The Secret of Winning Against a Bigger Attacker

In my previous article I covered why fighting back is the biggest mistake you can make when defending yourself.

Fighting is confused with self defense.

Defending yourself is not the same as fighting back!

The prevailing attitude is that you need to fight to protect yourself despite the fact that the playing field is not level. Your attacker is likely to be bigger, stronger or more aggressive. The reality is that fighting back against a bigger or stronger attacker has little to no chance of success.

Now picture the Yin and Yang symbol.

Yang (white) represents the masculine characteristics of strength and aggression.
Yin (black) depicts feminine qualities of softness and passivity.

Fighting is Yang.

Fighting against a bigger attacker positions you as the little black dot in a sea of white. The odds of you winning here are not good.

In ‘the Art of War’, one of the principles is not to let your enemy choose the battlefield. If you follow this advice and shift the battlefield to the Yin's arena, magic happens. The sea of white is now a little white dot in a sea of black.

The table has turned. Winning is a foregone conclusion if you have the right tools.

The Key To Winning Against A Stronger Attacker

Clearly the key is to shift the battlefield from one where you don't stand a chance to the one where your attacker's superiorities are negated.

Fighting back puts you in the Yang domain where the odds are stacked against you.

Word association is very powerful. The moment you think of the word "fight", it puts you in the mindset of fighting. You associate it with violence.
Fighting requires aggression and strength. Pictures of kicking and punching come to the fore.

If you are placid person, all your aggression and strength will not be a match for a stronger attacker. Fight all you want, but it will not detract from the fact that you are still a little black dot in the sea of white.

The opposite of fighting back, is to counter with intelligence which is the Yin's domain. His strength and aggression are negated because you are not using either here.

Softness is the key. With softness comes relaxation which gives you a calmness to deal with the situation.

How to negate his superiority

In theory everything works. But how do you shift the battlefield in real life?

Take a simple example; when an attacker grabs you from behind in a bear hug.
Conventional wisdom teaches you to fight. You struggle with all your strength to break loose. You kick back into his shin, bang you're head into his face.

Fighting means operating in the Yang domain. The odds are stacked against you.

To shift the battlefield you must not fight. Do the opposite, relax your body totally. No hint of any fight. Turn your head towards him and whisper an offer he cannot refuse while at the same time slip one of your hands behind and start fondling him. When you have a nice firm hold, simply grip hard and yank.
Watch him drop you faster than a hot potato!

This is the art of fighting without fighting.
This is the secret of how to more than level the playing field when you are disadvantaged by size, strength and aggression.

In the next post I will cover the reason why we frequently fall into the trap of fighting back.