Page 23 - Megan Reichman

Empowerment through Self Defense

Every day we read in the paper or hear on the news about horrific With the increase in corporate travel for women, sometimes to
acts of violence perpetrated against women in our society. Re- countries with unstable governments, knowing how to protect your-
cent stories of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois have made San self may make the difference between life and death.
Diegans even more aware of how living “in paradise” sometimes
gives us a false sense of security. The truth is we really don’t know After spending some time speaking with Jose it is obvious that
who is lurking outside our doors, and who might prove deadly to us. he feels very strongly about what he is doing in his business to
empower women and to allow them to take back their lives. “The
Even scarier is the fact that many of us don’t even need to leave martial arts training taught at REAL COMBAT JKD is designed to
the safety of our own home to live in fear. Recent statistics claim empower all people and especially women, to stop living in fear,
that approximately 1.3 million women are physically assaulted with low self esteem or in some type of abusive relationship. Many
by an intimate partner annually in the US. A study conducted of women are still taken advantage of, seen as the weaker sex, or in
16,000 participants showed that some type of abusive relationship in almost all
25% of women surveyed had been cultures. We try to give women the skills and
raped and or physically assaulted training that when confronted with any fearful
by a current or former spouse, co- situation they will be able to confront it if need
habiting partner, or dating partner/ be, to put a stop to any type of abuse or threat
acquaintance during their lifetime. to them or their children, to stop being seen as
a victim and be able to defend themselves from
With these statistics in mind, it be- any life threatening attack or rape. At REAL
comes imperative that all women COMBAT JKD we strive to stop all abuse of
feel a sense of empowerment by women.”
being able to defend themselves
in case of attack. Often, simply Aside from the protective aspect of learning
knowing that you can defend martial arts there is an added benefit for the
yourself is enough to prevent an health conscious woman; martial art training is
attack. If a spouse or significant one of the best exercises. While you learn self
other knows that you cannot be defense, you are also improving your health,
bullied, and will not take physical building stamina, increasing your strength,
violence sitting down, they will toning your whole body, increasing flexibility, San Diego
often back off and refrain from reducing stress and anxiety, and improving Woman
threatening gestures and physical your cardiovascular system. Age is also no
abuse. true deterrent to learning REAL COMBAT JKD.
Jose has clients in their 80s who are actively
We met with Jose Mier, the owner participating in martial arts training and have 23
of REAL COMBAT JKD to discuss found it has helped their overall physical condi-
this ongoing problem in our soci- tion.
ety. “Often women are bullied by
their partners and they live in fear
constantly. This is a gender wide With an economy in trouble, violence tends to
issue, but can be even more prev- increase, often due to frustrations and unem-
alent among some ethnic groups ployment. It is more important today than in
in our society. Male dominance is part of their heritage and in this times past that as women we do not take these threats lightly. By
day and age there is no reason why any woman should live in fear.” learning to defend yourself you gain the power to not become a
victim, another statistic, a casualty, and to never again live in fear. It
Jose’s entire business is based around empowering women to take is better to be prepared and not need it, than to need it and not be
back their lives and feel a sense of security. REAL COMBAT JKD prepared.
is known to many of us through the styles’ main proponent, Bruce
Lee. The difference between this form of martial arts and the vari- Many corporations have seen the need to provide this type of train-
ous others is that this is a true form of self defense that is easy to ing to their employees especially if they travel for business. Re-
learn, fast to remember and extremely effective. Jose adds, “This gardless of what your reason, all women should consider at least
is the "a similar self defense strategy that is taught and used by a basic course in self defense as a safeguard for themselves and
all the elite law enforcement agencies and all the military forces. their children. If you would like more information on REAL COM-
These individuals are trained to deal with real life threatening situ- BAT JKD refer to the information below. At San Diego Woman we
ations so it is the obvious choice for women who want to protect want all of our women safe and confident in their ability to protect
themselves in everyday life” themselves should the need arise, so if you have not thought about
it before we hope you will.
One of the best parts about REAL COMBAT JKD is that they can
train you to defend yourself and/or your loved ones in a matter of REAL COMBAT JKD can be reached at:
days, not years. Their martial art training is specifically designed for Phone: 619-253-1716
real life street violence and to neutralize any attacker no matter his Web: www. REALCOMBATJKD.com
or her size, strength or fighting abilities. Email: info@realcombatjkd.com
September/October 2010