5 Simple Ways To Avoid Violence

[Original article: 08 September 2008]

The word self-defense usually conjures images of how to deal with physical violence. I imagine a class where the martial arts instructor goes over attacks and attack scenarios along with techniques and/or drills to deal with them. As I learn methods to defend myself physically I also like to remind myself that violence never happens in a vacuum.

There are warning signs, choices to consider, escalations happening, body language to evaluate…etc. The actions I choose, based on my awareness of incoming sense data, can help keep me safe, though no action, or lack of action, can keep me safe from violence 100% of the time. Preemptive awareness provides the key to early intervention, providing more choices and additional time to choose a course of action. Try the following preemptive awareness techniques.

• Chin up! – I see people who walk with their head down or gaze towards the ground. They fail to see what’s happening around them, both wondrous and terrifying. You want to see him/her/it before it’s on top of you. Whether it’s a dude wanting to jack you with a sock full of quarters or a piano falling from the second story window, you want to see it before it’s too late.
• Look around! – In addition to getting your gaze off the ground, look up, down, left, right, behind you! Scan your surroundings, not frantically, but casually and occasionally. Take note of people, places, things, dangers, beauty, silly children, escape routes, makeshift weapons, sales going on at the local butcher shop, whatever’s happening out there.  Collect the data, just in case…
• Eagle Vision – Use it! Don’t fixate too much on what you attend to with your gaze; continue to take in the whole scene. If you there’s a piano being hoisted by a rope and pulley system to the second floor, don’t fixate on the piano dangling above your head and bump into the guy holding the rope! I’m not sure where this idea of death by a piano from above came from, but you get my drift. This is especially important when something is going down or if there are stirrings in your surroundings that need more attention. Don’t get funnel vision and miss a bigger picture.
• Listen up! – Hear what’s happening around you, around the corner, in the other room…etc. It may help to turn the music down in your headphones or in your head. In addition, if you use a cell phone you may want to end a call if you’ve got a blip on your radar.  Your eyes can’t take in 360° of a scene, but your ears can. Use ‘em!
• Intuition – Use your intuition as your guide. Never ignore a gut feeling just because you’re walking in a public place that you’ve walked through hundreds of times. Don’t freak out either. Have your senses on special alert if your intuition is firing, just as precaution. Maybe it’ll turn out that your gut was telling you that the street vendor you’re used to seeing on a particular corner was absent that day, maybe something more.

Using these techniques doesn’t have to come from a place of anxiety or paranoia. If you’re struggling with anxiety about such things you may want to check out Five Little Known Ways to Relax. You may go your whole lifetime and never get a blip on the radar. It’s pretty safe in my neck of the woods, so why bother with these techniques? Here’s why I use them.

• It’s fun! Ever read a spy novel or see a spy movie? Check out Barry Eisler’s John Rain books if you haven’t, and pretend you’re John Rain while walking around town. Juvenile, perhaps, but it adds some oompha and delight to my commute to and from work. Make a game of it!
• It’s a deterrent. By looking aware, criminals may be less likely to think of you as a good, easy victim. Part of their strategy is surprise, take it away from them and they’ll be less likely to waste their time with you.
• It’s meditative. By engaging our environment with our senses we live and take ourselves off of autopilot. We’re here and now. Reach out and touch a tree as you walk by, smell the flowers, see and greet the people, stop and pet the dog, splash through a puddle, avoid the puddle, listen to the crash of the piano falling safely in the distance. Be deliberate about how you engage your surroundings.

Depending on your surroundings, you’ll want to adjust the intensity knob.  For instance, as I’m sitting in front of my computer at home, I don’t feel that it’s necessary to scan my environment. However, if I hear a crash in my back yard, my awareness will be roused and I’ll check it out.

For a more in-depth look at this subject, check out a work I consulted for this article, Surviving Armed Assaults: A Martial Artists Guide to Weapons, Street Violence, and Countervailing Force by Lawrence A. Kane.

Be aware out there! And please feel add your techniques and share your experiences right here, in comments.