The Art of Self-Defense

The other day, I spoke about the need to keep your body in shape enough to be able to do the necessary work to survive and to protect your family. In that entry, I was merely discussing physical fitness and its importance. Today, I am going to discuss the benefit of preparing by learning to defend yourself and your family, with and without weapons.

Many preppers and self-sufficiency advocates discuss the best firearms to have and their best uses. They discuss how much ammo to have, etc. This is all great information. However, if things ever get so bad that we need these firearms to protect our homes and families, I think it is safe to say that we will need them for hunting as well. Also, purchasing more ammo would be difficult if things get that bad, and it will be important to be able to defend yourself and your family with other tools around the house/homestead and bare-handed.

Many many years ago, on the island of Okinawa, the farmers were stripped of all weapons because the government was worried about rebellion. The ingenius farmers adapted their farming tools to be able to defend themselves. They learned how to fight with these tools, and these tools and techniques have been passed down in many ways through the art of Karate.

In Brazil, there is a martial art called Capoiera, that is "hidden" in a dance/game. Supposedly, this was created for protection and preperation in the same way. The people, or slaves, were forbidden to practice any form of martial art, so they created this way of practicing a way to protect themselves while hidden in plain sight.

Let us hope and pray that it never comes to this in America, but if it does, would you be able to protect yourself and your family? Do you know the weak spots on the human body to hit if someone attacked you? Could you swing your shovel/pitchfork/ax/hatchet enough to use it as a weapon to protect yourself? Do you own these or any other tools that you could use?

Remember, too, that prepping is not just making sure that you have these weapons, or firearms, or anything else... it also includes making sure that you know how to use these things that you have stored. Almost everything can have multiple uses... Have you thought about this and the uses for things in your house/apartment/homestead?

Just something to think about...