What comes to mind when you hear the words “self-defense”? Maybe you automatically think about the stereotypical “kung fu” style of fighting or the bare-knuckle violence shown in films like Fight Club.

If you look beyond these stereotypes, you will find a more realistic form of self-defense: empowerment in its truest form. At its core, the goal of self-defense is staying safe, and that is a priority for everyone these days. That is why Immaculate Heart’s Health & Fitness class partnered this year with Impact Personal Safety to teach self-defense to the freshman class. For six classes this fall, we were taught everything we need to know to keep ourselves safe.

During our first official class on October 8th, our two teachers showed us how to properly kick our attacker to inflict enough harm, so we would have time to run away. In each of the following classes, we were given a situation; we would talk about how to deal with it, then shown how to defend ourselves from it, and, finally, we had to try out our skills. This meant putting on our best Rocky face and kicking our instructors’ butts (but in a safe way!)

Each class we would try out a new punching combination or perfect our side kicks. But we were learning more than just punching and kicking, After every lesson, we sat down to have a more serious discussion about how to defend yourself with your words – ADA, setting boundaries, creating consent, and dealing with familiar attackers.

The Panda freshmen thank Impact Personal Safety and our instructor Dani for teaching us so much in only six sessions. As women in this day and age, there is no better time to learn self-defense than now. After all, now is the time to seize the day!