To further our series for self-defense for women we have been adding new lessons to our site as well as on our sister YouTube channel Enter Tai Chi.
This lesson was inspired by many of our videos from us seeking out what is on YouTube. As you may have realized in your searching the internet for valuable content, many times it is a hit or miss.
A common self-defense scenario when a person grabs you from behind is for them to put their hand over your mouth. This is in an attempt to muffle you, so you cannot scream. If they are skilled enough, they could also block your ability to breathe by tightly covering your nose too.
The good news is when the attacker chooses to cover your mouth, that means they have one less hand to attack you and you have one more to attack them.
We find the best moves are ones that keep it simple, meaning not too many steps to accomplish your end goal.
The most important thing when defending yourself is to learn how to feel and work with energy vs. fighting it.
Imagine, if the energy is saying go left, but you only learned how to deal with scenarios going right. If you do not know how to feel the energy you would then be fighting it vs. working with it.
This is one of the biggest things you can accomplish because the reality is you will never be able to prepare for every scenario any other way.
We often find a lot of self-defense lessons have too many steps to complete the end goal and not only that they are all assuming the attacker is going to cooperate through all the steps. The reality is not many attackers are going to give you all that time to pull off an over complicated technique.
That is why you need to not just be able to feel the energy so you can work with it, you also need to understand the two quickest methods to stop someone from attacking you.
There are two ways to stop someone from fighting or attacking you:
- Causing them pain.
- Off-setting their balance.
Sifu Phu Ngo shares a simple way to get out of this scenario quickly and efficiently by causing pain.
Remember it’s not about sequences and moves, it’s about learning how to control the energy.
Once you understand the principles of controlling energy and working with it vs. against it, the scenario no longer matters.
Watch this simple self-defense technique below:
Like I say in all of our self defense for women techniques these moves can be executed by a man as well. As a matter of fact, in all that we teach, your size, age, strength, and gender simply do not matter.
It’s all about the energy. So guys, if you are reading this, feel free to put this tool in your toolbox too. Also, if you found this lesson valuable, please share this lesson with your friends and family via email and social media.
With your help, we can help more people learn how to properly defend themselves. And in doing so, we hope to help put an end to peer-to-peer violence, domestic violence, and much more.
Let us know what you think of this technique, if you tried it and if you need any help.
As always we are here for you, just let us know how we can serve you.
Blessings & Happy Training,
Sije Jamie Pelaez
& The Enter Shaolin Family
1-844-9-KUNGFU
P.S. If you would like to see more of our free self defense lessons for women, click here.
If you are a member, you can also get access to our member’s only women’s self defense videos here.
Bob W says
Hi Sifu and Jamie, Excellent Lesson . I like the thumb jab and the leg strike. Can you also go for the groin? Thanks Bob
Jamie Pelaez says
Hey Bob! Yes you can go for the groin and Sifu talks about that in the video. You definitely would in an attack situation as Sifu Phu talks about, however for demonstration purposes we used the leg. 🙂
Terry Schwatken says
Just watched the women’s self defense when grabbed from behind.
It looks good, but what if the attacker grabs around the waist and the arm and traps the arm that you were going to use to jab the face/eye with the thumb?
Andrew Donovan says
Great lesson! Simple yet effective.
Dean Jarema says
I like the 3 c’s Sifu mentions. To stay calm, cool, and collected. I would like to add another c, “confident”. Confident in your training to redirect your attackers energy. Thanks.
Jamie Pelaez says
Love it! The 4 C’s!