Self-Defense Clinics & Classes

One cannot emphasize enough - self-defense clinics can be a lot of fun and they can help educate the lay-person, but to be effective, one must make a lifetime commitment in self-defense training! This shouldn't be a problem if you find a good self-defense or martial arts school, and it can be better than a gym because you will burn a lot of calories, get in shape, and learn a valuable art.

A makiwara board in Gilbert, Arizona.

Last night I was talking to a couple of our female martial artists - one a black belt, and they wanted to know how a person can get over the fear and anxiety of defending against an attack on the street. Based on my 50 years experience in martial arts, this only comes through training  every week for a lifetime. One has to make a lifetime commitment to follow the path of martial arts - just consider it a choice to be physically and mentally healthy and you will gain many benefits. Also, after you are trained,  know when to walk away. If you can't walk away, the training will automatically activate and keep you calm because you have already trained and covered most of the variables and you know how to block. In Seiyo Kai Shorin-Ryu Karate, people are also taught how to take out an attacker with one strike. Sure, there is always the unknown factor as to how the attacker will strike or what kind of weapon he might have, but your weekly training will provide you with the means to defend yourself.

Shihan Kyle of Gillette, Wyoming looks forward
to training during a body hardening.
In such training, a martial artist trained in body 
hardening can accept strikes with considerable force
without fear of injury.

One of these students noted that she took classes offered by a local police department where an officer attacks the women while wearing a Redman suit. I don't recommend this, nor do I recommend using boxing gloves or punching hanging bags. These are too artificial and they do not give a person the proper feeling of striking another person and will teach a person to strike incorrectly - they will also hinder and limit one's self-confidence. If you need to hit a target, I recommend a makiwara board or one of our black belt students trained in kote kitae (ボディ硬化). It is as realistic as it can be expected and it will build self-confidence. Your best bet is to take karate classes that teach kata and bunkai as these teach proper technique and self-defense. Kata are forms - they represent living encyclopedias for self-defense if they also include lots of bunkai (practical self-defense application training of the kata).