Killeen, TX, USA

Sunday, 11 January 2009

 

Get Defensives

If it's self-confidence, discipline and strength you seek in the new year, grandmaster James McMurray, 58, believes he has the right regimen.

January is National Self-Defense Month and martial arts is a popular way for people to learn self-defense while getting exercise.

McMurray, a former Green Beret in the Fifth Special Forces Group, owns the House of Discipline Martial Arts Group in Harker Heights. McMurray, an internationally recognized 44-year martial arts veteran, says that in one week he can teach people to defend themselves against an attacker by training their body and mind.

He has taught thousands of children and adults, including many in the armed forces, since he began in 1973. McMurray teaches tae kwon do to children to fend off bullies and hapkido to a variety of adult-age groups including soldiers preparing for close combat in Iraq and business people wanting to be safer when meeting clients.

Hapkido emphasizes being able to manipulate joints and pressure points to gain leverage over an attacker in close combat situations, McMurray said.

The lessons of hapkido establish a person's awareness of surroundings, how to avoid dangerous situations and how to protect oneself when faced with danger, he said.

"A lot of people have this gut feeling or intuition and they dismiss it. We teach people how to go back to that basic. It's a natural animal instinct, survival. When you feel things are not right, use it. Pay attention to it," McMurray teaches.

Sylvia Torres of Harker Heights used to avoid going out at night. If she needed something from the grocery store, it waited until the next morning. Since learning hapkido with her teenager daughter, Torres has gained confidence to go out at night to pick up eggs or milk from the store because she knows how to defend herself, Torres said.

A nightclub bouncer, Edward Morales, is also a dedicated hapkido student who holds a black belt. But that's a calm environment compared to what he encounters on weekends as a bouncer. Drunken fights are commonplace, and it's his job to handle them without violence.

During more than a year as a bouncer, Morales said he has never had to hurt anybody because the evasive techniques and other skills learned in hapkido teach him to diffuse a fight without harming people involved.

"It trains you so that if you are in a situation you know how to defend yourself and get out of it," said Adam Holbrook, 9, of Harker Heights. Holbrook said it's given him the confidence that if a bully should mess with him at school, he can protect himself.

That feeling of self-confidence is what McMurray aims to give people hoping to defend themselves when someone decides to attack.

"Everyone has this circle of security around them. Once people break this security, it freaks people out and they freeze, and when people get close to you this martial arts teaches you how to deal with them," he said.

Courses are offered twice a week for about $30 a month at the Harker Heights Recreation Center.

For more information, go to www.houseofdiscipline.com.