Karen, I would LOVE to take your class, as I don't believe in carrying any kind of weapons!

I understand and respect people who don't believe in carrying a weapon but I like to be able to up the anty with a impact tool such as a specially made pen or flashlight. I would say a well trained person without tools/weapons and good de-escalation skills will be fine in most cases but there are times when that is not enough. If an average built man clobbers an average built female "game over" in most cases. And the nice thing here is we can (if you are in the right) use disparity of force in these situations. What I DO NOT believe is something to count on is OC or pepper-spray as this can go against you in many ways and many push OC and pepper-spray and don't get me started on tasers.

Hope your class went well Karen. You did take it easy right? Take cae of yourself, and have a stellar day.

Karen, may I suggest that you create a DVD set for those that can not attend your classes . . .

Class went extremely well and have been invited back to teach again next month. Several of the students indicated they were sure there would be bruising tomorrow on their arms. I mention this because it happens in every class, hit your partner time and time again over four hours and it is bound to happen. I was mindful of my condition so only did a few techniques that took someone down to the ground and said I would show that in the next class when I have recovered fully.

You seem to have a remarkable constitution Karen. best of luck and have fun ! :)

We all come from different backgrounds. Absolutely no disrespect intended for anyone... I believe the LGBT community should be armed and well trained to defend themselves in so far as they are able to do so legally, are mentally capable and are willing to accept the responsibilities of doing so.

Great to see you getting back into training Karen! I have a feeling you're going to find that you're more successful now than ever before!

I really like Monica's suggestion about the self defense training DVD set. Perhaps we should talk about that sometime Karen. I have facilities and video equipment.

Lori, when you have time it would be a good idea to discuss a self-defense training CD as I don't have any of the equipment to do this. By no means am I camera shy and would love to get this information out to our community.