.
Do what is necessary now to ensure the nasty side of urban living is not something that will catch you unaware, should it ever come to you.
It is far too late to develop the skills and acquire the proper mindset when catastrophe strikes. Hopefully, it will never strike you and yours. But, if it should, make sure you are well-prepared and have attained mastery of the heart and soul of self-defense, no less than the mechanics. The truth will keep coming to you right here in my Survivalism column for the Trends Journal. Meet my efforts to inform and instruct you halfway, please, and you’ll be able to focus on the benefits of urban living, while, at the same time, being ready for the inevitable hazards.
by Bradley J. Steiner