It is very important to understand that if you did not have a direct contact with real violence and you were not in life or death situations regarding the combat, it is very hard to know how you will react. You can fight you can flight or you can block, freeze. Doesn’t matter that you trained many times punching the boxing bag, sparing, making your drills with the blade or shooting with the gun training is remaining training and the only moment when you will really be tested is on the ”battle field”

But of course there are some ways to create a strong combat mindset that can help you in choosing the right type of response.

One way is by introducing in your training stress factors that will reproduce at some level the changes that occur in real combat situation.

Another way is by using some type of NLP Neuro Linguistic Programming using visualization techniques to create scenarios and program your brain to have the best response.

You must know that the majority of top athletes are using NPL techniques in their training to increase the performance. NPL is used also by mental health professionals to help treat anxiety, panic attacks. Now more and more organizations and institutions are discovering the benefits of NPL.

Of course that this science is more complex and I am only a neophyte but I will talk about the visualization techniques that we can implement in our training and practice for creating the combat mind set that we need.

I am accustom with the idea of visualization because I practice meditation techniques from a young age and the type of meditation in which I was initiated is based on visualization. So basically I was using this for a long time in my practice but I did not know that is called NLP.

When I was starting my walk on the path  of the warrior, as many others I begin with traditional martial arts, and I remember that I was reading the Art Of Peace written by Morihei Ueshiba the founder of Aikido. It was remaining in my mind a phrase:

”Always imagine yourself on the battlefield under the fiercest attack; never forget this crucial element of training”

And from that time always I was using visualization techniques to create all sorts of scenarios when I was practicing or when I was sitting.

I will share with you a mental exercise that you can integrate in your training for creating a more stronger warrior mindset.

And I am talking here about blade combat but this techniques can be apply also to fire weapon training or other disciplines.

One part of the training is to combine the physical techniques with the mental visualization. So when you practice your drills with your knife you can make 10 physical repetitions of the technique and after that you stay still close your eyes and make the same drill but mental. Visualizing all the movements easy in slow motion felling the knife in your hand, or your garment when you free the weapon for deployment. You must include in your visualization if you have strikes, the imagistic of the aggressive attacker, terrorist, active shooter or any individual that want to take your life, kill your family or the ones around you. Visualizing how you hit, penetrating with the blade his soft tissues( eyes, neck, so one) blood is coming out from his wound and depending on your scenario incapacitate him or eliminate him.

Every drill must combine the physical training with mental training. Why we must have this type of visualizations? Because the majority of individuals, civilians were not having situations of extreme violence and they were not sticking the knife in someone’s eye, neck or heart. So when they will be in a situation that require the use of deadly force the mind was not prepared before and is possible that will be blocked freeze or it will hesitate and that can lead to dead.

By implementing this techniques in your training you make the brain to accustom with this kind of scenarios.

The second type of training is doing sitting meditation by using the visualization. As an example you can do the next technique:

Sit comfortable without being disturbed by external factors. I recommend to practice this immediately after finishing the physical training. Close your eyes and begin to breath slow and deep relaxing your body. Visualize yourself being in a train with your family sitting on the chairs. Breath slow and deep and look around in the train always scanning and being aware. Studently you hear people screaming, your heart beats are increasing, breathing also. The doors from your wagon, compartment is opening and you see an individual enter with a knife in the hand and begin to stab the people in front. Your family is also scared and they scream. You deploy fast your knife, engaging fast the aggressor sticking the knife deep in his eye and then in the lateral between his ribs targeting the heart. All this visualize them in slow motion, try to be aware of your increased breathing and heart beats, of your tunnel vision that is focusing you only on the target, disconnect yourself by checking for other potential treats around you. Try to feel how the knife is penetrating the body of the target, feel the smell of the blood, hear the people around screaming.

This is only an example of a scenario that can be changed according to your preference.

By making this mental trainings you program your brain to have a response in the this type of situations.

Is nothing mystical or esoteric,  is simple NLP practice using the visualization for combat purposes.