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Enough with the fight or flight so called choice

The fight or flight choice is one of my pet peeves. Ive seen way to many articles and way too many

instructors (some of which are GOOD instructors) talk about the so call choice between the two.

The problem with this paradigm is that it is incorrect for two main reasons: 1. Fight or flight only

describes 2/3 of the phenomenon, and this 2/3 is ass-backwards. 2. There is no choice.

To make this short and sweet, this little write up will divide to three: 1.relevent information about the

brain 2. Understanding the phenomenon; and 3. Training the system to respond (there is no choice).

1. The human brain can be seen as made of three brains:

a. Reptilian brain, which we share with, well reptiles like gators. It controls our bodily automated

regulatory systems, things like breathing, heart-rate, perspiration etc. It is important to know

that this system and its structures supersede emotion and cognition. We can influence it

indirectly (if we decide to start running the system will react and adjust if we focus, visualize,meditate etc. the system will react and adjust)

b. The limbic brain, also known as the mammalian brain. We share it with other mammals; dogs,

cows etc. For our purpose, this brain regulates and transmits emotions via its structures to other

parts of the brain and the rest of the body. It also plays a major rule in memory formation. It

regulates hormones, neurotransmitters and brain factors, which supersede brain and bodily

functions. It is slower than the reptilian brain, but much faster than the neocortex which

governs cognition.

c. The neocortex, the human brain. This is the newest part of the brain. It governs cognition. All

those specialized executive functions like problem solving, reasoning, planning, fluid intelligence

etc. This is the part that can make decisions and choices. This is where the conscious mind

interprets reality. This is the part that allows as conscious control over the body (this last

sentence requires an article of its own as technically there is no such thing, only an illusion of it).

It is the slowest brain. While it can affect indirectly the other two, it is slow. This is why we get

angry (limbic system) over an algebra problem faster than we can solve it (neocortex).

2. The stress response:

The stress response is a limbic response to a threat. Originally evolved to allow us to react to, and

save us from life threatening situations, it is easily triggered, to any threats real or imaginary (oh yes,

the brain cannot and does not distinguish between realty and imagination and responds to both).

Regardless, the response is the same. Keeping it simple, it has three phases: Freeze (!), Flight and

Fight.

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a. Freeze: The first respond it to freeze. It may last a split tenth of a second or a few seconds. Most

predators track their prey through its motions. Most of these predators dont have great eye

site and if the prey freezes the predator may lose sight (this is why a deer will freeze on the road

when it sees headlights instead of running away). We, as humans, have not outgrown over

100,000 years of evolution. This is also why so many people freeze when someone talk with

them aggressively or inappropriately; same stress response. Just to make it clear this is caused

by a bunch of hormones, brain factors, and neuro-transmitters. It affects every part of the body

and force the freeze response. At the same time though, heart rate and blood pressure go up, as

well as muscle tone and other bodily functions in preparation (if needed) for the next part of the

stress response.

b. Flight: Next on the stress response is escape. If after the freeze, the predator/danger is still

there, we will attempt to outrun it. Again this is mediated by a bunch of hormones, brain factorsand neuro-tr ansmitters. If this doesnt work finally well fight

c. Fight: as anyone who passed childhood and teenage years should know fighting hurts. It is also

dangerous, as much damage can take place. So, it is the last course of uncontrolled action the

stress response mediates.

This is important to repeat: the stress response is a limbic reaction. That means its activated before

cognition, and influences the body before you get a thought. It is under unconscious control. So

what can be done to give us options? The answer is training

3. If you are not trained you have no way to know how long will you be in freeze mode. Will it be less

than a tenth of a second before you go on or will it be the end of the fight for you? Sparring is not

the same as having a full stress response. Ive seen seasoned operators, who have been through

some serious situations and acted as well as can be expected under the worse kind of situations,

FREEZE when a street punk picked a fight with them. The reason for it is simple: they were trained to

go into combat, they were not trained for a situation in which a punk picks a fight with them next to

their local hangout (wonder why you have all those SEAL stories about picking fights and never

backing down in a bar.oh yes its their mentality to be ready, never back down and always be

aggressive. Maybe thats why their successful at what they do ). The way to train this is the same

way they train the pros not the freeze: emotional training. That does not mean practicing how to

cry and weep. It means you need to be stressed in your training. You need to work on surprise

attacks; you need to know what is the (your) emotional response to having your loved ones

threatened. It means going against bigger stronger guys than you. It is going against a threat that as

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hard as you hit him will not stop and keep pushing you. And it also means training to discriminate

between a real threat, a perceived threat and a surprise non-threat (e.g., a guy creeping behind you

in the dark, only to tell you he s out of town, out of gas and asks where is the nearest gas station.

Sometime hes a human predator out to get you; sometime s its just a guy who s scared and out of

gas). There are many ways to go about emotional training (stress inoculation, aggression training,

the soup, terror circle, etc.). What this training does, is it takes you off the autopilot. It trains

your neural pathways, your unconscious neural pathways to respond in different ways than just

following the freeze flight fight, stress response. It trains your brain to decide threat/no threat

unconsciously, at a limbic level. It reduces the acute response the body has to all those hormones,

factors and neurotransmitters that floods the body. It gives you trained unconscious responses,

maybe even buying you enough time to activate cognition.

So to conclude; the stress response is an automated, unconscious response to a threat. It is faster thancognition, hence superseding it, and affects both brain and body in an extreme fashion. It has three

phases that always follow in the same order: freeze, flight, fight. Your only chance to not be a victim of

your own stress response is to train yourself under emotional taxing situations.