August 2011 Newsletter
Dear friends,
The summer of 2011 has reached its peak and here in Israel, as in many warm countries, we’ve retreated into the recesses of our air conditioned training gyms and offices. While we were doing that, Eyal and the men and women Instructors of KMG continued to travel across the world to spread Imi’s legacy.
We would like to congratulate Tommy Blom (Expert 4) for becoming KMG’s Director in Sweden, and Robert Nordman (Expert 3) for becoming KMG’s Official Regional Representative in Finland.
Both are exceptionally skilled instructors and KMG feels privileged to have them as it’s representatives.
From Basic Needs to Perfection
By Eyal Yanilov, Aug. 2011
According to Abraham Maslow, in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation”, the second level in his pyramid (see here) is Safety. A person needs security and shelter.
When one lives in a society such as ours, one of the major needs is the ability to defend oneself, as well as one’s family, community, property and when needed – even the country. The raeson for the attacks may be various, from terrorism and political conflicts to criminal, sexual or domestic matters.
People, who come to train with KMG, usually do this for the basic need of safety, self-defense, personal protection and security. In addition they gain self-confidence, and the ability to better deal with stress.
A byproduct of the Krav MaGa training is naturally the improvement of personal fitness. Students and club members fulfill their goals by training with us. They gain improved mental strength, focus, courage, and self confidence, along with technical and tactical abilities.
A practitioner who has trained in Krav MaGa for few years has achieved the majority, if not all, the goals he or she initially set out to achieve. So why should they stay? Why continue to exert one-self and sweat? Here come the next steps in the pyramid: Belonging and Self-esteem. We all wish to belong to elite groups. We want to be alongside people who are like us and better than us. We want to walk in the footsteps of those who originally were in our place once, but have since progressed and excelled to higher levels. We want to belong to such special groups of people that have achieved higher mental capacities, top technical and tactical skills and physical capabilities. They gained it all through training, discipline and an instructor or mentor who taught, directed and guided them.
At KMG you can distinctly see that the higher levels have achieved the highest expertise. They have more knowledge and they perform techniques, deal with problems, and control themselves and others more proficiently. The beginning trainee also wishes to excel, to have better abilities and gain high expertise, to be like the experts at KMG. We want to be perfect. For this we need to conquer our ego and our fears, our frustration and anger, and calm our flickering, untamed mind. With mental and physical drills and techniques, we train to block out the internal dialogues and chatter. The constant thinking about the past, the future and the horror scenarios in our head that elevate the level of stress are subdued. Only then we can “win the fights” – and most of those fights are not physical at all, nor are they even with other people.
In Hebrew there is a saying: “Who is the hero (brave man)? The one who conquers his own nature (desires)“. In Chinese, Hinduism and Buddhism there are similar saying – something along the lines of: ”The one who conquers many cities and wins many battles is not the hero. The hero is the one that conquers himself“.
Why and when to be perfect? Krav MaGa is about life and death. When we encounter a violent confrontation we need to do our utmost to survive and emerge victorious from the conflict. This can be achieved with or without fighting, using agressive and distracting physical actions. In reality any situation is almost always a new one – never identical to something we did in the past. Because of this, we need to rely on our knowledge and experience, knowing that they come up with the best solutions. Experience by itself is not enough (it is like the police officer who arrives after the car was stolen; or like preparing for the previous war). Knowledge alone is not enough either. It is theory, and we deal with people, with mental states and not with bio-mechanics. To gain all the abilities and skills we need to train and do things with both intention and attention at all times. We need to try and be perfect in our actions, our activities, our attacks, our defenses, our releases, our mental focus, etc’. In “the street” – who knows what will happen, but the training session is “our here and now”. It is the time and opportunity to do our best to be perfect. It will pay off in the long run. But no stress, while we try to be perfect in all our actions, there is no need to become frustrated or disappointed when we are unsuccessful. In fact, in most cases wewon’t succeed.
I remember Imi, always correcting his students. In the beginning the corrections were all about bigger issues, larger movements, more critical stages in the techniques. As time went on, the corrections focused more on the minor issues, to turn the leg few degrees more or to grab with the thumb too. It became the fine tuning that a musician does on his guitar after he’s already done the major tuning. We must understand that, as in everything, moderation is the key. Without many hours of training perfection will never come. It takes a lifetime to master something.
So don’t give up, but don’t give yourself hard time (emotionally) either. Just hang in there, train more, doing so as your time and responsibilities in this busy world permit. Between study, work and family, when you have a free moment, use it to train and improve. This can be in Krav MaGa, or in anything else that you choose to master.
A review of August
Europe:
Following the booming success of the Kids Instructors Course in Hungary (in which 13 KMG Instructors participated) Nadav Shoshan traveled to the Czech Republic to train 10 new Kid’s and Youth Instructors. As you can see from the pictures, they’re having some serious fun!
As this course is becoming more and more popular, we’ve scheduled three more courses which will take place in Holland (October), Australia (November) and in the USA (March, 2012).
The last part of the joint Danish/Swedish General Instructors Course took place in Sweden. Eyal, Tal Kvores and Tommy Blom were leading it. As you are reading this, Eyal is conducting the last part of the Swiss General Instructors Course in Switzerland, with the assistance of Ilya Dunsky.
KMG Is also conducting an Instructors Seminar in Switzerland and an Open Seminar – both are being taught by Eyal himself.
The KMG Annual SWAT Instructors course took place in Moscow, Russia. 13 KMG Instructors trained and were certified by Eyal and Ilya Dunsky to train elite Special Law Enforcement units around the world. They were joined by members of the Russian Ministry of Defense along with Police and Military Special Units.
A special Women’s Self-Defense seminar was conducted in Russia for the first time by Meyrav Bar Haim. According to Meyrav, the participants were eager to learn and by the end of the seminar she could clearly see the advancement that they had made. These young women are now better equipped to deal with the many threats which exist in an urban metropolis such as Moscow.
We would also like to invite all KMG’s instructors and female readers of our newsletter (and your female friends) to the KMG Women’s Self-Defense Facebook group. It’s a great place to ask questions or raise dilemmas and get responses from the leading Female Krav MaGa instructors in the world. Click here to join the group.
North America:
The first part of a General Instructors Course took place in Long Beach California, conducted by Eyal and Tommy Blom. 14 Instructors in Training took part in it. These 14 future instructors are joining the additional 15 Instructors who completed their training in July.
Tommy Blom conducted a Graduate camp in Texas in which 10 people took part. The course was designed for Graduates of levels 1-3.
What’s coming up in September and October
KMG Europe:
General Instructors Courses will take place in Germany (conducted by Ilya Dunsky) and in Rome (conducted by Eyal and Tal Kvores). Suitable candidates are invited to register and join the ranks of the best KM instructors in the world at KMG.
Eyal will be conducting an Open Seminar in Hungary.
KMG will be conducting its annual Combat and Fighting Instructors Course. The Course is designed for KMG Instructors who are Graduate 3 level or higher. To read more about this exclusive course, click here.
Alternatively, you can go to our dedicated Facebook page and speak to the instructors who’ve already took part in this grueling course and came out the other end as better instructors and better fighters. Click here.
Tommy Blom will conduct a Military and Open Seminars in Cadiz and Sevilla, Spain.
Ilya Dunsky will be returning to the UK for another seminar.
A Closed Seminar for high level Managers, incorporating Krav MaGa and management skills, mental training and stress management during turbulant times, will be conducted in Poland for corporate clients of the’ Values’ Consulting Company. These workshops which use Krav MaGa as an analogy for business and management are offered to clients from the corporate sector, and give participants tools which can improve their everyday performance in the workplace.
KMG Latin America
A General Instructors Course in Mexico will be conducted by Eyal and Nick Maison.
Buena suerte!
Eyal will then conduct open seminars in Trinidad and in Brazil (Curitiba and Porto Alegre). In Brazil he will also be conducting a Military and Law Enforcement Seminar.
KMG North America
The unique Fighter’s Workshop will take place in Los Angeles.
This special seminar is the product of the joint work of Eyal and Pavel Tsatsouline, the creator of RKC Hard Style Kettlebell.
This is a unique opportunity to learn from the highest ranking masters of both systems at the same time.
This event is a ‘must’ for any person who wants to make that leap and become a fighter. Don’t miss it!
Please note: registration is limited! Click here to register.
KMG USA will host two separate General Instructors Courses (the remaining second and third part of the one which started during August and a brand new one), all in Las Vegas, which will be conducted by Tommy Blom and Alan Predolin.
As usual, you can find the entire list of KMG’s Courses and Events in the KMG Website on our Events List.
“Touring and Training” Israel – The Winter Event
Please note: Registration for the winter “Touring & Training” event in Israel is underway.
We urge you to register as soon as possible to ensure your place in this popular course. For further information and registration please contact Info@krav-maga.com.
You are also invited to talk directly with the men and women who’ve enjoyed this fabulous adventure by visiting our new “Touring & Training” Facebook page here.
Coming soon: New DVDs from KMG
Towards the end of September, parts 4 and 5 of the Practitioner Level DVD set (which are appropriate for levels P-4 and P-5) are expected to be released. Those of you who’ve already purchased the first 3 DVDs will appreciate how useful this product is – bringing you the best Krav MaGa from Eyal Yanilov himself and his top students.
To order the Practitioner Level 1-3 DVD set, click here.
As always, thank you for reading.
Feel free to email us at any time at info@krav-maga.com.
You are also invited to join our Official Facebook Group –
Be safe,
Eyal Yanilov
and the KMG HQ Team
