Contrary to popular belief, the human body has a set of ready-made, built-in defense modes that can be used in your defense during an attack. Here, I’ll briefly discuss these modes and how you can tap into to win against a dangerous attacker.

To look at most martial arts and self-defense programs, you can easily come to the belief that all you have to do is pickup a bunch of moves or techniques, practice until you can execute them well, and…voila, that’s it. You’re a master or self-defense expert.

But, there is one element that’s routinelY absent from most self defense programs. And that is the utilization of the emotional states as tools for defense.

In the past several years, systems and programs have emerged that focus on what’s referred to as “adrenal response training.” These programs, however, tend to focus on only one of these emotional states, or modes.

There are actually four of these modes that we can find ourselves in when face-to-face with a dangerous assailant. Each state is a natural response to several factors including things like your:

• 1. Perception of danger or level of threat
• 2. Personality type
• 3. Rules and restrictions that your aware of as a part of your job

And others

Each of these modes is more than a mood, state, or condition which we might find ourselves in. They also control, in many ways, how we process information, and even work to free or hinder certain types of body movement.

The Four Response Modes Are:

• Stable/Confident
• Adaptable/Defensive
• Direct/Aggressive
• Slippery/Evasive

As I said, each of these modes is both a reaction to the current situation, and a strategy for handling a situation in a very unique way. As a general outline, I’ll quickly explain each mode from both a responsive and a proactive perspective.

Please note that the following modes are in no particular order of importance, nor is one better than any of the others. However you may find that one or two feel more comfortable or “natural” for you, each should be seen as an option that can be pressed into service in a self-defense situation. And, as I’ve said time and again, the more options you have in any given situation, the greater your chances for getting the results you want.

Stable/Confident “Earth” Mode.

This defense mode is marked by an overall sense of relaxed calm. You really don’t perceive a threat and you are in firm control of the encounter. Notice that I didn’t say that you were defiant and forced a sense of command. In what I call the “earth-mode,” you use superior positioning and relaxed strength to stop his attacks and direct your strong points against his weak ones, using leverage and crushing pressure to put an end to his plan to hurt you.

Adaptive/Defensive “Water” Mode

Just like the nature of water, you adapt to his movements. You use long-range, defensive angling to pull away from his attacks and , just like an ocean wave crash back in with powerful strikes and kicks to his vulnerable weak targets. This mode is often present when you feel intimidated by his size, strength, or other factors. You naturally want to create time and distance between you and him so that he has to work harder to get at you.

Direct/Aggressive “Fire” Mode.

Either out of fear, anger, or a need to get him first, you move in and direct the fight to the bad guy. In the “fire” mode, you are almost pulled in by a sense of urgency and a desire to get things over with “now”. When I say “aggressive,” I do not necessarily mean destructive, but rather a direct, committed, “go-for-it” attitude which moves you straight in in to meet the assailant before he can really get started. Again, this mode may be triggered by anger just as easily as it could be initiated out of a sense of being cornered and needing to do something right away.

Slippery/Evasive “Wind” Mode.

This mode is marked by a very carefree, open movement with a sense of last-second timing to evade, avoid, and wrap up the opponent with his own attacks. The body position often used with this mode is very open and looks very strange when compared to the more common martial arts and self-defense stances that you often see. This mode could be caused by a complete desire to avoid the situation altogether. It could also be used in a playful, confusing way as you effortlessly slip your attacker’s punches, kicks, and grabs only to catch him with your own attacks from unseen and confusing directions.

Like I said, no one mone mode is better than any other. Each is a natural response that is hardwired inside us and a piece of our overall natural human self-protection mechanisms.

While all of us has leaned toward one or another of these modes as we’ve moved through our lives, and think of that mode as being “only natural” for us. The truth is that, with proper training, each mode can be developed, enhanced, and honed as a very advantageous strategic option for handling a real-world self-defense encounter on front of a very real-world attacker.

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