Sam Harris weighs in on self-defense in an excellent article

I almost never do this. In fact, I don't think I've ever done this on this blog before, but this blog post by Sam Harris (of The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, all New York Times bestselling books, and being one of the so-called "four horsemen" of the New Atheist movement fame) is about practical self-defense. It is very good, and anyone interested in martial arts or self-defense owes it to himself to read it, as should their family members. Anyone stumbling upon this site looking for something to do with African cats should probably read it too.

I don't really want to drag this out here, but I really want to draw some attention to one of the points that Harris makes in the first note of this blog article for two good reasons. First, as it is in an endnote, it is likely to be missed except by careful, thorough readers. Second, it is appropriate to the discussion of Yin Style Baguazhang that underlies this blog. Let me quote that note for you here:

There are important differences between effective self-defense training and most martial arts. Training to fight for sport or to master a traditional fighting system, no matter how impressive its techniques, is not the same as training to survive real-world violence. For instance, most students and fans of mixed martial arts (MMA) know that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the gold standard for fighting on the ground. However, a preference for fighting on the ground is a major liability in the real world. An approach that often works brilliantly in MMA makes no sense when one’s goal is to end an encounter quickly and escape, when there are no rules to prevent an attacker from gouging your eyes or using a weapon, or when a second assailant arrives and begins kicking you in the head. Of course, it is essential to know what to do on the ground if you ever find yourself there—and for this, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a perfect tool. But from the perspective of self-defense, you want to remain standing and mobile if given the chance.

First, we must recognize the first point made: training, including training a traditional martial art of great effectiveness for fighting, like Yin Style Bagua, isn't the same as real-world self-defense. That cannot be understated. Your training can increase your probability of successfully handling a physical encounter, but such things are dangerous and likely to cause injury to yourself or to create legal liability for you. If we want to be real about it, real fights are very dangerous situations with potentially far-reaching and serious consequences.

Next, we can acknowledge the point about MMA and BJJ. In the modern martial arts culture, given the popularity of MMA and BJJ as the "gold standards" that are "pressure tested," Yin Style Bagua is likely to hear a lot of criticism for its hard focus on standing-oriented fighting. This point made by Harris, however, indicates that such criticism is largely, though not entirely, groundless, if you'll pardon the pun.

Not to put too fine a point on the matter, but we should recognize that the foundations of Yin Style Baguazhang are designed around the optimal situation in the context of a dangerous fight. While it may be unlikely that any given average practitioner of any art, including baguazhang (YSB in particular), has much of a chance against multiple opponents, Yin Style Bagua was designed around the concept of fighting in exactly this kind of environment, not to guarantee success in such a losing position but rather to maximize its plausibility of success.

To achieve this end, YSB focuses on staying on our feet as much as possible while using techniques that create quick knockdowns and throws of our opponent, often while hitting very hard and manipulating their bodies in ways that create substantial damage, in the process seeking to spend only a few seconds on an engagement with an opponent, if possible, enabling an escape that might not otherwise be possible.

In accordance with this philosophy, YSB does not have a sporting aspect to it. It is only recently opened from its secretive origins in Beijing, and it is trained as a fighting art, not an art that even has a wing used for sport or competition. There are no rules on how we can use our techniques, and we assume no rules on how opponents will use theirs. This adds a small amount of realism to the theory behind how we train.

Anyway, give Harris's full post a good look. It's a rather stunning piece of practical advice on self-defense for anyone that trains or doesn't. It will be required reading for my family; that's for sure.