R.E.A.C.T. Think Act Stay Safe

R.E.A.C.T.  Think. Act. Stay Safe.
by Steve Collins

Rare is the book that speaks to security agents, and civilians alike.  R.E.A.C.T. Think Act Stay Safe is that book.

This classic book shows you how you can protect yourself regardless of your age, sex, level of fitness, training, and experience by using the simple and effective REACT formula:
R: Recognize
E: Evaluate
A: Alternatives
C: Concentrate
T: Terminate

Using clear and concise step-by-step instructions, reinforced with illustrations and diagrams, each of these five basic principles is expanded and explained in such a way that they quickly become “second nature.”

Following this sequence in any circumstance will allow you to recognize potential threats, decide on the best form of action to take and equip you carry to this through. While the R.E.A.C.T. Self-Defense System does concentrate on a dozen or so straightforward but effective self-protection combat techniques, it is not just another self-defense book, full of impractical or ineffective martial arts routines. What it does is heighten your perception of danger so you understand what could be happening to you and empowers you to do something about it before it does.

“A real fight on the street rarely lasts more than 20 seconds, it is not a game and there are no rules.  You must take control.”

Who can use this book and the R.E.A.C.T. Self-Defense System? 

Civilians need a simple to understand and easy to use guide to think about and taking charge of your own personal safety.  It doesn’t require training and practice to immediately master the principles and techniques for safe behavior and response to unavoidable attacks.  Moreover, it does not require the use of specialized weapons or strength.

Security professionals, especially those in executive/close protection, can use R.E.A.C.T. in at least three ways:

• Expand and enhance your existing skills at protecting others,
• Educate the people you protect in how they can confidently take responsibility for their own safety,
• Help your protectees better understand why you do what you do when you are protecting them.

“REACT is not just a clever name thought up by marketing people; it is a system that enables you to stay in tune with your environment, to be relaxed but alert, aware of your surroundings and switched on to any escalation in your person threat level.  REACT is a defensive strategy, not a martial art or a method of fighting.  In fact, it’s a system of how to avoid fighting!”  It is how to avoid conflict and confrontation.  If, however, all your preventive efforts fail and you face an actual attack, I will show you some simple yet effective techniques and tactics to help you act to your best advantage.”

First published in 2001 in the United Kingdom by HarperCollins, REACT has sold over 35,000 copies in the UK and Europe.  This is the first time it is easily available in the U.S.    Presently, only a limited number of copies are available.

Steve Collins is a martial arts expert but is quick to point out that those skills are in fact “art” and do not factor into the average person’s ability to protect and defend themselves.  He trains and practices martial arts in controlled situations where both he and his opponent adhere to rigid rules of engagement.  This is not the street world where you go up against someone intent on doing you harm!  Bad guys don’t live by the rules of a fair fight when they attack, and neither should you.  Assailants want to dominate you and the situation by any means on their terms.   His R.E.A.C.T. system is a real-world response to real-world attacks.

“Being a martial artist does not mean you are able to defend yourself.  The techniques a traditional practitioner studies and may even become highly skilled in, can be your worst enemy in a real fight.  Two or three instinctive well-practised moves are all you actually need.  Please don’t think I am saying martial arts are a waste of time; they are not and a good grounding in them gives you a degree of physical fitness, good reflexes, good balance, good timing, and an awareness others don’t possess.  The main problem is that most o the martial arts are taught and practiced as sports, with a small amount of self-defence thrown in for good measure and to make it a bit more interesting.  Unfortunately, the self-defence is not very realistic and is based on classical and formalized attack and defence techniques, and so much of the self-defence taught in martial arts schools only works if your training partner allows it to.”

“Remember that martial arts, self-defence, and fighting are three very different things.  A martial art is just that – an art.  Practitioners spend a lifetime practising and perfecting highly complex combat techniques.  Even many of today’s supremely skilled masters are only masters of modern, watered-down adaptations of the original combat systems developed for the battlefield.  These original combat skills were for fighting, while the modern martial arts we know today are designed for study and not for combat.  In self-defence the goal is to avoid harm, to survive.  In self-defence it should be completely unnecessary to confront and in fact, it is preferable that we don’t confront unless it is absolutely unavoidable.  Even if physical confrontation becomes inevitable you must extract yourself at the first opportunity.”

Item No. 364
160 Pages
Softcover
$19.95

Reviews of R.E.A.C.T.

• “This is an excellent guide to self-defense that is very approachable for anyone, even grandmothers! Steve’s long experience in the topic of self-defense and martial arts allows him to provide very basic yet effective methods that anyone can apply for their own protection. Also provides lots of great ways to avoid trouble to start with.”

• “I’ve read a few “self-defense” books and this was the better end of them. I won’t mention them but some were either Martial Arts in Jeans or flooded your brain with stats and legal stuff it put you off. This was as it needed to be straight to the point.”

• “The Number 1 self-defense book on my shelf.”