In the Empowerment Self Defense universe, we focus so much on discovering our strength and learning to believe that in spite of hearing...

At El Halev, we believe in choice. And we believe that the greatest thing we can do for our students is to empower them to make choices...

Everybody does self-defense differently. It’s also true that every body does self-defense differently. You probably feel the urge to...

I’m going to tell you a secret: As important as physical skills are, and we teach a lot of them, they are not the be-all-end-all of an...

In writing and designing content for the MyPwr App, I have had to dig deep into why we at El HaLev have created our self-defense program...

The ability to walk through a traumatic event that happens to us and say, "This was not my fault. I did want I could to keep myself as...

One of the lessons in the MyPwr App is about looking for Windows of Opportunity. Windows of Opportunity are so vast and varied that there...

Last year, during a panel at the first Violence Prevention Education Conference, my friend and colleague Carrie Slack said, “There is so...

“We don’t respond to what happens to us. We respond to our perception of what happens. It’s with our minds we create the world.” ~ Buddha...

In my Facebook group, Women Setting Healthy Boundaries, I see so many women posting about regret, and how they wish they’d handled...

I need to ask a question because it has been plaguing me the past week or so. Is the only acceptable answer to violence unbending...

“How often have we stood there helplessly? How many times have we left a situation, giving our space over to assailants? How often have...

At the end of an ESD Global Level 1 training, trainees leave with the knowledge and tools they need to teach a ten-hour Empowerment Self...

It is so important to begin every self-defense class with assessment. How’s everybody feeling today? Who showed up today? What are their...

There’s no simple answer to the question “How do we build safe(r) communities?” And, of course, there’s more than one answer. But I do...

Over a decade ago, I was teaching a class to a group of professionals who worked with teens at risk. There are actually many stories that...

So many people seem to associate boundary setting and self-defense with not being polite. As in, “Once a person does X, you no longer...

Last year at this time, I wrote, “Speaking. Teaching. Air travel. I feel very lucky that those were the major themes of my 2019.” In...

A few days ago, El HaLev received a really horrible message through their Facebook page. The gist of it was, “You are a stupid...

The title of the article was: “Why Self-Defense Classes Don’t Prevent Sexual Assault” And the feeling in my stomach was........ argh!...