“No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” 2 Timothy 2:4-5
We are currently sharing with you several “Rules of Three” that are part of training in Grace Martial Arts.
You can look at previous Rules here:
3 Directions
Learning to defend yourself and others means understanding directions: front, side and back. Primary ways of considering direction include:
- Map (North, East, South, West)
- Degrees (0 – 360)
- Clock (Clockwise .. 12:00 to 11:59)
We will use the Clock example for this article.
“The Spirit of your eye watches in all directions because the enemy will come from different directions to attack you.” The Chinese Five Word Song – #58
Front
Absolute front is 12:00 o’clock, but in self defense we view front as anything from 10:30 – 1:30. That’s the range you have with your eyes as you look straight ahead.
In martial arts we use the terms forward or advance for moving toward what’s in front of us.
We can evade and enter or evade and retreat depending on the self-defense determination.
“Movement to and fro is not revealed. When you retreat or advance, don’t show your feature. it should be smooth and concealed. All movements are rounded in circles. There should never be hesitation — once you have decided to move, do so evenly, smoothly and gracefully. In this way you train yourself for self-defense. Otherwise, you will resist your own movement and become vulnerable.” The Chinese Five Word Song – #17
Side
Absolute left side is 9:00 o’clock, but in self defense we view left side as anything from 7:30 – 10:29. That’s the range you have with your eyes as you turn your head to the left.
In martial arts we use the terms gaze left or look left for defending what’s to our left side.
We can evade and enter or evade and retreat depending on the self-defense determination.
Absolute right side is 3:00 o’clock, but in self defense we view right side as anything from 1:31 – 4:30. That’s the range you have with your eyes as you turn your head to the right.
In martial arts we use the terms look right, defend right or beware right for defending what’s to our right side.
We can evade and enter or evade and retreat depending on the self-defense determination.
Back
Absolute back is 6:00 o’clock, but in self defense we view back as anything from 4:31 – 7:29. That’s the area you cannot see without turning your body to the left or right to enhance behind-sight.
In martial arts we use the terms look behind, defend behind or beware behind for defending what’s to our back.
We can evade and enter or evade and retreat depending on the self-defense determination.
Defending 360
True self defense is the ability to defend oneself and others in all directions. We call this 360 Degrees Defense and Situational Awareness Defense.
Next Time
We will look at another set of Rules of Three for Grace Martial Arts when our special series continues.
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© Grace Martial Arts 2018
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