Krav Maga has been developed by Imi Lichtenfeld, a wrestler, gymnast and swimmer Jew, living in Bratislava. When anti-Semitism swiped Europe, Lichtenfeld and other boxers and wrestlers ganged up to protect their community. That set the foundation for Krav Maga, and later, once in Israel, Imi was asked to develop the technique further, with/for the Israeli army.

Since childhood I fancied doing some martial arts, and, feeling more and more threatened as a woman of 1.61m it felt like the correct choice.

In the meantime, the tatami has become my mental health oasis.

As I progressed to the yellow belt, and then took off to the rainier city of Dublin, I realized many of rules of Krav Maga apply to business and life, as well.

Here are the 10 rules of Krav Maga

1. Minimum way, maximum speed.

Try as much as possible to avoid distractions and roundabouts to your target and to put all your speed into reaching it.

It will prove difficult, as distractions and difficulties are indeed at EVERY STEP but keep minimizing the way. And that means minimizing the procrastination moments, the old habits, the wicked diversions our mind will pull us to.

2. No movement will be strange to us (to our body).

That’s a tricky one as are we are long hours computer-locked many movements become strange to our bodies.

The point is to put yourself out there, to be present for your movement of choice, if possible on a daily basis, and to variate movements as much as you can.

Ultimately, you should try to not be surprised by your circumstances, as the world around us is in permanent change.

And it kinda feels uncomfortable to be stuck (as a long?) in a flowing stream, doesn’t it?

 

3. Be soft!

Learn to fall softly, like a cat, or like a kid or a drunk person.

Stay elastic, otherwise you might get full of cracks and bruises.

4. The force of the punches and kicks in the Krav Maga is in the way back.

I love this one. I visualize it like being pulled in a sling and then. even it feels for a while that you are way behind, you are all of a sudden catapulted far ahead.

But, you gotta stay soft for this catapult to happen.

5. Never turn your back to the enemy!

Always keep your target in sight. Again, don’t let enemies or opportunities catch you when you’re not looking and ready.

Maintain AWARENESS!

6. Always go in!

With determination go ahead. One step ahead means cultivating a prevention mindset rather than an “extinguishing fires” mindset.

7. Do what you can, but do it right!

This was hilarious, when, at the exam, Yaron Lichtenstein handed us condoms with this very message.

At my beginnings in advertising, the GM of Leo Burnett Bucharest back then, Lorand Balint Boti, would say:

If you need to clean a toilet, clean it properly.

If you decide to embark on a journey, on any mission, embark fully. Maybe you won’t be every day equally capable, but keep going and do your best, every day.

Or, more poetically, back to Leo Burnett:

When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.

8. Krav Maga is taught in Hebrew.

It’s good to keep in mind the context of the practice you’re exploring.

9. Be good enough not to kill.

This is another of my favourite ones, and I read it two-fold:

– being capable enough to apply a technique efficiently, but not deadly

– being kind enough to choose your actions wisely.

Sometimes we forget the “spirit of kindness” and we may get so low as to kill with our words or gazes.

Be aware of your force, but choose to apply it wisely.

10. Go to and with the opponent.

Use the momentum of the situation to adapt and reposition yourself, by quickly leveraging ideas you read from your opponent’s actions.

11. Use the opponent’s power against him.

Similar to the above, and the way back technique, use this basic principle of physics, of action and reaction, just allowing the energy to pass you through and replicating it back.

12. Learn how to “read” your opponent.

Learn how to quickly assess your external environment, and to quickly spot potential dangerous situations on the street or risky business deals.

Practice being observant at all times.

But most importantly, learn to read the opponent within yourself.

13. Use a specific defense against a specific attack.

Act accordingly.

Not every problem is a nail and each solution a hammer.

Always, contextualize your approach, being that we’re talking about a brand strategy or a street encounter.

14. Always keep one step distance from the enemy.

If you’re too close you can’t see the full picture.

Don’t get too close to the situation, otherwise you won’t be able to maintain the observer’s role and you’ll get tangled up in it.

…and probably the best one,

15. Mediocrity is the biggest enemy of the Krav maga and the human kind.

No more words needed to explain it.

(Sadly, I often notice how for Romanians at least it comes second nature to do things half way through. On a larger, political level, and on a smaller, community one, on business projects as well. That defeated hand gesture of “it’ll work anyway”. Each and every step against it, every step of ensuring things are done properly is a step at winning a better, stronger person-hood and society).

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Thank you Sorin Matei, Florina Cioaga and the entire gang for the gift of presence, of training alongside you and allowing the body to show me the quiet mind.