Tanisha Martin, owner and head instructor at the Chinese Shao-Lin Center in Colorado Springs, helps women learn how to protect and stand up for themselves by improving both mental and physical stamina. Building self-confidence as well as physical strength greatly increases a woman’s ability to thwart threats of physical attack.
According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, over 200,000 women in the U.S. are raped or sexually assaulted, which translates to about 600 women per day. A surprising statistic is that 85% of sexual assaults occur with someone the woman knows; many times it is an intimate partner.
Sadly, many of us hesitate to get the training and help we need to protect ourselves in any potentially dangerous situation. Most people agree it’s important, but don’t consider the risks as something that could actually happen to them until tragedy strikes close to home. When our concern about personal safety reaches a certain level, we are ready to take action to prepare ourselves for what could potentially happen.
Participating in a short, one-time self-defense class is one option for gaining knowledge. While this provides a great introduction to a few ways to defend ourselves, it is not enough time to develop the mental strength and stamina to handle this kind of situation.
Relying on tools such as stun guns, pepper spray, or mace can provide a false sense of security that we are prepared to defend ourselves. If we are honest, we generally do not know how to use the tools properly and have given no thought to what to do if the tool backfires or doesn’t work.
Is it really possible for a small woman to learn how to defend herself against a man and that might be twice or even three times her size? Absolutely!
One thing we don’t realize is that it really only takes four ounces of pressure to deflect a thousand pounds of force. All we need to do is learn how that works.
As a 5th Degree Black Belt Associate Master with over 16 years of training, this is exactly what Martin teaches in her kung fu classes. She is a small woman herself and is also a survivor of domestic violence. Martin draws on her extensive training and personal experiences as she helps women develop the ability to defend themselves. The focus is on increasing their physical strength, martial skill, mental preparedness and confidence.
April is Sexual Violence Awareness Month. What if more women were aware and prepared to keep themselves safe? For information about self-defense through kung fu, go to: KungFuColoradoSprings.com.