The Philosophy of Gendai Goshin Jitsu (Modern Self-Defense Art)
A scientifically researched and tested unique blend of mixed martial arts techniques and principles from numerous martial arts combined with physiological and psychological facts and concepts.
How one trains is how one will react! So, if you wish to be prepared for real attacks, then you must train against real attacks. You can’t hope to ever be a great basketball player without having actually played basketball. Running lay ups is not enough. Our philosophy and resulting approach to teaching and training in self-defense is that a careful eye must be on both aspects: teaching and training. Then, from that, it is not enough to teach techniques alone or even combinations of techniques against specific, realistic scenarios. Life, more specifically, adversarial violence is complex and dynamic. One must learn the principles that govern adversarial physiology and psychology along with those core techniques. It’s like learning how to repair an automobile…
It’s not enough to be given a cabinet or garage full of tools. It’s not enough to understand how to use those tools. One must first understand how the automobile works and is used. Then, one must understand all of the components. Then, understand what various symptoms are as they relate to malfunctions and how to troubleshoot them. And, by understanding these things, one will understand what results are obtained when you loosen or tighten specific components on the automobile. Then, and only then, can a person understand and be able to repair the automobile.
So, kicks, punches, joint locks, etc. are not enough! Furthermore, techniques for the most part are similar if not the same across most martial arts styles. We differ in how we expose each student to a carefully selected mix of martial arts principles and techniques from a variety of martial arts (mixed martial arts). By a simple systematization of these principles and by building on a student’s natural tendencies (as supported by scientific studies and research), student individuality is fostered and not hindered in order to maximize each person’s chances for survival.
A viable self-defense system or art must address the physiological and psychological concepts or principles surrounding adversarial encounters. In doing so, the limitations of technique based training are eliminated. By understanding the concepts surrounding street encounters, one can better adapt to the actual complexities verses trying to memorize a specific set of responses to given attacks. Memorization too often results in doubt or second guessing whether one is responding as taught verses simply applying a set of principles that exist naturally. Too often, self-defense is taught as a given response to a specific attack. True violence does not occur as a ‘single attack’. It occurs as a criminal intent that is only achieved as a result of an effort on the part of the attacker. The effort is a dynamic, non-cooperative interaction with YOU, the intended victim! The attacker is probably going to throw numerous punches, kicks, grabs, take downs, etc. at you as his experience determines is necessary to achieve his/her predetermined objective. So, to train to defend against a sucker punch alone is not enough. One must train to disrupt his intent and change the attacker’s mind with regards to committing violence against you. And, as long as you survive, there are NO WRONG responses.
That being said, often new students enroll who have a background in a specific art. Rather than spending enormous amounts of time trying to break the habits they have developed, it’s better to make use of what they already know that will get the basic job done. Even if theirs isn’t the sharpest ax, if it will chop the tree down, then use it. Our goal isn’t to have them throw kicks exactly like I do. Our goal is to enable them to defend themselves as quickly as possible. Time and training correctly will sharpen their ax. Most martial arts applied correctly in realistic street context will most likely work. Unfortunately, very few schools have time beyond that spent training in their traditional teachings and repeated scripted practice scenarios to devote to real street self-defense applying Jigoro Kano’s randori (live practice).
More importantly, we hope by reading this book you will develop a better understanding of violence as it is typically perpetrated on people and how to prevent it from happening to you. As he old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” So, although much of this book covers how to survive the encounter once the assault has become physical, we prefer that you learn to stop it before it happens.
