Application

Touchless Jiu-Jitsu

If you cannot move, you cannot defend yourself.

Most of self-defense never gets to hands. It’s the part before — a body that works, and attention that’s free to notice what’s around you. That’s what this wing is about.

A Touchless Jiu-Jitsu class working through seated floor positions together, the Touchless Jiu-Jitsu wall mark behind them

I’m not a physical therapist. Not a massage therapist, not an acupuncturist, not a doctor, not a clinician.

I’m a martial artist with over thirty years of experience — including thirty years of beating my body up. The last five have been about fixing it.

That’s what this is. The Library covers what the research says about how the body works. This wing covers what I actually do about it, and what I teach. If you walk out your door thinking about your sore hip, you’re not scanning the parking lot. You’re not aware of anything except your hip. A body that can’t move can’t protect itself, and that’s where self-defense actually starts.

— Shane

Ready

The Body That Can

Range, strength, getting out of pain, getting off the ground. In class this looks like stretching, myofascial work, and movement — and people wonder what it has to do with self-defense. Everything. This is the layer underneath all the others.

A Touchless Jiu-Jitsu class moving through a wide side-lunge stretch together, reaching overhead

Coming: Being Comfortable on the Ground

Aware

Before Anything Happens

Where you park. Where you sit. What you notice on the way to the car. Talking your way out of something before it becomes something. This is the layer that works by never being tested — and the first one that fails when your body is taking up all your attention.

A group walking together through a parking lot toward the beach, taking in who and what is around them — Where you park. Who’s around. Before anything happens.

A woman holding a firm boundary with a hand raised toward an approaching stranger at night, a personal safety device in her other hand — Setting a boundary before it’s a fight.

Coming: the self-defense guide

Structure

What Holds You Up

Balance, leverage, posture, pressure, frames. The principles underneath jiu-jitsu and Wing Chun, taught as body education rather than fighting. You don’t have to intend to fight to want to not get knocked over.

A Touchless Jiu-Jitsu class holding a wide, grounded base stance together, the Touchless Jiu-Jitsu wall mark behind them

Contact

When It Does Happen

The hands-on material. It’s last here on purpose, and it’s the smallest part. If everything above is working, this is the layer you never reach.

A man controlling a downed attacker on a sidewalk after protecting someone from a bag-snatching attempt

Coming

A Touchless Jiu-Jitsu class high-fiving each other, laughing, in front of the Touchless Jiu-Jitsu wall mark

Free Download

The Self-Defense Guide

Awareness, positioning, and the things worth thinking about before you leave the house. Free — sign up and it’s yours.