What is Avoidance in regards to Self-Defense?

It might be good to try and convey what I feel is necessary to achieve the best and most effective self-defense posture every, "Avoidance!" So, I felt a short post to convey that idea so maybe someone can use it to discover their own personal self-defense avoidance system. If you follow the various posts on the Internet blogs, etc. you will understand the complexities of entering into violent behavior so therefore find that the only true way is to avoid it at all costs, this is why I am doing this post - Avoidance is the superior self-defense system ever.

Self-Analysis: The first layer to the "Art of Avoidance." Your life choices, do you find that your time is spent where you either encounter or witness violent behavior? Where you live, how you live, who you associate with or socialize with, how you play or socialize, where you work, the routes you take to work and going home, where you go and travel to do everyday life tasks, etc. All these will tell you, if you are brutally honest with yourself and determine the level of activity that exposes you to violence or violent environments, etc. will tell you if you even need to seek out the Art of Avoidance, i.e. self-defense instruction.

In your self-analysis the most important personal trait you can have is "honesty." That is total and unequivocal truth of who and what you are, etc. The ability to open all the protective layers you have acquired in life to see the true and completely bare exposed self. the naked self where nothing is hidden for to not see self completely and honestly can hide those things that lead to conflict and conflict leads to violence, etc.

Ask your "self:"

1. Are you willing to die for what you believe?
2. Are you willing to kill for what you believe?
3. Are you willing to sacrifice your family for what you believe?
4. Are you willing to sacrifice your financial security for what you believe?
5. Are you willing to sacrifice the family and financial security of the person your encountering?
6. Are you willing to sacrifice your mental and physical health and well-being for what you believe?

These are just "some of the questions" that you should ask your "self" about and the concerns you should consider if you decide to go past the Art of Avoidance and go right into violent behavior no matter the excuse or reason you believe justifies it.

Academia - Knowledge: The second layer of the "Art of Avoidance." Can you recognize violence, violent behavior, area's where violence is likely, what are traits of violence and violent people, what is predatory violence, what comprises self-defense what are the repercussions of self-defense/violence/violent people, what is the path that leads someone to violence, etc. If you cannot answer such questions then start here because if your brain/mind/spirit does not know these things you will fail at avoiding them. The brain and mind can only reference what is encoded in the memory so if it is not there ... ?

Do you know what kind of behaviors, yours, that will get you into violent encounters and situations? Are your communications skills viable to deal with the various personalties that make up people who tend to do violence/violent things?

The knowledge base must be one that not only encodes that information accurately in your brain but must be trained and practiced daily in life and in the training facility. If that does not occur then you need to find it and get there.

Practice-Training: The third layer of the "Art of Avoidance." Do you or does your training facility actually teach the fundamentals/principles that provide what is necessary to avoid conflict. It it or they cannot answer let alone provide for any and all of the first two layers then seek it elsewhere.

Realistic training scenario's must be conducive to utilizing all the first two layers into action. Knowing something does not necessarily equate to the mind/brain actually retrieving it as viable in avoiding attacks. Utilizing the ability to discover and recognize actual signs or the instinctual alarms is not as easy as reading about it in a post.

The Art of Avoidance: This is the layer where the rubber meets the road. These are some of the things you must utilize and utilize frequently to achieve a good solid foundation of avoidance.

It is easier to start by providing zones that move away from the center, i.e. referred to in martial principles as "centrifugal." Then we will try to cover when danger or violent traits/behaviors/environmental stuff starts to penetrate that outer zone coming toward you, i.e. referred to in martial principles as "centripetal." [Note: I am taking some liberties with Stephen J. Pearlman's book of martial power.]

Your closest zone is what I call the exclusion zone. This is the moment a person or person's actually enter a range where either of you can actually attack physically with strikes, kicks, etc. This is called the exclusion zone because your goal here is to keep any and all folks who are intent on violence or violent intent from gaining access to your body. Here is where your martial training, if combative in nature, comes into play. This is the first that communication ability of  a diplomat is effective to keep if from physical and hopefully achieve deescalation, etc. Hopefully this zone is never penetrated under any circumstances because all the other layers achieved avoidance. Your diplomatic ability is coupled with all your senses, your body language, your demeanor, and more ... so if training does not teach it, seek it elsewhere.

The next zone is your clear zone. That area where you still have the ability to detect and still avoid by say, "running or leaving the area or seeking an area of safety, etc." Your EWS has triggered alarms and your eyes, hearing, smelling, etc. are assisting all those trained academic knowledge material into some semblance of intent and action to avoid.

The next zone is one that extends as far as the eye can see and the ears can hear. This is the zone that provides a much larger buffer zone and a lot more time to consider the alarms, etc. Nature imbued us with instincts that are programmed in our DNA and Genes so they tend to trigger that so called "spidey sense" so we pay attention. I mean pay attention and disregard/remove the stories we tell or might tell ourselves that this sense "means nothing, it cannot possibly happen" type stories, etc.

If I had to pick the most dangerous moment for anyone who is practicing the Art of Avoidance for Self-Defense it is this moment where we try to hide in some comfort zone of it can't happen to me syndrome. Yes, we do live in a society that provides a great deal of safety and security. It is not bullet-proof.

If your self-analysis dictates you should learn the Art of Avoidance/Self-Defense then don't let the little voice of dissent dissuade you from listening to the EWS alarms. Look at it this way, find safety quick and what harm does it do, none. It may mean a few moments delay in your journey but the delay if you get attacked will be a lot more costly. Think about it.

Environmental Awareness: This layer speaks of both Self-Analysis of probability  of violent encounters where the places you go, you frequent, you need to pass through going to these places. Knowing this beforehand is paramount to avoidance. If you ignore them for convenience, etc. your asking for trouble and if you are asking then the probability of ending in violence is higher.

Know all the environments and what potential for violence they have so you can plan accordingly.

Self-awareness: Know thyself! Everything we do, say, encounter, experience, etc. is a direct result of "self." To me this means knowing how you think, act, talk, socialize, etc. so you will recognize those triggers that would send violence your way. This is especially important as to Self or "Ego." I would say in my limited experience and growing knowledge that the most responsible thing that always leads to or away from violence is knowing thyself, our ego's, or what some refer to as our "monkey brain."

A good maxim might be if you cannot take a picture of it, then it has done no damage you cannot recover from. If your being "dissed" or "insulted," etc. then the choice is all yours. If you allow such things to push your buttons and trigger anger, fear, resentment, etc. then you are open to responding in an inappropriate manner that can/will get you in deep.

All in all this is a mere tidbit of what I am trying to convey here as to the Art of Avoidance. Go to level one and try to continually learn and discover what violence is and what it takes to get there so you can avoid it at all costs.

Layers of avoidance are long and complicated. They have no real order of importance because it takes a "whole" to achieve success. Don't leave out any part and don't forget all the fundamentals/principles that are involved.

Remember, if you find you don't need it then don't yet if you have a remote chance of needing it, then do.