To practice effective and humane self-defense, you must: a) Know yourself and understand your attacker; b) Be utterly committed to protecting your own life, and willing to do whatever it takes to prevail; c) Comprehend strategies which can make it easy to overcome an attacker; d) Have a working knowledge of the bio-mechanical principles which will allow you to succeed even when you are outmatched; e) Train in the use of the pressure points and vital targets that will stop an aggressor.