This page is a series of talks occasionally presented by our Judo Teacher to complement the Semi Psychological section of the judo Self Defense course at the Newport Judo Club.
"In the Dojo or is it worth it, am I very very very
frightened"
The above is a constant theme that is promoted through the whole
of the students Judo education in my clubs. The question of "how
do I know when to use my Judo?" is a very vexing one for
most students and until I came up with this I found everything
I used too complicated to deal with.
This concept is simple: You can only use what you learn at the
club (Dojo) in the Dojo, is self explanatory and obvious, but
how does a student know when to use the judo outside the club?
The answer is if they think it's worth it and are they very very
scared.
"Is it worth it" because not matter what they do whether
they are right or wrong there are going to be consequences.
In fact in my own experience it was usually the defender not the
aggressor that was the one that got into the most trouble. "That's
not fair!"both you and the judoka object. True, but a fact
of life never-the-less and we have to be prepared for it. Besides
if it is not worth it you probably weren't "very very very
scared" in the first place.
Why very very very scared? Because it strongly emphasizes the
importance of the need to use their martial arts training as an
appropriate response not as a first choice. I never allow the
students to say very more than three time and never less. Three
gets the message home, less does not. More than three "verys"
gets silly and you do not want them to treat this comment as a
joke.
Talk one.
Self defense: is most effective when we have three things,
Faith Hope and Love.
With these three things together all obstacles can be overcome.
You need to have courage to look after yourself.
But how do you get courage?
With lots of practice and Faith, Hope and Love.
You may have heard stories about people running into burning houses
to save others or doing things in a to save lives that they wouldn't
do normally.
People call that courage, another way to look at it is Love and
if you look hard enough where there is Love you will always find
hope and where there is hope you will find faith.
Talk two.
David had to fight a battle with a giant and he was just a
boy.
Everybody else was afraid including the the most powerful.
But David was full of confidence because he had Faith in his God, Love for his people and Hope for the future of his country.
Goliath the giant laughed at David when he walked up to face him but Goliath was knocked down with a stone in a slingshot (warning slingshots can kill).
David won through surprise, timing and strategy, but he was only ably to do these things because of Faith Hope and Love.
Talk three
Victory isn't always about winning.
Paul was a great preacher who did many wonderful things.
But some people didn't like him because some of what he said made them uncomfortable. Stones had been thrown at him and he had been whipped. One time people were trying to kill him and he had to escape by being let down through a window in a basket.
He wasn't always the luckiest bloke either.
One time he was shipwrecked whiles on his travels. But he kept on going. Nothing seemed to stop him. Why ? Because he had Faith, Hope and Love.
Faith in his God, Hope in his Faith and Love for the people he was preaching to.
He was eventually thrown into prison for what he believed.
Through all of this he never fought back he never even raised a hand to anybody. But he saw himself as winning a great victory. Because to him, it didn't matter where he went or what happen to him it always meant that he got to tell his message to someone he would never have met otherwise. He even got to speak to kings and governors.
Victory is an attitude not just what you do.
Talk four
The best defense isn't always a physical one. It's also about
preparation.
Ezra was a man of Faith, Hope and Love.
He was a priest who believed that he should go and rebuild a temple.
He had told his king that his God would protect him on his long journey because he was doing spiritual work, so he took no soldiers with him.
But he did not take this journey or his God lightly. He spent a lot of time preparing.
As part of that preparation he spent a lot of time praying to make sure he was doing the right thing.
Faith Hope and Love is the source of true courage but Self Defense is not something you should do lightly.
We should all spend time thinking about how far we would go when it comes to looking after our selves.
Talk five
Stephen was a young man with a great future.
The people of his church respected him enough to elect him as a special helper.
He was stoned to death by people who were uncomfortable about
what he said
(warning stones can kill).
This would seem like a great loss but you cant defeat someone who is not afraid for their own lives. He was willing to die because he had Faith Hope and Love. Faith in his God so that he was not afraid of death, Hope in his Faith and Love even for the people who killed him.
How do I know this ?
Because he said so right before he died. He prayed that they would be forgiven. This was a great victory in many ways.
One of the ways was the affect his death had on one of the people who was watching. This mans name was Saul and he became Paul, a great preacher. The same Paul we talked about one other time.
Sometimes the greatest defeat can be the greatest Victory.
Talk six
True Faith, Hope and Love is a very practical thing.
Nehemiah was a man of great Faith Hope and Love.
He and Ezra knew each other.
But Nehemiah was involved in building a wall for the Defense of the city.
He spent a lot of time making sure his defenses were the best that he could do. Then he trusted God to do the rest.
We should also know what it is we are setting out to do and prepare well and properly.
Talk seven
With Faith, Hope and Love something that is an apparent failure
can be a complete victory.
When Jesus died on the cross everybody thought it was the end.
For those that believe that he rose from the dead it was a complete victory.
A soldier loosing his life in battle looks like a complete waste. For those of us who live because of the soldiers sacrifice the soldiers death is a great victory.
Talk eight
Gideon a man of Faith, Hope and Love was told to form an army.
Then he was told to send most of them home.
When he came to fight he was told not to fight but to stand around in a bunch of different spots.
When they finished they gave a great shout and the enemy received such a fright that they ran away.
Sometimes you don't have to physically fight to win. Sometimes a good strategy is all you need.
Talk nine
A guy by the name of Paul once said, "Put on the whole
armor of God". He talked about the Belt of truth, the Breastplate
of Righteousness, Shoes of peace, Shield of faith, Helmet of Salvation
and the Sword of the Spirit. He also said that we should Pray
and be alert also. Eph.6:10.
Paul lived a long time ago in the days when Roman soldiers wore armor.
To a Roman soldier a belt was for carrying things. So Paul was saying we should always carry the truth every were we go. If we know what is true we cannot be tricked by those who are evil, unwise or just stupid.
A breastplate protects the heart and righteousness is another
way of saying we should do what is right. If we try and always
do what is right we can never suffer from a guilty conscience
no matter what others may say or do.
Shoes are for walking of course. So every were we go we should
go and leave in peace.
We have to have faith because there are things that are out of our control. True faith or confidence in some thing or someone greater than ourselves is a very strong shield.
A Helmet does a lot of things. It can show who you are just like a policeman's hat shows he is a policeman. Its usually the first thing people notice so it stands out. Helmets also protect the head. We need salvation, or protection, from our own selfishness and wrong choices. We are therefore told to let Gods life in us show through. In this way we can be seen to be Gods children and begin to turn away or be saved from our own selfishness.
The Sword of the Spirit is Gods word. Our first line of Defense should always be words and wise words are always words from God.
Most importantly we should Pray and be alert.
Talk ten
Jesus tells the story of The awful horror. It was about a
terrible disaster that was going to happen. He said something
about those times that is useful to us.
He said keep an eye out for the signs.
He told about all sorts of things that would make them feel unsafe. He said when you feel as unsafe as this don't stand around waiting for something to happen.
He tried to make them understand that some situations are so bad that you cant possibly expect to overcome them so don't try. He warned people to run and hide.
Some situations can never be won, so don't try. Run and hide.
Healing :
Sometimes
Life is not fare
and sometimes things will happen to us that just hurt so bad.
Sometimes that hurt is more than just the pain in our body.
Just as our body sometimes needs a doctor,
so our heart sometimes needs more.
I don't understand all of Gods reasons
for allowing pain in this world.
Sometimes I think he just does.
I do know that there have been some times in my life,
when all my Martial arts skill have done me no good.
I am no King David and I am no Bruce Lee,
but I do know that even they were not invulnerable.
Even Superman had his weakness.
Three things I have always found true.
Three things have never let me down.
Faith Hope and Love.
With Faith, Hope and Love my heart can experience Healing.
For Faith, Hope and Love have made me understand,
that hate only leads to more pain
and forgiveness leads to peace.
I will, learn to do good to those who hate me
and pray for those who curse me.
Even if I don't feel like it.
Even if they don't deserve it.
For this is the way of peace
and to live without peace is to miss out on life in its fullness.
Early warning signs
Ask for examples of scary things that have happened to them.
Doing a Judo move for the fist time
Telling Ghost stories
Preparing for a test
Doing something for the first time.
Going on a scary ride i.e. The roller coaster.
Explain you have the same Physical things happen to you when you
feel safe as when you don't feel safe. If we are aware of these
signs then we are able to decide what we want to do about them.
We can either escape or attack.
Understanding FEAR (How
Fear is our Friend)
Fear is not often pleasant. It makes us feel awful.
Ask for examples of how fear feels. What happens to them. (see Early warning signs)
Fear can make us do some silly things.
Ask for examples of things fear can make us do.
Run without looking.
Stand still when we should run.
Do things or say that embarrass ourselves.
( I saw a someone wet themselves once when she thought she was
in a bank hold up.)
Make silly mistakes.
Say things that we wouldn't normally say.
Fear can be our friend.
Fear can also stop us from doing silly things. (things like putting our hand into the fire; Crossing the road when cars are coming; saying things we shouldn't, that would get us into trouble even though we might feel like saying them to some people very much.)
Fear works like this.
It can make our heart go faster so that we can do things quicker.
It can make us think quicker.
It can make us a little stronger.
It can make us go a little longer
(but we will be much more tied when the fear goes away)
It can make us feel less pain
If we understand that fear can be our friend when we feel fear we can use it instead of it making things worse for us.
Sensei
Richard
