So what's self defense really all about and why is it essential training for every single person living today?

First of all, it's worth defining all the terms to be used here. New Age Self Defense is a simple umbrella concept/philosophy on how to approach protecting one's self and others. The concept is completely unrelated to any notion of the so-called 'New Age' movement sometimes spoken about in 'spiritualist' circles.

The self-preservation concept used by Idai Makaya enables virtually any individual to potentially become a genuine self defence expert (probably of equal standing to any of the greatest fighters who have ever lived - regardless of their fighting disciplines, weight classes and physical talents), if studied wholeheartedly and accepted/incorporated into everyday planning and actions. In other words, it helps you to become Invincible (in a measurable way, to be outlined below).

You do not necessarily need to be trained in a martial art to achieve this 'feat' of invincibility - although it certainly helps to have such training (and combat training will definitely enhance your potential even further).

Before you totally switch off in response to such a massive, alarmist and sweeping claim I'll swiftly justify how such a thing is realistically possible. Please bear with me for one more paragraph...

Before I introduce the concept of New Age Self Defense it is critical that I first define the general concept of self defense. Self defense is a broad concept referring to the protection of the individual, the protection of the individual's community (or family), the protection of the innocent (as perceived by the individual), the protection of the individual's and community's property - and the taking of deliberate steps to ensure that the individual (and those valued by the said individual) is/are allowed to live to his/her/their full, naturally determined life span(s). You might just be getting really irritated at this stage so I'll justify my claims right away...

The New Age Self Defense Concept is an extension of whatever your current view of self defense is - so that it encompasses many steps/stages in advance of and around any kind of threatening, violent - or somehow harmful - confrontation or conflict. This concept is based on the prioritisation of an individual's values - so that self defense directly addresses the protection of what matters the most to a particular individual.

New Age Self Defence can be paraphrased as "planned and prioritised self defense." This concept (of "planned and prioritised self defense") then lends itself to proving - or at least justifying - my opening statements about becoming "Invincible" and "Developing the Self Defense Expertise of a great martial artist (or combat athlete)" - and I can clearly demonstrate how this is possible.

See the example below:

Consider how you - or anyone else - may prioritise your goals for self defence, by splitting them into individually defined entities. What would you place the highest in a list of your Top 10?

>> Your life?

>> Your religion?

>> The avoidance of physical pain or harm to you?

>> Your family's safety?

>> The safety of innocent strangers?

>> Your money and/or your possessions?

>> Your pride?

>> Your dignity?

>> Your ability to win a fight?

(See an example article from one of Idai Makaya's interviews here).

It could very possibly be something else not even on the list above. Regardless of your personal priorities: the word "Priority" is crucial in this concept. Your main priority is your main priority - and it does not matter what anyone else thinks. If you can successfully defend whatever is most important to you then you will have succeeded (from a self defense perspective) in acieving your self defense goals.

I suspect you may see the basics of the concept of New Age Self Defence forming now. However, just to make it crystal clear let's throw in another caveat. Suppose you don't choose just one single priority (which is above all others) and instead you choose a few priorities (say all 10 shown above) for your personal self defense goals - and you give each priority an equal weighting. Remember, you can't argue with someone's priorities - even if they totally differ from your own. This then means that out of 100 'priority points' each priority carries 10 points (in the 10 priorities example). If you rate at 10/10 in ability for the first 9 priorities listed - and rate at 5/10 for just the final one (winning a fight) - then you score 95% overall.

If (for illustration purposes only) a young Muhammad Ali shared the same 10 priorities listed earlier and rated at 8/10 for the first 9 priorities - and rated at 10/10 for the final one - then he would rate overall at 82% in self defense ability (in relation to his personal priorities).

This illustrates the FACT that even if Muhammad Ali was a better fighter than you - he was still not likely to be as successful in upholding all his self defense ideals as you would be - if he shared the same top 10 self defense priorities. This is just a theoretical example to illustrate a point. I am not sure of Ali's self defense priorities or abilities!

Now before the doubters become unsettled again I will point out an important fact - self defense priorities relate to the individual. So if your most important proiority is to protect the life of your daughter - and you fail to do so - it does not matter how good you are at ground fighting against big men - you will have failed to protect your daughter (and you will have failed in relation to your most important self defense goals).

The concept of prioritising self defense may initially strike some readers as being rather peculiar - and that's quite natural (because one normally knows instinctively what is worth defending and what is of value). However, the concept of New Age Self Defense takes things a few steps further because it is based largely on planning. Planning is based on prioritisation. 

So New Age Self Defense is about the mastery of premeditated defensive action, planned in a very natural processing manner so that it happens seamlessly and automatically (once the individual has developed the methodology to its full potential) and the planning and action are based solely on the individual's goals. The achievement of Invincibility is the main goal and invincibility in this instance really means "Unassailablity." Note that this explanation of self defense does not necessarily relate solely to the aspect of winning fights and physical confrontations - although that can be a part of it.

That's NASD in a nutshell. However, if it's all quite new to you a picture will be worth a thousand words. So I will go on to 'illustrate' the concept through a series of everyday examples of its application - in order to help you on your way to "Invincibility" - and I will end this introduction by assuring you that you (and those you value and aim to protect) need never come to harm if you implement all the concepts to be outlined in all the scenarios to be presented here.

Conclusion:

I am a Black Belt - trained in a number of martial arts. I take martial arts training very seriously (I still train as diligently in my martial arts as I did when I first started and I think I am qualified to say I have a good idea of the value and positioning of physical prowess in the self defense equation). I don't take the claims made here lightly at all and there is no financial gain in my making these claims.

Also, remember that many of the most skilled brawlers and fighters have died in altercations and confrontations on the streets (or in their homes) - so they are not necessarily the best at 'effctive' self defense. Fighting (and self defense effectiveness) can be stripped down to just a few basic factors - which almost anyone has the potential to master. And these factors relate to your self defense goals and how successful you are in achieving them.

To Scenarios...

To Idai Makaya interview - By Women's Health Magazine...