Kaiso Dave Bendigkeit - Shintaikido of Pacifica

June 7, 2007

1. When most people think of enrolling their children or themselves in the martial arts, they think of learning self-defense.

2. Shintaikido training has helped children to diffuse bullying, do better with their concentration, self-discipline, avoiding violence and even kidnapping, along with defending themselves appropriately when attacked. Shintaikido has thus helped them to do better in school and in life. Shintaikido has helped many women to end domestic abuse situations and assault situations, thereby allowing them to lead safer, more productive lives. Shintaikido has helped men to prevail in street assault situations, and do better work in the Police, FBI, and the Military, including one student’s role as Defensive Tactics Instructor for the United States Marine Corps.

3. The effectiveness of your self-defense is not based on techniques; it is based on well-timed action. You train to react with appropriate force at the right time in order to protect yourself. The element of surprise is a very important key for you.

4. It’s all about your attitude. We refer to this attitude as “fighting spirit” or “animal instinct”. This means if you are attacked, you must defend yourself immediately with all of your resources, especially your basic instinct to protect your own body and the safety of your family and loved ones.

5. If you do nothing, then all of the training in the world cannot help you.

6. I cannot tell a student under the age of eighteen how and at what level of force they must react with when attacked. Only their parents can tell them that.

7. To children and their parents: I teach you what to do, your parents tell you when to do it.

8. All martial arts teach the same principles. After my forty years of involvement in this, I can assure you that no one martial art is better than another. Martial art techniques are only as good as the practitioner. Any martial art will work if you act at the right moment with the appropriate amount of force.

9. Martial training begins and ends with respect. This includes for your adversary. Three sure ways to get attacked are to insult, make fun of, or otherwise cause your “future attacker” to lose face, especially in front of his or her peers. Be polite and show respect!

10. Martial training is mainly a collection of interwoven techniques, which if properly used, give you a better chance of surviving an attack. What these techniques are not is a guarantee that you will prevail if you use them poorly or not at all.

11. Martial art techniques must be used in order for them to work.

12. The bottom line is that what you get out of your training is directly proportional to what you put into it. If you don’t come to class and practice every day, you cannot gain any usable level of skill and fighting spirit.