PeaceWalker Blog

A couple of months ago I got a message from my friend Moshe Katz, founder of Israeli Krav International. He said he was putting out another book; an anthology of his blogs from 2010. It's called Early Footsteps From Judea: Krav Maga Blogs 2010 . He asked me if he could include one of my old blogs, as well as write the introduction. I was honored to be asked to contribute and agreed to both of his requests.  . Below is what I wrote for the introduction. If you're wondering about the rest of the book including which of my blog posts he used, well, you'll have to pick up a copy to find that out! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was a crisp winter day in Northern Michigan, Moshe Katz was speaking to a group of concerned individuals who came to learn how to feel safer, more powerful in their world. People who wanted to have a better understanding of why there are those out there who seem to want to spread fear, hate, and violence upon anyone who doesn’t beli

If you cannot control yourself, you cannot control the situation, it’s that cut and dry.   Here's an exercise for you. Write down the following things:   1)       What really pushes your buttons? 2)       What things are you afraid of? 3)       What makes you feel uncomfortable? 4)       What takes you outside of your comfort zone?    Identify these things inside of yourself, understand what they feel like, identify them and try not to let whatever that is have control over you.   If you can name it, you can start to understand when you’re getting out of balance. It doesn't mean that things won't effect you, just that you are aware when you are off and can adjust accordingly.   The whole idea of this practice is to work for balance.   If you strive for balance this is going to be more beneficial for you.   The balance between yourself and others begins with YOU being in balance inside of yourself. If something bothers you and you res

  Life or Death Almost anyone will defend themselves if they are in what is perceived as a life or death situation. Insult Insults can easily provoke rage. Family Protecting family members from threat or attack. Environment  Protecting your own territory or home, which are basic needs of survival. Mate Violence is often used to obtain or protect a mate. Order in Society Rage frequently breaks out in response to perceived social injustice. Resources Violence can be used to obtain and protect resources (money, valuables, property). Tribe In group / out group mentality. Throughout history humans have been divided by tribe, country, religion, etc. attacking and defending against one another. Stopped Being restrained, imprisoned, cornered, or impeded pursuing ones desires. The accompanying emotion is frustration. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This list comes from the book Why We Snap by R. Douglas Fields. Concise list of rational. I might add a cou

Why your DT training is the foundation of deescalation skills By Heath Jones    |   Jul 11, 2017 -  (Re-posted from https://www.calibrepress.com) The last article I wrote was titled “Building the DT Toolbox” and in it I suggested that when training recruits or novice police officers, an instructor’s primary focus should be to build their student’s “toolbox.” I then stated that the toolbox will be the “foundation upon which everything else will be built.” Notice that I didn’t state that the defensive toolbox will be the foundation upon which all other defensive tactics training will be built … No, it’s the foundation for everything. Many of the issues that police departments are having can be traced back to the quality of their DT program. Deescalation is a hot topic in policing nowadays. It seems that every time I turn around I hear something about new deescalation training or strategy for police officers. I don’t know a single police officer who i