Blocks As Attacks (Part 2)

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 30th Jul 2018

I’ve never really like the term self-defense. I see it more as a legal term/concept than a descriptor of what occurs in a fight. If you are assaulted, you’re in a fight. And if you’re in a fight, simply “defending” yourself is not enough; there must be some offensive action on your part if you are to successfully survive the altercation. There is a common misconception that certain styles and systems are defensive and attacker-friendly i.e. their intent is not to cause harm to the attacker but merely dissuade them from continuing their assault, with other arts being overly-aggressive and...Click To Read More

Conflict Communication & Active Listening

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 23rd Jul 2018

When driving there’s a huge difference between looking in the rear-view or wing-mirrors as a matter of habit, and actually looking in them to investigate other vehicles around your car. The same is true of listening i.e. you can hear the words but not take the time to discern their meaning. Oftentimes, we see what we want to see, or expect to see, and hear what we think should be said, without actually listening to what we’re being told – if what we’re being told contradicts our own viewpoint, we may well be formulating a criticism/critique before we’ve actually heard...Click To Read More

Campus Safety

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 16th Jul 2018

If I only had 60-minutes to teach someone how to protect themselves, most of that effort would go into how to predict, identify and prevent violence, rather than physical solutions – firearms advocates may suggest that this time would be better spent learning how to shoot; however I would argue that even if technical proficiency could be acquired in this short time frame, along with a tactical and legal understanding of the “how and when”, to use a firearm, if the individual wasn’t able first to identify and recognize a threat, it matters little what tools they are equipped with....Click To Read More

Disrupting Balance

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 9th Jul 2018

I’m a Judoka, I understand combat from the perspective of a grappler, rather than a striker – this doesn’t mean I advocate grappling over striking, rather that I understand striking from a grappler’s perspective. I see striking not only as a means of delivering concussive force, which throwing can also be used to achieve, but as a distraction or disruption; something taking a person’s balance achieves. Both grapplers and strikers are looking to achieve similar things in a fight, however both use different means to achieve them – as an approach, both are looking to do the same thing. A...Click To Read More

Situational Training & The Unconscious Mind

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 2nd Jul 2018

Neuroscience tells us that our unconscious mind is our “now” mind, and our conscious mind is our “historic” one. For many people this may seem the wrong way round, but what you are thinking about in this moment, is not what is going on around you in your environment, but the words that you are reading; and as you read them you are applying, and constructing thoughts around the words – you are not actually in the moment, but your unconscious mind is; it’s the one monitoring for changes in your environment, and if they’re important enough to bring to...Click To Read More