While its fun to be controversial at times, the title of this post is not an attempt to be deliberately provocative simply for the sake of controversy. The title speaks to an absolute truth, as well as a prolific myth, about the benefits and dangers of traditional self defense training.

What I’m speaking of, for clarification sake, are those classes promoted by little pink or yellow flyers with a martial arts guy or woman on the front smashing the stereotypical mugger profile in the face as he attempts a purse snatching or worse, a rape or other violent assault. They’re typically taught by a well meaning Karate or Tae Kwon Do instructor who has spent almost a lifetime learning how to kick, punch and break boards as well as egos.

There’s no doubt in my mind that each one of these individuals is capable of adequately defending him or herself in the face of a benign, semi-violent, or maybe even really violent assault. However, many a great leader has failed in an important mission based on the simple fallacy of believing they have the correct answer to the problem when, in fact, they have asked the wrong question. Many a great martial artist has deluded himself into believing he is a master of self defense only to find out that all of his initial premises about life, attacks, and self defense are wrong!

Self defense training, at its core, starts from the premise that there is an “evil” element lurking out there that wants to rob you of everything that may be precious to you: money, safety, security, faith, family, and life. The secondary premise is that you may, by chance, find yourself in an ugly situation that you simply have to fight your way out of or die. While these situations do occur in the real world on a daily basis, making this the premise with which one sets out to learn a particular set of moves, screams, kicks, grabs and eye gouges may, in fact, be the wrong premise to begin with.

If you’ve never heard of Dr. Pareto; please allow me to introduce you to him. In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. It later became knows as the 80/20 principle. The 80/20 Rule basically means that in anything a few (20 percent) are vital and many (80 percent) are trivial.

Of course, we’re not talking about wealth, we’re talking about self defense, so what does the 80/20 principle have to do with protecting yourself in the face of danger? A good question with a simple answer. Dr. Pareto set out to figure out how wealth was distributed throughout the country. He asked the right questions and got an answer. In fact, his 80/20 rule was mislabeled as such in later years. It is more typically accurate calling it the 95/5 rule or even the 99/1 rule. The right questions when it comes to physical self defense training are: what is most likely to occur based on who I am, where I move in my daily routines, and the message I send to a potential attacker? (this is commonly referred to as the “victim profile”) The better questions to ask, however, are: what are the most likely “attacks” or “killers” i face on a daily basis and how can I defend against them?

While a couple hours of good solid kicking, punching, and learning to scream “NO!” can be very empowering, as well as just plain ole’ fun, we must be careful not to believe that this type of training alone will keep us safe in the face of real danger. The real dangers in life are presented to us on a moment to moment basis in the form of stress, health problems, financial problems, limiting beliefs, unhealthy patterns, relationship problems, and our usual lack of awareness of these types of dangers.

Don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying traditional self defense training is all BS (although much of it is completely ineffective, false, and actually may get you killed). Simply offering a little advice from Dr. Pareto; look at the 95% of your daily activities and how many of them are done completely mindlessly  and you are on the right path to ferreting out the 5% of things that need to be adjusted and dealt with.

Awareness is the only real self defense that exists. A committed attacker is very unlikely to be swayed or undeterred by your flailing and screaming or your misplaced groin kick, although you should use all of those things and more should you find yourself in that situation. Awareness of your surroundings, awareness of your capabilities, awareness of the things that are MORE LIKELY to rob you of health, wealth and vitality (stress, bad habits, and wrong thinking) and awareness of your options once all of these things become obvious.

About the author-Blaine A. Feyen is the founder and Chief Aikido Instructor of the Toyoda Center. The Toyoda Center, is West Michigan’s premiere academy for training in the Martial Arts of Aikido, Kendo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, MMA, and Shinkendo. Aikido in Grand Rapids and true self defense training has been defined by the instructional insights taught at the Toyoda Center and Mr. Feyen. http:/www.ToyodaCenter.com