The Female Awareness self defense course is designed to make you more aware, prepared, and ready for any situation that may occur in your everyday life on any given day. This course differs from other self defense classes in that they start from the point of attack, and since I believe attacks begin before it becomes physical, we teach how to avoid the attack altogether.

The one time 2 hour Open Enrollment class covers the following:

Hour 1-Safety Discussion:

• How to avoid being a target
• The “Illusion of Safety”
• How to handle a confrontation: verbally, mentally, and psychologically
• The power of body language and non-verbal cues
• Effective tips on how to be safer and more aware
• Safety items and how to use your cell phone as an “invisible friend”
• Specific locations: elevators, street, subways, dates, bars, taxis, etc.
• Learning how to use your voice

Hour 2-Physical Techniques:

• How, when and where to strike
• Learning over 23 strikes from head to toe
• What to do from the floor & how to handle attacks from behind
• Escape from grabs and chokeholds
• How to handle multiple attackers & what to do when a weapon is involved
• Easy mnemonic devices to remember techniques

I designed the Female Awareness self defense course as a one time, 2 hour class because I know how busy we all are in our day to day lives. Once you take the Open Enrollment 2 hour class you can then practice anytime with our Physical Refresher Class.
The Physical Refresher is a one hour class that helps you refresh the techniques you learned in the Open Enrollment class. This class strengthens your reaction time, shows you combinations of the strikes you learned, speeds up your releases from grabs, presents real life scenarios, and improves your memory through repetition.
Don't be fooled that a 5 week course will teach you more. They will crowd your mind with hard to execute techniques that in fact, could cause more danger for you. Most women, after they take a self defense course, walk away thinking they would be ready and prepared for a situation months after their course; not true. We at Female Awareness believe it is best to keep practicing, so we offer the Physical Refresher class every couple of weeks. My class is fun and engaging...after all, self defense should not be a scary thing, it should make you feel smarter and stronger. I guarantee you will leave my class immediately feeling empowered and more confident.

I have studied 3 martial arts styles (Goju-ryu, Kenpo, Jujitsu) over 22 years. I specialize in in-close fighting, disabling my opponent, and mental strategy. Being the highest ranked student in my dojo and the only woman who has sustained this level, I designed this course for the awareness and protection of women as a way to give back some of what I have learned. Being a born and raised New Yorker who has lived in various places and visited many countries, I know the importance of being in control of your personal safety.

—Gabrielle Rubin, Founder/Course Instructor