Coach Blauer has been in the martial art, self-defense, defensive tactics, and combatives industry for four decades! He is one of the only Combatives experts who has successfully affected training across all the combat related communities: self-defense, combat sports, and the military & law enforcement sector. His research on physiology, mindset as it relates to confrontation management has influenced over three decades of reality-based martial artists and enhanced the survivability of law enforcement, military and emergency services personnel around the world. You will be able to find educational content from Coach Blauer when we release the Go SOLO App (next month). In the meantime, we wanted you to get to know one of the great self defense leaders of our time: SOLO: Give us your elevator pitch? TB: We can make you safer in a day. What the Red Cross has done for first-aid, we have done for self-defense. We took 4 decades of knowledge, training, research, and experience and designed a 1-day personal safety and self-defense program with the same focus and efficiency as a first aid/CPR course. Here’s the reframe, in a First-Aid/CPR course your focus is generally saving someone else, in the case of self-defense, the life you are working hard to save is yours. SOLO: What's your mission? TB: Since 1980, I’ve had the same mission, I want to help make the world safer. SOLO: Self-defense, most people think you need to be a martial arts expert to learn it effectively. How does the everyday person get prepared? And why is that important? TB: Great questions and that's one of the biggest obstacles we face in the self-defense world - we can thank kung fu movies, action films, and comic books for that Many people think you need a black belt or some special skillset to be able to protect yourself, you don’t. There are a few very simple movements that can create enough surprise and impact that would give you time to break away… we call this ‘stun and run’, but I've gotten ahead of myself, you asked: how to get better prepared? When we train people, regardless of experience, we start with something we call “The Timeline of Violence”. It's essentially a roadmap that shows how a typical confrontation unfolds. Knowing this helps demystify the confrontation, it also shows you where you might be lacking knowledge and education and that could be your blind spot. SOLO: How much does mindfulness come into play as it relates to what you teach? TB: We are very big on self-awareness and how it can help navigate fear and improve situational awareness. In that sense, our program is very holistic. Self-awareness is the key to everything. Mindfulness is an important conversation when you ‘choose safety’ and choose to protect what you love and respect. Having a singular focus on what you need to do to stay safe is a form of mindfulness as well. SOLO: What are the methods you teach? TB: Typically when people speak of ‘methods’ and self-defense, they generally think of martial art styles and systems. We took a different path that started back in the 80s. By studying violence, fear, and aggression we reverse-engineered a “behaviorally inspired and genetically wired” method of self-defense. In this way, we have re-imagined self-defense so that it can enhance the safety of anyone regardless of their experience. We blend physiology and psychology to enhance the safety of everyone we teach. Our Specific Objectives on our Be Your Own Bodyguard Course are: IMPROVE AWARENESS - this helps us detect and avoid confrontations. MANAGE FEAR - this is an essential skill that empowers us to make brave choices when we need to think, move, or act quickly. SPEAK STRATEGICALLY - de-escalation is an art and science - learning to choose our words carefully can help us defuse or defend ourselves. MOVE IMMEDIATELY- our system is designed around physiology, natural biomechanics, and fundamental psychology. The SPEAR System teaches us to convert the startle-flinch response into an effective protective countermeasure. The SPEAR System is entirely based on the human survival system which makes it the easiest system to learn, use, and retain. We actually pioneered behaviorally-based self-defense - we started in the 80s and have always had a singular goal of making good humans safer sooner regardless of their experience. SOLO: How can we find out more about you? TB: Our HQ website will show you all the programs we have http://www.blauertrainingsystems.com Learn more about our mindset and fear management here https://getknowfear.com/ebook SOLO: What should I know that I didn’t ask? TB: Every person is equipped with the software (intuition) and hardware (physiology and natural biomechanics) required to detect danger, think strategically, and move immediately when in danger. By learning to use the body’s physiology and natural biomechanics we can teach people to move protectively and effectively in a very short time span. Fear will present in a high-stress situation, and we have developed a system to re-think fear and use it to create urgency and energy that will help fuel our decisions and movement. In truth, all humans are also human weapon systems, but because we don’t live in the wilderness any longer and we don't need to hunt to survive, many of us have simply forgotten how to manage fear and danger. Thank you Coach Blauer, we appreciate your insight, we will see you in the GO SOLO App, launching next month. Stay Tuned!