Definition of Environmental Awareness
Environmental awareness means having a calm yet vigilant awareness of ones surroundings. This is not at all to suggest you should be paranoid or suspicious, but you should notice things that are unusual. For example, you might want to ask yourself questions like these in assessing your personal safety; “Has this person been following me too long for it to be a coincidence?” “Why is this person lingering near my car?”
It’s noticing when something is not quite right that can be the key to avoiding a bad situation; this should be your primary objective. If you do find yourself confronted by a violent criminal your new primary objective becomes ESCAPE. The physical techniques taught in this seminar are taught with this in mind. You do not want to square off and have a toe-to-toe battle with your assailant. You do want to stay calm and alert in the process of finding or creating any opportunity to escape and get help.

Definition of Psychological Deterrence
It’s a known fact the criminals are also professionals when it comes to profiling, seasoned criminals know a victim when they see one. So a big part of not being a victim is to avoid looking like one. Body language plays a big part in this; you should try to have an appearance of alert confidence at all times. Carry yourself as if wherever you are, that’s where you belong; avoid looking lost and or confused. For example don’t walk to your car blindly while fumbling through a purse or bag for keys.
At the same time do not be overly cocky or taunting, you don’t want to come off like a “bad ass”, this can be interpreted as a challenge and most would rather rise to the challenge than loose face by being intimidated. You want to convey with subtlety that although you are not looking for a fight, you would not make an easy target.

The following techniques and tactics are only to be used in life or death situations. Knowledge is as dangerous as any other weapon and therefore should not be used irresponsibly or maliciously. Please take this admonishment seriously.

The Body As A Weapon & Anatomical Weak Points

§ Fist: fold the fingers down into the palm with the thumb clasped over the knuckles. The fist should be very tight and dense while the arm remains loose and relaxed. The fist should be held vertically and the strike launched along the centerline of the body. The bottom three Knuckle being the point of contact. Suggested targets for the fist are the nose, tip of the chin, and the solar plexus (center of the chest at the base of the breast plate)

§ Fingers: when using the fingers as a weapon they should be held together tightly and slightly curved so as to absorb the force of impact. The fingers can only be used against soft targets such as the eyes and throat.

§ Edge of the Hand: the outer edge of the hand can be used as a weapon; with the striking surface being the meaty portion between the base of the pinky and wrist. Suggested targets are the nose, throat, side of the neck, and kidneys

§ Palm: the meaty portion of the palm closest to the wrist can be used as a weapon. When striking low the fingers should point down, when striking to body the fingers should be held to the side, when striking high the fingers should point up. Suggested targets are groin, kidneys, solar plexus, chin, and nose.

§ Elbow: the elbow is a good close quarters weapon used to strike in a circular path on the horizontal plane or downward against someone attempting to lift you off the ground. Also an upward blow to the chin utilizing the elbow can be very effective

§ Shoulders & Back: Ramming the shoulder into the chest can knock the wind out of your assailant. Violently slamming your back into your opponent as he attempts to grab you from behind provide can provide an opportunity for follow up attacks or a quick escape

§ Knees & Feet: the knees can be used to strike upward into the groin. A clinching knee strike is also effective, this is done by interlocking your fingers behind your opponent’s neck and bringing his head down as your knee travels upward. The heel of the foot, the side of the foot, and the front of the foot can be used as weapons. The choice of striking surface depends greatly on what type of footwear you are wearing at the time. Good targets for kicking are the shin, knees, and groin. With high kicks you risk the possibility of either loosing your balance and or getting your leg grabbed. So aim low!

Improvised Weaponry
Anything can be used as a weapon; examples are keys, bags, pens, umbrellas, etc. Weapons can be broken down into three categories; clubbing/bludgeoning, stabbing/slashing, throwing/projectile. A good mental exercise is to look around the room and ask your-self, of the objects in this room which of them can be used as weapons? What categories do they fall into?

Escaping From Holds
The most important concept is “what weapons do I have free”. When you are grabbed there is always a part of your body that is free. You must quickly determine what body weapon is available and what target is available and use that information to create an opportunity to escape from the hold.

Scenario Training

With all that you have learned it is a good idea to run yourself through “what if “ scenarios and think about what you might do realistically to escape from a bad situation