Environmental Awareness for Self Defense

One often overlooked aspect of self defence in both traditional and sports martial arts is the environmental awareness aspect of self defense. Go to a boxing gym and they will teach you how to throw and dodge punches till the cows come home, go to a karate dojo and they will do the same. But neither will tend to give advice on how to spot bad situations before they occur. This to me is a major oversight.

The first and most important aspect of a solid self defense mindset is a solid awareness of your environment. Good environmental awareness skills will keep you out of trouble most of the time and are the first step towards a true understanding of personal self defence. So how do you develop this awareness?

You need to look at the world with new eyes and become an “engaged observer”.

Here are some tips and tricks you may find useful in developing your situational awareness.

• Pretend to be the bad guy – Start to think like a criminal or thug. Where would you attack someone? What would be the best place to take somebody unaware? In that side street, or car park?

• Try as often as you can to direct your consciousness externally. That is to say dont walk downs the street thinking about what your brother or boss said to you earlier, or what you are going to eat for dinner. Instead observe your environment, engage with it, be aware of the street, the doorways, the newly painted shop fronts, the people. Much like when you are driving be an active observer not a reactive one.

• Become a student of people. When you look at someone try to see what you notice about them, does everything seem in place. Are they dressed appropriately for the area? Do they seem at ease? What type of attention are you receiving from these people?

• Be prepared. Always think actively about the environment you are going to be finding yourself in. Make sure you park your car in a well lit and easy to observe place. If you are going to be in an area you are unfamiliar with try not to be alone if possible. Plan a safe way home from wherever you are. This may seem like a chore but most of us only have a few routes we take all the time. Make sure the routes you take are the safest available.

• Trust your gut feelings! If you have a gut feeling or something that you cant quite put your finger on is putting you ill at ease. Trust it and get the hell away from there. Try to see what it is that is giving you this feeling and move away from it. Do not be afraid to cross the street to get away from someone or something that is making you uneasy. You have 1000s of years of instincts built in to you, ignore them at your peril.

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