HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
MAY ALL YOUR WISHES COME TRUE.
Join PJ today 12/13/12 at http://marianl.com/main/?p=732
Showing posts with label PJ Sharon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PJ Sharon. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
Part Three-Tried and True Self-defense Techniques
Welcome to part three
of my series on Self-defense. You can find Part One here,(http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4087819597135667611#editor/target=post;postID=4403068653682043077) where I talk
about the ABC’s of Self-defense. Part Two, the Psychology of Self-defense, can
be found here.(http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4087819597135667611#editor/target=post;postID=8430491088434212925) Today, I’ll address the physical aspects of self-defense.
This covers a lot of material, so I’m going to try to boil it down to the must
know information. The suggestions below are just a few of my tried and true
favorites. For an awesome video of techniques that will work every time, no
matter your size or strength, go to http://www.justyellfire.com. I’ve also recently been introduced to Dr. Ruthless, an amazing woman with a fabulous philosophy and
great tips for finding your inner “Neander-babe.”
The techniques below
are only to be used in a defensive situation. They are meant to disable an
attacker and allow you to escape and get help.
Targets to aim for: Eyes, ears, nose, throat, solar
plexus, groin, joints.
Weapons you possess: Fingers, fingernails, cupped
palm, loose palm, elbows, knees, feet, head, (that includes your brain!) Look
for ANYTHING in your immediate surroundings that can be used as a weapon.
If someone approaches you and means you harm, you
must react. You have a few choices here, but your job is to survive and escape.
Scream as loud as you can, FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! And
don’t stop screaming. Kick them in the groin (see the video for an extra
special technique called a “Scoop kick”), scratch or poke the eyes, cuff the
ears with cupped palms, and then grab the ears and pull their face down into
your rising knee. If you choose this method, you must not hesitate. You have to
follow through and be willing to disable your attacker. This requires an
incredible amount of courage, self-confidence, and practice, but if done right,
your attacker will never see it coming.
If they come at you from the front and grab you by
the wrist, follow through with the above scenario or use a circular movement of
your wrist and hand to break free and escape. If they have their hands around
your throat, employ the “stick ‘em up”, or “combing the hair” technique.
Basically, to break someone’s grip on your throat, you shoot ypour hands straight
up into the air and turn your body away. You can see the “combing the hair”
technique on the video and it will make perfect sense. Once you turn away and
their grip is broken, take a step back and drive your elbow in a horizontal
striking motion and slam it into their temple. Follow this with a slap to the
groin. I learned the groin slap from watching the video, but it makes sense. A
loose wristed slap will have a greater vibrational impact on the groin than a
closed fist which is more compact and requires more accuracy.
If someone attacks from behind, this is a good
option. If you feel overpowered, rather than struggle, go completely limp, bend
your knees, and drop toward the ground in a crouch. This takes a tremendous
amount of self- control and presence of mind. An attacker will not expect this
and they will have to change their grip to hold you up rather than hold you
still. It will also disrupt their balance and have them leaning forward. Once their grip has loosened or their guard is
down, you can respond with springing up on your knees and slamming the back of
your head into their nose. This should loosen their grip enough to allow you to
drive your elbow into their solar plexus or temple. Turn around to face them,
cuff the ears, grab the ears and drive their nose into your rising knee. If you
are caught in a standing position and are being choked from behind, it is
sometimes not an option to drop into a crouch like this. In that instance,
scraping the side of your shoe down their shin and slamming your heel into
their instep is an effective attention getter and will force them to loosen
their grip. You can read about this sequence in detail in SAVAGE CINDERELLA,
when Cody is teaching Brinn to fight—team Cody lovers think this scene is kind
of steamy). You would then follow with that elbow to the solar plexus, groin
slap, poke to the eyes, and cuff to the ears. Another technique that will bring
your attacker down to your size is a kick to the lateral side of the knee, a great
option if you are fighting from the ground.
Basically, the rule is fight and don’t stop
fighting. Use whatever tools and weapons that you have at your disposal. Scream,
kick, scratch, bite, or gouge. Do whatever it takes to survive. You have a
right to defend yourself. You have a right not to be a victim.
Any questions?
Author PJ Sharon's Bio:
I knew I would be a writer someday when I was a little
girl sitting on my grandpa’s knee and telling him stories that he would help me
put on paper. By the time I entered kindergarten I could already read and
write, and I couldn’t wait to look up new words every morning in the ginormous
Webster’s Dictionary that sat in the book case at the bottom of our stairs. I would
get on the bus and ask my friends, “Do you know what pulchritudinous means?”
Between that and challenging the boys to push-up contests at the bus stop, I
mostly sat alone on those bus rides to school. But that just meant I had more
time to make up stories.
Author PJ Sharon's Bio:
I knew I would be a writer someday when I was a little
girl sitting on my grandpa’s knee and telling him stories that he would help me
put on paper. By the time I entered kindergarten I could already read and
write, and I couldn’t wait to look up new words every morning in the ginormous
Webster’s Dictionary that sat in the book case at the bottom of our stairs. I would
get on the bus and ask my friends, “Do you know what pulchritudinous means?”
Between that and challenging the boys to push-up contests at the bus stop, I
mostly sat alone on those bus rides to school. But that just meant I had more
time to make up stories.
I went on to many other endeavors in life, including the
world of figure skating, and later, earning a black belt in martial arts.
Though I was a mom at seventeen, I did manage to finish school and somehow made
it through college, earning a degree as a Physical Therapy Assistant. After
nineteen years, two sons, a divorce, and some fairly lean years, I found that
it’s true what they say about life beginning at forty. It was about that time
when I reunited with the love of my life and worked my way to owning my own
business as a Massage Therapist, Personal Trainer, and Yoga Instructor—all of
my favorite things. To make my bliss complete, I moved out to the Berkshires
and found my muse waiting for me there amongst the lilacs and humming birds.
I now write Extraordinary Stories of an Average Teenage
Life in order to share hope with others, especially teens, that no matter how
tough life gets, there is always a bright spot waiting just around the corner.
My published books include the award winning YA Novels, HEAVEN IS FOR HEROES,
ON THIN ICE, and SAVAGE CINDERELLA, available through Amazon and B&N
Booksellers.
Contact Information for PJ Sharon
Book Trailers: http://www.youtube.com/pjsharon64
Website: http://www.pjsharon.com
Follow PJ on Twitter: @pjsharon
“Like” PJ on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pjsharonbooks
Find PJ on Amazon’s Author Central page: https://www.amazon.com/author/pjsharon
Follow PJ’s Promotional blog @ http://pjsharonyawriter.blogspot.com
Follow PJ’s Tuesday Scribes blog @ http://secretsof7scribes.wordpress.com
I want to thank PJ for all the great information she supplied in this three-part series. I know I have re-read it several times so it is imbedded in my head.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Part Two: The ABC's of Self-Defense
PJ Sharon here, bringing you the second part of my Self Defense series. Last week, I talked about the ABC’s of self-defense. AVOID, BUDDY UP, AND COMMUNICATE. You can read more about these simple rules. http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4087819597135667611#editor/target=post;postID=4403068653682043077
So what do I mean behind the psychology of self-defense?
Let me start by explaining the biggest challenge facing women when it comes to
defending ourselves. We are taught (conditioned) from the time we are toddlers
to “be nice, don’t talk back, be polite, don’t hit, don’t bite, don’t scratch,
don’t hurt anyone,” etc. etc. It’s not easy to change a lifetime of conditioned
responses. We are essentially taught NOT to trust our own instincts, but to
conform instead to a standard of civilized behavior that, in a confrontational
situation, could cost us our lives. Now I’m not saying our self-preservation
instincts can’t take over, or that we should behave like barbarians, but if we
hesitate when we are attacked, we will lose more than a place at the Miss
Manners table. That’s why it’s so important to practice techniques over and
over in a controlled environment, until they become automatic. We need to learn
a new conditioned response to face an attacker and gain the advantage.
I mentioned in last week’s post that if someone is
coming toward you and you are unsure of their intent, put your hands up and say
loudly and clearly, STOP! If that person continues toward you, they most likely
mean you harm. You need to be prepared to act. You can scream loudly, FIRE! and
run away if they are far enough away that you can escape. It’s better to look
foolish than to foolishly stay in place and become a victim. If the person
comes upon you quickly, you need to have a plan. Watch the videos on http://www.justyellfire.com
or check out Dr.
Ruthless for specific techniques. And stay tuned for next
week’s post when I go into more detail about my favorite self-defense moves sure
to make an assailant think twice. Whatever action you choose to take, you have
to make the decision before that person gets their hands on you…before they are
even ten feet away if you have time. Know what you will do and be prepared to
do it.
That brings me to another aspect of the psychology
of self-defense. Your greatest advantages in an attack are knowledge and the
element of surprise. Attackers target victims whom they believe to be easy
targets. If you are prepared to fight back, they have already underestimated
you, and this gives you a significant advantage. Training in martial arts,
women’s self-defense classes, or even cardio kickboxing will give you the
confidence and know-how to take control of a bad situation. If you have
trained, you will more likely be willing to kick, scream, claw, gouge, bite,
tear, or otherwise forget your civility entirely, and fight like a girl. You
need to be willing to stand up for yourself, speak out, run the risk of seeming
rude or even downright nasty. Confidence and quick action are weapons that will
turn the tables on an attack scenario very quickly. If you have spent most of
your life being a mouse, it is time to step up and become a lioness.
For those women who have been victims of a violent
crime, I applaud your survival. If you are alive today, it’s because you did
the exact right thing at the time. The purpose of these posts is not to make
you feel as if you should have done more. It’s to help save others from
experiencing the horrors of being brutalized by the bullies and cowards of the
world who prey upon women. If we can stop one attacker by stepping forward,
teach one more sister to stand against an abusive relationship, or help create
a safer environment where women don’t have to live in fear, I say, spread the
word and know that you have done your part. It is never too early or too late
to learn to defend yourself. Learn to FIGHT LIKE A GIRL!
Do
you have what it takes to stand up and fight for yourself? Do you have a
fighting spirit?
PJ Sharon's Bio:
I knew I would be a writer someday when I was a little
girl sitting on my grandpa’s knee and telling him stories that he would help me
put on paper. By the time I entered kindergarten I could already read and
write, and I couldn’t wait to look up new words every morning in the ginormous
Webster’s Dictionary that sat in the book case at the bottom of our stairs. I would
get on the bus and ask my friends, “Do you know what pulchritudinous means?”
Between that and challenging the boys to push-up contests at the bus stop, I
mostly sat alone on those bus rides to school. But that just meant I had more
time to make up stories.
I went on to many other endeavors in life, including the
world of figure skating, and later, earning a black belt in martial arts.
Though I was a mom at seventeen, I did manage to finish school and somehow made
it through college, earning a degree as a Physical Therapy Assistant. After
nineteen years, two sons, a divorce, and some fairly lean years, I found that
it’s true what they say about life beginning at forty. It was about that time
when I reunited with the love of my life and worked my way to owning my own
business as a Massage Therapist, Personal Trainer, and Yoga Instructor—all of
my favorite things. To make my bliss complete, I moved out to the Berkshires
and found my muse waiting for me there amongst the lilacs and humming birds.
I now write Extraordinary Stories of an Average Teenage
Life in order to share hope with others, especially teens, that no matter how
tough life gets, there is always a bright spot waiting just around the corner.
My published books include the award winning YA Novels, HEAVEN IS FOR HEROES,
ON THIN ICE, and SAVAGE CINDERELLA, available through Amazon and B&N
Booksellers.
Thank you, PJ, for all this great information. I look forward to Friday for the conclusion to your series.
Contact Information for PJ Sharon
Book Trailers: http://www.youtube.com/pjsharon64
Website: http://www.pjsharon.com
“Like” PJ on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pjsharonbooks
Find PJ on Amazon’s Author Central page: https://www.amazon.com/author/pjsharon
Follow PJ’s Promotional blog @ http://pjsharonyawriter.blogspot.com
Follow PJ’s Tuesday Scribes blog @ http://secretsof7scribes.wordpress.com
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Author PJ Sharon
I am excited to welcome YA Author PJ Sharon to my blog today. PJ's Heaven is for Heroes is one of the most powerful books I read last year. Though she is a YA (Young Adult) author her stories cross over and have many adult fans. Her new release On Thin Ice is just as powerful.
Author Bio
PJ Sharon is author of several independently published, contemporary young adult novels, including HEAVEN IS FOR HEROES. Her stories have garnered several contest finals, including two awards for ON THIN ICE, and a place in the prestigious Valley Forge Romance Writers and the Florida Romance Writers Golden Palm contest for SAVAGE CINDERELLA.
Writing romantic fiction for the past six years, and following her destiny to write Extraordinary stories of an average teenage life, PJ is a member of RWA, CTRWA, and YARWA. She is mother to two grown sons and lives with her husband and her dog in the Berkshire Hills of Western MA.
PJ's website: PJ Sharon.
Excerpt from On Thin Ice
Miss Montgomery sat up and put her feet on the floor, rolling her chair in behind the desk as she leaned toward me. She folded her hands and rested them on her desk as if she were going to say a prayer or maybe send me to the principal’s office, that thing that adults do when they expect you to listen up and pay attention. Her gray eyes peered at me hard. “Anything you say to me is confidential, you know that, right?”
“Okay.” I folded my arms across my middle and leaned back further in my chair, studying the stacks of files on her desk.
“I want to help you, Penny, but I need you to be honest with me. Can you do that?” She had blue-gray eyes that seemed ancient and wise, the kind you wanted to trust.
I hesitated. “I’ll try.” Since lying hadn’t served me well recently, maybe some truth wasn’t a bad idea.
“Good. Do you know why you’re suffering from bulimia?”
Her words hit me like a slap. My heart raced and my stomach flopped over like a landed fish. “What do you mean?”
Her sad smile returned and she sighed. “You know what I mean. You are rail thin and you have scars on the backs of your knuckles from forcing yourself to vomit.”
“I don’t…” My fists curled and I wanted to crawl under the desk.
“Do you want me to tell you what I think?”
Speechless and as scared as I’d ever been, I hesitated and then slowly nodded. The truth was I didn’t know why for sure. There were all the usual suspects. My skating coach telling me I was fat, my mother putting all the expectation of her unfulfilled dreams on my shoulders, my father not ever having told me he loved me, blah, blah, blah. But down deep, I didn’t know why I couldn’t be strong enough to fight against all those things and simply choose to be healthy and normal. It wasn’t like I didn’t know what I was doing, but stopping now seemed like a failure somehow. I thought I had it all under control…but…maybe…
“I think that you don’t believe you deserve to be alive, to be happy and healthy.”
My breath caught in my throat and I stayed very still, letting her words sink in, trying them on like a new skin. In that one sentence, I realized that she’d spoken the truth in a nutshell. No lie could cover it. I couldn’t argue or smile my way out of it. Whatever line of defense that remained in place crumbled.
“Maybe I don’t,” I whispered. I leaned forward and lowered my head into my hands. When I looked up, my eyes found hers, “My mother is dying. What am I supposed to do?”
“Do you want to die too?” Her face had lost any hint of amusement and I thought how she looked like an avenging angel at that moment, serious and on a mission. Her golden hair flowed in waves over her tanned shoulders, those ancient blue-gray eyes seeing past my flesh and into my soul.
“I…I don’t know. Maybe it would be easier.” My head dropped down again and my forehead rested on my palms. Tears dripped onto the carpet below me, as steady as a leaky faucet. The knot in my stomach loosened—such a small release. The truth shall set you free. The words rang clear and true in my head like a lighthouse bell clanging in the fog. I’d been a prisoner, living in a cell where the four walls were made up of darkness and lies. And she had opened a door. A tiny crack of light seeped through. I had the sense that I simply had to step through to the other side to find the light that would lead me to safety.
Fear reached up from deep inside me and gripped my heart, choking my words, and trying to keep me locked in that dark room. I knew then that if I stayed there, I would die. I lifted my head from my hands and said with as much conviction as I could, “No. I don’t want to die.”
Buy Links:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Smashwords
Create Space
Author Bio
PJ Sharon is author of several independently published, contemporary young adult novels, including HEAVEN IS FOR HEROES. Her stories have garnered several contest finals, including two awards for ON THIN ICE, and a place in the prestigious Valley Forge Romance Writers and the Florida Romance Writers Golden Palm contest for SAVAGE CINDERELLA.
Writing romantic fiction for the past six years, and following her destiny to write Extraordinary stories of an average teenage life, PJ is a member of RWA, CTRWA, and YARWA. She is mother to two grown sons and lives with her husband and her dog in the Berkshire Hills of Western MA.
PJ's website: PJ Sharon.
Excerpt from On Thin Ice
Miss Montgomery sat up and put her feet on the floor, rolling her chair in behind the desk as she leaned toward me. She folded her hands and rested them on her desk as if she were going to say a prayer or maybe send me to the principal’s office, that thing that adults do when they expect you to listen up and pay attention. Her gray eyes peered at me hard. “Anything you say to me is confidential, you know that, right?”
“Okay.” I folded my arms across my middle and leaned back further in my chair, studying the stacks of files on her desk.
“I want to help you, Penny, but I need you to be honest with me. Can you do that?” She had blue-gray eyes that seemed ancient and wise, the kind you wanted to trust.
I hesitated. “I’ll try.” Since lying hadn’t served me well recently, maybe some truth wasn’t a bad idea.
“Good. Do you know why you’re suffering from bulimia?”
Her words hit me like a slap. My heart raced and my stomach flopped over like a landed fish. “What do you mean?”
Her sad smile returned and she sighed. “You know what I mean. You are rail thin and you have scars on the backs of your knuckles from forcing yourself to vomit.”
“I don’t…” My fists curled and I wanted to crawl under the desk.
“Do you want me to tell you what I think?”
Speechless and as scared as I’d ever been, I hesitated and then slowly nodded. The truth was I didn’t know why for sure. There were all the usual suspects. My skating coach telling me I was fat, my mother putting all the expectation of her unfulfilled dreams on my shoulders, my father not ever having told me he loved me, blah, blah, blah. But down deep, I didn’t know why I couldn’t be strong enough to fight against all those things and simply choose to be healthy and normal. It wasn’t like I didn’t know what I was doing, but stopping now seemed like a failure somehow. I thought I had it all under control…but…maybe…
“I think that you don’t believe you deserve to be alive, to be happy and healthy.”
My breath caught in my throat and I stayed very still, letting her words sink in, trying them on like a new skin. In that one sentence, I realized that she’d spoken the truth in a nutshell. No lie could cover it. I couldn’t argue or smile my way out of it. Whatever line of defense that remained in place crumbled.
“Maybe I don’t,” I whispered. I leaned forward and lowered my head into my hands. When I looked up, my eyes found hers, “My mother is dying. What am I supposed to do?”
“Do you want to die too?” Her face had lost any hint of amusement and I thought how she looked like an avenging angel at that moment, serious and on a mission. Her golden hair flowed in waves over her tanned shoulders, those ancient blue-gray eyes seeing past my flesh and into my soul.
“I…I don’t know. Maybe it would be easier.” My head dropped down again and my forehead rested on my palms. Tears dripped onto the carpet below me, as steady as a leaky faucet. The knot in my stomach loosened—such a small release. The truth shall set you free. The words rang clear and true in my head like a lighthouse bell clanging in the fog. I’d been a prisoner, living in a cell where the four walls were made up of darkness and lies. And she had opened a door. A tiny crack of light seeped through. I had the sense that I simply had to step through to the other side to find the light that would lead me to safety.
Fear reached up from deep inside me and gripped my heart, choking my words, and trying to keep me locked in that dark room. I knew then that if I stayed there, I would die. I lifted my head from my hands and said with as much conviction as I could, “No. I don’t want to die.”
Buy Links:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Smashwords
Create Space
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)