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What is Travel Self Defense?
We all recognize the importance of learning self defense. But making time to learn it is a different story.
Self defense may not always feel like an immediate need (and if it doesn’t for you, gurl I hope you know how lucky you are).
Many women+ are living in daily life threatening situations. If this is you, please see my list of resources for more help. But even if this isn’t you, I’m sure you (like me) still feel cautious or nervous sometimes when you’re walking to your car at night, or traveling solo, or just going somewhere alone in general. Especially during these trying and troubling times what with the pandemic and recession and human rights violations (oh my).
It’s so vital that we all learn self defense, now more than ever.
Especially if you’ll be going anywhere where you might need it. Like traveling! I love to travel. I am a nomad. A wanderer. A vajabond. (See what I did there?) I’m also a martial artist, former stuntwoman, and all around lifelong warrior.
So I realized I could combine these two worlds I know so well and teach you how to travel safer, smarter, and stronger.
I created Tough Cookie Travel to make sure every woman+ is prepared to stay safer and stronger wherever they roam. To learn how to notice potential dangers and scams, set boundaries, arm their bodies and minds, and navigate the world with more confidence, awareness, and courage.
How to truly travel like a Tough Cookie.
So every travel lesson should include elements of self defense. And every self defense class should prepare you for real scenarios you’ll face when you’re moving about in the world.
Traveling just means going places. So that’s what I’m going to show you how to do. Go places like a pro. Like a badass wandering warrior woman. Like a Tough Cookie.
Travel Self Defense means providing you with the self defense training that can save your life when you need it most: when you’re out traveling.
Worried You’re Too Small or Weak To Learn Self Defense?
I’m so sick and tired of “women’s self defense” training taught by yoked cis men who make you feel like you need to be super buff and strong and expert martial artists to defend yourself.
YOU DO NOT.
The real secret is to fight smarter, not tougher. With your mind as much as with your fists. It’s about knowing how to use your confidence, your instincts, your voice, and your body’s natural leverage and speed with a few simple, easy-to-remember yet effective moves that work for any smaller women+ fighting off (often much larger) male attackers.
As women+, we are especially equipped to master these necessary mental and emotional strengths — which is quite helpful considering how overwhelmingly statistics show that women+ are the targets of assault and abuse. We need all the help we can get.
But the amazing thing is we already have much of this power inside of us. We just need to learn how to harness it and use it.
That’s why sharpening your mental skills as much as your physical ones can give you the best chance for survival. Especially when you’re traveling in less familiar territory, though it applies everywhere.
Wherever you roam, survival as mental as it is physical.
It’s as proactive as it is reactive. With strength and sensitivity. Action and awareness. The mental side of self defense means preparing your mind and body for what to do, what to expect, and how to avoid, evade, or de-escalate any violence at all costs.
Sure you may still have to fight. But as Mr. Miyagi said (and I’m paraphrasing here), we learn how to fight so that we don’t have to. Or if you prefer, embrace the words of Sun Tzu who wrote in The Art of War that “the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
The sad truth is we’re rarely taught that side of it. And we need to be. We need to be learning how to prevent and de-escalate violence, defeat it with our minds and voices as well as (or ideally instead of) our fists. Abuse is abuse, whether with words or fists. So any truly comprehensive self defense training needs to address both. Your very best protection is preparation, and your best case scenario is prevention.
It is still self defense if you don’t fight at all.
So if you want to learn how to defend yourself as a woman+, but aren’t interested in rolling around on the ground with a bunch of sweaty guys (at least in this context), then you are in the right place!
Tough Cookie Travel is a different kind of women’s self defense.
This is training that’s actually designed FOR women+ like you BY a woman (me!) who’s been through it too.
The way I teach self defense is unique. Because I’ve actually been through it in real life. I don’t mean in martial arts matches or in a war zone. As much as I respect those experiences, that’s not the same as the kind of self defense you face every day as a woman+.
I’m talking about being unexpectedly attacked.
I’ve had to suddenly defend myself. I’ve faced unforeseen violence where I live and on my travels. Both by strangers and people I knew well. And those experiences have made me a survivor. It’s taught me one key lesson that other self defense classes don’t tell you — self defense is about more than how to physically fight. So very much more.
The truth is self defense is about survival. Period.
That is always your #1 goal — not to fight, but to escape to safety.
If I had a nickel for every “self defense” class I’ve taken where the instructor (usually male) continues teaching fighting moves well after the assailant has likely been subdued. Or every time I’ve had to raise my hand during class and ask, “So is THIS when we would get away to safety?” You should never have to clarify that in a self defense class!
In my Travel Self Defense Course, that is ALWAYS the primary goal with every move and tactic you learn.
You deserve to learn how to fight back like the strong, sensitive, emotionally intelligent Cookie you are.
So why not learn from other women+? In a class designed by a woman? For all women+. Like you and me! One Tough Cookie to another.
As a woman who has faced real threats and abuse herself, I’m extremely passionate about helping others survive as well. And as a martial artist and former stuntwoman, I’m prepared to do just that. I’ve also taken every other self defense class I can find, to continue my own education, see how others teach, and offer this perspective to the other students when I feel it lacking. Which is most of the time.
I’ve got your back. Because I’ve been through it too. You are not alone. A rising tide lifts all vaginas (whether you’re born with one or not).
You Ready To Learn How To Travel Like A Tough Cookie?
You have the power inside you to defend yourself like the strong woman+ you are! It’s time you joined my…
Tough Cookie Travel Self Defense Course
Ready to learn how to fight back like a Tough Cookie, wherever you roam? Discover how easy (and fun!) it can be to learn how to defend yourself.
Listen, I’ve got your back. Because I’ve been through it too. I’ve taken what I’ve learned over the years in the gym, the dojo, and the real world, and combined them into my own more holistic, realistic, female-centric Tough Cookie Travel Self Defense system.
This is the only women’s self defense online course of its kind.
My Tough Cookie Self Defense Course is the first truly comprehensive women’s self defense online course that’s actually designed FOR women+ like you BY a woman who’s been through it too. In this Course, I will teach you all of the ABCs steps in my simple 8-module system that is as thorough and thoughtful as you are, and your self defense training ought to be.
Not only will this online Course teach you how to stay safer and stronger wherever you go, it will also give you the tools, tactics, and support (including lifetime access to our private member community) to continue surviving and thriving long after you’ve completed the Course.
OR if you’re not ready to commit to a full online program just yet…
You can always just dip in a toe with a free copy of my Ultimate Travel Safety Checklist. Then if you like what you see in these waters and feel comfortable diving in further, you can join me in these courses above, at your own nice and easy pace.
My System Is As Easy To Learn As ABC
This a simple step-by-step self defense system that starts with the least violent option and works you forward from there: (A) First trying to avoid it altogether, then (B) backtrack to evade or escape without violence, then (C) control your body and voice to set boundaries and de-escalate or dissuade your attacker, and only then (D) defend yourself with physical violence if and only as far as is necessary to get away safely.
Then once you’ve done that, the steps shouldn’t stop there. You need to know how to go get help, process and report what happened, and help yourself recover and heal long afterward. Because after you’ve escaped, the process is still not over. Not for you.
I have developed this system over many years of my own training and traveling, putting it into super simple steps that are easy to remember and execute when the panic sets in and you have mere seconds to react. But whether you use my system or someone else’s, all I care about is that you learn these steps and skills so you’re prepared to protect yourself wherever you are in your life and travels.
My Travel Self Defense Training is also fun!
Learning self defense doesn’t have to be super serious and stodgy and intense and intimidating. Of course, this is a very serious topic that we do not want to gloss over. But you also don’t want to let it take away all the joy and sparkle that makes you so vibrant and unique.
What good is protecting your life if you’re not enjoying your life?
I’m a big fan of infusing humor into everything. Sure, sometimes that means I act a little weird or say things that sound kinda crazy. It’s not meant to make little or light of violence and abuse, or anyone’s experiences with it, but rather help bring some honesty and humanity and (dare I say) empowerment back into the subject.
Humor can also be a very natural and healthy way to deal with trauma. It can provide a much-needed tension release, a way to diffuse or neutralize a threat, or a means of connecting and commiserating with one another. And that’s a good thing. Because this shit is hard enough already. There is no need to make it harder on yourself. Coz when you do, you’re letting them make you feel as small as they think you are.
But you are not small. You are strong and powerful and amazing. And if you can see that and wear it proudly, you will actually become less of an easy target, all while enjoying your life more too!
So don’t feel guilty if this resonates with you. And don’t judge if it doesn’t. Everyone deals with shit differently. So you do you, even if that means having a giggle with yourself. In the end, we’re all trying to do the same thing — live as fully, and safely, and happily as possible.
You can learn how to defend yourself and have fun at the same time. It sounds blasphemous, but it’s true!
Want To Learn Self Defense In Person?
I can recommend some self defense classes (that might be) near you.
I completely understand if you’d prefer to take an in-person self defense class for more hands-on training, in addition to or instead of my Online Course. There are a few other organizations out there who, in my opinion, do offer truly realistic, holistic, and trauma-sensitive training on both the necessary physical and mental skills you need to defend yourself in any situation as a woman+ in the world.
See my Self Defense Classes page for more information on these classes in your area.
What about martial arts training for self defense?
If you’re looking for more traditional martial arts styles to learn, I have some recommendations on those as well. However, I strongly urge you to consider martial arts as merely supplementary training. Martial arts rarely replicate the intensity, speed, and fight-or-flight response of actual real life attacks. And most do even less to address the non-physical (aka mental, psychological, and legal) skills you’ll also need to survive.
Yet many can still be helpful for building spacial awareness, confidence, and a few effective moves for women in real life self defense situations. They have for me. So I would still consider them one solid piece of your larger self defense training.
Remember, fighting should always be a last resort, if all attempts to avoid, evade, and de-escalate fail you. Only then do you fight. And only then can the following martial arts styles and moves help you learn how.
Need Some Travel / Self Defense Gear?
Avoiding violence is not always possible. In that case, you’ll want to arm your body as well as your mind with the best possible defensive gear and weapons, like the ones I recommend here.
Now don’t just buy these and forget about them. The key to survival is preparation. So you also need to practice, practice, practice, and make sure you’re extremely comfortable using your chosen weapons and accessories. Only then will you be truly prepared to protect yourself when the time comes – when your heart is racing and you only have a split second to react to save your life.
Arm yourself — your body, your mind, and your soul. Wear your Tough Cookie spirit with pride and show the world you are not an easy target.
You are not a victim. You are a survivor. And you are not alone. We Tough Cookies stick together.
Be so strong that you lift others up with you. Be a force to reckon with. Be a Tough Cookie. Welcome to your inspiration destination.
It’s time to fight back like a girl+!
