The 27 Movements
The 27 Basic Movements are the foundation of Smart Defences. They are based on the fundamental movements I first learned through Chito-ryu Karate and refined through more than twenty years of training in Shotokan Karate, Chito-ryu Karate, Krav Maga, and real-life experience. Along the way, I practiced kata, kihon, and hundreds of techniques, but I came to an important realization: almost everything I had learned was built upon these same fundamental movements. Smart Defences does not replace the martial arts that inspired it—it simplifies and organizes their principles into a practical system that anyone can understand and apply.
I also realized that the true value of these movements was not in performing them individually, but in understanding how and when to combine them. My experience in Krav Maga, along with years of personal study and real-life experience, helped me better understand their practical application and adaptability.
Think of the 27 Basic Movements like the letters of the alphabet. Individually, each movement is simple. Combined together, they create almost unlimited possibilities. Just as letters form words, words form sentences, and sentences form books, these movements combine to create practical responses for countless situations. More importantly, they create a shared laboratory where people from every background train the same principles of awareness, observation, intent, imagination, movement, and adaptation. Every repetition becomes an experiment where the mind and body learn together, developing a common way of observing, preparing, responding, and improving.
Training Imagination, Reality, and Adaptation
The drawing above helps turn a single image into an unlimited training environment. The solid aggressor represents the present, while the faded figures allow you to imagine possible attacks, movements, and changing directions without becoming fixed on one prediction or one part of the aggressor’s body. Using the 27 Basic Movements, you gradually build a library of movement and experience that your body can draw from as situations change. Your imagination stays slightly ahead, preparing what may happen next, while your senses remain connected to what is actually happening now and your body brings the movement into reality. The body already has a natural ability to adapt through balance, movement, and continuous feedback; training does not need to provide a predetermined answer for every possible situation. Instead, practice expands your library, giving your body more experience to draw from and allowing you to increasingly trust its natural ability to adjust and adapt.
One of the most important principles in Smart Defences is therefore learning to direct your imagination without disconnecting it from reality. The past adds experience to your library, the future helps prepare your next action, but the present is where you observe, decide, move, and adapt. Your senses gather information, your observation asks “What Needs My Attention?”, your intent keeps the objective clear, your imagination prepares what may come next, and your body draws from its library of practiced movement to respond to the reality it encounters. Every action creates new feedback and experience, adding to that library while your imagination adjusts and the cycle begins again. Through disciplined repetition, the 27 Basic Movements become more than predetermined responses: they help build a growing library connecting imagination, reality, movement, experience, and adaptation. This same ability can extend beyond self-defence into leadership, work, relationships, problem-solving, and everyday life. Different lives. One shared laboratory. One question. What Needs My Attention?