PeaceWalker Blog

While sitting on the bus during my trip to Morelia I noticed the advertisements on the screen in front of me, hard not to notice during the long trip. It read Rápido, Fácil y Seguro, (Fast, Easy and Safe). There were referring of course to their bus line, and I have to agree with their assessment; indeed it was fast, (on time) easy and very safe. It was comfortable, and they even served a lunch, which I could not eat,  but I appreciated the gesture. Of course those words hit home. This in fact summarizes our goals with IKI Krav Maga; we want to keep our techniques and our training fast, easy and safe. Fast - We want our students to be able to pick up the techniques fast. Most people do not pursue martial arts or self-defense training as a full time endeavor. They do not have the time. As such most martial arts training becomes useless for them, if they cannot pick it up in the time that they have available, they are in fact wasting all the time they invested in t

  Moshe Katz doing a pistol disarm at his training facility in Maaleh Adumim, Israel Waiting at the train station yesterday I saw a sign that read, "Kill or Cure?", it was relating to certain plants and how sometimes they are poison and sometimes they are used as medical cures. I realized the same can be said of martial arts training. During my many years of teaching I have seen how Martial arts/Krav Maga training has transformed the lives of many. I am not speaking only of the physical knowledge of self-defense and the ability to survive a violent encounter but of the emotional transformation that often takes place. I have seen souls arise from the dead to take on new lives. I have seen people recover from broken, shattered lives; Divorce, illness, obesity, abusive relationships and trauma. This was something I had not planned on nor expected, but it happened. I have seen children and teens overcome their violent tendencies. I have seen people cure

"Not Everyone Who Walks On Two Legs Is Indeed a Human Being." Yes, I have an issue with this statement. It makes me think of what goes through the heads of those people who dehumanize or demonize others to the point of justifying doing terrible things to them. What's worse is that this statement was taken from a website of a Krav Maga defensive tactics/martial arts school. This type of mentality is like a virus. It has killed hundreds of millions of people and will continue to if left unchecked. The website goes on to read: ...Our path is always one of non-violence and humility, always seeking peace and to be upright citizens. Regardless, we realize that some among us will try to do harm and violence to us or our loved ones.  So, let me get this straight, after saying that basically all humans aren't really human, they go on to say that they are striving for non-violence, humility, peace and to be upright citizens... (reading between the lines)

  I have been teaching to some capacity for over 30 years and I would be a millionaire many times over if I had a dollar for every time I have heard this one single question: What if? What if this? What if that? What if there were two guys? What if he gets you in an arm bar? What if he has a sniper rifle? What if he sneaks up on you? What if he's 400lbs of raw muscle? What if the joint lock doesn't work on him? What if? What if? What if? It's endless! In the past I used to answer every single "What If" question. I would show variations and variations of variations. I would debate, explain and attempt to convince someone of every nuance of their question, skepticism or argument. It took a lot of time... More to the point it took a lot of time away from training. It took a lot of time away from that student's education and being able to work to get THAT technique down well.   "What If" questions can be a distraction to your training!