We have always heard the expression “drawing a line in the sand.” Find out what your "line in the sand" is, train your mind, hone your killer instinct like a blade and use the techniques of positive mental imagery and mental rehearsal to place yourself in situations to elicit a biological response and do so until your mentality shifts to one of total confidence with a dash of detachment...if you do these, you can only improve your odds of success in any combative or self-defense encounter.

Just because we begin chi sau or drills face to face, squared up, it doesn’t mean that the only definition of “centerline” is between the eyes down to the groin.  Think of the body as a telephone pole.  Any of the 360 angles you can face the pole is the centerline, provided your attacks are to the center mass of the pole.  I have seen people chain punch and opponent backwards and then when the opponent is turned around by their forward pressure, instead of continuing such a beautiful onslaught of imposing one’s will they have stopped and tried to catch up to them and have completely  broken structure trying to get back to a point where they are facing them again so they can continue their barrage on their “centerline.”  WRONG.  If someone turns away, whatever is in front of you-shoulder, ear, back, whatever-is your new centerline.  Keep the pressure on!

The truth of any personal defense scenario is simply this: if I am a rapist or attacker and I bum rush you coming out of your office late at night, or as you are walking back to your car at 11:30pm with grocery bags in each hand and your head down, before you have time to drop into the karate stance and whip that dragon claw or mantis palm at my face I will have my hand around your throat and be dragging you somewhere you don’t want to go...

If you are forced to protect yourself against an attacker, you must attack him with complete viciousness, ruthlessness and unbridled aggression. Period. End of story. Your mentality must instantly switch from one of “oh, God, please don’t hurt me” to one of “how f**king DARE you attack me?!!” and just as importantly your actions must correspond to that way of thinking. Find whatever motivation you have to. It could be not seeing your children or family again, righteous indignation at someone invading your space, it doesn’t matter. Use whatever vehicle you have to in order to plug into the dark side of your nature, and direct those bad intentions on him because I guarantee that’s what this sick bastard was planning on doing to you.

If you have a bad feeling about a certain place, person, or situation, remove yourself from that place, person or situation as soon as possible. People forget that instincts are finely tuned mechanisms that have been developed from centuries of evolution. Animals have instincts and we are no different. Many times, victims of crime will say “I just had this feeling…” or “Why didn’t I listen to that voice in my head...” That little voice is there for a reason.  Now in all fairness there is a difference between being vigilant and being paranoid, however, insofar as your safety is concerned nothing is trivial.

Out of my many resources I have amassed over the last 20+ years which I refer back to often to feed my brain and my subconscious as I constantly seek to refine my training in Wing Chun to be as combat effective, practical and efficient as possible is a nondescript little book I purchased online as an e-book a few years ago, the author of which has forgotten more about real life-or-death fighting than 99% of the population will ever know. The author of the book I referenced earlier is John Kary, the founder of the American Combatives System of Self-Defense and a retired U.S. Marine who, while serving in Vietnam, was blinded in a firefight yet who still managed to successfully protect himself by killing several North Vietnamese soldiers bare-handed, earning himself the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.  Make no mistake-this guy knows real fighting...

One of the biggest diseases in martial arts today which undermines the ability to make one’s skills functional, practical and usable for purposes of self-defense and protection on the street is the issue of rank, belts, titles or whatever else you want to call it.  I have lost count of the times I have seen a soccer mom tote young A.D.D / A.D.H.D / whatever other bullshit acronym-of-the-month-afflicted Timmy into the school I was training in to inquire about lessons and within 5 minutes ask the question, “How long will it take him to get his black belt?” The problem I have with that is the word “get.” “Get” a black belt?   If you want one just go buy a friggin’ belt to put on the shelf next to his lacrosse, soccer and baseball trophies.  Shit, I’ll just give you one if that makes you happy.  Sorry honey, if little Timmy, Braxton or Skylar really wants to “get” one, they're gonna have to work their asses off to EARN one.

Continuing with more of my instructor Keith dispensing both wisdom and sarcasm in our back-alley, parking lot lot chi sau session on a hot July night, pay attention to his observations on forward pressure and attack, why you shouldn’t use bong sau unless necessary and the need to be forever vigilant against reaching or flaring your elbows out. Specifically, every attack should be to your opponent’s centerline.  This can be done either by cutting in and deflecting into your opponent’s center or by shooting forward when your opponent is forcing you off of their centerline.

Check out this video clip of myself and one of my instructors rolling in the gravel back lot behind the school I used to teach at on the far south side of Chicago. Keith, a former national champion in Ving Tsun and sanshou (Chinese full-contact kickboxing) at the time worked not too far from the school I taught at.  He would occasionally drop by after work on his way back to the city and observe my class, jump in and offer pointers to my students and engage in some chi sau rolling with me-while giving me shit in the nicest, most supportive way possible...

As the old sayings go, walking into a library doesn’t make you a genius, walking into a gym doesn’t make you healthy and that $900.00 top of the line Craftsman brand toolkit does no good if it sits on the shelf.   The deluxe toolbox is of no use if you never build anything with it. You can read all the books on building a bookshelf, watch YouTube videos, purchase top shelf tools, join the Handyman Club BUT until you get in the workshop and fuck up and learn and fuck up again and adjust you will never EVER build that shelf. Once you build that first shelf it is one hell of a lot easier to build the next one. The first one is the hardest. If you really want to change- and I mean REALLY– then you eventually reach a point where the only thing that satisfies you is acting on information you have poured into your head. Wing Chun training is no different...