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Learning to protect themselves confidently against attackBy Barbara Brown The attacker has already thought about what heís going to do, what heís going to say how heís going to hurt you: What have you thought about? That is just one of many questions Sensei Tim Kiel asks women who attend the self defense class he teaches. Kiel, who is the owner and principal instructor at Central Minnesota Karate in St. Cloud, brought his course to North Branch in December. He taught the 2.5 hour program to several women in the media center of North Branch Primary School. While there, the women learned about how to be more aware of their surroundings and some basic techniques for fighting off an attacker. Part of the course focused on physical defense, while other aspects covered the power of psychological dominance over an attacker. Kiel said he got started teaching the self defense class shortly after he began as an instructor. He is a 4th degree black belt in the Japan Karate Association. ìI was one of the first professional instructors when I started and people started calling me to teach them classes.î Since Kiel started teaching martial arts in the mid 1970s, has taught in more than 85 Minnesota communities and has trained more than 90,000 Minnesotans karate or self-protection skills. Kiel said one point he emphasizes is that self defense and martial arts are two different things. Self defense is purposefully trying to get out of a bad situation, but also learning how to not get into those situations in the first place. ìItís not just an escape or kick or grasp,î Kiel said. ìItís learning the different types of attacks, attackers, and being ready for anything.î In preparation for teaching the self defense program, Kiel said he studied hundreds of attack cases in an effort to teach people how to prevent them. ìThe point I try to get across to people is that 95 percent of safety takes place before any kicking punching and screaming ever happen,î he said. In most attack cases weapons are not involved ñ at least not initially. Kiel said the first thing an attacker needs to do to complete his mission is get next to the victim physically. Thatís where Kielís first lesson of keeping the eyes up, paying attention and listen to your feelings comes in. ìA majority of the women who have been victims of attacks of some kind had some sort of intuition that something wrong was going to happen and they didnít pay attention to it,î Kiel said. Confidence and commitment to their actions are important aspects of the training. The No. 1 objective is to stop the attacker physically, Kiel said. He said a woman defending herself against an attack has be prepared by having a plan in her mind and be willing to break social rules to get away. ìYou have to be prepared to break the rulesî like volume of the voice, physically fighting back from an attack and even breaking the law if necessary to save youíre own life. One example Kiel gave is if you are in your car and someone tries to carjack you, you may have to run a red light to get away, but thatís all right. ìItís not comfortable, but in the class we learn that when your under threat of your life, itís not going to be comfortable.î Central Minnesota Karate also teaches karate for young people, karate for adults, hosts summer training camps and has a course for childrenísí self-defense. To schedule a class, call the studio at 1-800-474-1171 or go online to www.central mnkarate.com. ©ECM Post Review |