My goal is to serve the communities that I am part of with the the skills and knowledge I have. In this case, it is my background in jiu-jitsu. I want to share a skillset that can help others to feel empowered to begin their journey towards learning to love themselves, grow confidence, and feel more prepared in ways to protect themselves. Self-defense classes can look a number of ways and you can begin your journey with any martial art that you want, there’s plenty of ways to get started– Karate, Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, Judo, Krav Maga, the list goes on…
The group that came forth on this day had little to no experience with martial arts. I love all the smiles that were on people’s faces, the openness and willingness everyone was to learning and stepping out of their comfort zones to try.
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Behind the Scenes: Creating the Experience
A few of my friends encouraged me to host a community event. A few text messages later, I got to planning. I knew my first community event is something I wanted to host in Seattle in a high-trafficked and central area. My friend Andrew Bueno co-owns a gym in University Village right off the Burke-Gilman trail called ATTN Seattle. I thought this would be the perfect place to invite people to learn self-defense.
I was motivated to do this workshop because of things that have been happening in the world. I wish I could say we live in a world where we can go for a run without worry or walk to our car without assessing the risks, but that’s not the case. Health and wellness paired with my knowledge of jiu jitsu aligns with my personal values of self-love, self-care, and being courageous enough to try something new. Learning new skills helps develop who we are and growth comes when we take risks, it’s scary, but the more we learn, the more prepared we feel, and ultimately gives us more strength.
Self-love and self-empowerment: the connection of caring for yourself and finding inner strength will project outwardly from within. I emphasize the importance of believing in yourself and what it means to care for yourself. How building confidence comes with taking action and when you take action into learning a skill such as self-defense, you’ll feel more prepared to protect yourself. The more that you practice self-defense the way you practice your positive self-talk the more safe you’ll feel. The more you’ll know you are worth defending. You will understand how to use your voice, create boundaries, and physically defend yourself.
My confidence came from the hours I put into growing my skills on the mats. I had goals I wanted to achieve and now I want to share it with others who seek the knowledge and want develop their skill and strengthen their minds.
Workshop Highlights
The class size was an intimate one, which I love, because I get to spend more time with each person individually. The group was about 12 people and consisted of mostly individuals who had little to no experience with any type of martial art. Everyone came with an open mind and ready to step out of their comfort zone.
Setting boundaries
The message that I wanted to have come across here is, “it’s better to look weird than to assume nothing and get hurt.” What I mean by that is that if you have any inkling of feeling in danger you should make it known, take action, and set your boundaries early. Looking weird is only for a moment, but abduction, injury, and harm can be permanent.
We had 2 groups stand across from each other and learn how to set boundaries by choosing when they felt unsafe when someone approached them. They stopped this person by using body language to start, followed by stopping them with their voice ie. “NO” or “STOP” and then finishing with combining it all together.
In this exercise, people felt empowered by standing up for themselves and understanding where and when someone was too close.
Grip Fighting
This is something I think is an important skill to know when it comes to martial arts and self-defense. It is the first thing that should be addressed when someone gets a hold of you. It’s difficult to make moves or escape if someone has control over your limbs so I taught the class through various scenarios how to break grips on your wrist, whether it was 1 on 1 grips or 2 vs 1 grip. In addition to this, I shared what it means to have inside control when being pushed and how to pummel to fight for the stronger position.
I had the students practice in real time with their partners and switch a few times to feel a variety of different grips. They really liked this one and the main take away that I noticed from teaching this is that no one just tried to run off by being held by their partner. Everyone worked to get their grips back and re-grip if necessary.
Body Locks
A common scenario. Someone comes behind you, grabs around your waist or torso, and tries to lift you up. Another scenario is being body locked from the side or even front of you. A key message taught here was to hunker down, ground yourself by establishing your base. We discussed a lot about what a good stance looks like. During this session I had students practice using forearms to frame against their partners jawline to help break grips, weakest points and how to break those grips, and how center of gravity is important without compromising your structure/balance. This is a fun one to learn the different body lock scenarios then have them each do 1 minute of drills with their partner.
Rear Naked Chokehold Escape
I like to introduce this by showing the students how to apply the choke so I teach them how to apply the rear naked choke to their partner from a seated or kneeling position. Students can feel how strong it is if its applied correctly and then drill the escape with their partners to follow. This one was showed how to escape from a standing position leading students into a position to remove themselves from danger or to continue into the front body lock that we previously practiced to take their partner down. The students can see how things can tie together from here if they continue to practice these skills.
Ground Work
I wanted to show some things on the ground because more times than not a struggle ends up on the ground whether it be a scramble or a pin. I shared how to escape from bottom when they are pinning your hands to the ground whether in mounted position or in someone’s guard. I also showed how to work closed guard and coming back on top. Various moves to break someones base and balance. Wishing we had more time to continue to show more techniques on the ground, but this was valuable skills that everyone got to experience from important and relevant positions.
Community
I want to highlight the group that came out to my workshop! Although it is such a serious topic, self-defense, learning the skills and technique can be fun and a great workout! Taking a look around the room I noticed people laughing, smiling, and having fun. They were learning valuable tools to add to their tool belt and enjoying the process. Everyone was welcoming and willing to work with new people during the different drills. I saw that they valued other people’s input and liked to see the different reactions that they are given in different scenarios. Everyone in the room was absolutely ready to take on this challenge.
Positive Self-Talk
Here is what I want from everyone to work on daily: Positive self-talk. This is where your care and love for yourself stems from. Knowing your worth is important when it comes to fighting for yourself and advocating for yourself. Even in this workshop alone, I can offer the space and do my part to make sure it is inclusive and safe, but I encourage everyone to advocate for themselves if they ever feel uncomfortable or unsafe by using their voice and speaking up. Doing that is what will create the safe space for yourself as well.
A few ways you can begin talking kindly to yourself is:
- Journaling daily and writing good things that you did and positive things about yourself
- Look yourself in the mirror, set a timer, and say your favorite things about yourself
- Talk to a friend and share your recent accomplishments, what you are good at, and what you love about yourself. Share with anyone willing to listen for 1 minute. When you’re done, you could have them do the same for themselves with you!
- Repeat positive affirmations to yourself at the start of your day
This will change how you see yourself and what you think about yourself will reflect in how you carry yourself through life. Say it loud, say it proud, and believe that you are and you will be!
Going Forward
One workshop is not enough to give you all the knowledge and skills you need to protect yourself. It is meant to widen your perspective and give you an insight on what types of skills you can and should acquire. This workshop also is not meant to predict future situations or be an exact scenario you may encounter in the world. This workshop is meant to give you confidence and a better understanding of how to regain control of your body, importance of being present in time, and not to live in a constant “what if this” or living in fear where it can be paralyzing. This workshop is meant to empower you to take more action, empower you to use your voice, empower you to learn your boundaries. All this to say that you should continue your journey in learning self-defense in some way.
Going forward, I hope to continue to offer free community events along with a series of sessions to offer to those wanting to take their skills to another level. Let’s stay in touch so that you can stay updated with upcoming events! Subscribe to my newsletter for the latest news.
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