[nagdu] Amount of walking was BOOK ON SELF-DEFENSE

Bryan Brown bryanbrown at solarus.biz
Thu Mar 11 13:50:07 UTC 2010


    I try to cover at least 6 miles a day, no matter what the weather,,, 6 
to 10 is my average but I'm kind of a fitness freak. Most of the streets 
that I travel on don't have sidewalks and the streets that do have sidewalks 
are very uneven. I only take public transportation if I have a very heavy 
load to carry or if it's just plain to icy to get a footing.

I am a massage therapist so fitness is very good advertising for me and when 
I walk with my GSD Tarik, we're like a walking billboard, I try to keep him 
as accurate with his work as I can and walking and working with him is truly 
my favorite sport.

    Bryan
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joy Relton" <jrelton at verizon.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 7:01 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] BOOK ON SELF-DEFENSE


> Hi folks,
>
> I believe that taking self-defense classes or studying martial arts would
> help a great deal. I studied karate several years ago and one of the most
> important things that I learned was awareness of my body and how to use my
> strengths and weaknesses to my advantage. Very often it isn't practical 
> for
> a blind person to flee in the event of confrontation, so, there are other
> techniques that work to help to fend off attacks or make yourself less
> venerable to attack. For me, I believe that one of the most important 
> things
> that one learns in studying martial arts and self-defense is to have
> self-confidence. Sometimes, the simple ability to say to someone that you
> are in control of yourself   will serve as a deterrent. This is all part 
> of
> being assertive, which is very different from being on the offensive. This
> whole thing about self-confidence helps when you want to be received as an
> equal in a restaurant or any other setting. If you don't believe it, watch
> people. Those who walk in as though they belong there, without apology or
> aggression are much more likely to be admitted without hastle than those 
> who
> walk in tentatively and aren't sure of what they are doing. It makes you
> venerable. Having said all that, I'm not advocating that you charge down
> dark alleys. I mean, gain confidence in your abilities and go forth. 
> Develop
> and use good travel skills and good thinking skills to solve problems. 
> It's
> a process and you won't always succeed and you won't always feel that
> confidence inside. It takes a lot of self talk. I encounter this 
> frequently
> just crossing certain streets because my sense of direction and ability to
> "hear" buildings and the like has been changed due to an aneurism which
> burst in my brain. I am determine not to become a couch patatoe so I
> obtained some tools to help me overcome some of the physical problems, and
> some extra training from an O&M instructor to help remind me of certain
> physical land marks that I can use to confirm my direction. When I was
> working with the O&M instructor the other day and we went to cross a 
> street
> whose curbs, of course, don't line up I asked what I could do to help me 
> be
> sure that I didn't miss the curb completely and she showed me some
> techniques, like simply intentionally aiming in from the corner a little 
> and
> then working my way back once I was across the street. What I have found 
> is
> that a big part of my travel errors and problems relate to confidence. 
> When
> I step out and walk in normal steps at a good rate instead of taking
> tentative and slow steps I cross better. So, I have taken the phrase "sin
> boldly" from Martin Luther's writings as my mantra to give me that kick. I
> have no doubt that there will be times when it isn't the whole answer, but
> it will get me closer to what I want to do. It's all about taking a chance
> and going forward.
>
> A question relating to this whole issue of venerability and confidence is,
> how often does the average blind person actually walk in their environment
> for more than a block or two. In working with the Seeing Eye instructor 
> who
> came to do the juno walk with me this week, I found that an increase 
> number
> of blind people are using Para transit as their only means of transport 
> and
> movement. So, they walk from the house to a van and from the van to their
> office building and reverse that whole process. As a result their travel
> skills aren't well used or developed, and the dog doesn't get a chance to
> keep his/her guiding skills finely honed. I'm curious, how many of the
> people on this list actually walk more than a mile a day? Of those, how 
> many
> take different routes? How many use mass transit extensively to go to
> shopping malls, restaurants, doctor's appointments, or to the office. I'm
> asking these questions to get a feel for what sort of travel folks are
> doing, and not as a form of criticism. We all live in different areas and
> have varying levels of travel skills and physical abilities, I'm just
> curious.
>
> Joy
>
>
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