How To Use Your Voice Effectively As Self Defence

Screaming: To Yell or Not to Yell

One of the things that I teach my students is that Yelling Like a Scream is a weapon.

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I have very vivid memories of the effectiveness of a scream when I was in Bible college.

Because of the theological difficulty, it caused some people, I made sure I avoided any discussion on anything martial arts when I was at college. Even to the point of making sure that no one knew that I ever learned judo; let alone enjoyed competing. So I was surprised one day to have a fellow student came to me and ask if I would teach her some self-defence as she had heard that I learned Judo.

I Felt Sorry For Her

I felt sorry for her but I explained I was only a blue belt and not a qualified coach (as I was at the time) and I felt uncomfortable teaching for that reason alone. She was, of course, disappointed but seemed to understand.

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A short time later we were on kitchen duty together along with some other students. One of the other male students and I, being typical males, thought that we would play a trick on the female students. We started to sneak up on them to give the aforementioned young lady and another female student, a fright.

We succeeded.

But at a price!

The Most Powerful Scream

The young lady in question turned out to have the most powerful scream that I have ever come across: it was so powerful that my accomplice was forced to the ground with his hands over his ears not more than a few feet from our screamer and I was forced from the room with my ears ringing.

Some little while later, when my ears had stopped ringing. I was able to reassure our frightened friend that the best form of self-defence that she could cultivate at this time would be her scream. I said, "you should learn how to use your voice effectively".

It can clearly be seen from this example that the use of one's voice is much more than a fear reaction, a stress release or a call for help. In itself, the voice can be used as a weapon and like any weapon it has to be used correctly and with skill.

Learning How To Use Your Voice Effectively

One should learn how to use your voice effectively. You do this by practising: raise your voice a loud as you can without hurting your throat. If you yell and you hurt your throat you are doing it wrong. You should be able to project your voice without hurting your throat. You should be able to modulate your voice so that other people can tell whether you are fearful or angry or giving instructions. You should be able to use your voice to control certain situations and attract attention in others. And most importantly you need to know when to shut up.

Your voice is a weapon, learn to use it correctly.

Enjoy
Sensai
Richard