Dates: February 27, March 6, March 13, March 20, March 27.

Cost: Free

Time and location: 7:30pm to 8:30pm at the Thomson Community School gymnasium

This five-week course is about staying as safe as possible. We will talk about methods of avoiding dangerous situations and what to do if we need to defend ourselves.

Self defense is mainly about awareness:

• Awareness on the street (keeping an eye out for a few visible blocks)

• Planning out your safety zone, how close someone can get to you before you react. Decide.

• Don’t worry about making a scene when you react. Go ahead and overreact.

Attitude:

• Set an intention to defend yourself with specific techniques and strategies that match the firm intention of your attacker who knows exactly what specific things they intend to do to you.

• Practice your right to stay calm and getting used to the experience of a physical attack.

• Predetermine your levels of force: what is the threat level of the assailant

It is also about the techniques of defending oneself physically when necessary:

• Striking
• Learning to fall, roll, and get up
• Ground fighting
• Throws
• Weapons

And how to use these in various situations defending against:

• Being pulled somewhere
• Strangled
• Pushed
• Headlock or grabbed from behind

Please fill out our google sheet if you are interested in participating!