In many
warrior
traditions,
people
were taught
to carry
nothing in
their hands
that wasn’t
a weapon,
a tool or a
loved one.
ing to the world that you need it. The
warrior tradition asks you to look
at what you hold and question your
relationship with it.HERE ARE A FEW general rules for
detecting handedness in others:- The presence of a firearm on the
hip is a rather obvious tell. - The front pocket that’s used to
carry one’s car keys is a fairly certain
sign of which side is dominant. - Women usually carry their purse
suspended from their non-dominant
shoulder so they can use their domi-
nant hand to access its contents. - Men usually place their billfold
in the back pocket of their non-
dominant side so their non-domi-
nant hand can remove it before they
use their dominant hand to pluck
out its contents. - A phone in the rear pocket of
either gender often follows the same
rule as the billfold — non-dominant
pocket so that extraction can be done
with the non-dominant hand, after
which the dominant hand is used to
swipe and click. - The hand that reaches for an item,
more often than not, indicates which
side is dominant. - An infant is often carried with
the parent’s non-dominant arm so
the dominant side can attend to the
child’s needs.
AND NOW, your assignment: For
the next week, attempt to mentally
determine the killing hand of every
person you see. With a little practice,
it will become second nature. You’ll
be able to wander through crowded
places while keeping a mental tally:
“Right, right, left, right, could be left
— no, he’s right-handed! When he
stopped to tie his shoes, he gave me
a definite signal.”
Also‚ for the next week, every time
you place something in your hand,
consider your relationship with it. Is
it a tool for immediate use? Is it part
of an interaction with a loved one?
Or is it a dependency gesture that
betrays which hand is your killing
hand to all who are educated enough
to notice?Mark Hatmaker’s website is
extremeselfprotection.com.the time. When it hit the fan, we could
see him shift to his preferred side.
FOR THE PURPOSES OF COMBAT, I
will focus on a skill that was part and
parcel of the indigenous warrior’s
skill set and is still a huge part of
awareness training for law-enforce-
ment officers and wise martial
artists. I’m referring to the ability
to spot pechari mo’obe. That’s the
Comanche term for the ability to see
the “killing hand.”
The killing hand is the hand that
wields the weapon with utmost dex-
terity, the hand that can flick into
the face of an attacker with maxi-
mum speed, the hand that is wound
up for an uneducated haymaker, the
hand that indicates the side of the
body that’s favored in grappling and
scuffling once an altercation hits
the ground.
Historically, warriors were expected
to train themselves to detect handed-
ness at a glance — and not merely in
human beings. It could be beneficial
to spot it in other species, most of
which exhibit left and right prefer-
ences with the same 90/10 distribu-
tion as human beings.
A good warrior would watch which
hoof a mustang used to scratch the
ground so that he’d know which
hoof was most likely to effect a
forefoot strike. If the good warrior
was also a good horseman, he would
then approach said mustang from
the offside.
Need another illustration? Toss a
toy to your dog or cat and note which
paw it uses to swat it out of the air or
pin it down. You now have a reading
of the animal’s left/right dominance.
If your pet should ever turn feral —
for example, in the coming domestic-
pet zombie apocalypse — you’ll be
better able to formulate a strategy for
exploiting its offside for corralling
and control.
AS FOR READING human handedness ...
Whenever anyone walks anywhere
with anything in his or her hand,
that person tells us what is deemed
to be of value. It may not be the
dominant hand itself doing the car-
rying, but we still can get a read on
what the person values (more on
that in a moment).
Of interest to martial artists is the
related notion of “hiding the killing
hand.” In many warrior traditions,
people were taught to carry nothing
in their hands that wasn’t a weapon,
a tool or a loved one. Carrying any-
thing else showed weakness and
insecurity — it tipped your hand, so
to speak.In modern times, this means that
men and women who consider them-
selves warriors should walk with
nothing in their hands so they’re
ready to face whatever is out there. It
doesn’t matter if it’s just a trip to the
grocery store. The only exception is
a tool you’re getting ready to use (a
shopping cart counts), a weapon at
the ready (only in dire times, obvi-
ously, or while hunting), a hand of a
loved one or perhaps a burden you’re
carrying to a car for someone else.
Anything else in your hands is a
security blanket, one that often tells
a tale of dependence. If it happens to
be a cellphone you’re clutching but
not using, well, that’s a big reveal.
If you feel the need to travel with
an item in your hands, you’re signal-AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 § BLACKBELTMAG.COM 29