Distinguishing Characteristics of Krav Maga

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 27th Sep 2021

There are some people who believe that Krav Maga is simply a mish mosh of the “best” techniques from other systems e.g., if traditional ju-jitsu has an effective escape from a particular hold, then that should be put into the system, if Kali or Escrima has a good “technique” for dealing with a knife attack then that should be incorporated into the syllabus etc. Whilst there is no doubt that other fighting systems, including boxing and wrestling, actively influence – and in some ways provide a foundation for – Krav Maga it would be incorrect to believe that Krav Maga...Click To Read More

Rituals & Conflicts

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 20th Sep 2021

When two elephants meet, at the end of their greeting ritual they defecate. Giraffes when meeting wrap their necks around each other, whilst highly social African Wild Dogs have a complex and involved greeting ceremony, which involves running, licking each other’s lips, and sticking their noses into the corners of each other’s mouth. Humans also have greeting rituals, but they aren’t as standard or universal, as those found in other mammals and hominid species e.g., in some cultures the greeting ritual involves shaking hands, in others rubbing noses, and in others touching feet (Charanasparsha) etc. Humans innately recognize the importance...Click To Read More

The Street Fight

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 13th Sep 2021

During the 1980’s and early 1990’s there was a real focus in the martial arts and reality-based self-defense on “street fights” i.e., would the system you were training in prepare you for a street fight. The term street fight was ill-defined, and was generally interpreted as a sparring match that took place not in a dojo but on the street, with two combatants squaring off in a consensual manner etc. There was an attitude that violence needed to be engaged with rather than avoided, and that “fights” would resemble the format of how we trained and sparred; real world violence...Click To Read More

Interpreting Faces

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 6th Sep 2021

We aren’t good at reading emotions from facial expressions, and/or even describing faces. This is one of the issues that forensic sketch artists face e.g., if you had to describe to a sketch artist what a friend’s nose looked like, how would you go about doing that? There is little in our language i.e., few words, that allow us to accurately and fully describe facial features. However, up until relatively recently, it was believed that humans had an innate, biological ability to recognize facial expressions; one that was universal and transcended all cultures. This was largely down to the work...Click To Read More