Use Your Brain

Use Your Brain

There are martial arts dojos (roughly translated, the Japanese word for gymnasium) in virtually every community in the United States. As the need for self-defense training has increased, the supply has also increased to meet the demand.

Women, driven by the need to manage their own safety issues more effectively, are flocking to martial arts teachers in droves. Whereas there were few ranked women, now well-trained females are holding their own in what was a male dominated field. In addition to martial arts studios owned and operated by men, women are opening their own dojos, as well as providing group and private self-defense instruction.
Before signing up for an expensive series of lessons, do some self-assessment and some shopping around. Here are a few points to consider.

• How is your overall health? Are your bones becoming brittle? Are you willing to engage in physical contact and get sweaty? Some women will not get training because they don't want to mess up their hair or break a nail. For many, the improvement in their personal self-defense quotient makes it worth the risk.

• Consider beginning with a limited series of self-defense classes as opposed to running full force into a bona fide martial art. The training available at many dojos is viewed in terms of decades' worth of training instead of a simple series of lessons. Having said that, the mental training is every bit as valuable as the physical training.

When her husband was attending a martial arts training camp in Chicago, a petite blonde in her early 30s spent some time doing the museums and enjoying the waterfront. As she was driving, searching for a space, she caught sight of two men loitering near the front of a building across the street from where she finally began parking. While she was maneuvering, the men left the building and crossed the street just behind her vehicle. Using the external mirrors, she watched one of the men saunter past, but the other did not, nor did he emerge from behind the van going in another direction. Just as she turned off the motor she glimpsed his shadow. He was crouched low, waiting by the back bumper.

Rather than get out and take her chances, she restarted the motor. As she drove away the two men stood together in the parking space she had just vacated, shouting and making obscene gestures in her direction.

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