Dealing with FEAR!

[DragonDude]

How do people here deal with FEAR in a street confrontation?

It comes to us all , even the most confident fighter. And some Black Belt experienced martial artists have been so paralysed with fear, they have been unable to do a thing & were easily beaten.

What Mind training techniques do people use/practice to offset fear.

[Melanie]

Please check out the threads at the bottom of this page - it relates to the subject matter. :)

You may find your answers there :)

[Punchy]

I have found that anger is a good substitute for fear. You need to have something you are willing to fight for that will motivate you strongly and displace the fear. Sometmes this is a rational thing like defending your family, sometimes it is seemingly irrational - for example I became really angry because it was so unfair that I was being picked on by a group of guys that I had done nothing to. This seemed to completely displace the fear, although I am not a 'brave' type of person.

[Paul Genge]

A piece of advice from a Russian Special Forces veteran was to breath in through the nose while taking a little step back from the threat, then exhale and move forward getting on with the work.

Paul Genge
Russian Martial Arts Northwest (UK) (http://www.russianmartialart.org.uk)

[Trinity]

The old saying is fear is a persons worst enemy (or something like that), when actually fear is our friend it shows us when we are in danger and helps get the adrenalin pumpin. Use your fear it will benifit you i always say to myself if i get fear i will react this way and that, the worst thing you can do is fear your fear and say things like in a fight i would freeze. Prepare yourself mentaly you are only as strong as your weakest point.

[erubio14]

I agree with trinity, that fear is our friend. I used to train in goju ryu karate when i was in high school. I had to defend myself against two guys trying to beat me up in the hallway. I got so afraid. I thought i was just going to freeze up. but i didn't. my uncle is a 3rd degree in goju ryu and he trained me everyday. he made me do the same techniques over so much i got tired of it. but when the two punks attacked me, it just came natural to me to respond. but i still get the fear even today working as a correctional officer. But know i take aikido

[Britzy]

When i find myself being attacked i react like i should and fight....However today on my lunch break in sixth form i saw a woman and a man arguing. I think the woman was breakin up with him or something but anyway she shouted GO AWAY at him and he fully went for her pushed her on the floor and punched her in the face about three times. There were loads of guys around and they did nothing. I slowly walked over there but couldntnbring myself to help her. The man was a lot older than me but i should have helped and i feel really NOT NICE about myself right now.... I should have stepped in but i bottled it........
anyway the police came and sorted it out but im really ashamed of myself right now...

[alister]

Geoff Thompson's well worth a look on this subject - see www.geoffthompson.com

He's developed an "adrenal map" which outlines the ways in which adrenalin presents itself and how to overcome the feelings of fear that it can be confused with.

[dark_blade15]

Look online for some info on fudoshin. It might help u find some of the answers.




Cheers

[JinkokMike]

I found that whe the situation comes along I feel realy tired and weak and the only way to deal with this is to hit the person(this is only as a last resort) because otherwise I would just freeze and the worst could happen.

[CobraKai]

Read "the Book of 5 Rings" by Musashi, in that lies a deeper understanding of where your mind should be in a confrontation.

[KurtCobain2902]

The way I do it is this: When you are afraid, you get chills down your back( I do anyway.) When the chills come, concentrate on them with all of your being and all of your mind, and with practice you can make the chills go up instead of down. I don't know why it takes the fear away, but it does.

[-Sky-]

'state of no-mindedness'

whenever i have doubts about a situation, jus resort to wot u learnt first.
for me thats jus to focus on the floor n feel as light as a feather.

i aint a paticularly brave person either, works for me tho.

[slipthejab]

Fear can be a byproduct of an adrenalin dump.

This subject has been gone over quite a bit just recently here on MAP...

http://martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36141&page=1&pp=15&highlight=dealing+with+adrenalin+dump

This thread has some very relevant info that myself and others have posted. Beware there are a few mystical posting in there with little more than anecdotal evidence to back them up... but if you catch the drift of how your body produces adrenalin and how your body repsonds to it (much of which I cover in my posts) then you're on your way to dealing with your fear.

Beware of anyone touting meditation, sitting under cold waterfalls or the like as being the cure for your adrenalin response to fear - that kind of stuff, while making great Kung Fu movies and making many martial artists feel warm and fuzzy - has very little relevance to the reality of an adrenalin stress response scenario. There are an immutable series of complex biophysical responses that your body employs response to fear... no one is immune to them... you cannot stop them or eliminate them... anyone who tells you different is full of it.

What you can do is condition you psychological and physical response to your bodies adrenalin dump. This is why training as realistically as possible is important... training in an adrenalin stress response environment.

Check out the thread I posted and feel free to ask any questions. :D

[karate P.belt 2]

heres how I deal with it: I don't have it

I have a brief moment of fear and then I'm fine I think "pf I can take him" and I do I've fought with fear before and everything came naturally and I must say I liked not having fear more because I could think and control what I did instead of just doing the 1st thing that popped into my head

but when I'm not in a fighting situation I do get fear but I try my best to ignore it and it seems to work

P.S. yes sparring is my favorite part of karate

[Slindsay]

Well seeing as they are a heavily armed elite millitary group with psychic powers I personally find that discretion is the better part of valour and so I run away.

http://compactiongames.about.com/od/gameindex/a/fear_az.htm

[SCP_Kensei]

Positive Visualisation is good way to combat fear.

There is an excellent section on this in "Ultimate Muay Thai" by Bob Spour.

Basically you work on recognising the different sounds, sights, smells etc... that make you feel strong and confident. Registering them deep within your mind.

When met with a fear inducing situation you recall those memories and your mind and body start to cope with the fear in a more rational manner.
----------------------------------------------------------------
When it comes to the fear of a violent confrontation, it really help if you've been on the receiving end of a good kicking in the past.
Your body remembers how much it hurt, and you can use this to reassure yourself that you got through it once without long term harm, and you will again. (This works for me anyway).

I like to remember my training when building for a big confrontation. I remeber the pain of being kicked around by bigger, better trained guys than myself, and it gives me cofnidence that it's highly unlikely that these guys i'm facing are going to do any more damage to me than those highly trained fighters.
To me, a street fight, or attmepted mugging is just another sparring session; except i left my gloves and gumshield at home. Of course if a knife, or gun is involved then it becomes a different matter.

Lastly, I have developed a technique for turning the Fear of a confrontation into aggressive energy.
I call it "Aggressive Breathing".
Basically, when confronted with a potentially dangerous confrontation, I start to over ventilate; taking in deep breaths throught my nose, and breathing out through clenched teeth, causing a low, guttural growl to be produced. I dropo my head down and raise my shoulders, as though boxing, and slowly start pumping up my major muscle groups. I find a focal point and stare intently as I am doing this tof ocus my breathing.
Once I have got this down, fear is not part of the equation any more; all I want to do is fight, to shed blood. It can take a good couple of hours to come sown once my adrenaline has been focused in this way, and my speech powers are a little limited.

My friends who have seen me like this say I actually appear to get bigger at this time, and it's pretty scary to watch. It's also offputting ot ootential attackers, as usually opportunistic morons don't want to start on people who are ready for it.

The above are just few systems I like to use to counter fear (I used to get beaten up a lot back in my school days and I was terrified to even walk home, but then again someone did try to kill me by running me over wiht his car, on several occasions), thye may not work for everyone but they work for me.

[karate P.belt 2]

Positive Visualisation is good way to combat fear.yes very good in my opinion scince I win 19/20 of the time the last 20th came from before I could control my fear *gasp* could it be... oh sorry I was just watching the matrix

[Jesh]

heres how I deal with it: I don't have it

Here's one for you...

A fool knows no fear, a hero shows no fear.

[SCP_Kensei]

yes very good in my opinion scince I win 19/20 of the time the last 20th came from before I could control my fear *gasp* could it be... oh sorry I was just watching the matrix

I'm to decipher this. I assume you are referring to an attack being launched before you have a chance to centre yourself.

If so then the solution to this is sparring, lots and lots of sparring, at different ranges from standup tog round. That way you learn to deal with the sudden onset of adrenaline from a) being hit, or b)being shot into an uncomfortable position.

I have found that in my experience the physical side of things rarely kicks of without warning. there is usually a lot fo threatening and posturing time first, so you have lots of time to control the adrenaline.

Even if it does kick off unprovoked, the first shot is unliekly to take you out (especially form some drunken numbnuts) so you have ample time to get in control.

I walk around in a constant state of semi preparedness (somewhere between a yelow and orange mental state), and can switch from the shock of confrontation to aggression ins fraction fo a second. It's little paranoid but I find it doesnt cause me any problems, and doesnt stop me form having fun.

You spend enough time training hard and conditioning your mind and it's not hard to do.

[Cosmo Kramer]

fear can be good cuz it tells you this is really serious and you better give everything you have your you are finished. it can aslo be bad cuz it can fog your mind and freeze you up when you need to act the most

[pablo147]

i was recently in a fight and i was scared at first, but once it got goin the training just took over and i didnt really think too much. once your in a fight the training just takes over and you dont really have time to be scared.

[slowmo]

I've been into 'Xtreme sports' and martial arts my whole life and i can tell you the single most important thing you can do is to remember that you brain believes what you tell it (Actors know this.. that the body follows the mind)

If you tell yourself "I can't do this" then you won't. If you tell yourself "I can do this" then you will. Read that very carefully: can't = won't, can = will. It's not so much about if you can't or can, it's about if you won't or will

So don't even use the word "fear", "scared" or "afraid". Tell your brain what it really is: adrenaline! Instead of "I'm afraid", say "I'm having an adrenaline surge! woohoo! let's do this!" ...Then you're ready to go! You can easily turn fear into excitement and excitement springs you into action :)

So I agree and disagree with the guy who said to channel fear into anger, sure that will get you into action but it'll probably also get you into trouble because you're mind still won't be clear. When i'm about to jump off stairs on a skateboard i don't think "I should get mad at the stairs" (sometimes that does happen if i'm frustrated but it just makes me clumsy) Instead i say "ok i have some adrenaline and i'm ready to go" then my mind is totally clear and my movements are graceful. And the beauty of training/experience is eventually you can perform those actions that once brought you fear without even thinking twice about it, as if it was as easy as yawning (because you're no longer telling your brain "I could get hurt doing this", you're not even telling it anything but "just do it. It's cake.")

Someone on this thread said not to listen to anyone who says to use "meditation" but i only agree with that if it's a quack whose talking about mystical stuff and not real meditation. In Buddhism they use real meditation to deal with fear. You totally watch and feel your fear objectively but you don't believe it or interact with it. This means you don't try to change it and by doing so your anxiety will automatically dissipate because fear feeds on fear, so if you stop feeding it more fear then it has no choice but to fade away. But in a quick confrontation you don't have time for this, so change your internal dialog (but this is only a temporary fix). I highly recommend meditation because meditation teaches you to have more tolerance for fear and all emotions.

So to that one guy who felt ashamed after witnessing a guy beat up a girl (dood i've been there!!) but you gotta remember what i just told you and spring into action, even if that action is just whippin out your cell and calling 911 or gettin other people involved. And even though when adrenaline is pumping you feel weird just remember that it makes you stronger and faster! (And don't feel guilty about how you reacted, learn from it! Besides she probably had it coming. JUST KIDDING!)

Humor is also very important when dealing with fear. Laughter is our inate coping mechanism. :D