Pepper spray has been in use for years as a weapon for personal self-defense. It’s made in canisters small enough to fit easily into your purse or pocket and even comes in finger rings and key-chains. It’s meant to disable someone trying to accost you, at least long enough for you to get away from the situation, and it works.

Police officers have long carried this or some other similar acting spray as part of their uniform dress, right next to their pistol. Using a spray rather than a bullet is sometimes the right choice, and cops like to have all the options available. There are instances where a spray will not completely disable the attacker, but this is rare. Usually it’s effective at doing the job.

The ‘pepper’ in the name comes from the main ingredient, which comes from the fruit of a pepper plant. It’s called capsicum, and it’s HOT! It’s made into aerosol form by a fairly simple process and packaged into several different sized containers, for sale to the public. A certain ammunition for use in paint ball guns also contains capsicum and is used by some police departments for use in riot control operations.

Pepper spray falls in the category of lachrymatory agents, which means it affects your eyes, causing them to burn and tear up. It will also cause intense pain, forcing you to close your eyes and can even cause temporary blindness. It is considered non-lethal generally, although some deaths have been caused through its use, either directly or indirectly.

Pepper spray is an inflammatory agent and causes an immediate reaction in the form of coughing, runny nose, difficultly breathing and painful, burning eyes that forced shut. These effects will usually last for a half hour or more, with residual effects sometimes lasting many hours more. Some suspects will exhibit less willingness to succumb to the effects of being sprayed with pepper gas, but it’s rare. Usually these are the ones really high on amphetamines.

If given the choice, DON’T get sprayed with this stuff. There are stories of people spraying themselves accidentally while checking out their unit. Bad move! If you happen to be in an area where a riot starts (it could happen) and the police start using the capsicum rounds, cover your mouth and eyes and get away. Stay upwind if possible.

There’s a ban against the use of any riot control agents in the waging of war, according to current conventions. That sounds crazy, but it’s the rules! Laws governing the use of sprays for police forces or personal self-protection vary according to country and local jurisdictional practices. In Hong Kong, for instance, non-lethal sprays are classified as firearms and require issuance of a permit to carry. In India, where they’re specifically allowed only for self-defense, no permit is required but products aren’t sold over the counter.

Pepper spray works well for its intended purpose. It’s very popular with women as a deterrent against would-be attackers. If there’s ever a need, it’s a good thing to have handy. Consider the alternative.

About the Author: Mike Ward can help you find the right personal security item. For more information about these and other security products, please visit Protection Depot.

This is sort of an interesting question. Nobody has ever come up with a good answer for it, and yet people have tried virtually everything in the world to keep those errant students. I mean, they were doing good, they were blown out and excited, and then they disappeared.

The answer for this problem, and a way to keep enrollment high, and to even better it, is possible through something called Matrix Martial Arts. Matrixing is a technology that was designed for the martial arts. The fact of discovering why students drop out became known almost by accident.

To understand this problem of student drop out we must understand that there is a problem with the martial arts themselves. I don’t care what you are teaching, be it karate or kung fu or wudan or that rare form of Kenpo, the fact of the matter is that you are teaching by having students memorize random strings of data. With respect, I offer that this is the most inefficient method of learning that there is.

Memorizing random strings of data is an oral tradition that worked in feudal times, when people couldn’t read nor write. Now, how ever, the written word has come into its own, and people can avail themselves of such things as computers, mind mapping, and good, solid logic. This thing of logic becomes recognizable when one uses Matrix Martial Arts.

Matrixing is the analysis and handling of flow and force. It is a method for laying out a gridwork of martial arts techniques, and being able to quickly and efficiently sort through the techniques until you have the exact and only answer. It is so efficient that people who learn matrixing achieve intuition with their art within months, not years, as is common with the traditional arts.

When matrixing methods are established, when students are enabled to view all the martial arts in logical fashion, one thing becomes plain, there are a lot of blank spots in the martial arts. No matter how many random strings of data one memorizes, it can’t compare with being able to see all the data. And, obviously, students who could see all the data were able to progress much faster.

And, students who left early in their training were found to be confused by the blank spots they had encountered in their studies. Learning the martial arts were like learning languages with half the consonants gone. The data ceased to make sense, so they departed.

The truth of the matter is that students aren’t going to stick with what doesn’t make sense. No matter how much incredible fun they are having, the brain rejects the data, the hardware loses the software, the student refuses the martial arts, simply because the subject has become confusing, and has not been made logical and simple. In a word, no matter whether you teach karate or kung fu or that rare and esoteric style of Tai Chi, you will not be able to keep students unless you matrix your art, and matrix your students, and, the fact of the matter is…you , too, may someday feel like hanging up your gi.

Al has 40 plus years  experience in a variety of arts, and is a writer for the magazines. You can find out about matrixing, ow to keep your students, and lots of other things by getting his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.

This concept, that working Karate does not resemble the Karate that people are taught in schools, is actually true throughout the martial arts. Shaolin done in combat does not look like wu shu taught in the kwoon. Forms Kung fu doesn’t resemble fighting kung fu, and so on.

The reason for this is that there is pretty, and then there is functional. A fellow teaches, or learns karate, and the instructor shows him something that looks good. Once one starts applying force to the technique, however, the technique must sometimes change to work.

Take a look at the classical kung fu back stance. The stance is so low on the back leg that the ankle is unable to support the weight of most attacks. Thus, one must change the shape of the form in order to really make it work.

Or, take a look at the basic middle block as done in most Karate schools. It swings from the side and there is no real weight behind it. The correct way to do this block is to shoot it out from the center of the body, which would put structure behind the move.

The examples I have just given you, incidentally, represent the reasons why many classical arts fall apart in the Mixed Martial Arts ring. The artists have been trained to look good, and not to make it work. To make something like Karate work in the MMA, or the UFC, one is going to have to change the whole structure of the thing.

Changing the structure of a martial art, if it makes the art work, is not bad. Unfortunately, many teachers will protest loudly, and one has to wonder why. After all, the fact that an art now works should be good for all.

I suppose what is behind some teacher’s inability to change is the love of the mystery. What is happening is that they don’t understand what they are doing, but they have become convinced that if they just keep doing what they are doing, they will, eventually, understand it. Thus, they become blind to change, and, sadly, to what works.

The good news is that most martial artists I have encountered are not so resistant to change. I show them basic principles from Matrix Martial Arts, for instance, and they embrace the change. Thus, hold to the past only so long as it works, change to the modern when the old fails, and watch the True Martial Arts explode in the dojos of the planet.

Al has 4O years experience and his website is Monster Martial Arts. Go there and pick up a free book on Matrixing, Find Out if Matrixing is for you.