PeaceWalker Blog

We're at the end of the holi-daze! That's the two-ish weeks surrounding Christmas and New Year where work schedules, social events, family stuff and other holiday type festivities intersect with our regular schedules, resulting in a strange 'twilight zone' type feeling, where we aren't quite sure where or when we are in the time/space continuum. Past, present & future meld together with work, family and friends. How the Grinch 'Schooled' Whoville Yes, the Grinch can be a crotchety, termite-infested soul with a heart two sizes too small... However, there are a lot of beneficial things we can learn from him as well... Especially as it comes to defensive tactics! Check out what we can learn from how he totally "SCHOOLED" Whoville: 1. Tactical Thinking Coming up with all those successfully elaborate plans on the spot -- especially when under that kind of pressure -- is a pretty handy skill to...

So, I was getting some last minute gift wrapping and merriment done when I heard a knock at my door... Now... I Know It's Christmas Eve... ... and you probably want to get the rest of your wrapping and stuff done so you can get to bed at a decent time, but I HAVE to tell you about this crazy little guy who showed up at my door. He was short, about 4 feet tall. He also had weird shoes that curled at the toe. And even more weird, he had pointy ears. I asked him who he was and he said he was a messenger from Santa! Apparently, Santa is getting older and slower, and he's a bit concerned about his safety when he delivers those pieces of coal to those folks on the naughty list tonight! He is worried about being able to handle himself if he is confronted by some of these folks who may be a bit worked up, emotional... even violent! He wants to make sure he has the tools to deal with the type of conflicts that he's likely to run up a...

As promised, the last part of the 'Lessons from a Frogman' is a good one! Let's first quickly recap: These tips came from a conversation during a recent Active Response Training Seminar that I was teaching. Joe, who was there, is a retired Nave SEAL. He contributed to class with a few really good conversations and tips. Those tips have been the topic of our last several emails. Mental Rehearsal and Mental Scripting were the last two subjects we talked about. Now we're going to wrap it up with... ANXIETY CONVERSION! What is it and why is it so important? Here's what Joe had to say about that: Now there is one more thing that should be taught to our Warriors and that is Anxiety Conversion. This helps combat ESR (Extreme Stress Reaction). When we are at a high level of anxiety that is negative, research shows that shifting from anxiety, a negative state of high arousal, to calm, a positive state of low arousal, is b...

Continuing on from last weeks blog... I was sharing some solid advice from Joe, a retired Navy SEAL regarding the Protector Mindset. Our conversation was during the recent Active Response Training Seminar down at the Krav Academy this past month. I broke our conversation down into three (3) posts. The first dealt with Mental Rehearsal, which we discussed about three emails ago. Well, the next concept, Mental Scripting is similar to that,   but with a couple   IMPORTANT NUANCES. Check it out... Mental Scripting: Is when you mentally walk through a scenario in your head, reviewing what could possibly happen in a situation. For instance, lets take an active shooter event. You go to the movies, sit down and mental script out a scenario where you imagine someone coming in with a gun and starts shooting... In your head, map out what you'll will do, where will you'll go, what happens... ~ Where is the cover? ~ What exit do you ...

Remember last week's 'Future Pacing' blog on mindset, where I paraphrased my Navy SEAL com- padre' Joe K. and said... "Joe feel free to chime in..." Well, he did... (Thanks Joe!) WARNING - "CRAIG-ISM" ALERT: I have to admit, every time I hear from Joe, I think of that Jimmy Hendrix song!  "Hey Joe, where you goin' w/that gun in your hand..." (Sorry... I can't help it!). =) Anyway... Joe wrote a very thoughtful email that I asked him if I could share w/you... He shared three different processes that a Warrior or Protector can tap into when building mental toughness. *Because I've been trying to keep these blogs shorter, I'll share the first one here and save the others for the next email or two. The first principle he shared is... Mental   Rehearsal: Mental Rehearsal: That is simply rehearsing a technique, move, procedure, etc. Whatever that skill is, bre...

Recently I taught an Active Assailant Preparedness & Response Workshop at our Krav Maga Academy out in Grand Rapids, MI. It's not my favorite subject because of the nature of the situation, however due to my long standing relationship w/Israeli instructors and perspective, I started hosting and teaching terrorist/active assailant prep & response seminars quite a while before they were widely taught... or embraced by the public... Way before Homeland Security and other government agency (federal, local or otherwise) began developing programs, let alone private outfits. Anyway... This last seminar I had a guest who attended. A rather humble guy that you'll recognize his name if you took a look at the Protector Summit speaker roster. Joe, is a 26 year Navy SEAL Veteran, who currently is the Senior Security Consultant at SEC: Security Education Consultants an organization that specializes in training organizations on security issues. Our workshop sty...

Yesterday was Veterans Day and although I did send a quick shout out to all of our boys (and gals) out there who served, I wanted to take a minute to do a better job of it... I want to recognize all of you who chose to serve in the Armed Forces. You chose a path that many of us in this country never do. Yes, there are some of you around that were drafted, but you STILL CHOSE to serve rather than abandon that call by way of draft dodging. You may have went in to protect and serve your country. You may have went in because you wanted to invest in yourself in some way, training or college benefits. You may have went in because a judge 'suggested' it, to blow shit up... or the adventure of it... Whatever the reason, you wrote a blank check and gave it to Uncle Sam that may have included sacrificing your life for a cause larger than yourself regardless if you realized the weight of the implications at the time...   Thank You! I hope you realize the level ...

Great Hearing From You! The stories from my run struck a chord with folks... Many of you wrote to me... And for every one person who writes, I know there are many others who were intending to but didn't quite get around to it... No worries, I still feel you! Words of Advice on Defense... Thank you for all of the comments, suggestions and well wishes regarding that running incident the other week. READ ABOUT IT HERE: Part 1 -  https://www.peacewalkerblog.com/2019/10/bjj-wouldve-been-suicide.html Part 2 -  https://www.peacewalkerblog.com/2019/10/alone-outnumbered-part-2.html I'll admit, it's a bit ironic that I am getting all of this advice about self protection, sense I make a living at teaching personal defense & conflict management and all! =) I think it's a good thing that you all care enough to take the time to write to me! IT'S WHAT THIS WHOLE PeacWalker Community IS ALL ABOUT! We have each other...

On my last blog post , we talked about how Foundational Grounding affects your ability to maintain Situational Awareness. Today I wanted to get into a bit more 'boots on the ground' and share a few tips on what I call: PCI's or Pre-Contact Indicators. Basically, warning signs that the person you're engaging with may become violent. You see, when a person feel stress, it effects the mind, emotions and physical state. The body goes under certain physiological changes and those changes come out in behavior. Here are some red flags or PCI's that research, history and experience have indicated as a precursor to someone lashing out with violence. This list is NOT a complete list, as a matter of fact, if you see something that's not on it, please go on PeaceWalker Project Facebook Page and share it: https://www.facebook.com/PeaceWalker-Project-339967839365899/ Here we go... Head & Face: Eyes bulge 1000 mile stare ...

Man, we've been having some beautiful weather lately! Autumn is my favorite!! For those of you who read my Isolated and Alone posts earlier this month (Oct. 2019), you may be wondering if I'm still jogging my old route... Yes, I am... I'll be honest, I re-routed for about a week, before (quite literally) going back down that same path again. And now I do mix up my route a bit more. Risky?! Maybe... I hadn't seen any of those guys there before... or since (so far). Nor have I had any real problems in that area in all the years (decades) I've been running there. Things like what I experienced a couple weeks ago can happen anywhere... Yes, they have more of a chance to occur in certain places more than others. Isolated places are definitely one place where mischief and more can transpire... So it's good to stay in well populated places if you have concerns. Also, there are certain locations that have a greater amount of...

October... one of my favorite months! Because I didn't want my last blog to be too long, I didn't tell you the rest of the story of my jogging incident... (I know right?! I wish I was making this stuff up!) If you didn't read the first part of this story, go back to my Sept. 26th email to read part one. (If you're new to these emails, no worries, I'll be posting part one in next weeks blog next week.) So... I Get Passed the Troubled Youth I can hear their voices fading in the background, which reinforced to me that they in fact were just blowing some adolescent smoke. ...It may have been a different story had I stopped and fully engaged them. My Sigh of Relief Only Lasted a Second... Still jazzed up and prepared for a confrontation, I came around the next bend to see a white pickup truck in front of the train trestle that I have to cross to get to the other side of the creek. When I saw the white pick up truck ...

For decades I've been running the same trails by the Krav Academy w/relatively no incidents, so I figured yesterday would be like every other day... Not quite... About two and a half miles in to my run... I Noticed 4 Guys Walking... They were young, I'd say high school... I could tell the leader, he was the one out in front of the other two smoking a cigarette. Big kid, a bit taller than me and filling his white t-shirt w/an athletic build. The guys that trailed slightly behind him were a little smaller than me and looked subordinate to the guy leading the pack. In all the years I've been running that trail, I rarely run into anyone let alone trouble... Once in a while I'll see a vagrant, fisherman or fellow runner, but typically my biggest worry is dogs. (Last year I was bit by someones little yapper... but that's another story for another day...). So, as I got closer, I do what I always do; give'em a wide berth...