Dim Mak Chinese Pressure Points From a Self Defence Perspective, an Introduction

1. You don’t need to have studied, or be studying, another martial art, or have attended self defence classes to learn Dim Mak. These points can be learnt as a stand alone art in itself.

2. If you have knowledge of another martial art, Dim Mak can be incorporated into your existing knowledge.

3. While some martial arts (and martial arts instructors) focus on ‘fighting’ techniques, groups of movements and strategies to use during a conflict, Dim Mak does not. It is not about ‘fighting’, it is about self defence. Fighting is on-going, it’s really a game (although a dangerous and deadly one) where two or more people ‘trade’ blows, scoring points, in effect. This is even true of street brawling, where emotions run high, and people keep slugging it out, or kicking even when someone is down. Dim Mak’s focus in entirely different. It is the epitome of ‘self-defence’, it’s about giving yourself the tools to stop a conflict before a ‘fight’ even begins. It's also about diffusing the situation by ensuring that your safety is guaranteed.

4. Chinese Dim Mak pressure points defence is also different from ‘self defence’ courses you may have attended or seen advertised. These courses are often groups of strategies and techniques taken from a variety of martial arts, and ‘fighting’ styles. They may be useful in conflict situations, but they differ from Dim Mak in one very substantial way – Dim Mak is a complete study, thousands of years old, refined and tuned over time and continually adapting. It’s the combination of theory and the practice, the perspective from which Dim Mak operates and the unique beginnings and evolution of Dim Mak, that separate it from other martial arts, fighting styles and self defence courses.

Now, all of this may make you think that Dim Mak is extremely complicated, difficult to master and too much work, based on all this history and theory. While there is a lot to learn to be an effective and efficient Dim Mak practitioner, Dim Mak is also a very compact study. Look at the Top 36 Secret Shaolin Points, for example.

There aren’t 100 different physical moves in Dim Mak, in fact if you’ve studied any of the courses you’ll have found that there are a group of essential techniques, and there aren’t a lot of variations of these either. They do require practice to master, but you don’t have to master large numbers of them.

The theory side of Dim Mak, understanding the way the body reacts to strikes to certain Chinese pressure points, the pathways (Meridians) of energy and the unique link between pressure points, pathways and the body, is what makes Dim Mak such a potent self defence study. More about that in my Dim Mak Manual The Art and Science of Deadly Pressure Point Fighting.

There is another factor that separates Dim Mak from other self defence arts. It’s effectiveness regardless of age, size or gender. In fact, Dim Mak has this one totally covered, it’s not self defence for the aged, self defence for women, self defence for children, for the hearing impaired or the sight impaired. Dim Mak is just self defence, for everyone.

It’s concepts and techniques naturally adapt to how you use it as an individual. It doesn’t require huge amounts of stamina or fitness, because it is not designed for ‘fighting’ - prolonged bouts of attack, defend, attack again. While you may become quite exhausted as you practice the art, repeating the techniques over and over again is conditioning, and tiring, but in a real life situation, when you’re using it for self defence, a few seconds is all you’ll need.

And don't forget to read the other articles regarding the various aspects of dim mak pressure points applications. You'll see how it is possible that something that has a core group of essential techniques, can be so potent.

Back to Chinese Pressure Points Self Defence

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