Self Defense Training Should Include Situational Awareness Skills
Situational awareness, often referred to as the "sixth sense," is the ability to perceive and comprehend your surroundings, anticipate potential threats, and make informed decisions.
This skill is invaluable in various aspects of life, from personal safety to professional success. Fortunately, situational awareness can be honed and refined through deliberate training.
In this article, we'll explore effective strategies to develop situational awareness through training, empowering you to navigate the world with a heightened sense of awareness and confidence.
Why is Situational Awareness Critical To Everyone's Self Defense Training
Situational awareness is an essential cornerstone of effective self-defense training for several compelling reasons. It serves as the foundation upon which all other skills and techniques are built, ensuring that individuals can respond appropriately and decisively to potential threats. Here's why situational awareness is critical to self-defense training:
Early Threat Detection: Situational awareness enables individuals to detect potential threats at the earliest stages. By actively observing their environment, people can identify suspicious behavior, unusual movements, or hostile individuals before a situation escalates. This early detection provides more time to assess and respond to the threat effectively.
Effective Decision-Making: When individuals are aware of their surroundings, they can make better decisions under pressure. Situational awareness allows them to assess the severity of a threat, evaluate available escape routes, and determine the most appropriate course of action. This informed decision-making is crucial for avoiding danger and minimizing risks.
Reduced Vulnerability: A lack of situational awareness can make individuals vulnerable to surprise attacks or ambushes. By staying alert and attentive, individuals can prevent potential attackers from gaining the element of surprise, giving them a significant advantage in a self-defense situation.
Optimal Resource Allocation: Situational awareness helps individuals allocate their resources, such as time, energy, and attention, more efficiently. They can focus on aspects that truly matter, such as identifying immediate threats, rather than wasting energy on distractions or irrelevant details.
Preventing Escalation: Situational awareness can help individuals recognize signs of escalating aggression in others or themselves. By identifying early signs of confrontation, they may have the opportunity to de-escalate the situation verbally or take evasive action before physical conflict becomes unavoidable.
Adaptability and Flexibility: In dynamic and rapidly changing situations, situational awareness allows individuals to adapt and respond to new information quickly. This flexibility is vital for adjusting their defensive strategies based on the evolving circumstances.
Maintaining Control: Being aware of one's surroundings instills a sense of control and confidence. This self-assuredness can deter potential attackers who might target individuals they perceive as vulnerable or unaware.
Safety Planning: Situational awareness informs individuals about potential risks and danger zones in their environment. This knowledge helps them plan their movements, routes, and activities to avoid high-risk areas and minimize exposure to potential threats.
Effective Communication: In self-defense scenarios involving multiple parties, situational awareness facilitates effective communication. Individuals can convey information about threats, locations, and intentions clearly and succinctly to others who may be involved in their defense.
Personal Empowerment: Developing situational awareness empowers individuals to take responsibility for their safety. Instead of relying solely on physical techniques, they can proactively avoid dangerous situations, making self-defense a holistic approach to personal security.
Understanding Situational Awareness
Situational awareness involves processing information from your environment, understanding its significance, and using this insight to make informed judgments.
It encompasses observing people, objects, and events, recognizing patterns, and predicting potential outcomes. By enhancing situational awareness, you can preemptively respond to situations, assess risks, and take appropriate action.
People with good situational awareness make it seem like a superhuman skill. They have an effortless ability to make precise assessments quickly and covertly. Situational awareness is developed and shaped with training and practice.
Situational awareness is defined as the perception of environmental elements and events with respect to time or space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their future status.
Leading expert in the areas of Situational Awareness and Behavioral Analysis.Yousef Badou says if your just 1% more aware it can give you second or more time to react...It may not sound like a lot right now, but when the unthinkable happens, this minimal difference often can mean the difference between life and death.
Situational awareness is a skill that can help you beyond self-defense. Having more information around the events in your life can help you make better judgments and better outcomes. The Situational awareness skill is more natural for sensitive or empathetic people however anyone can develop it. The following information has taken from years of research in the field of Situational Awareness and Behavioral Analysis. Much of it was developed from the life and death struggles on the battlefield.
How to Develop Situational Awareness For Self Defense
You will hear common phrases like head on the swivel or check your six as the definition of situational awareness. That description is very incomplete. There is too much noise in today's world. You must be able to pay attention to what's important and filter out the rest. You would be exhausted quickly if I asked you to absorb everything in your environment and your ability to process the information would be diminished accordingly. Let's focus on the things that matter like behaviors or warning signs of an imminent threat. You should also start all these scans from the immediate vicinity and work out farthest as the closer a hostile threat is to you, the easier it is for them to hurt you. When you scan for overt indicators always think "immediate action." If you observe one of these indicators you need to make a decision to fight, run, or hide to keep yourself safe. Let's Review the essential principles for improving your observational skills and then expand into situation awareness as a whole.
Observation + Orientation = Situational Awareness
First Let's Define the terms
Observation - the determination of the relative position of something or someone especially oneself
Orientation - the action or process of observing something or someone carefully or in order to gain information.
The OODA loop tool will aid our understanding. The OODA Loop is the cycle observe–orient–decide–act, developed by military strategist and the United States Air Force Colonel John Boyd. Boyd applied the concept to the combat operations process, often at the operational level during military campaigns. The person who can cycle through the OODA Loop the fastest and more accurate wins. Notice the relative phrase more accurately. That's because you can be most accurate but slower and lose.
Orientation helps us filter out and focus on what's important and puts those observations into a form or setting in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.
One must have the right perception to process information accurately. In his book, Jeff Cooper laid out a color warning system to help people gauge their mindset for hostile scenarios. The book's title is Principles of Personal Defense. The colors indicate a person’s potential state of focus and awareness;
Stay in Condition Yellow Alert
For optimal situational awareness, Cooper suggests that we always stay in what is best described as “relaxed alert.” There’s no direct threat, but you are alert and you’re observing your surroundings with your 5 senses. It's important to describe the yellow alert state as a relaxed calm demeanor so you don't bring any unwanted attention to yourself. If your head is on a swivel you may attract the attention of shifty people. Maintaining a true calm demeanor will allow you to take in more information and process it.
Stress and anxiety shrink your cognitive skills. causing tunnel vision and the dulling of your 5 senses. Sensory fade will cause us to miss critical details on the environment. Use can use your smartphone as a method of looking busy like everyone else while you covertly scan your environment and gather all the data elements.
Optimal Situational Awareness Position
A good vantage point choice will position you in an unobstructed spot to see the environment but still offers you good security. An example of a good vantage point might be your back to a wall and line of sight of all if not most entrances and exits.
Optimal Situational Awareness Position allows you to see people coming and going while allowing you to make a quick exit and eliminates the possibility of threat from behind you. Law enforcement officers typically take this position in restaurants.
Be aware of this discipline if you're meeting someone for dinner of questionable character and they pick the restaurant and arrive earlier taking the preferred seat. Not only may they have the best Situational Awareness spot they may have put you in the worst for a reason.
Understandably this is difficult to achieve however getting to the table first will give seat selection.
Situational Awareness Practice and Training
Identify Objects Around Your Environment Developing situational awareness starts with being aware of your environment. Take a second to identify objects in your immediate vicinity.
Chairs and tables
Walls and windows
Objects on table
When you’re aware of the objects around you, you can effectively determine what can be used as a weapon and what will be a potential obstacle. Should a dangerous situation develop, you’ll have a leg up in using your environment to your advantage.
Situational Awareness Exit Interview Game
How well do you see things, when you don't know what to look for? How well do you take in the little details of the environment? If you’re like most human beings, you ignore them. The Situational Awareness exit Interview exercise will get you to develop your skills of observation and orientation. Recent CIA Situational Awareness Post. Answers at bottom of page.
Next time your out with a friend, as you leave a store, restaurant, or other location, ask each other what you saw there. The questions you're looking to ask are:
How many people were working there?
What were the people at the next table eating?
How many customers?
Can you describe where were the exits?
Describe the decorations in the room?
Where were the tables or product shelving?
Was anyone there by themselves?
Were people sitting?
How well did the couples know each other?
The person who can recall the most details wins. Orient: Baselines, Goals, and Action Plans Making your observation become actionable is part of the orienting process. Orienting the information is achieved by the relationships between these three things. 1) Baselines and anomalies for our particular environment, baselines include
Type and volume of noise
Odors
The level of light both artificial and natural
Patterns of movement of customers and employees
Customer activities
How is the crown dressed
The general mood of the crowd
2) Mental models of human behavior
3) Plans of action depending on our observations
Establish a Situational Awareness Baseline Wherever You Go
All environments and people have a baseline. A baseline is a minimum or starting point used for comparisons. Its what’s “normal” in a particular situation. It will vary from person to person and environment to environment.
After you have established a baseline, you can now track and spot those elements that do not match it. Those elements are anomalies and will always exist for some purpose. While many will not be a threat, each must be evaluated to see if there is a potential threat.
Anomalies are something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected in that environment. You will focus and collect all the anomalies and make predictions on the fly. Situational awareness is achieved by taking in our surroundings.
"After we orient ourselves to establish a baseline, we direct our attention to anomalies."
Patrick Van Horne and Jason A. Riley in the book Left of Bang suggest that you mentally ask yourself these questions every time you enter a new environment:
Baseline Questions: What’s going on here? What’s the general mood of the place? What’s the “normal” activity that I should expect here? How do most people behave here most of the time? Anomaly Question: What would cause someone or something to stand out?
What Behavioral Clusters Should You Look For?
The human brain can only process so much information at a given moment. In the world of self-defense, where things unfold quickly and seconds are often the difference between life and death, where we direct our attention is critical. How do we do it? Heuristics
Heuristics are mental shortcuts that ease the cognitive load of making a decision. Examples that employ heuristics include using trial and error, a rule of thumb, or an educated guess. Decisions made from heuristics aren’t always perfect, but in the context of your self-defense, they’re usually good enough and better than nothing.
The Observation of People Can Be Very Revealing
Experts in interpersonal communication have estimated that nonverbal communication constitutes approximately 70 percent of what is involved in communication. In other words, only about 30 percent of communication involves the actual words that we use.
Van Horne has stated that the important category of clues is what he calls kinesics, an area of behavior that involves people’s conscious and subconscious body language.
"words are the lowest form of communication" Fausto Alarcon
Kinesics is the study of the way in which certain body movements and gestures serve as a form of nonverbal communication.
In the discipline of kinesics, there are three clusters of body language that are of particular interest for situational awareness. They are submissive/dominant behavior, uncomfortable /comfortable behavior, and uninterested/interested behavior.
Comfortable- uncomfortable behavior trait. Most people are going to appear comfortable in their day to day environment. If someone appears to be uncomfortable, that’s an anomaly that warrants attention, but it doesn’t mean they are a hostile threat. They could be distressed for personal reasons. It’s just something to keep your eye on.
Another typical display of uncomfortable behavior you’ll see from people with potentially bad intentions is head swiveling. Bad guys will look over their shoulders to see what’s behind them. They will scan their surroundings for opportunity or see if there is a potential threat for them prior to the bad act.
Human beings who are relaxed and at ease typically don’t do this because they don’t feel any threat. So if you see a guy looking over his shoulder a lot and standing there aloof, that’s an anomaly that should get your attention.
On the flip side, someone acting comfortable when everyone else is uncomfortable would be an anomaly.
Interested -uninterested behavior trait. Most human beings don't pay attention to their environment. Individuals who are showing interest in a particular person or object that most people wouldn’t be interested in is an anomaly that warrants further observation.
Dominance-submissive behavior trait. Typically, most human beings try to get along with others, so for the most part people act in accommodating and submissive ways.
Human beings get along to get along, aggressive behavior often constitutes an exception, and the individual presenting it deserves attention. If an individual acts in a pushy, dictatorial, or overbearing way, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a threat; context matters.
You would not think twice if a supervisor acted authoritative in relation to their workers and the employees to act passively to their manager. Extreme aggressive behavior being acted out by a customer towards a worker isn’t as common. Such behavior should be watched.
Body language clusters establish baselines for situations in which we find ourselves and allow us to direct our finite attention towards behaviors that are potentially more important and/or hostile.
If an individual's behavior amongst the following principles does not fit the baseline, they are an exception and you should monitor them closely. If the individual's conduct matches the baseline for that particular circumstance, you can pretty much ignore them.
How To Spot The "ALPHA" In The Group
Mimicry- Who is using who as a model.
Adoration- Whos opening doors for who.
Direction- Whos giving directions overt or covert / head nod-giving. Who are the people in the group looking towards?
Entourage- Who are the people attending or surrounding and who is the important person.
Other Behavioral Threat Indicators That Should Peak Your Situational Awareness
Bulges in Clothing. Most weapons cause visible bulges in clothing unless the individual is wearing clothing that is specifically tailored to hide it. Checking the hands- Clear the hands to ensures that the person is not holding a weapon and is not preparing to strike. Hands often telegraph hidden nefarious intentions. Checking the contacts eye movement and blinking rates. Studies have indicated measurements of head movement, blink rate, eyelid closure, or gaze direction in any and all can be a reliable data point. Even though someone's hands are empty, are they concealing something they don’t want to be discovered? Bad guys carrying a gun, knife, or stolen object, will often touch or pat an area on the body where that object is concealed to ensure the object has not been lost or is still hidden from view. “Acting Natural.” It’s difficult to act naturally. People acting naturally will appear distracted and over- or under-exaggerate their movements.
Have a Plan of Action Based on What You Observe
You don’t have time to formulate a well-thought-out plan. What’s more, the stress of the threat event will muddle your thinking and decision-making.
Flight- Can you leave and call it in?
Fight- Depends on your skills and abilities
Practice Daily, Establish baselines. Look for anomalies and develop a plan.
A Final Word About Situational Awareness
Situational awareness is a cultivated mindset. You want to get to the point that it’s just something you do without having to think about it. To get to that point, you have to practice it regularly.
When your out and about take the opportunity to practice. Look for entry and exit points whenever you enter an unfamiliar building.
Observing people and establish baselines and spot potential anomalies while you’re at the store, at work. Develop the what-if muscle by thinking through scenarios and responses. What you would do in that specific situation if a possible threat arose. Don’t be paranoid, just mindful.
You won't become a situational awareness expert overnight. This training takes considerable time and practice to become good at.
Developing situational awareness through training is a transformative journey that empowers you with a heightened sense of perception, intuition, and readiness. By consistently practicing mindfulness, observation, and strategic thinking, you can cultivate this essential skill and apply it to various aspects of your life. Whether for personal safety, professional success, or simply enriching your experiences, the investment in situational awareness training is a valuable endeavor that pays dividends in confidence and preparedness.
More How To Resources on Situational Awareness and Pre Threat Indicators
Yousef Badou is a former Marine Infantryman with multiple combat tours and an industry-leading expert in the areas of Situational Awareness and Behavioral Analysis. He is routinely utilized by the FBI, Joint Regional Intelligence Centers, Overseas Advisory Council, and all levels of Military and Law Enforcement. https://www.emergencedisrupt.com
Patrick Van Horne and Jason A. Riley. Patrick Left of Bang by https://www.cp-journal.com
Violence Prevention and Conflict Management Resources
The Center for Violence Prevention and Self-Defense Training (CVPSD) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing evidence-based training in violence prevention and self-defense. With a focus on unbiased program development, CVPSD offers customized programs to individuals and organizations, equipping them with the tools to enhance personal safety and contribute to violence prevention in their communities. The Center reaches individuals and communities through partnerships with schools and other nonprofits, community groups, as well as classes for the public.