Personal Responsibility

Personal responsibility - we each feel it at some level. It is my personal responsibility to educate and empower as many ladies in the skills of personal defense as possible. Hitching my mission to National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, by offering opportunities to learn personal defense for FREE! is the perfect setting.

Each year, for the last three years, I have tried various methods to entice people to take me up on the free programs. This year has been the best participations since starting the offer. I was able to reach a wide variety of people, from teens to every age of adult imaginable. With my own training becoming more informative and proficient it only helps me truly prepare students better.

Preparing for violence is challenging, mostly because it is difficult to find accurate information. Much of what is available is simply handed down from teacher to student, without any authentication. It fun, fanciful moves that look good in any movie. But the realty is that violence is NOT like the movies, NOT like the last sparring match you had, NOT like any MMA match. But that is the vision many people have of what violence is and how it happens.

It is my mission, my duty to pass on the education. To give my students the best possible ammunition to defend, along with all the pertinent details. I look forward to each and every class, and I especially look forward to honing my presentation.

Preparing to Defend

Another week, another post. I have stepped into an adventure that is both exhilarating and scary. I have signed up for a weekend of training in Oakland. I am staying in San Francisco, driving myself there. Driving in California is the scary part.

I am attending another seminar facilitated by Rory Miller, author of 'Meditation on Violence'. I read this book last June and absolutely loved it. It covers aspects of self defense that I have been contemplating for as long as I can remember. Violence is a part of personal defense that is a given, but the training most get is not very accurate. This is because we are so influenced about what happens in a violent situation thru media and video. When we step into most karate/martial arts classes, which we all know are synonymous with self defense, we begin practicing defense for specific situations. All crisp in our white karate uniforms, with our nifty colored belt around our waist and our bare feet gripping the floor.

But violence is anything but crispy white or nifty. it certainly can be gripping, but not specific. There are a lot of variables, and unforeseen circumstances, that are not usually brought up in the karate workout. Even sparing, no matter how fun, is still not quite the realism one would experience in the terror of a real violent encounter.

My contemplations with this began during my training. Even tho I had never really had a 'violent' encounter, I somehow knew that a violent encounter would probably not be the way I had been training for. Therefore, I am adamant at finding distinct, training with excellent instructors who have true, accurate experience. How else can I truly prepare my students, no matter how few, to defend against the terror of a violent encounter.

Read about the the upcoming training.. here.

Frustrations and Knowledge

For January I offered several personal defense courses. A couple thru Great Basin College and a 3-session course in Wells. I had one person for the Wells class. A few others who said they were interested, didn't follow thru. This is one of the frustration each of us a personal defense instructors experience.

As for the GBC workshops, I showed up Saturday the 22 for the morning. But after waiting there until 9am and having no one show up I left. There were only 2 people signed up, but I was looking forward to the class. It turns out, that the two people were traveling from a near by town and came upon an accident on their way to my class. They are first responders, so they took care of the scene. Needless to say, I have rescheduled the class for this coming Saturday. I am looking very forward to meeting these ladies! Some press releases have been sent to hopefully get a couple of more people to sign up.

The frustration of having so few ladies take such a beneficial class can get to me sometimes. Often times I wonder why I continue to train and pursue the information and education I do, at my expense, to become more knowledgeable about defense and violence. Becoming the best, most accurate teacher I can be is of what use if there are no students? I am about to go off to yet another training in which day two is titled, Concrete, Dirt, & Barstools. Environmental fighting simulations at a real biker bar, rented specifically for training. What I know I will get from this training is yet another level of understanding of defensive situations, and violence.

Why?

What for?

I am going to drive to an area I have never been before, stepping into a training situation that is rather intimidating to think about. I have full confidence and faith in the trainers ability to train. He is diligent, well trained, and knowledgeable. It will be fun and exciting, and I will be meeting some great people. I always do when I venture into training.

So as I asked Travis once, "What are you going to do with all this 'knowledge?"

I too, ask myself, "What do I do with all this knowledge?"