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Feb 01
2006
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February 2006 NewsletterPosted by KMSF in newsletter |
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From Barny's Desk
"Revenge is the weak pleasure of a narrow mind."
Being prepared to defend yourself is good, being prepared to talk your way out of a situation and walk away is always better. If you are attacked defend and counter in the most ferocious manner possible. When you feel you can get away run, because to continuing to beat on someoneafter that is revenge.
As a tribute to Gail¹s brother who died in January, I want to tell you about him and pass on the American Indian ten commandments which I found inspiring. Gary Rhine was a 5th generation San Franciscan, political activist and commentator, award winning documentary film maker, father, husband, paramedic, and pilot and spent the last 20+ years dedicating his life to American Indian causes.
The Indian Ten Commandments
Kuk Sool Won Seminar
February 25th 1:00 pm -4:00 pm
Krav Maga of San Francisco will be offering an exciting seminar led by Annika Kahn, 4-time world champion in the Korean Martial Art of Kuk Sool Won. Come ready to sweat, learn aspects of martial arts that will last you a lifetime, get in shape, and have fun! The seminar incorporates sword cutting, cardio work, bag and target techniques for strength and accuracy, basic wooden staff techniques, and board breaking.
Curriculum:
Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:00 am
Kat combines 1/2 hour of TRX and 1/2 hour of yoga for the perfect blend of strength and flexibility in one challenging and refreshing workout.
Starts Tuesday, February 14th
Intro to Strike and Fight Series
Monday, February 4th at 8:00 pm
6 week course for beginners. Use your Krav Maga defenses and combatives in sparring. Students get acclimated to contact sparring in a safe and progressive manner. Full gear is required; mouth piece, 14 oz. gloves, shin guards, and groin protection.
There is no charge to members for the course, just sign up at the front desk as space is limited.
Upcoming Belt Tests
Yellow belt: Saturday, February 11th
Student Focus: Mita Patel
Last weekend I spent some time talking with one of our students, Mita Patel. The conditions looked promising for a nice sunset, so we headed out to Sutro Gardens for a stroll above the ocean. I asked her what initially attracted her to Krav Maga. Working late at night at UCSF and having to walk through dark areas of the park at night made her think she ought to know some self defense. She first tried Taekwondo, but found the movements too formalized and stylistic for her taste. A friend of hers in North Carolina studies Krav Maga, and he recommended it to her. It grew on her slowly, but the first thing that stood out to her was the use of realistic scenarios, hitting, getting grabbed and choked. She had been warned about having to be comfortable getting close to people. "Out there in the street you have to be ready. You're gonna have some big mean guy who smells bad, he might be drunk, the breath smells bad, they might be on top of you, you just have to be prepared for that." We agreed that having to deal with personal boundaries in this setting makes it easier to not get paralyzed when your personal space is breached. She has been doing Krav for 3 and 1/2 years, and has reached Level 4.
Mita was born in England, in a town called Lutton, a few miles outside London, and moved to North Carolina when she 8 years old. Being in the south, she was definitely in the minority as an Indian. Many of the people she met there would assume she was a Native American Indian, rather than from the country of India. She made a stop in Texas, and then Atlanta, before coming to San Francisco for a job as a travel nurse. Now she enjoys the multicultural aspect of the Bay Area. "It very diverse here, the city is smaller, everything is close and the food is great. I'm a vegetarian so it's easy to find good vegetarian restaurants here."
Mita works as a research nurse, which is quite a bit different than conventional nursing. She deals with volunteers for studies funded by the National Institute of Health. One of the doctors she works with is well known for his experience in studying the effects of nicotine. Volunteers get infusions of nicotine at intervals, and have blood drawn to study the genetic predisposition to addiction. Right now Mita is involved in a very focussed part of the research, but would like to take on more an overview role in the future. Having access to more of the data she felt would be more rewarding than focussing on specific aspects of the studies. Soon the conversation took a detour into science in general. In studying self defense we encounter many areas of scientific study such as anatomy and psychology. She tells me "I would love to get into something like that, to study more human behavior". Mita also sometimes goes back to the ER to work with real patients and keep her skills up. Mita mentioned a book she has been reading; "How the Irish saved civilization", dicussing how the Roman Empire fell, and it had so many different viewpoints, and how many individual viewpoints can affect scientific or historical recording of fact.
About this time, we stopped and took several pictures of the developing sunset. As we looked at the light coming through the clouds, it was one of those movie moments where the voice of God would come through and tell us something important. It didn't happen this time, but we both enjoyed the view, the range of colors, and the warm evening light bouncing off of the ocean. We debated whether God was a man or a woman, and discussed the possibilities of whether we would have a woman President any time soon. We agreed that we live in very interesting times.
I asked her how she felt self defense trainnig has affected her in other areas of her life, such as work, or relating to people in general, and she had an interesting observation. "The funny thing is, it's sort of come in waves, when I first started taking Krav and going through the level 1 material and dealing with chokes all fine, I had this great big confidence boost," she continues, "but as I started moving to the upper levels and start working with different people," her attitude changed. She came to a better understanding of what we really face in street attacks, and she actually became even more aware of how dangerous potential situations can be. Now she feels like the training ought to be even more realistic. Mita especially made a point about the verbal aspect of an altercation, from both the attacker and potential victim's perspective. Her friend from North Carolina related how they train to deliver verbal commands, like "Leave me alone!" or screaming for help, and additionally being verbally assaulted at the same time, a very common feature of street attacks. "When they're going to be saying all this vulgar stuff, when you're out there you don't want to get shocked." She also uses a lot of visualization, such as when she is in her home or coming in to her building. She will imagine what might happen, what could happen in any environment so she doesn't get complacent. This type of mental trainnig is extremely useful, as it translates into real readiness and physical skill. It is easy to get accustomed to acting in a certain way in one environment, and then be unprepared to react effectively in another. I hope we can all take something from the way Mita trains, both in and out of the school, to make ourselves a little more prepared wherever we are.
"Revenge is the weak pleasure of a narrow mind."
Being prepared to defend yourself is good, being prepared to talk your way out of a situation and walk away is always better. If you are attacked defend and counter in the most ferocious manner possible. When you feel you can get away run, because to continuing to beat on someoneafter that is revenge.
As a tribute to Gail¹s brother who died in January, I want to tell you about him and pass on the American Indian ten commandments which I found inspiring. Gary Rhine was a 5th generation San Franciscan, political activist and commentator, award winning documentary film maker, father, husband, paramedic, and pilot and spent the last 20+ years dedicating his life to American Indian causes.
The Indian Ten Commandments
- Treat the Earth and all that dwell therein with respect.
- Remain close to the Great Spirit.
- Show great respect for your fellow beings.
- Work together for the benefit of all Mankind.
- Give assistance and kindness wherever needed.
- Do what you know to be right.
- Look after the well being of Mind and Body.
- Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater Good.
- Be truthful and honest at all times.
- Take full responsibility for your actions.
Kuk Sool Won Seminar
February 25th 1:00 pm -4:00 pm
Krav Maga of San Francisco will be offering an exciting seminar led by Annika Kahn, 4-time world champion in the Korean Martial Art of Kuk Sool Won. Come ready to sweat, learn aspects of martial arts that will last you a lifetime, get in shape, and have fun! The seminar incorporates sword cutting, cardio work, bag and target techniques for strength and accuracy, basic wooden staff techniques, and board breaking.
Curriculum:
- Swordcutting techniques using wooden swords which strengthen the wrists, hands, tendon and joints
- Foundational stances critical to preventing injury, strengthening tendons to be used in offensive/defensive moves and great for conditioning the legs and lower back, strengthening knees and ankles.
- Hand and leg strikes using heavy bags and targets for self-defense and offensive combat
- Cardio kicking using all kicks, combos, shuffles, skips, turns
- Core abdominal, leg, and upper body strengthening
- Accuracy and speed techniques with feet for quick getaways and attack
- Pressure point strikes to body and head
- Staff spinning and use of everyday items such as umbrella and magazines or newspapers for defense
Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:00 am
Kat combines 1/2 hour of TRX and 1/2 hour of yoga for the perfect blend of strength and flexibility in one challenging and refreshing workout.
Starts Tuesday, February 14th
Intro to Strike and Fight Series
Monday, February 4th at 8:00 pm
6 week course for beginners. Use your Krav Maga defenses and combatives in sparring. Students get acclimated to contact sparring in a safe and progressive manner. Full gear is required; mouth piece, 14 oz. gloves, shin guards, and groin protection.
There is no charge to members for the course, just sign up at the front desk as space is limited.
Upcoming Belt Tests
Yellow belt: Saturday, February 11th
Student Focus: Mita Patel
Last weekend I spent some time talking with one of our students, Mita Patel. The conditions looked promising for a nice sunset, so we headed out to Sutro Gardens for a stroll above the ocean. I asked her what initially attracted her to Krav Maga. Working late at night at UCSF and having to walk through dark areas of the park at night made her think she ought to know some self defense. She first tried Taekwondo, but found the movements too formalized and stylistic for her taste. A friend of hers in North Carolina studies Krav Maga, and he recommended it to her. It grew on her slowly, but the first thing that stood out to her was the use of realistic scenarios, hitting, getting grabbed and choked. She had been warned about having to be comfortable getting close to people. "Out there in the street you have to be ready. You're gonna have some big mean guy who smells bad, he might be drunk, the breath smells bad, they might be on top of you, you just have to be prepared for that." We agreed that having to deal with personal boundaries in this setting makes it easier to not get paralyzed when your personal space is breached. She has been doing Krav for 3 and 1/2 years, and has reached Level 4.
Mita was born in England, in a town called Lutton, a few miles outside London, and moved to North Carolina when she 8 years old. Being in the south, she was definitely in the minority as an Indian. Many of the people she met there would assume she was a Native American Indian, rather than from the country of India. She made a stop in Texas, and then Atlanta, before coming to San Francisco for a job as a travel nurse. Now she enjoys the multicultural aspect of the Bay Area. "It very diverse here, the city is smaller, everything is close and the food is great. I'm a vegetarian so it's easy to find good vegetarian restaurants here."
Mita works as a research nurse, which is quite a bit different than conventional nursing. She deals with volunteers for studies funded by the National Institute of Health. One of the doctors she works with is well known for his experience in studying the effects of nicotine. Volunteers get infusions of nicotine at intervals, and have blood drawn to study the genetic predisposition to addiction. Right now Mita is involved in a very focussed part of the research, but would like to take on more an overview role in the future. Having access to more of the data she felt would be more rewarding than focussing on specific aspects of the studies. Soon the conversation took a detour into science in general. In studying self defense we encounter many areas of scientific study such as anatomy and psychology. She tells me "I would love to get into something like that, to study more human behavior". Mita also sometimes goes back to the ER to work with real patients and keep her skills up. Mita mentioned a book she has been reading; "How the Irish saved civilization", dicussing how the Roman Empire fell, and it had so many different viewpoints, and how many individual viewpoints can affect scientific or historical recording of fact.
About this time, we stopped and took several pictures of the developing sunset. As we looked at the light coming through the clouds, it was one of those movie moments where the voice of God would come through and tell us something important. It didn't happen this time, but we both enjoyed the view, the range of colors, and the warm evening light bouncing off of the ocean. We debated whether God was a man or a woman, and discussed the possibilities of whether we would have a woman President any time soon. We agreed that we live in very interesting times.
I asked her how she felt self defense trainnig has affected her in other areas of her life, such as work, or relating to people in general, and she had an interesting observation. "The funny thing is, it's sort of come in waves, when I first started taking Krav and going through the level 1 material and dealing with chokes all fine, I had this great big confidence boost," she continues, "but as I started moving to the upper levels and start working with different people," her attitude changed. She came to a better understanding of what we really face in street attacks, and she actually became even more aware of how dangerous potential situations can be. Now she feels like the training ought to be even more realistic. Mita especially made a point about the verbal aspect of an altercation, from both the attacker and potential victim's perspective. Her friend from North Carolina related how they train to deliver verbal commands, like "Leave me alone!" or screaming for help, and additionally being verbally assaulted at the same time, a very common feature of street attacks. "When they're going to be saying all this vulgar stuff, when you're out there you don't want to get shocked." She also uses a lot of visualization, such as when she is in her home or coming in to her building. She will imagine what might happen, what could happen in any environment so she doesn't get complacent. This type of mental trainnig is extremely useful, as it translates into real readiness and physical skill. It is easy to get accustomed to acting in a certain way in one environment, and then be unprepared to react effectively in another. I hope we can all take something from the way Mita trains, both in and out of the school, to make ourselves a little more prepared wherever we are.
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