ISSUE #176       GUIDED CHAOS NEWS

UPCOMING SEMINARS:     • LOS ANGELES February 26-27. Early order discount ENDS 2/1/11   • SYDNEY AUSTRALIA March 26-27. Early order discount ENDS 3/1/11    Additional discount for law enforcement and military personnel The Ugly Question Virtually No Self Defense System Will Answer: EVERYBODY KNOWS you have to disable your attacker. No news there! The TRICK is HOW to get your strikes IN when he won't LET you? No one is going to just stand there and LET you hit them with your super-secret strikes. And no one is going to LET you hit them without hitting you in return. So how do you STOP their attacks with a super-secret technique if you don't even KNOW what they're going to throw next? The answer? ADAPT and IMPROVISE.   Come to a seminar and start learning HOW. As far as we know, NO ONE teaches you how to "pull stuff out of your a--" the way we do. And isn't that what you really need to know when the spit hits the fan? SEMINAR REVIEWS  BUY NOW   MORE INFO

YOUR QUESTIONS...

QUESTION: can a man of smaller stature deliver a harder strike than a larger man? "After watching "In the Eye of the Storm" (which by the way is an excellent DVD) in which I learned and continue to learn through multiple viewings more on movement and striking that I didn't know through Systema (not that I'm implying Systema is bad I still love to mix both methods of fighting)  I have one unanswered question that I hope you can help me out with. Lt. Col. Ridenhour mentions several times in the DVD that bigger men hit harder every time. Which I agree with, that's simple physics. However with the use and practice of dropping energy, can a man of smaller stature deliver a harder strike than a larger man? The only reason I ask this is also in the DVD he mentions that he can break an arm with a palm strike with dropping energy, while John Perkins can use his fingertips to do the same amount of damage. With Mr. Perkins being the Grandmaster and Lt. Col. Ridenhour being the student (and a great teacher too), it would be logical that Mr. Perkins would have more practice with dropping power than the Lt. Col. However despite Lt. Col. Ridenhour being larger than Mr. Perkins, the fact that John can deliver a more powerful strike is where my question generates from. With me being 5"3, 155 lbs, even if I utilize dropping energy with every strike, does my size automatically put me at a dangerous disadvantage against larger men? Or like I said, if I practiced dropping power religiously can I penetrate harder than a larger man? ANSWER: We're not going to lie to you like a lot of self defense snake oil hucksters who claim they can turn you into a deadly killing machine capable of taking out multiple attackers regardless of size. Consider this: There are only 2 targets that have real stopping power in a life and death fight: the eyes and the throat. Yes, the liver, groin, shins etc. can be effective but are not AS effective. Every human under adrenaline has enough power to damage these targets. So it comes down to the key points of GC: how do you GET to these targets if he won't LET you; and how do you defend your OWN? A couple of big schools out there say just KNOWING these targets and hitting them is enough, as if bad guys are defenseless morons, sitting ducks just WAITING for you to nail them. This is why the material on Eye of the Storm is key. Internal systems such as tai chi, bagua, etc MAY help you to develop the sensitivity and looseness to blend and flow and eventually ADAPT spontaneousy against violence but it could take you a lifetime to learn it, if ever. And considering most modern tai chi has lost the combat aspects of its origins the answer is more likely never. That being said, dropping energy, body unity, etc. WILL increase your hitting power, timing, balance and speed but a 5 foot 3" man is not going to knock out someone 6'3'' and 260 pounds with a shot to the jaw or ribs unless he's terrifically strong, skilled, accurate and lucky--and maybe not even then. Instead of seeing yourself as becoming a GC killer endowed with supernatural raw hitting power, envision becoming a fluid snake with a deadly bite or a super agile alley cat with claws and teeth, threading its weapons through and around defenses while absorbing and eluding attacks. As we say, even though a tomcat may weigh only 15 pounds, if you could pick it up and smack it around and then throw it at the face of a 260 pound bodybuilder, they will not only be torn to ribbons but they will be incapable of grabbing the cat to throttle it. Breaking bones with your punches may not be possible. Tearing and gouging soft flesh in critical areas IS. Again the TRICK is how to GET to them (and defend your own!!) This requires a major rethink for most people. Hope this helps. --MK QUESTION: Are martial arts a way of life, self defense--or BOTH? And is that even possible? ANSWER: How about rephrasing as: "Martial arts are a way of changing your life for the better?" If someone were really interested only in becoming safer and doing so efficiently (minimum necessary expenditure of time and resources), s/he would be best served by GC Combatives and basic GC firearms training, with the attendant mindset and awareness training. Once we get into total GC, we're getting into the realm of true art, and with it all the passion, agony and ecstasy inherent in any truly artistic pursuit. And yes, you'll also get incrementally safer (or better able to deal with worse s--t), but awareness and mindset are still paramount. One measure of the beauty inherent in any art is the degree to which it reveals truth about the artist and humanity. In this regard, GC is the most beautiful art (not just martial) I've ever experienced. Believe it or not, as you advance and get into the more esoteric stuff (no weird chi or meditation, just deeper understanding of flow and the basic principles), you can gain, among other things: --weirdly effective intuitive awareness, --intuitive understanding of people (and therefore, perhaps, increased acceptance of people), --increased calmness and everyday relaxation, with attendant health benefits, --increased appreciation for all the beauty in the world, as well as the ugliness. I could go on and on but it probably already sounds weird enough. I don't know how much of a relation this stuff has to Taoist or Buddhist ideas of enlightenment, but my hunch is that GC gets to the worldly aspects at least with greater efficiency and less strangeness, as GC is not a religion but an art, of the martial variety. And by the way, I question whether any practice that is not primarily concerned with war (and its individual antecedent, self-defense) can legitimately be called a "martial art." Also, if art has to do with truth, I question whether allegedly martial practices with tenuous relationships to the reality of human violence can legitimately be called martial ART. Maybe martial sport, martial games, etc. --Ari Kandel, 3rd degree GC.

LEGAL VERIFICATION OF "RESTRAINT" IN SELF DEFENSE          FROM DTIQUIPS

"The core legal construct in verifying 'justification' is 'restraint.' Restraint in action, with the appearance that you have inflicted no more harm than was necessary, is imperative in establishing justification in the minds of both investigators and jurists. Hence, finders of fact, who look at the actions of a professing 'defender,' and sense a lack of restraint may well decide to apply sanctions. There is a critical difference between mere 'case facts' and the texture of an actual event. The law presumes that a person who played no conscious role in attracting, nor causing, criminal violence to be thrust upon him, may 'justifiably' employ necessary force to repel that violence, with the intent only of keeping himself and other innocents from harm. Conversely, when the defender's actions appear 'vengeful,' 'excessive,' 'hateful,' ' wanton,' 'out-of-control,' or 'unrestrained,' and appear to go beyond legitimate self-protection and turn into 'punishment,' the defender's subsequent claim of self-defense will be weakened considerably. Over the decades, I have heard a lot of 'case fact' horror-stories. You have too, and Heaven knows our Criminal Justice System is far from perfect! However, a careful examination of the details in the vast majority of these cases reveal 'unrestrained conduct' indigenous with the defender's response. And, I promise you that the familiar refrain of, 'I was just following my training,' does not automatically represent a persuasive defense to criminal charges. Techniques may indeed be 'effective,' but, when they don't render the appearance of at least some 'restraint,' in the end they have served you poorly! We Students of the Art select our tools, techniques, and teachers, using whatever criterion appear sound and correct. After the fact, don't whine and snivel when your choices are confronted by sober, even naive, finders-of-fact who don't find them nearly as 'cool,' 'sexy,' 'cutting-edge,' nor ' flashy' as you once did!" Comment: We all, at least everyone reading this, consider ourselves 'good' and 'decent' people. And, I don't believe good people do evil things. I believe it takes an evil person to do an evil thing. However, sometimes good people do stupid things, usually out of ignorance and (temporary) foolishness. As trainers, we educate and train our students to avoid these pernicious missteps, particularly when our students have made the personal decision to go armed. Everyone wants to be the recipient of accolades. But, only one who is good and honorable takes personal responsibility and confirms that he alone is in charge of his actions and is thus solely responsible for everything he does, and everything he refrains from doing. "Though defensive force will always be a 'sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men." --Augustine

SIMPLE AWARENESS TOOLS FOR SAFEGUARDING YOUR LIFE, YOUR HOME AND YOUR FAMILY: 1. BEST INTRO BOOK FOR LEARNING GUIDED CHAOS COMBATIVES (THE FIRST PART OF GUIDED CHAOS) FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE The GC Combatives Manual Available in 3 Formats: (Paperback / Kindle / eBook) GC COMBATIVES: COMBAT PROVEN / EASY-TO-LEARN THE PERFECT "HOW TO" MANUAL FOR: AVERAGE PEOPLE / SECURITY PROFESSIONALS / LAW ENFORCEMENT ANYONE WHO DOESN'T HAVE YEARS TO BECOME A GUIDED CHAOS "MASTER"!     2. DVDS, and especially the no-nonsense GC WEAPONS SERIES: Kill The Enemy, Companion Part 1, Military/Police Tactics, Guided Chaos Weapons Series      DOES COMBAT TAI CHI ACTUALLY EXIST?       PUT YOUR TAI CHI ON STEROIDS... with Guided Chaos internal principles    Adapt / Improvise / Survive       THE ATTACKPROOF COMPANION PART TWO (2 DVD SET) - $75.00 All the principles, in depth, with drills. THE ATTACKPROOF COMPANION PART THREE: IN THE EYE OF THE STORM (3 DVD SET-6 HOURS TOTAL) - $145.00 Applying the principles to free-form combat with Contact Flow. BUY BOTH AT 15% OFF THE REGULAR PRICE OF $220. SAVE $33! 15% OFF--THE ATTACKPROOF COMPANION PARTS TWO & THREE COMBO PACK - $187.00

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