Friday afterschool on March 11th, the  last day of International Women’s Week, Girls for Girls organised a self defense workshop I was lucky enough to take part in.

Girls for Girls is a service at the school for Women’s Week they organised an activity for each day–
On Monday they made communal positivity posters  and handed out pink ribbons,
Tuesday was planned to be a jewelry sale from the organisation ‘Emerge Lanka’, with whom they’ve worked with in the past,
Wednesday involved a short protest on the field,
Thursday, a bake sale,
And Friday was the Self-Defense class.

The class actually focused on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a means of self-defense and was thoroughly enjoyable, as well as a great learning opportunity. There were 6 of us partaking and we paired off to grapple and run through some activities.

Brazilian jiu jitsu is a martial art that focuses on submission through leverage, pressure and specific movements, rather than strength or flexibility, making it perfect for self-defense. At it’s core, it’s about stopping an attack and temporarily incapacitating the attacker.

Overall I loved taking part. My brother’s been doing jiu jitsu for a couple years, and had tried to teach me a bit in the past, so it was interesting to re-explore the art.