YELL

Nobody I teach in my basic self-defense course ever thinks about yelling as a way to defend themselves. Since 95% of the participants are women/girls, it’s unusual for most of them to even consider yelling – girls have traditionally been taught to be quiet, compliant and generally acquiesce. Especially girls who grew up before 2000. Thankfully, that’s changing some. I see more and more teen girls who are more than willing to literally let their voices be heard. A lot of times, its girls who are very competitive, those who play sports who become the ones most willing to yell. But even the women who start out being hesitant can use the back-up and camaraderie of the class to find their inner warrior.

Personally, I love to yell and I’ve always been that way. I yell when I’m happy, I yell when I’m angry or frustrated, and I yell when I’m really sad. Somehow, whatever emotion that starts to well up inside me, when I yell it helps release the pent up emotion inside. And I’m not really yelling AT someone, I’m just yelling to feel better. And it works!

When someone gets really scared, or even surprised, a yell can really be therapeutic. If you haven’t heard someone like me in action it’s hard to imagine how totally effective a strong powerful and loud yell can be. At a little under 5 feet and a tad bit over 105 , I don’t look all that scary.

But all that changes when I let out my karate yell. It’s like my inner warrior comes roaring out and everybody better just get out of my way. When you do my women’s self-defense course, you’ll see (or hear)exactly what I

mean! And seeing (or hearing ) is believing. Once you get the hang of it, it is a powerful weapon to use to fend off an attacker. Bad guys want no part of someone FIERCE enough to yell!