I’m  honoring my great great great great etc. grandfather Hugh The Templar, founder of the Knights Templars.

The Knights Templar understood the importance of KILLER INSTINCT; however today we have forgotten this is a HUMAN instinct that we need to develop again!
KILLER INSTINCT has gotten a bad rap and Webster says it refers to a BURNING DESIRE TO SUCCEED!

There are four aspects I will be discussing that I have learned from martial arts instructor Ed Aiken.

First he uses for the FOUR aspects a continuum from RIGHT to LEFT.

So here is the first one – FOCUS.

At the right he says our FOCUS is wide and as a threat or survival scenario seems more immediate that FOCUS naturally NARROWS.

The second aspect on the continuum is INTENT.

On the right side would be DETACHMENT in order to determine the threat level developing. This could be enough time to possibly keep the scenario from moving across the continuum to ALL OUT force! When it goes this far it becomes a SURVIVAL scenario

Here is the third of the four continuums concerning KILLER INSTINCT – ACTIONS.

Going from the right we find that we need to be PLAYFUL according to Ed Aiken. This is so we can more easily defuse the situation. We learn this in the Russian SYSTEMA; however we don’t want to be PASSIVE!

If we can’t defuse the situation, then we must start moving to the left side of the continuum, where we find TOTAL ALL OUT COMMITMENT including injury or even death to the instigator especially if loved ones are involved. All aspects of FORCE MUST BE USED!

The fourth continuum is – EMOTIONS!

On the right side we have what Ed calls ALOOFNESS or being PASSIVELY REACTIVE. You are accessing the threat level to see if it exist.

Jack Reacher is a PERFECT example of a dude, who first accesses the threat level and attempts to defuse any situation. He exemplifies the art of SITUATIONAL AWARENESS that I specialize in. In fact, reading Jack Reacher novels has helped me greatly!

So let’s assume there is a valid threat that could lead to injury or even death. Now you want to move to the far left side of the continuum – CONTROLLED & FOCUSED RAGE!

This is when your VOICE should kick in too as it is used to startle the opponent. It could throw him/her off guard and give you the split second advantage!

As I mentioned above my expertise is SITUATIONAL AWARENESS and I learned from the best in the business – Tom Brown. He has trained not only individuals like myself but US Special Forces operators. He has been used to test the infiltration of top US military bases and NEVER been caught!

I strongly recommend you read Ed and Tom’s books and the Jack Reacher novels. Recently I began to watch the fight scenes in the John Wick films and learned some more about the KILLER INSTINCT!