I'M ACTUALLY GLAD THAT I STARTED training before i had time to watch
the dvd. i wanted it this way to see how things differed from my natural
development in the process. my partner is off on a class trip [also a teacher]
and so i was able to use the alloted time to watch

some conclusions were on par, others...well, i hadn't really covered the territory
thoroughly enough.

after some time, i definitely found better results from nailing the 'control tower'
[i think Maija referred to it as this]. all the forward drive training definitely hard
wired me to go forward with agression, as the fear and controntation part of me
started to react unconciously.

what i wasn't doing was looking for an escape route and sort of creating my
path. and i definitely didn't cover the situation that would deal with someone
wanting something. sort of waiting it out and wanting to rob. i just dealt with
all things 'knife' the same way. attack the fuk out of someone and try and ram
the knife up his fukking arse and send him to the next world.

extremely limiting when one considers just how many opportunities arise to
run, create thought pattern interrupts, etc... i'm guessing it's because of the
level of fear that arises in me--and how much time i'd spent turning that fear into
an 'upping the level of violence' type conditioning in myself.

i definitely saw some real pay dirt from deflecting whilst simultaniously striking,
and felt that my opponent really shut down the more i spent running him back and
leaving him fearful of falling. i will say that the drills i've [narrowly and with blinders on]
done have raised my confidence in making someone fear for their own arse, but i
seriously neglected to think on another concept that Richie's drill accounted for.
by not really focussing on running, i'm sort of in denial that my attacker has a friend,
or that i'm sticking around too long--time being an enemy to myself as well as him,
for things to sway back the other way.

really nice DVD. i'm really into the training now. and sort of realize the wisdom in
seeing everyone potentially holding a knife--something else i got from the DVD.
the only knife close call i've really had was stopping my friend from being stabbed
[without knowing it until later] by producing a weapon myself and a sort of projection
of my gross motor willingness to use it. i hadn't even noticed the hand behind the
attacker's back that held a blade--but in the end my friend and i hadn't payed with
our own organs/collective lives because i was just assuming an agressive stance and
happened to luckily avoid what [in reflection]was a commited attacker--from the hidden
posture.

too much coffee--so if i'm writing cryptically or my writing is full of dyslexic misspellings,
know that, erm, i usually have time to go over stuff for that--but i'm rushing out the
building [work] and didn't today

IN SHORT: AN AWESOME DVD AND NECESSARY PART OF ANYONE'S TRAINING FOR IT'S
INSIGHTS AND HONESTY--AND INCREMENTAL DEVELOPMENT THAT LEADS TO SAID INSIGHTS.

thanks Russ, glad you enjoyed it mate