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Any situation can go from feeling safe to leaving you in fight or flight mode. Your instincts will always signal when it’s time to prepare yourself for safety, and having basic survival knowledge can help you get out of some life-threatening circumstances. Read on to discover more about self-defence everyone should know.

1. Understand the Importance of Situational Awareness

Having awareness of your surroundings can help you avoid causing harm to yourself or others. You should train yourself to scan your environment without alerting potential perpetrators. Here’s what you can do:

• Keep your head up and eyes moving to ensure you notice exits, people around you, vehicles, and anything that looks out of place.
• Use your phone only when you’re stationary in safe locations. Using your phone can be a distraction and increase your vulnerability.
• Always trust your gut. If a place or person makes you uneasy, leave immediately without second-guessing why you feel like that.

2. Learn to Use Your Voice

Relying on your voice can be the simplest, yet most effective tool to avert danger. If you notice a suspicious person getting close, shout and tell them to stop, which should startle them. Moreover, it can force bystanders to respond to your signal immediately if you are in a situation where you cannot access the FREE-to-use iER App from your smartphone.

3. Create Barriers and Distance

If you are walking and feel uneasy, you should rely on distance to buy time and reduce the threat. For instance, you can position obstacles between you and the danger, if possible, use cars, fences or doors to ensure they can’t reach you. If someone approaches who makes you uncomfortable, put a firm, physical object like your bag, umbrella, or a stick between you and them while you move away without turning your back and running blindly.

4. Escape Without Fighting

The purpose of self-defence is to survive and escape without putting yourself in harm’s way. The basic skills you learn are about creating an opportunity to get away and save yourself. Things like knowing how to break an assailant’s grip on you, running to go to safety, and calling for help can be lifesaving.

5. Take Self-Defence Classes

The aim is to learn simple techniques that can help you when faced with an immediate threat. For instance, these are basic self-defence skills you can learn under trained supervision:

• If grabbed from behind, you should know how to lower your centre of gravity and step back to make it harder for anyone to move you.
• Using your elbows and feet to create space between yourself and the assailant.
• If someone grabs your wrist, rotate your thumb toward their thumb and pull your arm back in the smallest and strongest direction.
• If an attacker’s weight is on you, aim to unbalance them by shifting your hips, using your legs to push off the ground and creating space for escape.

6. Learn to Improvise

When faced with a life-threatening situation and on the brink of an attack, your brain can freeze. However, there are everyday items, such as your keys, phone, or whistle, that you can use to improvise and defend yourself. The aim is to buy as much time as possible to give yourself a window to escape without harm.

7. Learn to Read Body Language

A significant part of situational awareness is learning how to read behavioural cues from body language. This can help you understand and recognise patterns before they escalate and put you in harm’s way. Learn how to identify indicators, such as maintaining aggressive contact, following you, shifting weight, or clinching their fists, as they get closer to you.

Nobody wants to imagine themselves being a victim in a dangerous situation, yet preparation for the worst can improve the outcomes. This is why self-defence focuses on mental and physical preparation to ensure you have the knowledge and skills to protect yourself and your loved ones when faced with a life-threatening situation. The FREE-to-use iER App ensures you have immediate and 24/7 access to emergency responders once you flee and find a place of safety.

Stay emergency-ready with the FREE-to-use iER App. Download the iER App today from the Google Play Store, the Apple App Store, or the Huawei App Gallery to stay prepared.