The Violent Assault Part 1

What happens when we are unexpectedly confronted by someone who threatens us or has the intent to do us harm?

First there is a release of over 1000 hormones - Adrenaline gets the top billing.

This is a normal physiological response where our heart beats faster, breathing is shallower and the legs feel weak due to the blood being channelled to our vital organs. Our peripheral vision has gone and it feels like we have tunnel vision as if viewing the world through a toilet roll.

Other effects are the ability to think rationally, logically and perform fine motor skills cease to exist. Instead we exercise gross motor skills and now operate with the intelligence of a dog.

Our body automatically starts working with the Amygdala which is also known as the reptile brain. This is the small part of the brain that controls basic survival functions. While this area of the brain is engaged the brain is unable to perform the complex motor skills learned and practiced in the training hall. 

This reaction is often referred to as the ‘Fight or Flight’ response which occurs when we are placed under stress. It is actually: ‘Freeze, Flight, Fight and Fear’. This is a survival response created by the hormones that are now flooding our body.

The Freeze response (most people freeze when confronted by aggressor intent on harming them). This ‘Freeze’ response allows us to process information about the potential threat and can take only fractions of a second.

Then we flee (Flight), or if cornered Fight. Some people are overwhelmed and freeze out of Fear. This last possibility is the worst thing that can happen to us, and places us at the mercy of the attacker.

Think about this:- If we liken our brain to a computer where our subconscious is frantically searching the hard drive for a response - nothing is there, it’s blank, frozen in response to what is happening around us - this is where correct self-defence training finds it’s footing - especially when drilled over and over using basic principles rather than a range of specific techniques. This type of training is geared for the real world, for the un-choreographed randomness of a brutal assault. 

The aim of good self-defence training is to burn a response onto the brain’s hard drive, which comes into play when we are faced with danger, an aggressor, our brain finds the appropriate response without having to consciously search for it.

If our brain is presented with too many options, our reaction time slows considerably.

Our response is based on Hick’s law.

Hick's law is a psychological principle which states that the more options are available to a person when reacting, the longer it will take for him or her to make a decision about which option is best.

The only way to be prepared for such a physical assault is to constantly train in limited but effective basic principles that come automatically if we are attacked.

Stay tune for Part 2 of ‘The violent confrontation.’