When most people think of self-defense, they tend to think of the 1st Dimension. The majority of self-defense training focuses on the 1st Dimension. It is the most concrete aspect of self-defense. It is centered around physical skills.
These physical skills are usually taught as systems. The most popular of these systems are formal martial arts styles such as karate, jujitsu, TKD, etc. But a system can also be an informal collection of techniques and concepts that put together by an individual instructor. The basic premise behind the 1st Dimension is to develop your physical skills to such a degree that in the event you are assaulted you will be able to physically prevent harm to yourself and others.
The underlying assumptions or “truths” that support the 1st Dimensional Paradigm are as follows:
1. Self-defense involves a well defined “bad” attacker that physically assaults you without justification.
2. Defeating the attacker is simply a matter of executing the proper physical techniques.
3. The attacker is known to be “an attacker” because he can either be easily identified as “evil” or he initiates the physical assault.
The popularity of the 1st Dimensional Paradigm comes from its simplicity. You are good, the attacker is bad, and self-defense will always achieved upon execution of the proper techniques. Self-defense begins with the physical attack and ends with the attacker being defeated. This Paradigm is appealing because self-defense mastery is an obtainable goal. Just as you can learn to swim and thus not drown if you fall in the water, you can learn self-defense and always be safe.