12/06/2026
Many do not realise our brain, our mouth and our ability to stay calm under stress is not only the 1st thing we need to call on in violence, it's the most important also!
The brain needs to think in the storm, stay calm, think fast and make correct decisions, or react instantly with the appropriate reaction in violent encounters or confrontation, all while fear and panic surges through us.
The mouth "our words" our posture and how we project ourselves can be the difference between being attacked or not, or it escalating to violence.
A strong calm voice shows you are not intimidated, or a willing victim.
Talking engages the offender, distracts them and done right can de-esculate the situation, or used to lull attackers into a false sense of security so we have less resistance if we choose to react.
Asking questions gets them to stop, think, answer you and it creates openings in the violent encounters for us to make a move while they "for that micro moment" forget about violence and start to answer/respond to your questions.
Talking, using your voice and calling out a problem also alerts other people to the situation and the threat to you and/or others. Even if they do not initially help, they become witnesses that you were the victim, not the aggressor.
This video snippet was a funny, light hearted moment we captured. But in this drill, it gets heated, stressful and confrontational teaching students to cope under the stress, create space, use the environment, use their voice and stay calm and clear in the chaos of being intimidated, yelled at, attacked, threatened or confronted.
Too many people think sports fighting, or traditional martial arts will get the job done in real violence, and it might.
But there is way more to learn, train on, and deal with in real self defence training, and these things are the hardest and most important.
The tricks, the techniques, the fighting is easy.
The pre fight, decision making when scared,, staying calm under stress, reacting instantly when panicked and stressed, dealing with intimidation, verbal confrontation, using your voice, mental pressure, size/strength difference, body shutting down, freezing, etc, etc.
The list goes on and if you're not regularly training to learn and cope with these dynamics, then it's not true self defence training preparing you for anything goes, and anything can happen at any time. Which is what the real world will present you.
Its not a dojo or the ring, and its not just a fight.
Train for the stress, train for the unknown, train for the fear, train for the anything is allowed to be done, train for the verbal and mental encounters. Train for your life, not for your points, trophies or rankings.
Violent people, criminals and nasty humans who actually commit offences and terrorise society don't know or give a s**t how many trophies, belts, rankings or medals you have.
Come try a real self defence class here at KMAA.
Message us now for a free lesson.