This Ain’t No Kung Fu Movie
This is one case were confusing self-defense and martial arts is a dangerous mistake. Even as a child, David knew he would never do a karate block in a real fight. It’s not realistic or practical, even for someone trained in a martial art. Why rely on a static, artificial movement pattern when your own natural reactions serve you so much better?

Do you remember the last time you were startled? What did you do? Chances are you threw up your hands in a ‘startle response’ a natural movement pattern we call “The Flinch”. This is your first block. Congratulations, you’ve nailed it already.

Your natural instinct is to protect your vital organs, you face and neck. Even if your arms don’t come right up in front of your face, it’s easy enough to complete the movement from your natural startle reaction. Generally, you’ll find your palms facing each other and your hands open or slightly cupped. Perfect. Your elbows are generally in, again protecting your vital areas. From this position, you can easily transition in to a more defensive block if you find yourself the recipient of blows. We’ll talk about those in a later lesson. This is also the perfect place from which to launch a preemptive attack if necessary.

The most important thing is not freeze or turtle in this position. Looking away isn’t going to make the situation stop and only makes you more vulnerable. That’s why we do the sensory and aggression training, so you walk through the fear of being in a highly charged situation and move past the temptation to bury your head and hope it goes away. Remember, we’re learning how to make it go away – and the sooner we deal with whatever it is in front of us that made us throw up our hands in the first place, the better of we’ll be.

So, celebrate your flinch and congratulate yourself at having the built-in instincts to put yourself in this useful protective and transitional position. Now, let’s learn what to do next.