# Seminar Review: "Ambushes and Thugs" with Rory Miller 8/8/10



## Andy Moynihan (Aug 9, 2010)

Thanks must first of all go to Rory for coming out to MA to share his knowledge with us, and also to Jeff Burger for hosting him at his Everett school, my good friend Aaron Katz for allowing himself to be tricked into coming with me (and for driving), and to everyone I met at Jeff's school , each of whom it was my absolute pleasure to work with. 

I first learned of Rory Miller through his book "Meditations on Violence" which several people I trust recommended very strongly to me. Since this review is of the seminar rather than the book, and the subjects of each overlap, I will simply say that anyone even the smallest bit interested in understanding the way personal protection works is very strongly recommended to read it. 

I was just a bit nervous upon arrival, but soon got into the swing of things; The physical drills intended to expound upon the 3 main talks Rory gave were fun in the way they challenged you. Standing, on the ground, blinfdfolded, entries designed to retrain your reflexive "startle" response into an ambush-beating entry ( I feel much better being able at half a moment's notice to don "Dracula's Cape"--a gentleman must take care to dress appropriately when he must go out among the riffraff, after all ;-) ), the introduction of "bricks" into the groundfighting segments and of walls and windows to both segments, accomplished both necessary missions of getting you to think "outside the box" yet kept everybody safe. 

The mat sessions were interspersed throughout the day with in depth talks Rory gave concerning such oft-overlooked yet indispensable things as legal aspects of use of force, a slightly different form of what I previously learned as the AOJ triad/Preclusion( just a semantics thing, the material they deal with is essentially the same), The differences between Social and Asocial/criminal violence, the effects of adrenaline on the body, corresponding gender differences in how the adrenal response manifests, and how to "break the freeze" of an ambush/adrenaline dump so that you willl then be able to access your training at all. We even got a copy of the jury instructions given to MA juries( I believe Rory does this for each state he visits) when they must decide a self defense case. 

I can't condense all 8 hours of the seminar into one blog post, but these are such vital components of contemporary self defense that there is no excuse for their exclusion in any program purporting to so instruct. 


Some of you who will read this know I'm about halfway through a first draft of a project pertaining to personal protection myself( that will have to be expanded based on information I learned that I was previously lacking...Ah, Andy, the Universe is wiser than you.....), and it was a very encouraging experience to hear someone with vastly more real world experience than I on the subject espouse views and come to conclusions that I had as well even before I took the class. 

Summary: Anyone even semi-serious about seeing to their own personal safety is strongly recommended to seek out any opportunity they can to train with Rory Miller.


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## teekin (Aug 10, 2010)

Andy Moynihan said:


> Thanks must first of all go to Rory for coming out to MA to share his knowledge with us, and also to Jeff Burger for hosting him at his Everett school, my good friend Aaron Katz for allowing himself to be tricked into coming with me (and for driving), and to everyone I met at Jeff's school , each of whom it was my absolute pleasure to work with.
> 
> I first learned of Rory Miller through his book "Meditations on Violence" which several people I trust recommended very strongly to me. Since this review is of the seminar rather than the book, and the subjects of each overlap, I will simply say that anyone even the smallest bit interested in understanding the way personal protection works is very strongly recommended to read it.
> 
> ...


 
????? Are you writing a book or setting up a seminar??? any idea when you might be done?

Lori


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## CoryKS (Aug 10, 2010)

My jealousy, let me show you it.


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## Andy Moynihan (Aug 10, 2010)

Grendel308 said:


> ????? Are you writing a book or setting up a seminar??? any idea when you might be done?
> 
> Lori


 
It's a book, shooting for a 2011/2012 release if I am very lucky.


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## Carol (Aug 10, 2010)

Andy Moynihan said:


> It's a book, shooting for a 2011/2012 release if I am very lucky.



Most awesome


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## Brian King (Aug 11, 2010)

Thanks for the review Andy, glad that you had a good time at the seminar.

Regards
Brian King


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