Do I need to be physically coordinated or in shape to take a class?
This course does not require great physical condition, coordination, or innate ability. Everyone can learn these simple techniques. This system of self-defense is appropriate for all ages, shapes, and sizes, and levels of fitness. You will discover and learn to enhance your own body’s natural strengths. Limited class size ensures individual attention and personalized instruction. Our instructors are trained to keep people safe inside the classroom, and we can accommodate almost any physical limitation.
Our method teaching makes the material accessible for everyone. Our classes are organized in layered steps. We don’t throw you in the deep end before teaching you how to swim in the shallow end!
Why do men need to learn self-defense?
In our society, there is an assumption that if you are a man or a boy, you automatically know how to protect yourself. Men, like women, are born with instincts to protect and defend themselves and their loved ones, but are born without knowing self-defense techniques.
Simulations for students who are teen or adult men address the fact that violence against men is often territorial, not predatory. As with all of our students, we emphasize how to talk your way out of it. This is especially relevant for men in territorial attacks.
Men who take our classes find, like female students, that the scenarios feel relevant and realistic, and teach them how to manage the adrenaline of the moment, so that they feel in control of their response. You’ll find what some male participants have said about their IMPACT experience on the Testimonials page.
Is there an age limit?
It’s never too late to make yourself safer. We have had students in their nineties, and we welcome everyone. Our Basics class is for women and men ages 13 and up. Our kids classes are available for kids ages 6-12.
What if I have special needs?
We are committed to removing barriers for all interested students. Our instructors will adapt the techniques to work with your physical challenges or pre-existing injuries. We also do classes specifically designed for people who are differently-abled, developmentally and physically. You can read what some differently-abled participants said about their IMPACT experience on the Testimonials page.
Why do your classes have assault simulations?
IMPACT gives people the experience of being scared and powerful at the same time. We create a supportive, structured environment so that students feel prepared and guided through the class. And in spite of the structure, preparation and support, the simulations are intense – and it’s vital that they are.
Violence never stops being scary. Fear is actually our instinct for survival (paranoia, however, is not and we make the distinction with our students.) Adrenaline makes us powerful (have you heard a story about a small woman lifting a car off a small child? That’s adrenaline.) We do not want the signal of fear or the power of adrenaline to go away when we are faced with danger. But we do want to be able to manage adrenaline and use it to our advantage.
As with everything, practice creates more familiarity and comfort with things that were once uncomfortable. Our students don’t stop feeling adrenaline (and we wouldn’t want them to) but they do develop skill in managing it – taking advantage of its benefits and mitigating its challenges. The more you practice difficult, stressful things in healthy, appropriate ways, the better prepared you will be if and when you need to call on those skills again. Read about student’s adrenaline experience in a supportive environment on our Testimonials page.
I‘ve never been attacked. Do I really need this?
Many people who take this class do not identify a fear of crime as the reason they enroll. The majority tell us that they come to class for empowerment, confidence, and to learn to stand up for themselves in their daily encounters.
I have been assaulted in the past. Will this training re-traumatize me?
IMPACT honors that people who have been assaulted did the very best they could with the skills they had at the time. No matter what choices they made about safety, it is never their fault that they were assaulted. The responsibility lies entirely with the person who assaulted them. The goal of our courses is to give people skills so that if they have experienced assault, they can feel safe again and better prepared for the future.
The experience of trauma leaves many survivors with lasting feelings of fear. Learning self-defense skills can help people address these feelings and regain a sense of personal power. Most survivors say that experience of fighting full-force and being powerful in their bodies is a unique opportunity to let go of the past and feel powerful in the present.
Our staff has years of experience teaching safety skills in a way that is sensitive to the needs of trauma survivors. However, while the work we do is very therapeutic, we are not therapists. So we check in with people when they are interested in taking a class to see what kind of class is a good fit for them, wherever they are in the process of healing. Read about survivor’s empowering IMPACT experiences on our Testimonials page.
Do the skills you teach really work? Do they always work?
We have fire drills at schools and have fire safety protocols in offices. They give people a better chance of staying safe if a fire does happen. However, when someone is hurt in a fire, people don’t say, “Well, I guess fire safety doesn’t work – we shouldn’t bother.” Learning personal safety skills are not a guarantee – but having skills makes it more likely that graduates stay safe.
At IMPACT, students learn not only very effective techniques, but also gain the profound sense that their lives and safety are worth fighting for. More important than any number of techniques is getting in touch with the instinct and knowledge that “I can, I deserve to, and I will defend myself if necessary.” People without any physical training at all who have this belief can successfully defend themselves.
For more information, read our graduates’ Success Stories.
Won’t fighting back get me hurt even worse?
Violent predators approach their targets with a pre-committed level of intended violence. Compliance with an attacker is unlikely to decrease this level of violence, and fighting back is unlikely to increase it. The US-based National Coalition Against Sexual Assault reports that “a physical self-defense response does not increase the level of physical injury, and sometimes decreases the likelihood.” This concurs with IMPACT’s own research.
We encourage our students to defend themselves against violence, but the decision to physically fight back in a given situation belongs to you alone. What we wish for everyone is that whatever action they take, that that action be based not on a lack of options, but be a decision among many options.
Why do you teach physical skills that can hurt someone if you are a violence prevention organization?
First, the physical skills we teach are for self-defense. They are effective when the assailant is attacking and are not really effective offensive strikes.
We teach physical skills for two reasons: one, if someone knows they can take care of themselves if the situation becomes physically violent, they are much more likely to be able to say, “No, leave me alone” with effective confidence and tone. This is not just true in assault situations, but with conflicts at work or with family, and refusal skills in general.
The second reason we teach physical skills is that, if someone needs physical skills, they have them. It would be better if the people who commit violence were stopped before they committed it – then we wouldn’t need these skills. However, violence does still occur despite the efforts of law enforcement and the legal system. We encourage our students to defend themselves against violence, but the decision to physically fight back in a given situation belongs to you alone. What we wish for everyone is that whatever action they take may be based not on a lack of options, but on a decision among many options.
I carry pepper spray/keys in my fingers/a gun. Isn’t that protection enough?
IMPACT emphasizes strategies of awareness, boundary-setting, and verbal de-escalation to help you deal with situations before violence occurs. If you do have to deal with a physical attack, you will have your body, mind, and spirit. These are all weapons that can’t be lost or used against you.
Statistically, someone the person knows commits most sexual assaults and violence against women and children. Many of these assaults are committed without physical force, but through coercion and erosion of boundaries. In these cases – which are the most likely – carrying a weapon probably would not be relevant.
Weapons’ mechanisms, whether a gun, a knife, or mace, requires fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, which are impaired in the adrenaline state. If you do choose to carry a weapon, it is important to practice using it regularly. If you haven’t practiced throwing a punch with keys in your fist, shooting a gun, or spraying mace (especially while adrenalized) they offer little protection but can be a significant liability in the case that they are used against you.
Another interesting statistic is that when the assailant and the victim both have guns, it is four and a half times more likely that the victim will be shot. Guns are most often used for intimidation and if the assailant feels that he has lost the upper hand in that way, it can “up the anti” of the situation, pushing him to shoot the gun. Verbal de-escalation and adrenaline management skills are extremely useful tools in facing the situation where the assailant has a weapon.
What if the assailant has a weapon?
It is very unlikely that the assailant will have a weapon. 80% of the time, the assailant is an un-armed, single man. So Basics does prepare our graduates for the most likely scenarios they might face.
Most of the time when an assailant does use a weapon, it is for intimidation. The verbal and adrenaline management skills learned in Basics can be effective for this situation. However, we also have an advanced course that specifically addresses an armed assailant.
Do you think people who go out alone or at night are reckless?
At IMPACT, we believe everyone has the right to walk the earth and have the skills to prevent violence so that they can do the things they need and want to do with confidence. A student once asked, “I go running at night after work. Should I not?” Another student said, “I worry that if I go hiking alone and someone attacks me, people will say, ‘Well, what did she expect, going alone like that?’” Our response was, “It’s your right to go running after work if you want to. It is your right to go for a hike alone. It’s not irresponsible and you are not asking for trouble by doing it.”
The more knowledge and tools people have for a variety of situations, the more comfortable they feel making decisions based on what they want to do instead of what they are afraid of doing. The more people have practiced skills for uncomfortable or threatening situations, the more likely it is that they will respond the way they would like to if faced with those situations.
Why does the class cost so much?
The Basics class cost breaks down to less than $23 an hour (the Intro Workshop is less than $19 an hour), but unlike traditional martial arts, it is not necessary to continue training after you have completed Basics.
Our experienced, sensitive staff has undergone hundreds of hours of training in self- defense instruction and teaching methods that will allow you keep the skills you learn for the rest of your life. Training and labor costs for our instructors is the majority of the price of the class. We use hand-engineered equipment that allows you to safely practice full power against a real person.
If money is preventing you from taking this class, contact us for payment plans or scholarships. We are committed to providing this service as affordably as possible. As former students of this program ourselves, we feel that taking charge of your safety is one of the most rewarding investments a person can make.
Go to the Testimonials page to read some students’ thoughts on the value of their class.
A question we haven’t answered.
Contact us if we can answer any other questions about IMPACT and our programming. We love to talk about our curriculum and ways people can stay safe. We are dedicated to making sure people have all their questions answered so they can feel confident about taking a class, and confident about living safely in the world.
