At my school I have been doing these ten week Specials of a certain class for specific topics people want to experience and learn in the short term. My first Special was a Women's Self Defense Course. I developed some very simple yet effective system that covered a little bit of everything. Self-Defense does not have to fancy, it just has to work.
Over the years I have had some great self-defense training, not only physical training but verbal training and a training in higher level of awareness of situations. I have done extensive research on all types of bullying and harassment and have been on many school counsels for policy making against bullying.
I have written many blogs about how I am a big advocate of the "woman warriors" as I have trained with many myself, and trained many as well. I think all women should learn to defend themselves. There is this misconception that women are weaker than men and are easy targets. From what I know in my field, I will always argue that. Also, it is not the strongest person who stays safe, it is the smartest. That being said, learning effective, leverage based self-defense system can be dead useful, and conditioning the body over time to build the muscle memory is all one needs to do. You don't need a Black Belt to know self-defense and to protect yourself. Many Black Belts get beat up because of this lack of understanding!
The other part is Ego. Ego has it's place in life, but the Ego can be one's worst enemy, especially in a confrontational situation. During the course we did basic hand movements for low and high level attacks, effective striking, drills to condition the body to using these strategies, drills adding stress to the situation to add an element of realism, ground defenses, gun defenses, and a few knife defenses.
The course was not only hands on but they also learned a great deal of information which they all knew through my methods of repetition in my teaching. I asked every few weeks for an assessment and they gave great feedback. I had two sessions and a great turnout and they really learned something and felt more confident and knowledgeable, and they were surprised with what they could do by the end of the ten weeks. The only thing they felt a little eerie about was the weapon defenses, which is something I will have to adjust, that's all.
I will be doing more of these 10 week specials. Next week I am starting a 10 week Qigong Course, which will do several sets using postures, poses, and breathing methods that can help improve health, vitality, mental clarity, and spiritual enlightenment. My students LOVE it and others will as well. In September, I am doing a 10 Week Zumba class with two sessions to choose from, which is a fun dance fitness class. And in October I will be implementing Yoga and a Cardio Defense class.
Self-Defense is a major reason why people learn martial arts. I have the best mentor when it comes to self-defense training, Master Samuel DeJesus. But it's always a treat to learn from the mentor's mentor! The FOUNDER of the Haganah martial art self-defense system is coming to town this weekend at Rockaway Fight Center in New Jersey! If you're interested, call 973-983-0807. You don't need martial arts experience to do this seminar! And it's not every day you get to work with the FOUNDER of a system.
No matter what way it is being taught, it is always a good idea to learn self-defense and learn from different systems and methods to build if nothing else, confidence. THAT is your biggest line of defense. No attacker wants to attack a confident person. And if they wanted to kill you, they'd kill you. An attacker wants either information, an item, or your body. But they go after the "perceived weak" targets. Confidence is your focefield against negativity in all it's ugliness! (BOWS)
Yours in service,
MASTER A TRENTO
This is awesome!! Thank you for sharing!
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