What comes next after students learn the foundational physical skills of Empowerment Self-Defense?

Designed for instructors teaching multi-week ESD workshops or accredited courses, this hands-on session introduces controlling techniques that expand students’ physical options beyond basic strikes and releases. Participants will explore practical responses to scenarios ranging from unwanted touch and restricted movement to confined spaces such as elevators or the back seat of a car.

The focus is not on control for its own sake, but on giving students more choices: creating space, managing an aggressor’s movement, protecting themselves or others, and finding opportunities to disengage. The workshop will also address how to safely scaffold more advanced physical skills while maintaining ESD principles of agency, adaptability, consent, and trauma-informed instruction.