The ADM (Adaptive Defense Methods) Maxim For Personal protection:
https://www.facebook.com/adaptivedefensemethods/
Three words came to me, as I was lying in bed the other night, searching for my own personal approach for understanding stages of violence. Many people have their own methods, discussing the same overarching principles. This personal maxim is really nothing new, but an alternative way to look at personal safety through out our lives. Anyone who follows or trains under the ADM school of thought, must commit this to memory and have a deep understanding of each stage. Below is a break- down of each. Remember- we can talk about /train ranges of combat and various techniques, but what good is it, if we have no sense of mastery over our surroundings or ourselves?
Identity this largely has to deal with spotting a threat, or a potential context that is off setting to us inwardly. Example being if a place looks suspicious to you, and sends red alert signals throughout your person. It is up to us to pay great attention to that signal. The same goes for any person that you don’t know, or even in the context of a close relationship. If we learn to pay attention to the signals/red alerts throughout our lives, we can save ourselves a lot of unneeded pain and physical harm done to us. Next is being able to identify pre-confrontational postures, before things escalate any further. In real time, this means practically speaking, that if you see someone at a gas station looking uneasy, while trying to hide their identity. Chances are this person has zero good intentions in mind. In those contexts, ones best option is to find a way to flee, find a position where danger is not directly upon you or others. Or lastly, taking some sort of action against the threat. Another part of identifying, is being able to understand the body language of another person, in a close proximity. This means that one might not have the ability to walk away, or create distance due to having limited mobility, being in a wheel chair or using crutches. Simple signs to look for are:
I.I.D.
Looking away
Stroking facial hair
Bladed posture
Hands/hand in pocket, behind back or pouch of hoodie. This can mean that the person you are in close proximity with is agitated and either getting ready to attack with either empty hands or with the use of a weapon.
This leads into the Interact phase, which calls for a person to truly know themselves and notice the red alert signals mentioned above. Again, many times we ignore the red alert warnings in life, because we don’t want to assume the worst about a place or location, often times this leads us to say to ourselves in the end I wish I would have listened to that little something inside me, that told me to take precaution. Or better yet- Leave. Learning to not only interact with ourselves and interact with the intention of others will only lead us to a more richer and fuller understanding of ourselves but the world around us. When we learn to interact with the various warning signs and intentions of others, we can then learn to discern whether is an actual threat or if that person is simply having a bad day. Sometimes a person is just having a bad day, or has a particular need and the only way they know how to meet that need is through the threat of violence. This is where it becomes exceedingly curial to become a black belt in verbal grappling. Learning how to talk our way out of potential violent situations, talking a person down, acting with empathy and concern. This is also a balance, because you can’t afford to let your guard down either. Moreover, not every encounter/situation calls for a violent ending. It is much better to try and seek a peaceful ending first, before ever entering into defensive mode.
Defeat: this is not to be taken into a negative connotation, but rather a positive one. Defeat simply means doing all we can to defeat the situation and go home safety. This includes the first two areas of the I.I.D. maxim. When we can identify and interact with any stimulus, that constitutes the health and safety of not only ourselves. We have brought a successful defeat to the situation. The defeat phase, brings us to the point where physical action/violence comes to play: Within the context of the law and the context of the situation/disparity of force.
If as an abled-bodied person, if someone shoves you, the simple and direct action would be to use very commands- drawing attention to one’s self, next- dissipating the energy of the shove, if it repeated. Taking control of the attackers limbs, controlling them until help/authorities arrive. If the situation is someone who has limited mobility or is in a wheelchair/ uses any form of assistive device. Then the disparity of force levels up, to the use of chokes, strikes and implementation of weapons. Lethal force escalates for an abled bodied person, when more than one attacker is involved or a weapon comes into play. Thus, a person can do what is needed to defeat the situation and get away.
brandonleeryan 