Self Control

We spend hours in the dojo sweating and training and we follow traditions and rituals, all designed to enhance our self-control and to make the moves natural and instinctive.

Most of us thankfully will never use the skills that we have learned. Others unfortunately will be forced to use it.
Those that know me will know that I am an Ex Doorman in the town where I live; many people are probably unaware of the volatile scenes that Doormen are faced with on a daily basis.

On one such shift I was on the door of the club I worked at. The Code word for trouble was “Mr Christopher” and we would often hear such things as “Mr Christopher to stage bar” or “Mr Christopher to dance floor”. On this particular night I was called to a fight on the dance floor.

The call was placed from the D.J who over looked the dance floor. The guys that were fighting had no idea that doormen were being summoned to the dance area and I was first on the scene and greeted by five guys all fighting.
Here is the dilemma, do I leave the public with a violent “chemically enhanced” bunch of idiots, who may injure bystanders as well as each other, or do I do a runner and wait for other doormen to deal with the problem?

As I shouted at them to stop, another guy suddenly appeared from nowhere and he quickly became very aggressive and confrontational, and was not willing to listen to any form of calming talk or reasoning.

Other doormen were on their way or should I say I hoped they were. Within seconds this new troublemaker, dropped his dominant fist back and swung at me ( knowing how to tell which is the dominant fist is something we learn during training). Without thought or reasoning I was able to enter into his strike blocking it and executing a powerful throw that sent him off balance and into a bunch of tables.

He did not know what technique I was going to execute and neither did I, yet I was still able to send him to the ground safely, I then picked him up in sankajo technique to enable me to maintain control of both him and the situation.

After that the other guys stopped fighting and just looked at me, I warned them all that they would all have to leave, then just in the nick of time the other doormen showed up and they were all safely escorted from the club.
Using “REASONABLE FORCE” on these people, even in self-defence is a MUST, and if I hadn’t it would most certainly have had repercussions for me.

In these situations it is so easy to lose control and this can be very dangerous, not only from a physical point of view, because if you lose control, you cannot think clearly. But also from a legal point of view losing control and using excessive force can lead you into conflict with the law.

Thanks to my training with YOSHINKAN AIKIDO I was able to keep my temper controlled and so think clearly not allowing frustration to take hold. My training also meant I reacted instinctively yet calmly so I was able to go home to my wife and children without any repercussions, from either the law or, my own inner emotional state.