Simon Harrison - Kung Fu for Girls: Self-Defense with Style

Dedicated to Mum, Dad, and the rest of the family.

Thanks to Philip King for knowing a good idea when he sees one, very special thanks to the lovely Njong and Yasmine, 3 is the magic number, cheers mad Dave. Thanks to A.M.A. & Co.

Kung Fu for Girls can be your pocket bodyguard. Carry it around with you, and it will help you take care of yourself wherever you are. In Kung Fu for Girls you will find simple and practical self-defense techniques. Practice them with friends before you go out in the evening. They can be funand if you do them properly they will keep you safe from harm.

Simplicity is vital to successful self-defense. Your motto from now on is Keep It Simple. Simple Is Effective. The initial letters spell KISSIE so, to help commit your objectives to memory, you should be saying KISSIE KISSIE to yourself over and over.

Your personal attitude to yourself and your surroundings is your first and most important barrier against the street criminal. Self-defense is also about stopping trouble before it starts. Knowing a few simple moves will increase your confidence; youd be surprised how many potential attackers may well detect this and end up looking for an easier target.

A helpful motto for when you perceive a dangerous situation is Turn Around and Run Away or TA-RA for short. This is usually very effective, but if running away isnt an option, use some of the techniques from this book. Be creativewhether you use your favorite kitten heels or a cell phone, use them to full effect and walk away unharmed. The sense of satisfaction will be immense.

You never know, you might even get a taste for kung fu. If so, I suggest you build on what youve learned here by attending professional classes.

So now, get ready to enter a whole new world of kung fufor women.

Note: The directions and techniques that follow generally assume that you are right-handed. Swap them if you are left-handed.

Attitude

Imagine four women. They all look like you. One is casually dressed, confident. The second, a lost tourist. Next comes a nervous one in heels and a long coat. The last is also casually dressed but talking into a cell phone. Now imagine you are a misogynistic street crook. Which one of the yous would you target first? List them in order of priority. There are a few key characteristics that make you vulnerable to attack:

Showing fear or being overtly nervous.

Looking lost, wearing restrictive clothing.

Not paying attention and displaying expensive treats such as minidisk players and cell phones.

Awareness and Antisurveillance

Cultivate a preventive attitude.

The catchphrase for the street is be prepared and be aware. Like it or not, the street is a hostile environment. If you are the sort of person who never worries about being attacked and keeps an eye on her surroundings, you will probably never have a problem. But if you are anxious, here are a few tips.

Be aware of transitional phases. It takes the mind a few moments to adjust between one environment and another; for example, the transition from escalator to subway exit. You are still digesting the information from the interior environment as you exit, which can make you vulnerable and careless. Before you leave, take a look around. (The same applies to transitions from a bus, restaurant, office, or even your home.) Looking around is an act of antisurveillance: its a simple precaution that can put off a criminal because he sees you are aware and therefore not soft. You become a potential hazardunpredictable and therefore a non-target.

Practice

Practice is essential. There is no substitute for practice and the perfection of movement you will accomplish by repeating the techniques with a partner. (Except maybe dumb luck, which you simply cant rely on.) The point of practice is to create what is called muscle memory. When you learned to walk or to catch a ball, you created muscle memory. The idea with kung fu is to create muscle memory that is so efficient it bypasses the conventional avenues of physical behavior, deeply embedding complex reactions to dangerous situations in your nervous system. Good kung fu is mindless. Its an expression of your body with minimum interference from the intellect. Its how animals react.