Welcome to the Tai Zhang Dao (TZD) Basic self-defense course showing you how to use a cane for personal protection.

One of the first things you will need to do is to acquire a cane to use in practice. We do not recommend anything but a plain wooden or fire-hardened rattan cane with a crook. You can get more information on cane selection at http://www.taizhangdao.com/cane-store/ along with different training and combat canes we offer for sale.

Introduction

 

Situational Awareness

Avoidance Of Problems Is the Answer

One of the first things that needs to be stressed is the fact that one of your main goals in protecting yourself is for you to learn how to "avoid" any problematic street encounters by recognizing potential dangers where ever you are or where ever you go. This is what is referred to a "situational awareness."

If you see questionable situations ahead of where you are going, it is easier to not continue and change your direction of travel by putting distance between you and the potential problem. Discretion is the better part of valor and not engaging any opponent is just that much less you need to demonstrate your new found skills when you are not sure of the outcome.

What you are going to learn in this course is the basic fundamentals of using a cane which hopefully will enable you to extract yourself from any tight spots you might encounter. However, this knowledge will do you no good unless you apply yourself to practice periodically what you learn to where you develop the "muscle memory" need so that you don't have to think but can just react when needed.

How Do You Catch A Ball?

Your goal is to be able to react just like when someone throws you a ball. You don't consciously think about how to do it, you instinctively reach up and catch it with "eye - hand" coordination. That's muscle memory.

This course should be equated to entering grade school to start the learning process to where you can navigate around with a modicum of skill. Like any good tradesman, you increase your skills by honing up on the fundamentals and prepare yourself for the next level to increase your efficiency and effectiveness.

The skills taught in this and subsequent courses are like maintaining your health and fitness....you need to keep doing it frequently to maintain your level of proficiency along with expanding your knowledge of higher levels of learning.

How To Walk In Peace

The nice part about this course is that you can carry it throughout your life and it never gets old. The older you get, the more you will rely on it. As your skills are achieved, there is no doubt that it will enable you to have the confidence to walk in peace where ever you might go.

Note: If you have any comments or want to contact us you can do so us at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Resources

Read this article titled: The Holy Grail of Self-defense Training.

• What is Tai Zhang Dao - Adobe Acrobat document [15.0 KB]
• Philosophy of the TZD Style - Adobe Acrobat document [18.2 KB]
• The TZD “KISS” System - Adobe Acrobat document [10.5 KB]
• Situational Awareness - Adobe Acrobat document [34.3 KB]

*Click on the links above to download and read the linked PDF files.