REALITY CHECKGold Coast-based ‘martial tai chi’ instructor and co-founder of the Hands
Off self-defence program, Sifu Allan Williams, discovered during a road-
rage incident that meditation and adrenaline control are as important as any
physical techniques.Violence Comes Home
Sifu Williams training with
Cliff McNeice, co-founder
of the Hands Off self-
defence programS
unday mornings are
family time. My wife and
daughter and I normally
go to the fruit and veg market
by 9am to get the fresh goodies
for the week. This Sunday
was no different to any other:
lovely weather, chirpy people
(being the weekend), and on
the drive home — only a couple
of kilometres — everything
seemed good.
That is, until we reached
the roundabout around 200
metres from home. It’s always
busy, but this weekend there
was a big car race on with lots
of streets closed and singlelanes everywhere, so we were
all squeezing through. All of
a sudden there’s a driver up
behind me, fist pumping and all
charged up. As I drive down the
road and turn into my street, this
mad man is right on my arse,
so I turn into our driveway and
stop. Normally I would have just
flashed the security key and
driven in, but I wasn’t sure if this
guy behind was mad enough to
follow me into the underground
car park, so I turn the car off and
get out. Maybe not a good idea,
but I can’t let him follow us into
the basement.
As I walk to the back of thecar and stop, standing nice and
relaxed, my raging tailgater gets
out of his car and runs straight
at me, yelling something about
how he has his family on board.
I point out that my family is here
also, but he just spews some
more abuse, telling me he is
going to knock me out. This is
when I first notice he has scabs
on his face.
Normally I am quite a loud
person, but when it comes to
this type of action I get very
quiet. My wife had noticed and
later commented that I’d never
said a word during this whole
interaction with our scabbyfriend. My legs and body are
waiting like a spring, ready
to explode. I am ready as this
road-rager is now getting close,
two car lengths away and still
spewing the abuse.
I stay calm, breathing deep
and slow. I deliberately didn’t
take my sunglasses off because;
one, I didn’t want this guy to
see my gaze; and two, I didn’t
want to start squinting into
the sun. My eyes are sensitive
so this would have put me at
a disadvantage.
I remember analysing myself
at the time. The world always
slows when adrenaline starts84 ƫđƫ333ċ (%06) #ċ*!0 | (^) FULL CONTACT