The Bio Switch by W. Hock Hocheim

I guess by now everyone knows the quaint medical news that when you smile, the muscles in your face are connected to an intricate biological system that emits chemicals into your body/brain that makes you feel happier. Yes, it's true. If you are not suffering from clinical depression, or other unique influences, this process occurs in most people. A smile can also have a calming effect. Try it. In a way it is sort of a reverse engineering of the human body and then not. I mean, what came first the chicken or the egg? The joke or the smile? The event wires and then rewires itself for both directions. The happy and the smile. The smile and the happy. The same can be said for another number of physical events, feelings and responses in the body. And some of these can be used for the "the fight," for self defense, for survival and combat.

Life such as it is - is either an interview or an ambush. And if you feel an encounter, or even worse a fight coming on, the body needs to move fast. As a cop, when I had a questionable "street" interview coming on, or the potential for a violent encounter, I had a trick, body switch. Rather then smile (which is an interesting tool sometimes too) I would bend slightly at the knees. This is hidden inside one's pants. HA! To me, bending at the knees throws many athletic "body switches" in my system. All sorts of "get-ready-to-move" and move-now" switches are thrown for me just by simply bending at the knees. It is a concept I have forced upon myself.

My mental trigger word for footwork is "basketball." Get this. I never played basketball and I find the game rather useless. Why not just give each team 70 points and let them play for 4 minutes? But I do admire the athletes. And their strength, power and mobility. Though I have never played, the mere word, and the imagery conjures up a visualization of all the fleet-of-foot moves of a pro to me. In "interview" situations, this single word causes me to bend at the knees, or the bending of the knees causes the word...chicken or egg? It wires itself.

As a tip I would like for you to consider, to think about using single words, very short phrases, ideas and body triggers as quick-fire methods to get ready and get through a rough situation.