Self-Defense Safety Tip with Rory Miller

Last month I had the pleasure of spending time with my friend Rory Miller. If you don’t know Rory, and you are interested in self-defense and violence, you should. He is an excellent instructor and his books and DVDs provide a wealth of solid information. We were both at the Animal List BBQ at Marc MacYoung’s place in Castle Rock, CO, and we had a great time both training and talking. He’s not only been there and done that, but does some serious thinking about real violence and fighting, and how to better help people learn about these topics to stay safe.  Here is a short safety tip video we filmed:

Be Aware – And Know What To Be Aware Of

Rory makes a great point in the video that many people discuss being aware, but then they don’t go into what we should be aware of. Besides the excellent advice Rory provided in the above video, here is a short passage from my book How To Protect Yourself By Developing A Fighter’s Mindset:

In no real particular order, here are a few examples that should cause you to go from awareness level yellow to orange. (If you are not familiar with the awareness levels, download the guide to Situational Awareness or watch the Awareness videos in the Staying Safe section of this website. Better yet, do both!)  You might recognize someone moving with purposeful movements towards or away from you that doesn’t seem normal.  Maybe it is convergent movement you notice.  It may be seeing something, a car or person, more than once because they are following you.  Perhaps it is a slow moving car or person, with someone “scoping” you or the surroundings.  Pay attention to something that is there that should not be there.  Pay attention when something changes at a coincidental time.

Obviously there is more to pay attention to, but this short safety tip blog should get you thinking about paying more attention, and what you are paying attention to.  Rory’s newest video Logic of Violence delves deeper into recognizing violence and how to avoid and prevent it. I strongly recommend all of Rory’s books and DVDs if you are looking for advice and knowledge that will help keep you safe and defend yourself if needed.