Astudiaethau Achos Physical Empowerment

When I recently completed the Physical Empowerment course, I mentioned to Philippa my passion in ensuring my daughters’ learning self defence skills so was so pleased to be invited to this day.

My girls are 14 and 16 and we turned up on the day not really knowing what to expect. It was a gorgeous spring day in the lovely Carmarthenshire setting and felt a warm welcome from Helen and Pip and all the attendees, age ranges were around - 8-84, with a crèche provided for younger children.

We started with choosing a card with a meaningful/inspiring quote on it and then going round the circle, everyone reading theirs out. We did some stretches and played tag in duos, showing our moving and dodging skills. We then had a whiteboard session around ‘What is self defence’ and everyone had the opportunity to speak up but no pressure if you did not want to.

Throughout the course of the day we learnt how to get out of a wrist grab, a bear hug and also a ponytail grab. We also had a chance throwing strikes at the gym punchbags in the room for a set time, taking it in turns.

We had a few whiteboard sessions which were photographed at the time, always being encouraged that there was never a wrong answer. Anytime Pip went around the room for any words from us we were always told speaking up was optional which was lovely to hear especially as my youngest suffers from social anxiety.

As a Mum I really appreciated my girls hearing safety pointers from someone other than me, here’s hoping it will sink in better! An example of this is to not walk around public spaces with headphones in, blasting music, as awareness of your space/environment is so important for all ages. Even the part about how to look confident when lost was a great pointer. The real life scenarios Pip uses are so relatable too, so I hope if ever my girls are in those situations they will think back to this learning, an example being hounded by a bloke in a bar, and how to give him a confident ‘get lost’ response.

A great day was had by us, including a fab lunch, an hour lying down on mats with relaxing music for meditation (I heard someone snoring!) and finishing off with stretching our bodies out. The day went so quickly and we hope there will be another one.

On the way home, our car was filled with chat about our day and the girls have already shown their friends some of the moves they learnt.

Thank you for a really enjoyable and fun day, passing the knowledge to my daughters, something that I hope they will never need but will be able to react in the best way if necessary.