Overview

How do we cultivate inner strength? Martial arts and self-defence are about so much more than physical skills. Learning to fight is a catalyst for growth. It makes our students stronger, more confident, and more resilient - at least, that's how it's supposed to work. Too often, the students who need that strength the most struggle to find it. Learn how to build a training environment that helps all of your students grow. Help them face their fears, grapple with failure, test themselves, and come out far more capable than before. Fear is the Mind Killer covers the fundamentals of designing a healthy training culture, from policy-writing and classroom strategies, to building drills and stress testing. You'll get a primer on the science of motor learning and motivation, and learn how to work more effectively with underserved populations, including women and survivors of violence. This system-agnostic guide gives you the tools you need to assess your existing school environment and make sure that it's serving the needs of all of your students, or to build a new school that is accessible, ethical, and effective. It will help you ask the right questions and find the answers that make the most sense for you and your community, and includes sample drills and planning exercises to get you started. You know what your students need. Here's how to get it to them. The First Anniversary Tactical Edition brings you all the same great content, now in a no-nonsense matte black package that's as tough as you are.

Full Product Details

9781999066321

Table of Contents

Reviews

Once a decade, or less often, a book comes along that changes the game. Sadowski's Fear is the Mind Killer is that book. In it, she lays out the theory and practice of creating training environments that nurture student growth by building an emotionally safe environment for practising physically dangerous things, and a physically safe environment for practising emotionally dangerous things. How to push them, how to let them fail usefully, and how to make sure that every student gets the support they need to handle the stresses of effective training. Drawing on her experience of running a martial arts school, and helping train police officers, she lays out the foundations for truly effective practice: how to put your students under realistic levels of combat stress without breaking them, and without the instructor turning into a caricature of a drill sergeant. It is perhaps the most important martial arts book of the 21st century so far. If there is one book I wish I'd read before founding my school, it's Fear is the Mind Killer. There is no better resource for creating effective and ethical training environments. - Guy Windsor, founder of The School of European Swordsmanship and author of The Swordsman's Companion We are at the beginning of a renaissance in self-defense and martial arts training. The focus is shifting, and must shift, away from egotistical instructors and received wisdom or dogma. Teaching is about the student, and all of us instructors have to focus on that simple fact. We need to learn how to reach each individual student, regardless of how much or how little they resemble us. We need to help them find and refine the tools that they need for their problems. We need to be facilitators in growing each student's strength, understanding and resilience. Kaja Sadowski's Fear is the Mind Killer is the best manual available on how to do that, in particular on creating an environment where the people who most need the skills (and are least likely to seek out instruction) can feel comfortable enough to grow into their natural strength. - Rory Miller, author of Meditations on Violence and Facing Violence

Author Information

Kaja Sadowski has been a physical instructor since 2004. She taught figure skating, rock climbing, and mountaineering before coming to martial arts in 2010. She joined the coaching team at Valkyrie Western Martial Arts Assembly in 2012, and is the school's co-owner. She teaches group and private lessons to students of all experience levels, and has traveled extensively to teach at events across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Her primary weapon is the rapier, and she also teaches unarmed striking, grappling, knife combat, and self-defence. Kaja has been a civilian auxiliary with the Vancouver Police Department's Force Options Training Unit since 2015, participating in realistic tactical training scenarios and providing guest instruction to their Special Municipal Constable program. She holds a Master of Arts in English Literature, and did the majority of her graduate work on medieval English and French chivalric romances. She has presented at a number of academic conferences, and has taught at the undergraduate level in literature, history, and medieval studies. She regularly leverages her academic training to serve her martial arts research. Kaja lives in Vancouver, Canada. When she's not punching people in the face, she enjoys embroidery, board games, and powerlifting.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available