Unless you are walking into a room or walking through dense forest cover, being ambushed is not easy if one has their situational awareness always on and is watching their 6. Most people that get attacked tell that the attacker came suddenly or struck them suddenly and they didn't see it coming. This happens because we are not aware or alert and are not looking for signs of a possible attack.
When we enter a room, say we enter a restaurant, most people will be alert for the first few seconds or a minute or so. That is our act of fimiliarizing with a new environment. But once we get seated at our table then we accept the environment and make it our own. This whole process takes a minute or two and we shut it down. Then we tell that we were attacked suddenly or ambushed etc. Situational awareness is not something you switch on or off. It is something that should always be on. Infact when one starts being situationally aware all the time, it becomes your normal. It becomes your base and you won't be anxious or on the edge about being alert. It becomes your normal state of being.
This itself is usually half the battle won. As it gives you a constant input of your environment and the changes that are happening. Just being situationally aware helps a lot in being safe itself.
Whenever two people get into a confrontation or a random person approaches you to have a talk with may be an intention to attack you, this is when being able to recognise pre - assault indicators can make sure you are ready to increase distance if possible or defend and strike back before we get brutally attacked.
Let's assume that you are walking down a street and someone walks up to you, may be asking for directions or asking for some money to buy some food etc. If you are situationally aware, you would have already noticed them walking towards you. At this point you could increase the distance or walk away if possible, if you find it odd or suspicious. Now the moment you do this, the person will call you out or try to speak to you. Ideally maintain the distance or increase it while responding back. Besides scanning the environment to see if there are others that may be with this person and are they trying to flank you, one needs to also observe the person that is trying to talk to them for any pre - assault indicators.
There are many possible pre - assault indicators. Sometimes you may notice a few of them or even all of them and sometimes you may catch just one. These are behavioural patterns. Besides the verbal indicators like one getting verbally abusive, threatening to harm, increased volume or tone etc. Some of the possible indicators are - are they grooming as in touching their face, rubbing their forehead, stroking their hair or beard etc, are they making body movements like fidgeting, shifting body weight, pacing etc, are they blading as in suddenly turning sideways to hide their other hand from your view to either draw a weapon or get a fist ready to strike etc, are they suddenly looking around to see if there are other people around or watching or even deciding where they should strike you etc. These are just a few possible indicators. Indicators will always be there. However in some cases, people experienced in getting into fights or having knowledge of violence may actually get more calm and ready, thereby giving no pre - assault cues. However in most cases there will be indicators, we need to train to recognise them and be ready to take action to defend ourselves and protect our loved ones.
It is easy to say things like - it won't happen to me or I am fit enough to defend myself and so on. One needs to train constantly and pressure test your training. However self defense is not just about learning some techniques or being fit or tough. Self defense requires many things from situational awareness to verbal de - escalation, from identifying pre - assault indicators to using reasonable force and lots more. It is a lifestyle. It is not something you do but something you become.
Train like a warrior to be a warrior!!!
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