Saturday, November 5, 2016

Defend or Protect? - - Chief Instructor's Blog November 2016



I read an interesting article recently by Iain Abernethy titled “The problems with "street fighting" where he spoke about being more conscious of the terminology he used in his teaching of Karate to avoid “confusion and errors in training” [1]. 
 
I found the article very interesting and thought about it some.  It made sense- words have energy and connotation and we then have intent based on those words and this intent leads directly to how we train.  So I started looking at the words “defend” and “protect”.  On the surface these two words are interchangeable, and based on the definitions from Dictionary.com, they do appear to be synonymous:
·         Defend:  to ward off attack from; guard against assault or injury (usually followed by from or against) [2].
·         Protect:  to defend or guard from attack, invasion, loss, annoyance, insult, etc.; cover or shield from injury or danger. [3]
 
And yet, while they mean the same thing when you defend yourself or protect yourself are you doing the same thing energetically and with the same intention?   You would think so, but it turns out you are not.
 
In an Advanced Class recently, we actually tested this with four Black Belts.  I asked a pair to attack and asked the other two to defend themselves.  We did several attacks.  Next, we reversed roles.  After a couple of attacks we reversed roles and this time I asked the black belts being attacked to protect themselves; we again reversed roles.  All four without a doubt felt they were more aggressive when they were protecting themselves then when asked to defend themselves.
 
Sounds almost crazy, huh?
 
In fact there were not crazy.  There is a study on human combative behavior and performance called Hoplology.  In an article from the International Hoplology Society, Defensive vs Protective: A Matter of Mindset [4], this is difference in intent is explained as a difference in mindset.
 
“The defensive mindset seeks only to “resist the attack,” not necessarily to defeat the attacker: defense as an end in itself. However, in the case of protection, it is merely a small part of the overall combative intent to defeat the attacker. It is not that protection per se is superior to defense; it is simply that well trained combative intent is a better mindset than defense.” [4]
 
And based on the Advanced Class experiment, The Black Belts echoed the same thing – their intent was different.  Defending themselves they were more “defensive” and when protecting themselves they were more aggressive.
 
So, in a life or death situation, should you be defending yourself or protecting yourself?  I think the answer is obvious.
 
Like Iain Abernethy I am determined to be more conscious in my terminology in class.  You may hear me more and more in class to use the word protect instead of defend.  Words imply intent, and intent matters and can matter most in life and death situations.
 
Regards,
Kelly
 
“The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means.  Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement.  It is essential to attain this.  If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him.”  ~ Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645), legendary Japanese samurai and author of The Book of Five Rings
 
References
2.      http://www.dictionary.com/browse/defend, Retrieved 11/2/16
3.      http://www.dictionary.com/browse/protect?s=t, Retrieved 11/2/16
4.      http://hoplology.com/articles_detail.asp?id=12, Retrieved 11/2/16