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Having just read yet another article
on knife defence which encouraged the use of techniques which may
work in the dojo, but unlikely to work in the street against a raving
lunatic, prompted me to express my views on what I consider to be
our only chance against such an attack.
The aforementioned article suggested
grabbing the attackers knife hand and striking him with an outward
elbow to the solar plexus. In my opinion, grabbing the hand holding
the knife is not advisable under any circumstances. For someone
to lash out with a knife, he is obviously likely to be in a ferocious
state of mind, and is likely to escape your grip by aggressively
using his whole body weight to break away, slashing your arm/hand
in the process, and leaving you in no state to protect yourself
as he proceeds to cut/stab you further.
Never use the much taught 'cross block'
against a knife as he could easily pull back the weapon cutting
your hands, and quite honestly, in his frame of mind he is likely
to go past the block and cut you. Infact, none of the traditional
"karate type" blocks should be used against a knife attack,
as the result is likely to be the same as that of the cross block.
Do not grab the knife with your hand sacrificing your forgers to
save your life as a prominent Martial Artist one advocated! Are
you really going to be in a frame of mind to fight off the attacker
whilst your fingers are lying in front of you!
Running is also not an option in most
cases, unless you are a fast runner, and, at least, 10 metres away
from the attacker. At close range, you will have to run backwards
or turn and run, and both these options are likely to take longer
than the attacker rushing towards you.
Having seen what not to do, in a knife
attack situation, let us now discuss what we can do. Chances are
that you will get cut to some degree, but by doing the right thing
you may save your life. The method I teach incorporates American
Kempo's basic principles with those taught by Master Montaigue's
WTBA.
The attacker will have to be in a vicious,
aggressive frame of mind to contemplate using a knife, we therefore
have to get into survival mode if we are to stand any chance of
escaping with our lives. Enacting our Reptilian brain will place
us in an even more aggressive state of mind than our attacker.
The shock from the attack will release
Chi energy which is stored in our kidneys, and by sprearding and
extending our fingers and concaving our palms will force a rush
of this energy up the back and up to the gall bladder 20 (Gb20)
points situated at the back of our head, at the base of the scull.
This will have the required effect of enacting our Reptile brain
enabling us to fight like a wild a wild animal. You should also
round your shoulders, concave your chest sink your weight and place
your tongue in your lower (soft) palate, whilst breathing out slowly.
The look in your eyes alone will make the attacker have doubts about
his intended action, making our task of defending against a knife
slightly more manageable.
We must then do three things almost
simultaneously. Firstly we step in sideways, evading his attack
(never step back), slamming the knife hand away with a Fa-jing (explosive
energy) strike, where we use our whole body to thrust out his arm
explosively away from us, and then use our other hand to attack
a Dim Mak point causing a K.O. at the very least. Depending on the
type of attack we will evade accordingly slamming his knife hand
away. For example if it is a straight thrusting attack we will step
to his outside as we evade, slamming his knife hand and attacking
a Dim-Mak point, preferably to the throat, face or head with the
other hand.
For an inward/slashing type of attack,
we would evade to the inside, slamming the knife hand away, possibly
striking one of the primary set up points on the inner wrist pericedium
6, 2 inches up from the wrist line, draining him of energy and the
nerves situated in the elbow crease possibly paralysing his arm
before striking a major Dim-Mak point, again, preferably on the
neck, face or head causing a knockout or even death.
The fact of the matter is that once
in Reptilian brain mode, we will become masters of adaptability,
countering the knife attack effectively, and efficiently, and by
combining this with a Fa-jing strike to the knife hand and following
through with a Dim Mak strike will go a long way towards saving
our life in a knife attack situation.
Relying on pre-determined techniques,
will probably get us killed. Although techniques certainly have
their place in training and teach us movements, co-ordination and
balance, relying on them in any form of altercation cause us to
lose the ability to react to what the attacker is doing to us and
cause us to lose the fight.
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