THIS CLASS HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE SCHEDULE.

If you have an interest in this curriculum please contact: zion@fortifydenver.com

This curriculum was designed for Women and the LGBTQ community*. We invite you to join us in a safe and affirming environment as we study some of the key dynamics that can allow you to neutralize an attack, and walk away from awful circumstances. In this course we will be concentrating on:

• Distancing and the use of space.
• Hand to hand techniques that de-emphasize upper body strength.
• Escape from holds (methods that put you at an advantage).
• Ground fighting (the kind that is illegal in competitive styles, but will save your life).
• Knives (from both ends).

This class is hands-on and interactive from beginning to end. Please wear gym/work-out clothing. Bring water, inhalers and anything you need to feel comfortable. This class can be serious, as well as light hearted. No judgment or criticism will be allowed. All participants should be ready for crying and laughter, possibly in close succession – as this curriculum often elicits strong emotional reactions. Payment for the class is by donation**. We are working on having child care available, and will amend this post as soon as we do.

We don’t teach “awareness” – in the ‘watch out for sketchy people’ sense. As a matter of fact, while in this class we don’t tell you how to live your life, where to go dancing, or who to spend time with – though these are all valid personal safety considerations.

This isn’t a two day, quick fix, feel good, course. To be exposed to the full curriculum one should expect to spend at least twenty-five hours in training. Students may join on any Thursday. The material cycles, and you can reasonably start at any point. This cycle is flexible, and may take from two to four months to cover all of the material. We believe that being sensitive to the rate of uptake of the participating students is more important than sticking to a strict schedule.

The following is a more detailed description of the above listed areas of study.

Tai Sabaki – The subtle and illusive skill of moving around.
Where you stand in relation to an opponent, how you distribute your weight, the distance between your feet, whether or not you step directly or in a curve, et cetera, all have decisive implications which affect your advantage in a confrontation. Sound complicated? It doesn’t have to be. In these classes we offer exercises that teach you to immediately find, and spot, postures, distances, and positional relationships of advantage.

Go Jutsu – Hand to hand fighting. (punching and kicking)
We focus on techniques that de-emphasize upper body strength. The truth is that substantial power can reliably be generated by technique. If you doubt that you can throw a devastating punch because of your body type or fitness level, come in and be pleasantly surprised (after some practice, of course).

That being said, we are not one of those catharsis centers, with an immobile guy covered in pads for you to wail on (not that it doesn’t sound like a good time). Women are often told to unleash raw aggression, strike with the elbows to the center line for maximum damage, hold your ground and throw a flurry of strikes to the head and groin. Not everyone (of any gender) is built to fight from the inside, or lay on heavy volleys of direct attacks. All of these pieces of advice are cripplingly misleading for a person of very slight build. Pretending to be big and strong – and trying to fight like someone who is – can be un-recoverably dangerous. Fortunately, small people have been picked on by big people for a very long time. We will help you through this well-traveled territory.

Ju Jutsu – Grappling. (escapes from holds, fighting on the ground)
Looking around at classes offered on this subject we see that a lot of systems emphasize getting out of a grip, but not creating advantage in the act of doing so. This is a problem. Every escape needs to be an act which advantages the defender. We emphasize a selection from our core ju jutsu curriculum that is suited to the statistically most common – and threatening – scenarios faced by the communities which our student base represent.

These techniques may be divided into two categories*** (for the sake of the unarmed fighting in this class).

• Standing Escapes – These are grappling techniques for escaping an attacker’s grasp. Our techniques emphasize destabilizing an attacker, taking their vision, and their breath – all in the act of leaving their grasp.
• Ground Fighting – Critical skills include: escape from a mount, using guard position, dealing with holds from the rear, and so forth. Schools of ground fighting are very common now, and there are some very good ones in Denver. What makes our class more suited to teaching specifically for combating sexual assault and domination based violence is that – every Thursday night – that is the only goal. We aren’t preparing you to compete in ju jutsu tournaments. This means we aren’t training you to take fights to the ground and keep them there. In most of life it’s a bad idea to do that. We aren’t teaching you not to gouge the eyes, fish hook the mouth, or tear the ears. Conversely, we cover what makes the fishhook work, and how to perform it safely.

Ken Jutsu – Knives
Knives bring an enormous degree of gravity to a conflict, are commonly used in coercion, and are choice instruments for attackers because of their silence and capacity for intimidation. Knives can be outstandingly dangerous, but their mesmerizing effect can be reduced substantially with some familiarity.

We cover anatomical concerns, neutralizing cutting potential, disarming an opponent with a knife, and ground fighting when knives are a factor. We also do some work with knives as a defensive tool.

*Some instructors are cisgender and non-queer identifying. However, these positions are available to those who can learn the curriculum (and perhaps bring some of their own), and we very much look forward to finding a qualified leader whose identity and life experience will help to create an even more welcoming environment for this curriculum.

**Concerning donations: We don’t turn people away. We also have expenses and needs. We think that $10 is an acceptable donation, and $30 is a fabulous donation – per class. Additionally, Fortify accepts COjacks, and other forms of alternative and complementary currency. We also have a long list of volunteer opportunities. All of that being said, we’ve left you very little allowance to use money as a reason not to get into class, and meet your goals.

***There are two other categories of ju jutsu in our system not covered here. They are throwing technique and joint manipulation. We touch on the later a bit in the defense against knives classes, but find that – outside of that exception – it is best for most who are combating domination based violence to avoid attaching themselves to their attackers, or entering their grasp for a throw. Students interested in studying these techniques more exhaustively may join us on Monday and Wednesday nights.