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DEFEND YOURSELF
(No Experience Necessary) Seven Basic Steps to Self-Protection and Empowerment
SEAN RAMEY
Copyright © 2012 Defend Systems, LLC.
Photos by Turtle Soup Photography — Malory Duke
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher.
The Publisher makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any commercial damages.
2012-12-14
Dedication
To the thousands of people to whom I’ve taught or with whom I’ve practiced martial arts. I have learned and become a better martial artist because of you. This book is also dedicated to you, the reader, for not forgetting the essential life skill of self-protection. Finally, I dedicate this book to our troops who have made the ultimate sacrifice in protecting our freedom. I am proud that a portion of the proceeds from sales of this book will go toward the education and financial assistance of your children.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my first instructor, Roger Allen, for helping a 9-year old boy believe he could achieve the impossible. May you rest in peace, sir.
I would like to give special thanks to all the students and black belts at Kentucky Tae Kwon Do & Fitness Academy. Thank you for allowing me to be your teacher and share with you the arts that have had such an impact on my life. Witnessing your growth has been immensely rewarding and gives me constant gratification.
Thank you my Uncle Roger, who has always believed in me. To Master Yun Kil Kim, Ira Little and Arshak Hartoonian, thank you for helping me further my martial arts career. To my martial arts family across the United States, thank you for inspiring me to constantly learn and always be a student.
My most profound and heartfelt thanks goes out to my family. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for enrolling me in my first Tae Kwon Do class. Thank you for instilling in me the courage to be what I wanted to be, the love needed to be a caring family man, and the desire and drive to never settle for “good enough.” If it weren’t for you, none of this would have been possible.
To my sisters Tammi and Lisa, thank you for always being there and having your baby brother’s back. To my brother-in-law Harry, thank you for always being the big brother I never had. To my nieces Mariah and Skylar and my nephew Jagger, I love you guys.
To my wife Christy, please know your support, thoughtfulness and love made the dream of writing this book a reality. Thank you for completing the puzzle called life.
To my daughter Kinsley, you are my inspiration. May you grow and achieve everything you set your mind to. KJ, may you always be the victor and never the victim.
INTRODUCTION
After a night out with friends, you come home around 10 p.m. — not late by any standards.
You follow the same routine. You park your car and open the door to your apartment. After you enter, you close the door and lock it as soon as you get in.
Then it happens.
Suddenly you feel the weight of something huge hit you and grab you from behind. A leather glove covers your mouth, and before you can even process what’s happening, you are thrown to the floor. A voice muffled by a ski mask says to do exactly as he says. If you don’t he’s going to kill you.
In situations like these, most fights are lost before they have even been waged. The sad truth is that attacks like these do happen to even the best of us, and when they do, we have no idea how to defend ourselves. Though from an early age we have been taught the importance of essential life skills like reading and writing, the critical need for awareness of self-defense has been lost.
As a longtime martial arts instructor, I frequently have new students come through my door after attacks like the one I described above, suddenly all too aware that self-defense is nothing to be taken lightly. They realize they may have escaped with their lives once, but the next time they might not be so lucky.
I want to make abundantly clear that the ability to defend yourself is in no way dependent on achieving a level of expertise in martial arts. In fact, this book is written and designed for those individuals who are unwilling, uninterested or unable to practice martial arts, but smartly realize the need to understand basic self-defense. This book is also designed for individuals whose loved ones would benefit from the knowledge contained in these pages.
Put as simply as possible, the mission of this book is to provide an easy guide to basic self-defense. Whether you are leaving for college, a stay-at-home mom or a professional, you can benefit from this guide. Unlike other authors whose systems are detail-heavy and overly systematic, my goal is to arm you with fundamental knowledge that will help you escape the most common violent encounters. These are basic techniques for defending yourself at home, school and in your workplace.
Previous experience in self-defense is not needed here. You do not need to be an athlete, nor must you be particularly agile or flexible. You simply must be a willing-and-able human being who is ready to take control of his or her situation. You only need the conviction to be the victor, and not the victim.
I have practiced Tae Kwon Do since the age of 9, and as such it has always been my goal to spread the word of martial arts and its life-improving benefits. Somewhere along the line, I began to realize that martial arts just aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Some hate being in their bare feet. Others don’t want to wear an outfit that so closely resembles pajamas. For these and other, more practical reasons, the fact is that some people will never walk into a martial arts studio.
This should not absolve people from learning to defend themselves, however. In my mind, self-defense should be just as important as reading, writing and arithmetic.
As individuals, we walk into this crazy world hoping nothing bad happens to us. When fate turns against us, we hope we’ll be saved. But hope should never be a strategy, because the threat of violence in our society is abundantly real.
Consider these staggering statistics:
According to City of Hope, one in every three women across the world has been subjected to a rape or sexual assault. One-third of American women say they have experienced this sort of attack during their lifetimes.
In the United States, someone known to the victim commits 89 percent of sexual crimes.
Around 44 percent of rape victims in the United States are under the age of 18, while 30 percent are under the age of 30.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a violent crime occurs once every five seconds in the United States. A rape or violent assault occurs once every two minutes. A murder occurs once every 34 minutes.
The most fundamental mistake people make is allowing the misconception that “bad things don’t happen to good people” to lull them into complacency. Most of us feel that if we don’t proactively engage in violence, then violence won’t enter our lives. Believe me, this is simply (and quite unfortunately) not the case. When it comes to self-defense, we must hope for the best, but anticipate the worst.
Then there are those of us who know violence is in our midst, but we are just too preoccupied with work and our electronic devices to be present when our turn comes.
Both of these groups end up being victims of violent crimes — every day, ever hour, every minute.
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