Identifying Vulnerabilities

If you are going to be more aware while moving around in your environment, it makes sense to take stock of areas where you are more vulnerable and your mind is otherwise engaged.  I recall Hock Hochheim saying in our seminar recently that it is impossible to be on high alert all the time because you would completely burn yourself out.  He said that you have to have a place you can go to let your guard down and recharge.  I do agree with this, though I sort of agree with Al Peasland when he says that you have to be in Condition Yellow (360 degree awareness at all times) whenever you are awake.  As I have mentioned in previous posts, awareness does not have to be a state of paranoia, though some folks can and do take it to this extreme.  Learn how to tune into the world, being in the here and now, in a relaxed state.  Ensure that your area is secure before going into a profound state of quiet reflection.   

Back to taking stock (and I got a lot of these ideas, again, from Kristie Kilgore’s Eyes Wide Open (she got them from security specialists and bodyguards).  Can you think of times when you are distracted or at a disadvantage?  Keep in mind that criminals will strike when it is most advantageous for them and the least advantageous for you.  Here are some possibilities, and the list is by no means exhaustive: 

• Running or walking with an mp3 player
• Running or walking in a wooded park in the evening hours
• Visiting an ATM, especially at night
• Making overnight deposits at the bank
• Outdoor recreation in a public space
• Walking with your hands full from a store to your vehicle
• Talking on your cell phone
• Moving into a low light area
• Going into an area where the entrance and exit are the same (funnel)
• Riding in elevators or using stairwells in public buildings and parking decks, especially at non-peak hours
• Unlocking a door
• Traveling in unfamiliar territory
• Whenever you are in a stressed state
• Very noisy environments
• Crowds
• At the gas station pump
• Entering a convenience store
• Stopping your car in a high-risk area
• Securing a child in a car seat
• Entering or exiting public restrooms 

What precautions might you take during these moments to be more aware of your surroundings and to make yourself a harder target? 

I’ll go a little further.  When you return home, do you secure the premises and look around to see that everything is as it should be?  Do you maintain good security while you are home, both day and night?  How visible are you and your loved ones at night, looking in from the outside?  How visible are the contents of your home during the day, or whenever you are away?  These are all very reasonable considerations that many of us overlook because of our psychological-barrier notion of security—home should be a haven for us to get away from the world and bring down our defenses.  It all kind of reminds me of my cat.  It runs halfway under the bed, with its hind end visibly sticking out, and it thinks it has made a slick, safe escape from the world.  Poor thing has the brain the size of a walnut, so I guess it is not such a great comparison.  But the point is this: we have to make the extra effort to go beyond the veil of security and physically batten down the hatches. 

Consider times when you go into high-risk environments.  Perhaps you have not really considered what these might be, and you might even be surprised.  This is also not an exhaustive list: 

• Wherever competition is high for resources and/or women
• Wherever people have reduced inhibition through use of alcohol or drugs, like a bar or party
• Places of known terrorist activity
• Places with a high volume of drug trafficking
• Airports, airplanes, travel (either foreign, or to any unfamiliar place)
• High crime areas
• Places where large sums of money are exchanged
• Convenience stores
• Funnels (one way in or out) 

By the very nature of the opportunistic and/or volatile personalities that frequent these environments, you are immediately more vulnerable upon entry, hence the name high-risk.  We all have to accept a certain degree of risk in our lives, lest we adopt a lifestyle that keeps us hunkered down in an underground compound waiting for the apocalypse.  But again, we can take precautions and be on the lookout for breaks in the pattern.  I recall talking to a woman a few months ago who worked security in a bar AND drank alcohol at the same time.  Not really a recipe for success when the drunk (or buzzed) are called upon to deal with the drunk and disorderly.  Very risky business!  

One time, a few years back, I was taking a class in the Buckhead region of Atlanta.  Parts of this area are high-risk, especially at night, and I tend to be on my guard whenever I go over there.  But on this particular afternoon, I tread mindlessly out of the class and down to the convenience store to grab a soft drink and a candy bar.  I was on a mission and in a fog, because I walked right into an altercation between a customer and the clerk behind the bullet-proof glass.  How could I have missed the shouting on the way in?  The argument escalated, and yet I stood frozen, torn between a sugar fix and the exit.  Indeed, it was not one of my finer moments.  The customer punctuated his angry tirade with this sentence: “I will f****** blow this place up!!!”  Luckily, he stormed out and went away.  It could have been much worse, and I am glad it was not.  Lesson learned. 

I encourage you to look for your blind spots.  Be HONEST with yourself.  Predators look for us in a state of cluelessness or weakness, and the perps hope to gain the upper hand while we are fumbling around in oblivion.  Check your six!

Basic Awareness Exercises

A while back I began looking for some exercises for people to do that could aid them in improving their awareness skills.  While I think it is important to know more specific things to look for regarding criminal behavior, I think these kinds of exercises can still help one begin to sharpen sensory perception, powers of observation, and pick up more readily on anomalies in the environment.  Some people don’t know how to begin the process of becoming more aware, or what situational awareness means.  We could easily be bombarded by sensory data, but the brain gives us a break, not bothering to alert the conscious mind of all the information that is flowing in through our vital contacts with “reality”: visual, auditory, olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), and kinesthetic (feel) perception.  Personal experience certainly has a hand in shaping what our minds keep and discard as important or irrelevant.  This, of course, is not always to our advantage and our blind spots can prove detrimental to us.  Some of us just get plain stuck in our heads no matter where we are or what we are doing, thinking about everything else under the sun but what is going in our present vicinity.  This is very advantageous behavior for a nefarious opportunist. 

I gathered some of the following examples from Kristie Kilgore, who spent a lot of time with bodyguards.  I think these are great for anyone, but especially people (and children) who spend a lot of time in condition white (state of cluelessness): 

Simple Meditation—immerse yourself in the now.  Quiet your mind and tune into what the senses are telling you about the present moment.  If your mind wanders, no big deal—just guide it back to the present moment.  Starting with five minutes is probably a gracious plenty for most people. 

Observation Exercise (at home)—observe objects in a familiar room.  Focus on imprinting the room and its contents on your mind.  Have someone remove an object while you are out of the room.  Can you discover what is missing? 

Observation Exercise (variation of Kim’s Game)—observe various objects on a tray.  Get someone to remove one of the objects as you avert your attention.  Can you discover what is missing? 

Sensory Acuity Exercise—feel energy.  Sit blindfolded in a chair.  Get a friend to move around the room, in and out of your personal space.  Instruct them to occasionally reach out towards parts of your body.  Can you begin to feel that presence? 

Sensory Acuity Exercise—work in low light.  Practice some light drills from your particular martial arts discipline in diminished light.  Allow your senses to really get involved. 

Observation Exercise (variation of Kim’s Game)—observe people in a public space.  What do they look like?  How do you feel about them?  What does their body language express to you?  Do you notice anything unusual about their behavior or the way they appear? 

Observation Exercise (variation on Kim’s Game)—observe cars on the road.  Recall details about the vehicles and their drivers, if you can see them.  What are the drivers doing?  How do you feel about the way they are driving?  Can you sense any of their body language, or the behavior of the car they are operating?

These are basic exercises, but I never underestimate basics.  Turn exercises into games until awareness becomes so habitual that you don’t even consciously have to do it—it becomes locked into an unconscious process and part of your intuitive nature.  Inform your sixth sense by giving your attention to what IS so that you may be alerted to anomalies in the patterns of life.

Geoff Thompson and Fence Concepts

Conditioning Research is an informative, well-written website on all things related to health, nutrition and exercise.  Here is an excellent post and YouTube clips regarding fence concepts, as put forth by the great Geoff Thompson.  We have posted before on his protégé, Al Peasland, and his fence concepts.  Think of a fence as your protective barrier.  There is much more to it than that, and I am oversimplifying a bit, so definitely check out the clips and learn from one of the premiere real-world self-protection masters.  Great stuff! 

http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com/2009/10/fence.html

Know the Law That Governs You

Something that we have probably not talked about enough on this blog is the law and how it views use of force.  As you might expect, it is going to vary from state to state here in the U.S., as well as in other countries.  So, I highly recommend that you get online and read the local code that governs you wherever you live.  Whenever we talk about use of force, I am always a little surprised at what people do NOT know.  For instance, several individuals have expressed disbelief over not being able to legally shoot an assailant after disarming him.  Granted, if that assailant is still attempting to harm them, it is a different story altogether.  But, if he is no longer exhibiting threatening behavior, and they shoot him anyway, it is basically an execution.  If some guy throws the first punch, and I render him unconscious, AND I CONTINUE to beat him, the law is not going to look at me with a friendly eye.  It is easy to be vengeful and angry for his crime against me, but that doesn’t absolve me of committing my crime.  We have to make the distinction between force and excessive force, and if we use deadly force, we need to be able to articulate why.  Ignorance of the law of the land is never a good excuse, and I really don’t want anyone to transform an act of self-protection into a prison sentence.  Be safe and use your heads!

The Mental Skills of Self-Protection

One aspect of training that is often lacking in the realm of martial arts is mental skills.  This involves learning situational awareness, developing a winning mindset, target hardening, understanding the fear response and how it affects the human animal mentally and physiologically, understanding intuition and how to inform it, understanding pre-incident indicators to violence, reading facial expressions and body language, confrontational management OTHER than fighting, etc.  A lot of people mistakenly think that self-protection is all about kicking butt–especially the un-initiated who have never trained before.  Sadly, much of the time, those who run the local dojos don’t pay much lip service to the mental game, or what I like to think of as “walkin’ around sense.”  It is our opinion, and the opinion of many experts we respect, that it’s best NOT to have to fight, and to avoid violent confrontation if at all possible.  Fighting is what happens when all other self-defense measures have failed, including running (i.e. flight) from an adversary.  Probably 95 percent of self-protection is mental.

Maybe many instructors assume people already have the mental game down—the people had enough sense to seek out training in the first place, right?  I find this is not necessarily the case.  It is also possible that the instructors are not well-informed themselves—it’s hard to teach what you don’t know!  We have periodically talked to people who have had years of martial arts training in one or more styles, and find that when do address aspects of mental defense, they have an “aha” moment.  They say things like, “Wow, I never really thought about that at all.”  Sometimes we’ll say, “Well, this defense against. . .(fill in the blank) is great, but how did you get there in the first place?  How did this guy get this close to you to put this on you?”  Sometimes the simple things seem so obvious, but they really aren’t to a lot of people, and it is a terrible disservice to many individuals who truly believe they are getting what they need to survive an encounter and to protect their loved ones. 

I had some interesting experiences when I was young that helped me begin the process of target hardening long before I even knew what it was.  First of all, my mother had fairly keen intuition.  She knew a thing or two about violence, and told me stories of her childhood (and adulthood) that I took very seriously and internalized.  I believe they fed my own intuition which, Gavin de Becker says, must be educated to serve us well.  I think this can be accomplished through direct personal experience, and through indirect sources, like the people we know or read about.  A disproportionate amount of the population is conditioned out of using intuition, and de Becker says that we are the only species that dismisses the information it provides.  This sixth sense is, in essence, our subconscious mind picking up on anomalies, or breaks in the pattern of our environment.  The subconscious can alert our conscious mind in many ways, including a sense of foreboding, goosebumps, a feeling, a persistent thought, and a myriad of other signals that tell us that something is amiss.  This reminds me of something I encountered with my mother when I was in grade school.  I was completing work on a science project at a local state park, it was early evening, and we were packing up for the day.  The park was empty, but we noticed as we made our way back to the truck that someone was watching us.  We kept vigilant as we walked across the parking lot, and a guy in an old, run-down car started circling the parking lot, almost like wolves in the wild circle around their prey.  We both had that sense of foreboding, the hairs on our arms and neck stood up and my mother looked at me and said, “We have to run.”  This was obviously not the response this guy was expecting, and we startled him as we sprinted to our vehicle.  He quickly changed direction, hit the gas, and his tires squealed as he sped out of the parking lot.  I guess we broke into his decision loop, and this is a good example of threat assessment and confrontational management that does not involve fighting at all!  We informed a park ranger, and he drove off quickly to investigate.  What his success was, I will never know, but I believe to this day that we both won what could have been a very ugly encounter had we been less aware and turned off our intuition.

As a young teenager, I also had the privilege of training with a progressive instructor in Tae Kwon Do.  Every month we had “street night”, when we dressed in our street clothes and discussed situational awareness and improvised weapons.  I wonder how many other schools do this sort of thing.  Mr. Story certainly gave us all plenty to chew on in our young, impressionable minds, and I am certain that it shaped me in a very good way for the future.  I have always been keen on avoiding bad situations, and extremely cautious in what I consider high-risk areas.  My college studies and jobs took me to high-risk areas frequently, day and night, but I can happily say that I never became a statistic in all those years.

You know, we have read some great books on self-protection.  One of my favorites is still Gavin de Becker’s Gift of Fear.  It is all about intuition, and the pre-cursors to violence.  I also like Erin Weed’s book, Girls Fight Back—it is especially great for educating young women, and I think of it is a practical companion book to the Gift of Fear.  Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence is a great read on human behavior.  The great Geoff Thompson, who lives on the other side of the pond, has a great book called Dead or Alive, and I really like Al Peasland’s Fence Concepts.  Those guys in the UK are really good about addressing the mental aspects of self-protection.  While you read, keep in mind that though many aspects of human behavior are universal, there are subtle cultural differences between Great Britain and the states; situational awareness is highly contextual.  In other words, you approach self-protection differently wherever you go, from the moment you step out of your house, to traveling into the city, to traveling to other cities and beyond the borders of your state and country.  One good example of this is the presence of firearms—this little equalizer changes the nature of the game quite a bit, and how you might approach certain volatile situations.  Other countries restrict the use of firearms more, or prohibit them altogether.  Attack Proof, by John Perkins, is a very interesting book on personal protection.  I love Bruce Siddle’s book entitled Sharpening the Warrior’s Edge.  This text gives you the scientific scoop on survival stress and how it affects our performance in combat situations.  It is geared more towards the law enforcement and military communities, but it has merit for anyone interested in self-protection because no matter how you slice it, a lethal encounter on the street is a combat situation.  I also learned a lot about survival stress from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman.  I took this blurb from Amazon.com that describes Grossman: “A former army Ranger, paratrooper, West Point Professor of Military Science and author of the classic book, ON KILLING, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman is currently the Director of the Killology Research Group and one of the world’s foremost experts in the field of human aggression and the psychology of combat.”  His CD set, The Bulletproof Mind, is absolutely outstanding, and I had the special privilege of seeing this amazing man speak to a group of LEO’s a few years back.  It had a huge impact on me!  I am currently reviewing Kelly McCann’s new release: Combatives for Street Survival.  His videos and writing are always practical, and he has tremendous insight into inter-personal human aggression, as well.  Great scenarios in that book.  It may sound a bit odd for civilians, or anyone outside of the bodyguard profession, but I even recommend reading up on surveillance counter-measures.  You would be surprised at how often the most ordinary people among us are targeted and stalked—it doesn’t just happen to celebrities or the very rich.

I have to mention one other great instructor who focuses a lot on winning mindset: Brian Willis.  Brian is a speaker, writer, trainer, and retired Canadian LEO.  His work is mostly geared towards law enforcement, but is equally valuable for the civilian community.  I read his Excellence In Training Weblog, and receive his Winning Mind newsletters.  They are so well-written and informative, and POSITIVE.  Links to both sites are in our blogroll.

In addition to all of the aforementioned, I read magazines and other blogs, most of which I try to share with you on this blog.  I learn so much from talking to people, too.  All of this informs what I do and shapes my perspective.  Not everyone would go about this subject with the same fervor, but I would say that self-protection takes education and training, and it becomes a way of life.  I have a lot to accomplish, and I want to preserve my life to see that through; it is a relatively small investment of time and effort when I put it in those terms.  In any case, I hope you’ll catch up on a little reading and construct a mental defense to complement your physical skills: fortify your mind and body!

OODA Cycle

Many months back, I geared up to write about the OODA loop/cycle.  This simple acronym stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act.  We talk a lot about this decision loop concept in the Gutterfighting class and in self-defense presentations.  I culled my resources about Colonel John Boyd, who originated the theory of OODA (and created a model), and began to write on conflict and winning.  But honestly, I don’t know that I can do a better job than what has already been done here, so why reinvent the wheel?  It is a worthwhile read:

OODA Cycle by Ken Gould

Saturday Meetup

I wanted to thank those who attended our self-defense meetup yesterday.  We decided to create a meetup group in order to reach out further into the community and help people become more aware of the need for self-protection.  What is startling to me is the fact that every group we have ever talked to, since we began talking in front of groups, has been touched by violent confrontation, either directly or indirectly.  This shows a dire need for awareness!  Martial arts training, in general, almost always addresses what to do once you are in the battle, but a very important question is this: how did you get there in the first place?  How can you avoid it most of the time?  People do need some basic fighting skills, but knowing how to avoid confrontation is just not addressed as much.  Nor is confrontational management that involves tactical communication.  When I say awareness, I don’t mean simply acknowledging that violence persists, although so many shove it far away in the darkest recesses of their minds that it may as well not exist to them.  I mean that people need understanding about pre-incident indicators, setting proper boundaries with others, body language, how manipulators operate and their interviews of potential victims, looking for and developing escape routes and plans in times of emergency, the physiological effects of survival stress, developing cover stories and learning when and how to be more protective of personal identity, and generally informing their intuition so it serves them in times of need.  Something we talked about afterward was the fact that a lot of people do have some pretty awesome physical skills, but if they don’t learn to develop the proper winning mindset, those skills don’t mean diddly squat.  Truly.  We had many good questions yesterday, and we learn so much from talking to people, especially women.  Again, we are grateful for them taking time out of their off-day to come and hang out with us!

Blink and Rapid Cognition

 

I recently finished reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.  I spent considerable time going through the book; I am totally fascinated by the human brain and human behavior.  It is by no means a hard read—it reads like a great novel—but it is quite compelling and I saw it as a launching pad to do some further reading human decision-making, facial expressions and emotion, behavior and affect, etc.  Blink is about rapid cognition, and making decisions in a blink of an eye.  We all make snap judgments every day, but how well-informed are they, and do they serve us most of the time?

Gladwell explains the concept of thin-slicing, which is the ability of our subconscious mind to pick up on patterns (and anomalies), situations, and behavior based upon “very narrow slices of experience.”  All this processing takes place behind a locked door, he explains, and it is an “automated, accelerated unconscious version” of cognitive processing, which occurs consciously.  Since we cannot unlock the door, all we can do is carefully program the subconscious mind with experiences that uphold whatever we consciously believe to be true.  It is like what Gavin De Becker talks about in the Gift of Fear—informing our intuition, which can be done through the right training, experience and mental exercises.  Sometimes, under duress and/or time pressure, the subconscious mind will spit out a response based on whatever is familiar, which can be something totally stereotypical—something which you may not even consciously uphold.

The key to good rapid decision-making (with more favorable results) is frugality.  In all the stories he related, where snap judgments were spot-on, the expert decision-makers edited information, and used very little of it to find patterns quickly.  Notice I used the word “expert”.  These are people who have gained much wisdom based on years and years of experience, and have learned how to accurately interpret whatever comes out of that locked room, or little black box of the mind.  Experts have depth of understanding, vastly different from knowledge.  We are living in the information age, and knowledge is more readily accessible than it probably ever was in history, but does it follow that people, as a whole, know how to apply it?  Knowledge, in and of itself, is not power.  Knowing how to apply it really IS powerful.  I am reminded of Brian Willis’ discussion on competency, and how trainers must move towards becoming unconscious competent articulates: performing skills unconsciously, which is most efficient, and having the ability to explain those actions after the fact.  Obviously, the information that is gathered for rapid cognition has to be the right information—being able to zero in on pertinent details and discarding irrelevant information is the mark of true proficiency as it relates to good, fast decision-making in any field of endeavor.

Early on in the text, I was already contemplating how thin-slicing/rapid cognition applies to the realm of self-protection.  Obviously, in a lethal encounter, you don’t have the time or wherewithal (due to the effects of survival stress) to process very much with your conscious mind.  Gladwell explains that both high arousal and time pressure can cause serious breakdowns in judgment.  Training and experience help us to develop and hone our decision-making powers when stakes are high, and when we have very little time or experience from which to “extract meaningful information.”  He discusses Gavin De Becker’s process of stress-inoculation in training his operatives, so that they may eventually function in high-stress situations with relatively low heart rates and achieve better reaction times (De Becker’s company runs security operations to protect high-profile people).  Though it is not discussed in this book, I have read in many sources about Olympic athletes performing their events in their minds, prior to competition, including as much sensory information as possible to make the experience real to their minds—the subconscious mind really does not understand the difference.  Never underestimate the power of imagination!  Brian Willis talks about using imagination towards ANYTHING, including your own healing, in learning new skills, in preparing for dangerous encounters (as experienced by police officers, first responders, etc.).

Here are some of my favorite thoughts from the text:

“Every moment—every blink— is composed of a series of discrete moving parts, and every one of those parts offers an opportunity for intervention, for reform, and for correction.”

“Judgment makes all the difference in winning and losing.”

“When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons.  In vital matters, however, such as the choice of a mate or a profession, the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves.  In the important decisions of personal life, we should be governed, I think, by the deep inner needs of our nature.”—Sigmund Freud 

My thoughts on this book, and its implications, are not fully formed yet.  However, it has led me to some other interesting books, like Sources of Power, by Gary Klein, which is a study on how people in professions with extreme time pressure make decisions; and Unmasking the Face, by Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen, which is about reading emotions through facial expressions.  Anything I can read to increase my understanding and inform my training and coaching is a good thing!

Street Sense

 

Lately, I have been focusing more on awareness, and I am sure the past blog posts reflect this.  I honestly think I needed to work on these specific skills for a more well-rounded approach to my training.  Everything I read from seasoned experts points to the fact that most of self-protection is mental.  Al Peasland’s Fence Concepts (I recently reviewed the DVD and now I’m reading the book—excellent information) focuses a lot on awareness and confrontation management.  Peasland worked as a doorman in a rough part of the UK—running away from his post when things got hairy was simply not an option.  Nevertheless, he wanted to avoid the fight, if it was possible.  What is in his book and DVD is a culmination of techniques that worked for him, as well as his instructor, Geoff Thompson.  He does not promote any particular fighting style, but talks about integrating techniques into whatever you are already doing.  He and Geoff are well-seasoned by experience, so I trust what wisdom they have to offer.

 

Here is another smart individual.  Dennis Martin posts a lot of Marcus Wynne’s material on the combatives forum.  If you have the time and inclination, it is worth searching the forum for the material.  You can read about Wynn’es background on his website: http://www.marcuswynne.com/.  His thoughts about self-protection are much the same: “avoidance, deterrence and de-escalation.”  Yeah, it’s mental.

 

 

FROM MARCUS WYNNE

 

Cheers, lads –

I’m at a point in my book where I have this old gray beard, who’s done a few things in his time, passing a few tips that he’d picked up in a lifetime of dealing with various problems…a few of the things on this fictional list are things I’ve heard around, a few are my thoughts, some of them I’m read and seen attributed to all kinds of folks from the Marines to Clint Smith, to a tough old guy from Liverpool named Martin, and some other folks.

So here, for what it’s worth, are some thoughts from an old fictional character on fighting –

Random Tips for Winning On The Street

• The number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.
• Make up your mind right now about what you are willing to do to win in a fight.
• Be alert to your surroundings.
• Avoid conflict.
• There’s always someone better than you.
• Keep moving
• Action beats reaction
• There is no “second place” on the street
• Always cheat. Always win.
• Keep breathing and moving your head.
• Don’t escalate the situation. If they escalate, finish them.
• Keep your head moving and your vision in play.
• Always, always check behind you (check six); always, always check around you (check 360).
• Have the mentality to do whatever has to be done. Make up your mind in advance.
• Fight until the threat is over. Be sure it’s over.
• Watch the triangle (head (eyes) to shoulders) and the hands.
• Have a plan.
• Have a back up plan, because the first one won’t survive first contact.
• Don’t drop your guard.
• Be aggressive enough, early enough.
• The faster you finish the fight, the less hurt you will be.

• THE GOLDEN RULE: KNOW WHEN YOU’RE IN A FIGHT. IT STARTS LONG BEFORE THE BLOWS GET THROWN. MOST PEOPLE GET HURT BECAUSE THEY DON’T RECOGNIZE AN INTERVIEW OR THE IMPENDING CUES AROUND THEM THAT TELL YOU — YOU’RE IN A FIGHT.
Marcus

Condition Yellow

 

I was reviewing Al Peasland’s video, Fence Concepts.  In the beginning, he talks about the color code system of awareness that we discuss all the time: Conditions White, Yellow, Orange and Red.  As a review, Condition White is a state of cluelessness, i.e. you are switched “off”.  Consider this the sheep mentality.  I would say that most people live here 99 percent of the time.  Condition Yellow means 360 degree security—you are switched “on”.  Condition Orange involves threat assessment.  We say Condition Orange is a “nonspecific threat”; you know something is simply not right with your surroundings, and your intuition has kicked in, etc.  Condition Red involves threat avoidance: the threat is upon you and you must act. 

 

We often teach that you should leave Condition White as soon as you step through the threshold of your house, but Peasland recommends you only be in Condition White when you are asleep.  He states that Condition Yellow should be your natural state whenever you are awake: a relaxed state of awareness.  He had some interesting tips for getting into this state as part of your daily routine.  We’ve talked in other blogs about awareness games, like Kim’s Game.  He talks about ramping up your awareness skills through commentary on your environment.  Whether in a car, on the street, or in any public space, report on what you are seeing to another or to yourself, or engage in an internal dialogue about everything you are seeing and doing.  If you are out and about, it is probably advisable to keep the observations in your head so people don’t assume you are emotionally disturbed.  J  In the process of describing what you see, you are engaged in truly active observation.  Peasland says that you will eventually develop this skill so that it becomes second nature to you, and you will enjoy a heightened sense of awareness, though you are relaxed.  As de Becker talks about in the Gift of Fear, your intuitive information is more readily available to you when you are relaxed (NOT paranoid), which makes sense.  Your mind is more open to subtleties that you may miss when you are highly aroused by stress, or otherwise distracted.  I think that you will naturally begin to determine what requires more or less of your attention, and the anomalies in your surroundings will present themselves more quickly (as opposed to jumping out of “nowhere”).