Ski Spirit
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Day 2 of an intensive 2 1/2 day women's self defense course ended today. Tomorrow is the last full day and there is a graduation ceremony at the end of the day.
I'm an assistant with this class. There are 2 of us assistants and (in this class) 2 teachers co-teaching (1 completing her training) and 2 suited instructors (the guys in padded suits who take full force blows from the women).
There are 16 women in the class. What a remarkable difference in those women from the 1/2 day yesterday through the end of the day today. There was a huge difference in the force of their blows, in their confidence, in the way/level that they risked sharing difficult things in their lives. It was a very emotional day.
As an assistant, you have a variety of tasks to do. You do certain admin tasks. Then you interact with the students and make sure they're ok or if they need help or a hug, you're there to offer it.
Some of their custom fight scenes were so touching in the courage they showed, I wanted to hug them (whether or not they wanted to hug me). It was kind of funny; one woman said to me "I need you to back off a little bit"....which I was happy to do and thanked her for speaking her mind. Maybe it's the part of me that wants to be a Mom (but never will be) that just made me want to hold them and comfort them...or maybe I wanted to be comforted, who knows?
Whatever it was, it was amazing to experience. I believe that each of those women walks out knowing she not only has the right to say no to whatever she wants to, she is capable of standing up for herself and doesn't need to feel afraid of saying no!
As for me, I've gotten to do 3 practice fights so far and will do at least one more tomorrow. By the last fight today, I realized I was calmer than I had ever been before and that certain reactions were in my muscle memory. I could see the opening(where to strike) and I knew what I needed to do. Granted it's a scene, not the real thing but I felt more confident that if I were to face the real thing, I would have the tools I need embedded in my muscle memory (more than I had realized)!
At the moment, I am physically and emotionally exhausted but I also feel really good about how my time has been spent. This will sound strange but when I went through class as a student, I felt like I was surrounded by nurturing/support/love.
As an assistant, I know a lot more about what the teaching staff does and how much effort they devote to looking/talking about each student in the class in order to give them the most help possible.
The suited instructors take incredible blows in their padded suits. They're well protected but they can get hurt (one woman accidentally really bit one of them; another one almost got himself into big trouble when he lost sight of the aim of the woman he was fighting). And yet, they happily offer tips on how to make the blows most effective. One of them complimented the other assistant and I on the ferocity of the kicks to his head that we gave him. The teachers offered custom fight scenarios that were real situations they had been through and were so powerful, it was hard not to cry.
People who give themselves so strongly to help women be able to stand up for themselves, to know their power and the strength of their spirits.....those are acts of love, if you ask me.
If anyone is interested, these courses are offerred through IMPACT, also known as BAMM and there are courses in various parts of the country.
I'm an assistant with this class. There are 2 of us assistants and (in this class) 2 teachers co-teaching (1 completing her training) and 2 suited instructors (the guys in padded suits who take full force blows from the women).
There are 16 women in the class. What a remarkable difference in those women from the 1/2 day yesterday through the end of the day today. There was a huge difference in the force of their blows, in their confidence, in the way/level that they risked sharing difficult things in their lives. It was a very emotional day.
As an assistant, you have a variety of tasks to do. You do certain admin tasks. Then you interact with the students and make sure they're ok or if they need help or a hug, you're there to offer it.
Some of their custom fight scenes were so touching in the courage they showed, I wanted to hug them (whether or not they wanted to hug me). It was kind of funny; one woman said to me "I need you to back off a little bit"....which I was happy to do and thanked her for speaking her mind. Maybe it's the part of me that wants to be a Mom (but never will be) that just made me want to hold them and comfort them...or maybe I wanted to be comforted, who knows?
Whatever it was, it was amazing to experience. I believe that each of those women walks out knowing she not only has the right to say no to whatever she wants to, she is capable of standing up for herself and doesn't need to feel afraid of saying no!
As for me, I've gotten to do 3 practice fights so far and will do at least one more tomorrow. By the last fight today, I realized I was calmer than I had ever been before and that certain reactions were in my muscle memory. I could see the opening(where to strike) and I knew what I needed to do. Granted it's a scene, not the real thing but I felt more confident that if I were to face the real thing, I would have the tools I need embedded in my muscle memory (more than I had realized)!
At the moment, I am physically and emotionally exhausted but I also feel really good about how my time has been spent. This will sound strange but when I went through class as a student, I felt like I was surrounded by nurturing/support/love.
As an assistant, I know a lot more about what the teaching staff does and how much effort they devote to looking/talking about each student in the class in order to give them the most help possible.
The suited instructors take incredible blows in their padded suits. They're well protected but they can get hurt (one woman accidentally really bit one of them; another one almost got himself into big trouble when he lost sight of the aim of the woman he was fighting). And yet, they happily offer tips on how to make the blows most effective. One of them complimented the other assistant and I on the ferocity of the kicks to his head that we gave him. The teachers offered custom fight scenarios that were real situations they had been through and were so powerful, it was hard not to cry.
People who give themselves so strongly to help women be able to stand up for themselves, to know their power and the strength of their spirits.....those are acts of love, if you ask me.
If anyone is interested, these courses are offerred through IMPACT, also known as BAMM and there are courses in various parts of the country.
