Self Defence
Self-defence is not the purpose of Tetsudo, but in following the Tetsudo training, once you reach a certain point in your development, you will be able to have sufficient self control to take the appropriate action to survive any threat.
BS Dhaliwal says -
"The student exercises such a degree of control over himself or herself, that the body is freed from all fears, inhibitions, and insecurities, and thereby the student creates an environment in which the biologically inherent SURVIVAL INSTINCT can take over the body functions"
Tetsura says -
"Self-defence is not a function of learning tricks, but is a function of how quickly and intensely one can arouse one's instinct for survival"
The Association does offer regular Self-defence courses for Tetsudo Students, to enable them to be more "Street-wise" and to provide them with specific techniques and knowledge to aid them if attacked.
Self-defence is not the function of tricks or pre-programmed responses, but the spontaneity of the human being's survival instinct.
In Tetsudo we do not teach pre-programmed, set solutions to self defence; but rather teach the student concepts that he or she will learn to an instinctive level. Once this is achieved, the student can react in a natural and spontaneous way to deal with a threat situation.
Tetsudo self defence is not geared towards a violent battlefield scenario, but focuses on non-lethal responses needed for today's world and society. Non-lethal does not mean non-effective - there is a distinctive difference between the two! For example, if every doorman, security guard or police officer were to blind, paralyse or kill every person that they had an encounter with; there would be many court cases and prison sentences to follow! Lethal self-defence approaches can burden martial artists with the choice of whether to respond to a threat or hold back. Within this time, it maybe already too late to respond - as self-defence is a very fast and quick action which does not leave space for hesitation.
The basic techiniques in Tetsudo teach the student, body mechanics and the integration of the whole being (mind and body) into the movement/action. The real life application of these techniques however, may look very different from the classical training methods since the individual may need to modify their technique to strike form any angle, any position, any stance - whether they are upright, falling over or jumping in the air.
Awareness is always of key importance, and the knowing of how to read a situation, body language, and of how to avoid confrontations is a neccessity. At the end of the day the best form of self-defence is not to be there in the first place!
Surviving a confrontation situation is determined by the type of training and preparation that has been done beforehand! At the moment of confrontation, it is far too late to try anything new, as as the fight or flight instinct sets in, the body will resort back to what it is familiar with. In effect, the art of self-defence can be considered a state of mind that utilises the conditioning and skills that the body has attained through the years of hard work.