Thursday, December 13, 2012

Pencak Silat Training Opportunities


I have temporarily reduced the price for seminars and have added some Private Training Course options. These aren’t knock-off, quick certification programs or pick and choose seminars, these will follow the same training regimen that my own students follow. 

Why? 

Because I've done the pick and choose seminars and people don't get to see what makes PSP different. If you follow the PSP regimin of training you WILL go away with a different perspective of martial arts—ask anyone who has ever followed it.


My schedule is open to a variety of different options in the very near future so please don’t hesitate to discuss any variations or other ideas you have for training. 

I have no idea if it will stay open so don’t wait. Write me at info[at]combat-silat.net

LOCAL Seminar Rates: 
4 HOUR SEMINAR = $300 +
8 HOUR SEMINAR = $550 +
2 DAY (16 HOUR) SEMINAR = $900 +

US Seminar Rates:
Below are the rates for seminars that require staying overnight. The 4 to 8 hour seminar is a flat rate for both and the host may choose to offer a 4 hour public seminar and have 4 hours of private lessons or any other configuration.
4 to 8 HOUR SEMINAR = $750 +
2 DAY (16 HOUR) SEMINAR = $1,300 +

INTERNATIONAL Seminar Rates:
2 DAY (16 HOUR) SEMINAR = $1,300 US +i (Minimum)

+ Represents any kind of travel or lodging expenses. There would be no surprises and all fees would be handled on a contract basis with deposits and paid in full at the time of the seminar.

i International seminars would require further discussion. My passport is ready.

PRIVATE Training Rates:
5 Day Intensive Pencak Silat Training Course = $1,500US +i 
(40+ hours of training and support materials)
10 Day Intensive Pencak Silat Training Course = $2,500US +i 
(80+ hours of training and support materials)
CREATE YOUR OWN = ?

In over 14 years of teaching I have only awarded 2 instructor certifications. It was based on the merit of the individual. That won’t change. But I’m also confident in this system and the teaching methodology I use. If you elect to try a 10 Day Intensive Training Course. You will walk away certified at some level barring any physical or mental limitations you may have.


Testimonial:
THE STYLE OF SILAT YOU HAVE FOUNDED IS ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE I HAVE EVER SEEN,TRADITIONAL AND MODERN AT THE SAME TIME....
Alessandro Dilollo





Thursday, November 22, 2012

Silat Learning Streams and Application Streams

Every technique has an outcome. Think of a technique as an event. Sometimes positive, sometimes negative, sometimes irrelevant—from both perspectives—attacker and “defender.” 

To explain from the attackers perspective, I may strike and hit the target as intended, or my strike may miss the target because of the defender’s response, or my strike could just miss.

From the defenders perspective, when you defend against an attack, for example, your defense may push/deflect the attack to the left or right or up or down depending on what defense feels appropriate for you. Or you could get smacked. 

No matter what, every outcome changes the relationship between the attacker and the defender. Personal perspective determines the value. From the perspective of either there are opportunities and pitfalls at each intersection.

The greater your ability versus that of your opponents, the more likely you are to recognize the opportunities and be able to capitalize on them. If you are correct in your recognition and capitalize well, you will be able to string together events and thereby create a seamless series. (A series as we refer to them in Pencak Silat Pertempuran is called a “Stream.”)

This is not what makes PSP unique. All arts have this interaction of outcomes. We refer to it as a Relationship.

However, Pencak Silat Pertempuran specifically pays attention to the space in between interactions. As a result PSP has an expectation of the interaction or interplay between the fighters. 

How? 

In certain relationships the response is MORE predictable than in others. By putting ourselves in those specific relationships whenever possible, we CAN have a reasonable understanding of the likely outcomes. We call this the CPS or Combat Positioning System. THIS is essential to PSP.

When in one of those positions/relationships with an antagonist, we can, with reasonable predictability determine a likely response based on the type of strike, trajectories, and angles that we are in. 

Since the majority of that is built into the Combat Positioning System, the only things that are really left to sort out are the trajectory/type of your attack, tool you are using to attack with, and the target chosen. 

Often the target and trajectory are inter-related. The tool may also have some obvious correlation to targeting. For example, if you attack the eyes, with the intention of blinding, then fingers are the most appropriate tool. Likewise, a blow to the ribs would be best with some kind of fist or elbow strike. 

In any case, the target, trajectory, and relationship WILL determine the most likely responses. By understanding those outcomes you can reasonably construct a system to respond appropriately and relatively consistently to them.

The learning methodology of PSP consists of various “Streams” for the sake of understanding / learning but they are NOT necessarily indicative of the intended relationship of the application. Many (most) people miss this piece. 

In this regard, the term Streams actually has two meanings and is more accurately defined as the Learning Stream and the Application Stream. 

The Learning Stream is intended to make the idea of Streams of movement and outcomes clear from a protagonists view. However, the Application Stream is the reality of combat—a jigsaw puzzle built in relationship with an antagonist. 


Monday, October 08, 2012

A Panglipur Silat Seminar

This past weekend I had the privilege of training with Kang Cecep Arif Rahman of Pencak Silat Panglipur. What a talented individual. Great control. Great power. Great ability. Crazy speed. A picture of grace and humility. A picture of what it means to be a pesilat. 

Unfortunately, few Floridians took this opportunity to meet and train with him. It's truly your loss. You could have walked away with a clearer picture of the physical culture of pencak silat of course, but also the humility of character that is the goal of pencak silat.

Yeah, of course you could have learned some martial arts, but realistically, in two days you're not going to get a whole lot. Rather, if you attend something like this, put your energy into learning what you can of course, but better to spend it developing in the area of brotherhood and friendship IMO. The physical stuff is just a means for making that happen.

That said, I don't want to belabor this too much but seriously, if you EVER get a chance to meet, train with, or otherwise spend time with Kang Cecep do so. Fabulous person. Very open to sharing the beauty and effectiveness of pencak silat Panglipur. 



Thanks to Nick Portillo for bringing Kang Cecep to Florida.
Thanks to Eric Kruk for bring him to the U.S.



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

A little Silat Main


Last night, to sort of bring the connection of things together, rather than just doing the wrote learning material, I showed how we could take the bits and pieces and string them together to formulate “new” takedowns, counters, counters to counters, and even more counters to counters to counters. Not all of it made its way onto the video. I’d say not even half but it’s a bit for the flavor.

The reality of Pencak Silat Pertempuran as a system, is that the system is simple. Nothing fantastic. Nothing complex. Nothing that makes you go “Oooh” or “Aaah.”

However, when you put Pencak Silat Pertempuran together “the pieces of the,” as it were, this system shines. It’s a never ending supply of puzzles. It can go together in endless ways because of it’s simple, modular, format.

Doing things like this reminds me that: I AM THE ONLY REASON THAT PENCAK SILAT PERTEMPURAN WILL EVER BE INEFFECTIVE OR UNINTERESTING.

And so are YOU.

Let your imagination flow. Let your body walk. Explore. Adapt. Work. You are the keeper!

Train.

Sincerely,
Sean

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Psychology of Combat

As I’ve been involved in the martial arts for the past 20 years, my understanding has, by necessity changed—I prefer to think of it as growth. Sometimes slow and not always steady but generally speaking, consistent with the energy output I’ve given it.

That said, I want to throw out an idea about your training that I think is missing in many martial arts schools and has for years and years. In my own training and in the training of Pencak Silat Pertempuran I think there is vast room for improvement in this regard.

What type of mental training are you doing to prepare for combat survival?

As I’ve studied and taught over the years I’ve randomly bumped into this issue in different ways. For myself, I’ve resorted to “day-dreaming,” lucid dreaming, endurance testing, and several other lesser things. More recently I’ve been looking @ things such as meditation, positive messaging, lesser state, distraction, stressors, and variability training. 

Why this topic? Well, as a teacher I’m always looking to understand just what is of most value in my teaching so I’ve looked at this for a long time off and on again. Recently on again due to external happenings surrounding a potential job opportunity. This sparked me to start looking around for resources related to this topic. There are a few out there but, for the value I think it would bring to combative ability, there’s not nearly enough emphasis on this. Hence this blog post.

A thought for you: Two people are involved in a horrible accident. Let’s say a car accident where multiple people are severely injured. One of those people steps up and take’s the lead. The other is in shock and basically can’t think so is limited to reactions based on the lead person’s direction. What makes the one person act and the other freeze?

It’s not that one is a hero or the other a failure. It’s more likely an automated response of a pyscho-physiological nature. That is, that one person is able to handle the stressor, which includes all kinds of variables, in a way that let’s them remain functional. The other person is unable to handle the stressor and freezes.

Combat has seen many a soldier at the battle’s front who have had this occur. Equally trained but not equal. Why?

Why does a martial artist who is trained for years suddenly freeze in the face of an aggressor who has no training?

Questions like these plague me. I don’t ever want to be the one who freezes. In the same way, I don’t want my students to freeze.

Here are a few general ideas I believe will make a difference in your responses to combat:

General Ideas:
Visualization—Visualize yourself confronting stressful situations.

Self Messaging/Meditation—Determine for yourself words or phrases that you can repeat to help you remain mentally aware but operate at a high level.

Stressors—Introduce stressors to your training.

Here are a few specific ideas that are specific to the general idea of Stressor I’ve listed above:

  • Add a real weapon to your partner training regimins
  • Put gear on and go hard
  • Or take the gear off and experience that
  • Turn the lights off
  • Add a strobe light
  • Add very loud music
  • Recite your self-messaging aloud while engaged
  • Change the location
  • Put on street clothes
  • Deal with multiple attackers
  • Do high cardio and then perform your material
  • Combine any of these together
  • Tie a hand behind your back
  • Sit and fight your way to standing

There’s plenty more out there. What are some of yours?

Sean

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Harimau-Monyet Simple Application

First I want to show you the way we used it for exercise, flow, adaptability, coordination and general attribute development. Though you don't want to do this all of the time, I do teach and share by randomly chaining things together so that people can learn: A.) There is no right or wrong way to chain things together for purposes of learning. B.) Chains can generally apply in many different ways. C.) Different things connect naturally and out of a flow.

There are other lessons learned by such an activity.


Then I like to actually let them apply it so they can understand how to value movement and learn principles of application like—leverage, angles, power, time ratio, etc.


Within this application video you should be able to see the previous article come to life.

Thanks.

Sincerely,
Sean 

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Entering the Fight

It has been my experience that the majority of martial arts focus on evading or avoiding engagement and on what to do once you're engaged in combat. Both of which are completely necessary and should be studied.

Of course, when I say the majority, it has to be understood that my scope is not large. I've been involved with several martial arts at depth and a bunch more in passing.

Then there are those that I only know based on magazine articles, books, videos, etc. Of which, I don't actually watch, read, or buy any more—I'm over it. That being said, it's quite possible that the information I have is out of date.

However, of the several that I have personally studied at depth, very few ever address in an organized, intentional way, the actual process of engaging—although many assume skills at this piece and focus on the engagement component.

That's a natural consideration and at first blush it seems complete. However, it has in my own fighting, not addressed all that there is a need to know and a need for skills at.

In reality, what I encountered in many of the engagements that I'd had—both inside and outside of training and against trained and untrained fighters—was that much of what is critical takes place during the process of engaging.

Think about it like this...if you have been in a fight and you've been hit, it gives the person who hit you an advantage typically. How big that advantage is, depends on the hit and the target.

I've seen people get knocked out cold with one hit. I've come close to that myself. I've also seen people get overwhelmed after they have been hit the first time by an attackers follow ups. I've also been the one overwhelming someone.

It's not always the case, but with regularity the advantage will go to the individual(s) who land the first blow or blows.

Now imagine if your ability to understand that process of engaging were increased as both the receiver and giver. Do you think that might make a difference?

In Pencak Silat Pertempuran we call it Entering or Masuk. Through the study of the process of engaging many other small but important areas of learning begin to manifest themselves.

One such example is the understanding of telegraphic and non-telegraphic movement in both offensive and “defensive” actions. True, meaningful understanding of this one aspect can dramatically change your abilities in combat.

A second example is a deeper understanding of the nature of defensive versus offensive engagement. Acting defensively in a manner that will bring you combative success requires certain skills that are specifically for “turning the tables,” such as:

  • Recognizing when an attacker is committing to attack, versus merely feinting
  • Offering, as bait, options to draw an attack
  • Being aware of attack generation points
  • Learning to effectively Zone attacks
  • Countering attacks
  • Learning how the type of attack can determine your ability to counter. Jab v. Hook v. Lunging
  • Proper range for tool and maintaining capable countering range
  • Reactive v. Active action
  • Moving mentally from defense to offense
  • etc.

Likewise, acting in offense requires a deeper understanding of your own skill sets. Such as:

  • Telegraphing (as mentioned earlier)
  • Set-points
  • Explosiveness
  • (Most of the above skills converted to offense)
  • Pre-Altercation Warning Signs
  • Flow

These are just a few off the top of my head. You must be able to understand all three phases of engagement. And honestly, even post engagement training is good. Things like meditation, counseling, legal issues, etc.

All of this organized process eventually leads someone to broader more organic study but that's a whole different topic.

Enjoy.

Sincerely,
Sean
Pencak Silat Pertempuran

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Ridiculousness in the Pencak Silat "community"

Over and over and over the pencak silat "community," perhaps the martial arts community at large, has been plagued with imposters, ego, politics, name-calling, and selling out. It's ridiculous and sad that a martial art, one that is supposedly based on honor and right acting would have these issues.

Yet, it is probably a given that anything that includes people in it will eventually be tainted by self-serving desires. Regardless though, it still frustrates me. Mostly because these things get aired-out in public, often through students, and followers. Where is the honor in that? Where is the right-acting in that?

I rarely speak out against the stupid actions of anyone in any community, okay, that's not exactly true, but indulge me for a minute. It is most often my choice to believe that most people mean to do the right thing but have a perspective that is skewed in one way or another, either through ignorance or through a differing perception.

This is my call to the pencak silat community to stop fighting each other and start helping each other. Be honorable and right-acting.

Sean
Pencak Silat Pertempuran


Thursday, August 02, 2012

Learning Pencak Silat or anything

#pencaksilat #pencak #silat #pertempuran #combat #silat #combatsilat

I've been taking a class at work for something else but there is a simple list that was created for that class about the learning process. Not sure if it came from somewhere else, but based on the comments I get from time to time and the way people seem to think about martial arts, I thought it would be a good impetus for putting some new info out on the intention of Pencak Silat Pertempuran and on learning in general.

The basic outline is this:

1: UNCONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE—the person is complacent due to ignorance of their state.
(To not know and not care.)

2: CONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE—the person has had some sort of impetus that has moved them from being unaware of their ignorance to being aware and ready to learn.
(To want to know something.)

3: CONSCIOUS COMPETENCE—as the person begins to learn, they are increasingly aware of both what they know and their limitations, making them ripe for coaching.
(Knowing some and aware that you have more to learn.)

4: UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE—as the person practices and perfects whatever it is they're learning, it becomes second nature.
(Doing well enough to do without thinking—as if it is intuitive.)

5: REFLECTIVE COMPETENCE—if the person is called upon to teach others, they will need to move beyond doing it intuitively to doing it reflectively, considering the processes and parts from various perspectives.
(To master something and then reflect on it in order to teach)

The last three of these are what I refer to as: Knowing, Doing, and Being or Scio, Operor, Existo (which is more becoming then being).

Recently I had someone ask me about PSP and the system I have organized and how the organization works. 

They were really asking a secondary question about the validity of having 8 responses to choose from. It showed their ignorance of what I teach and how the system works. (Step 2 above.)

The numbering system itself is only meant as a tool for teacher and student to have an organized discussion and approach to learning. It is not meant as a rolodex to flip through as you fight, per se. (Step 3 above.)

In reality, under pressure, you're only going to do what comes out of you naturally. If you train enough, gain faith and confidence in what you're learning—even if something goes wrong—you can you still do with surety what you've been trained to do. It must be trained enough to be natural. It's that simple—and that difficult. (Step 4 above.)

His question was "with eight possible responses how can you sort through that in a fight?" He would be very shocked to understand that there are hundreds of responses, maybe more honestly. 

The reality is that you don't sort through them at all. You just need to practice, and then practice, and then practice some more, moving through the three stages, letting your responses develop and letting your understanding of the physical, psychological, and emotional relationship transpire. It's both active and reactive—not one or the other. 

The training method I have created is meant only as a way to organize in a small, relational way, SOME of the possibilities, and more specifically the probabilities. 

It is not prescriptive like most martial arts but it is somewhat predictive.

Thanks for reading,
Sean
Pencak Silat Pertempuran

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Energies, Angles, Intentions—Part II

Breakthrough time!

What I wrote last time was sufficient enough to confuse people who are still learning and adequate enough for the old-timers to understand—or at least they wouldn't admit that the didn't understand it. Sorry for that.

This posting will break it down and correlate it in a more simple manner.

Have you ever seen a dog get an offensive mentality? Or any wild animal? In most cases you notice that they show there teeth, hunch their backs and they will likely bark and snap at you (if we're still talking about a dog). It is very clear that they don't want you messing with them. Part of this is a bluff, a warning, but part of it is an offensive mentality. It comes about, usually as a result of a defensive feeling the dog gets but turns offensive. They don't care if you have a stick, knife, gun, or their's six of you, they are going to do whatever is necessary to protect themselves if you keep messing with them.

THAT is an offensive mentality. It doesn't mean that I have to be the first to attack—though that may be appropriate. It doesn't mean that I have to talk smack or yell or throw a fuss picking stuff up and smashing it—though, again, that may be enough of a warning to end the situation.

However, there are some other things we can take from this example. Once a dog is in this state, there is no separation between the offensive mentality they have and how they move, or the energy they give. It is all connected. It is all focused. I guarantee that if you try to kick that dog it's going to try and bite your leg and it's going to bite it as hard as possible. The dog is not going to give you a warning bite at that point.

—Energy
—Angle
—Intent

All will correlate in this dog'se response to the attack. They may still use a defensive movement with an offensive intent but they will do so with the intent to be able to counter effectively while sustaining the least amount of damage.

Let's break it down some:
•If the energy is weak, then the bite will not do it's damage.
•If the energy is weak, it's possible that the dog will receive more damage than it will be able to withstand to ward off further attacks.
•If the angle is weak, then the bite will not do the amount of damage it could have, potentially no damage at all.
•If the intent of the dog is weak, it may not even see the kick coming with enough surety to act. Or it may be intimidated by the attacker and tuck it's tail instead of defending itself.

So how do WE get there?

Understanding that they all work together is a central ingredient. In addition, you glean one other aspect from this situation. The dogs posture is representative of it's intent. Since intent and mentality correlate, it stands to reason that the dogs posture would reflect it's intention as well.

Some simple things you can consider doing to help—assuming your mentality is in the right place.

Tuck your chin. This posture change will normally cause a weight change that brings you more onto the balls of your feet and will compress your posture some by slightly rounding your back forward. It's also going to give you a bit more of a feeling of safety so you will be inclined to be a little more offensive.

Understand your set points. These are the points at which, your system of silat, your body type, and movement style converge. At these points you will be most prepared for anything and will be able to respond with no need for the minor adjustments I see many people do before they move. This includes counter-attacks.

Slow down. Have clarity of movement first. Then speed up. Don't rush the process but don't be afraid to stress test things either. Confidence yields greater confidence, which in turn allows for greater focus on intent, movement, and an angle that further solidifies confidence and angle. It's all connected.

There are likely many other seemingly minor things that could make a difference here. It's up to us as teachers to understand how all these things work together and not give up on watching our students to find their particular need. It's there and it's up to us to find it, to point to it, and guide our students.

Teaching masses makes this difficult, if not impossible, but to turn out a quality student you must invest in personal training and personal adaptation of training to give the most benefit to a student.

Keep training!


Thursday, May 31, 2012

Energies, Angles, Intention—Part I

Last night during class we got into a longish discussion on energy, intention, and angles and how the three of them are inter-related with offensive and defensive mentality. It was not that clearly defined but that was the essence of it. The conversation seemed like it would be valuable enough for others that it was work posting as a blog. It's been a while anyway so I'm way past due.


Receiving
To start, it would be good if we lay the framework for the information. To "receive" is to allow, to varying degrees, an attacker to attack you. This does not mean that they will successfully hit you, or that you would not move, and thereby cause them to miss the intended target. Rather, it means that by the perception of the attacker, there was a vulnerability worthy of exploitation by which they decided to attack or they were just indifferent enough to the relationship to do what they wanted to irregardless of the consequences. To receive implies some sort of contact to the attack itself.

Issuing To "issue" is to launch your own attack at an attacker and to varying degrees, for them to "receive" it. The issuance could be direct, indirect, and with varying proximity and methodology but also implies a degree of "receiving" of energy in this context. Likewise, it is possible for you to issue energy without an attacker receiving it by them simply moving out of the way.


Offensive
To have an intent of offense within your movement—both in receiving and issuing states. It is really more of a mental state that is manifest physically, the primary intent of which is to control the relationship by assuming the timing of the conflict and thereby determining the course of the engagement pro-actively. What I call an active state or being active.

Defensive
To have an intent of defending oneself from any harm—both in receiving and issuing states. However, it is a mental state that manifests itself physically by responding to the timing of the conflict passively. What I call a reactive or passive state.

Engagement
If you're fighting with someone, you are primarily receiving or issuing energy in most cases. It must be understood in that general statement, that it is also true that in most cases you do both issuing and receiving.

For example, parrying an attack is a type of receiving energy through the yielding process. Likewise, the parry itself is a minor, defensive issuing of energy. It probably will not hurt the attacker, but will disrupt.

To add to this, there are ways of parrying which are primarily defensive and some which are primarily offensive. Avoiding an attack through retreating while parrying would be primarily defensive, while propelling forward and parrying would be primarily offensive. Again, it is often the mental attitude reflected in the movements that determines which. One method often allows the attacker to continue to issue while the other often sets up counter attacks and places you in a strategically advantageous position to counter.

Another example would be a totokan or destruction. In that case, I can use the attackers offensive issuance as a means for my own offensive issuance by utilizing anatomically weak points as a focal point for my own counter attacks which ultimately also parry the attack but that can also change the ownership of the timing of the engagement. The intent of the strikes must be offensive, while it's possible to still be retreating if an attackers own energy is offensive enough to compensate.


Angles
So where does all of this go? Well... if you can sort through all that I've written, then you may already know how it all works together. If not, keep reading it and considering it in your own context of combat. It's not something that is often explained in this fashion but sometimes it's best to understand things intellectually in order for your body to make the transition—and sometimes the opposite is completely true—you must understand with your body in order for your intellect to get it.

As it concerns combat from a very simple perspective, I recommend that you consider issuing and offensive actions to be your primary goal AND doing all of that with clarity of movement and clarity of thought. If you can, you are well on your way to getting good at PSP and, dare I say, any martial art. One simple way to think about it is to consider angles. These can be angles of defense, offense, attack and retreat.

For example, if you attack me by moving forward and I, in return move backward, you are attacking me on an acute angle. However, to be primarily successful in defense I must take a more offensive initiative and counter by moving at acute angles. Those acute angles are not always the angles of footwork, sometimes they are the angles of the parry or destruction as well, but most often, acute angles where you are mentally offensive also include the whole of the body as well as the ability to issue destructive energy.

The more this is employed by the whole of the body, the more destructive, acute, and more offensive you will be. Below are a few quick charts to diagram out the idea. They are not exhaustive but may help you down the path of understanding. It should be understood that whether or not something is deemed as acute or not, has EVERYTHING to do with the relationship of the defense to the offense or attacker to defender.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Fear Training in Martial Arts

Recently someone posted the question on FB: How do you conquer fear?

Since the question is so open ended I'm going to narrow it down some. IMO, when it comes to self-defense you don't want to conquer fear. You want to recognize it and utilize it. Fear does some amazing things to your body that can help you. On the other hand, if left at unreasonable levels it can control you, over-exaggerating your responses—in any situation—not necessarily strictly self-defense.

Your body responds in two different ways—psychological and physiological. You need the psychological to drive the physiological. As such, it's the psychological component that needs tempering in order to make the physiological of greatest value.

Here are some ways your body responds physiologically: increased perspiration, heart rate and respiratory rates, glucose fuel dump for the muscles and brain, pupil dilation (allowing more light into the eye), increased muscle tone, decreased blood flow to the skin, intestine and kidneys (through constriction of blood vessels and veins), increased pressure to empty bowel and bladder, non-essential systems temporarily shut-down such as digestion and immune systems, and fine motor skills and thinking go away. Some of these responses can be lumped into what I call the adrenaline dump.

If you have a complete disregard for fear (meaning: if you pretend to have no fear) you can be just as likely to do something stupid as if you have too much fear. Both extremes are not operationally the best in many cases. However, there is exception, in those situations where the fear processes are over-ridden by preservation instinct, such as in a mother protecting their child or another human being helping another human being as examples. This temporary override is called Aphobia and is caused by a neuro-chemical dump. In some instances it is also possible for your body to not feel fear or pain—a state called Analgesia which can be seen in battle sometimes—an example is when someone gets stabbed and they say that the felt the pressure but they didn't feel any pain until after the fight was over. Unfortunately, there is no congenital fearlessness—so in that regard—everyone feels fear. Additionally, Aphobia and Analgesia are not something you can count on.

Let's look at what fear is from a big picture sense—at least in part—and I'm not an expert in this btw. Fear is your bodies self-preservation response to negative stimuli. The greater the perceived threat, the greater the body's response.

A lack of instinctual response may really mean that you did not perceive the threat accurately or clearly leaving you with an imbalanced perception of the situation. Likewise, too much instinctual response may mean that your perception of the threat is again, imbalanced. Imbalance in either direction is a more negative trait than having a rational amount of fear.

With that in mind, it is important to embrace fear. Which I think is what the previous posters where getting at. However, understanding what is good about fear and what is bad about fear may help more than a few quick statements.

Interestingly, my nine-year-old daughter is teaching me about fear management. Recently she went to a county fair with some friends of ours and she was afraid of some of the rides but she determined that the best course was to—and I want to user her own words—"I'm going to face my fears." And she climbed on these rides and did it. Without prompting. Not only once, but to really do it, she went on them each twice. Again, this is all without prompting. I was super proud of her strength and personal determination but also her very clear understanding of balancing the emotions, sensations, and instinct of flight, with some reasoned process for making it through the situation.

Anyone can do it. A process that can help is learning to meditate and associate stressor words with relaxation. This is a component of personal combat that I am really looking at. Imagery of stressful situations while practicing relaxing personal processes can help. It does not have to be religious meditation—I don't do that for myself. Instead, I use guided imagery and repetitive phrases, key words, etc. It's potentially very powerful by itself. However, I've also seen real value in applying the process physically in addition.

Hope that makes sense. There's more to this that I'm still learning and exploring but since it's been FOREVER since I've posted here I thought I would throw this out there.

Enjoy,
Guru Stark