Eastern Connecticut State University: Combo Event with Full Contact Self-Defense Workshop!

What do you get when you combine a 3hr IMPACT intro workshop chock full of adrenaline based full contact self-defense, with a full SFB seminar on how all people can come together to end violence in all it’s forms? You get a kick ass event like the one Eastern Connecticut State University hosted on their campus! I was so excited to be part of this day that combined IMPACT self-defense with Students Fight Back to give the students here a complete solution for how to be their own best protectors.

The morning kicked off with the IMPACT workshop. We talked about how adrenaline based training becomes muscle memory in your body so that in a real situation (which we hope no one EVER has to face) you won’t have to think about how to respond…your body will just do it! We also discussed the importance of the freeze response, which is one of the three normal reactions to trauma (fight/flight/freeze). Our goal isn’t to get rid of the freeze response but to reduce it. All of the participants did a fantastic job and went full out in their fights with our padded assailant. You realize just how powerful you are when you are given permission to let go of social inhibitions to be “nice” and understand that you are worth fighting for.

The evening event was the Students Fight Back seminar, which brought in more empowerment info but without the physical ass kicking!   We talked about how to be an active bystander and the importance of using your awareness and intuition as tools to keep yourself safe. The audience was really into the presentation and we had many laughs throughout…including why we don’t want to pinch a predator in the armpit! Why not? Well, if you’re being attacked you want to go for one of the hotspots that will cause pain and disability so that you can get away and the armpit ain’t gonna do that!

Thank you so much to the sponsors and hosts for bringing us out to your campus for such an empowering event for your students! You are all powerful!

Cheers,

GFB Nicole