Advantages of Self Defense

Introduction

Gender-based violence can occur almost anywhere: at home, in schools, at the gym, in the park, at workplaces, in a restroom and other public places. It may be random, but many times, the perpetrator had a plan before the attack. GBV may also occur irrespective of a person’s culture, socio-economic status, religion, age or sexual orientation.
No one plans to get into a dangerous or threatening situation. Whether you are an adult who wants to feel safe in your relationships, a student who needs to be able to stand up to bullies, or someone who just needs to feel safe during your day-to-day life, knowing how to defend yourself or others comes with a lot of advantages. These benefits include:

Ensures you are safe (Keeps You Safe)

The aim of self defense is safety. The self defense skills you acquire will not only help prevent you from many attacks in life, it will also ensure you are safe if you ever need to face a perpetrator.

Keeps you away from trouble with the law

Understanding the principles of self defense is a foundational to learning self defense skills as it will help you avoid actions that may be interpreted as a crime in the eye of the law. Some people have ended with a life imprisonment sentence in the process of self defense because they didn’t know the law. Learning self defense ensures your actions are effective and covered by the law.

Self Confidence

Another way having self defense skills can benefit you is by building confidence in you. Being aware that you can protect yourself will greatly boost your confidence whether you are in a public gathering or a private space. Perpetrators also profile their targets and will likely go for a person that comes out as timid and afraid rather than a confident person.

Physical Fitness

Engaging in different martial arts techniques will improve your reflexes, as well as help you balance your body and mind when in a risky or life threatening situation. The rigorous trainings involved in learning self defense techniques will also keep you physically fit.

Improves Social Skills

Self-defense trainings will also equip you with some soft skills that will help your communication and social skills. It teaches self and situational awareness, avoidance of aggressive behaviors, avoiding provocative actions and sometimes talking yourself out of a dangerous situations.

Accelerated Mental Performance

While learning martial arts in self defense, you will improve your ability to; concentrate/ focus, manage anger and fear, stimulate mental reflexes as you learn new techniques as well as coordinated body movement. A combination of all these will improve your cognitive function and boost mental performance.

Conclusion

We all have a personal responsibility, and right to protect ourselves from any form of violence, injury, or death. You may not be able control the actions of others, but you can decide to be well equipped to protect yourself. Thus, no one should go about life feeling exposed, helpless and vulnerable. Be smart and get equipped with skills that will keep you safe.

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