Hearty shout-out to the courageous women who gave it their all at the Intro to Self Defense for Women workshop at Highline Athletic Club, taught by Macabee Martial Arts Seattle’s Sifu Kimberly Bowen, hosted by Sensei Greg Sommers-Herivel of Northwest School of Karate on June 24, 2017. We learned a lot in just two hours, including how to keep yourself safe with a powerful attitude and awareness and turning your butterflies into dragons with your powerful shout. Then we practiced our tools for causing pain (eye pokers! foot stomp! chicken wings!) and practiced five krav maga techniques to escape from being grabbed or choked. All of these techniques follow the formula: Take charge! Make a big noise! Cause pain! Run away!
What is your favorite way to cause pain? Smash the Pumpkin was a big hit, but I love the simplicity of the good old Eye Poke. You just overlap your middle finger over your pointer to reinforce the strength, then poke ’em in the eye! Doesn’t take much strength, but causes an all-consuming distraction for the attacker.
At the end of our workshop we reviewed the techniques to escape from grabs and chokes, here are the videos: