Women’s Personal Protection Course

CTA now offers a special self-defense course for women!

This course is different from traditional self-defense courses that you may have taken in the past or that you may see on YouTube. In addition to teaching personal safety strategies and tactics, we explain the emotional and psychological processes that take place during a confrontation and how to successfully manage them. We also take an in depth look at the instinctive physiological reactions to danger and fear that, as human beings, we all share. Understanding that these reactions prepare us to respond more efficiently to a dangerous situation, will empower us to fight back harder and with more resolve!

Our Seminar has been designed to meet women’s specific needs and concerns about personal safety. Here are some of the topics that make our curriculum so effective at preparing our students for the reality of confrontation and possibly violence whether at home, in the streets, at school or in the workplace.

• Awareness and Intuition, and how they can help us to recognize and avoid dangerous situations. It is extremely important to learn to manage these skills in a sensible manner, so we don’t let awareness devolve into paranoia.
• Conversation management and de-escalation Techniques. How to use our tone of voice, body language, choice speech and behavioral strategies to manage and reduce the intensity of a confrontation when possible.
• Fear Management. It is fundamental to understand that fear, as opposed to panic, has a positive value for our survival and we need to embrace it! It is a natural and necessary reaction to physical and emotional danger. Fear triggers beneficial changes in our posture and jumpstarts the delivery of Adrenaline, Cortisol and other chemicals in our blood flow to prepare us for action!
• Mindset and Courage make the difference between being able to respond to fear in a constructive way or succumbing to panic. We will learn that courage is not the absence of fear, rather it is the quality that allows us to manage fear and use it as a stimulus to action. We will learn how to develop courage and a proactive and resolute mindset using proven Cognitive Control Techniques and Simulation Training with professional Role Players.
• Predator Psychology. It is paramount to understand that most predators share similar psychological traits, behaviors, goals and weaknesses. They also share predictable ways to engage and to attack their prospective victims. Learning about them will allow us to recognize danger as early as possible and to initiate our defense soonest.

• Intuitive Defensive Tactics. We know that the emotional stress of a physical confrontation paired with the body’s instinctive reactions to danger severely limit our ability to recall and perform complex series of techniques. Therefore, we base our defensive tactics on simple and functional gross motor skills movements that are easier to recall and perform under stress.
• Force on Force Simulations. You will participate in realistic simulations with trained role players (wearing protective gear) to test, evaluate and improve the physical and psychological skills learned during the course.

“Simulation training is a technique to replace and amplify real experiences with guided ones, often ‘immersive’ in nature, that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive fashion. Simulation-based learning can be the way to develop students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes, whilst protecting them from unnecessary risks.” (Simulation-Based Learning: Just Like the Real Thing, Fatimah Lateef, 2010)

Life is a series of choices that define us. Choose to prepare, choose not to be a victim, choose to be an inspiration to other women in your life.

Who are we preparing to defend against?

 Resource predator Vs. Process predator:

• Psychology
• Behavior
• Goals
• Weaknesses

How do you prepare to stay safe?

• Our approach to Self Defense Training is designed to prepare you emotionally, psychologically and physically to be better able to prevail during conflict.

What are the four principles of personal safety?

OBSERVE: pay attention to your environment as much as possible

• Awareness Vs Paranoia
• Intuition: how does it works and why we should always follow it
• When awareness fails: Counter ambush training methodologies

AVOID: the confrontation when possible:

• Walk/run away
• Dial 911
• Scream for help

DECREASE: the intensity of the confrontation if possible.

• Non Violent Posture
• Body language
• Choice Speech

PROTECT: when everything else fails, violence is the answer. Fight to Win!

Introduction to Intuitive Tactics:

• Palm strikes
• Hammer fist
• Elbow Strikes (vertical, horizontal, diagonal)
• Knee Strikes
• Shin Kick
• Soccer kick
• Face Rake
• Biting
• Gouging
• Self Defense Tools
• Improvised Weapons

Do you understand Fear, its purpose and how it affects our performance?

• Psychological vs. Biological fear
• Fight – Flight – Freeze
• Intimidation / Self-Intimidation
• Permission to do harm
• Personal Directive
• Power of Indignation
• Positive Emotional Triggers
• Mindset and Stress Exposure Training

Fundamental Principles of fear management:

• Accept What’s Happening
• Get Challenged
• Don’t Stop Thinking About How To Prevail

People attack each other in very predictable ways,

 Learning about them will allow us to initiate our defense sooner:

• Most common attacks
• Pre-contact indicators
• The startle-flinch reaction and how to convert it into a combative response

FORCE on FORCE SCENARIOS:

You will participate in realistic scenarios with trained role players (wearing protective gear) to test and evaluate the skills learned during the course.