The Importance of Personal Self-Defense in 2021
It’s a new year, a month and once again it’s National Self-Defense Awareness Month. While most of us are focussed on safety from germs and disease, it’s important to also be prepared for potential personal attacks.
Strand Security is proud to offer self defense classes through our Myrtle Beach Self Defense division.
January is not only a good time to set New Year’s resolution, but also a great time to assess risk.
- How safe is your home?
- How safe is your family?
A new year is a great time to do a safety and security audit!
National Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month
What does National Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month stand for and bring awareness to?
This month is designed to bring awareness to the need to learn self-defense and the reasons why.
Questions to ask yourself include:
- Can I defend myself in case of an attack?
- Do I know what to do when someone approaches me in a dark parking lot?
- Will I fight or flight?
Awareness months are designed to bring Public Service Announcements to the foreground.
As we realize that the world we live in today makes it harder for in-person instruction, we’ve collected a few videos for you to watch that share self-defense tips you could practice at home!
13 Self Defense Tips That Could Save Your Life
Here is the first video. These 13 tips are good!
The video is about 10 minutes long and the tips included are really good. Preparation is essential to survival in case of an attack.
3 Simple Self Defence Moves You Must Know
Learn how to defend yourself without getting into trouble. Use it in a way where you protect without too much injury to the perpetrator.
- Strike to the neck
- Knuckle fist
- Protect AND strike
Women’s Self-defense That Actually Works! (Gracie Jiu-Jitsu)
Heather of Strand Security is trained in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu! Check out this amazing video.
Set boundaries to protect yourself.
- Verbal
- Physical
- Psychological
“In a perfect world, women wouldn’t need self-defense because men wouldn’t perpetrate these crimes — but the world is far from perfect. The Gracie Women Empowered program is a jiu-jitsu-based women’s self-defense system which addresses the 15 most common threats against women.”
How Best To Protect Yourself From Harm
The best way to protect yourself from harm is to prepare.
Read. Learn. Watch self-defense videos, take a class, raise your awareness and learn more about prevention. Decide on training and potential weapons you might want use to during an attack.
Here are the steps we recommend.
- Prepare your mind and body
- Learn by training with a professional
- Practice until muscle memory sets in
- Be aware of potential danger and help raise awareness
Who Needs To Learn Self-Defense?
Here are 7 types of people who should learn and know self-defense
- Teenagers
- Elderly
- Singles who live alone
- Runners and outdoor enthusiasts
- New drivers
- College student
- YOU!
Strand Security: Your Security – and Safety – is Our Business!
Don’t hesitate to call us in 2021 if you need help with securing your property, business or need self-defense classes. We want you be safe, feel safe and continue to do so.
Self-Defense Moves to Celebrate National Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month 2020
What is National Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month?
As January is the very first month of every new year; it a great time to focus on YOU.
Your body, your mind, your overall well being.
Included in that should be your personal safety, hence the National Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month was created.
We are so fortunate at Strand Security to have our own self-defense division, Myrtle Beach Self-Defense. If you are in our geographical area, please make sure to connect with MBSD to join us for a class. If you are not in our area, do continue reading to learn more about the importance of self-defense and personal safety awareness!
Myrtle Beach Self-Defense
Several years ago, Heather Bryant of Strand Security started what is now Myrtle Beach Self Defense. Heather teaches self-defense to women and girls in the Myrtle Beach, Grand Strand and surrounding areas.
She’s brought her program to
- sorority members at Coast Carolina University
- Girl Scout troops on the Grand Strand
- business owners via the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce
- entrepreneurs via the Women in Networking group
- Seniors
- Women and Teens at Fun Warehouse
and many more places.
Heather’s goal is to educate and empower women no matter what situation comes at them.
From Awareness to Knowledge to Confidence
The first step to personal safety is awareness.
Awareness that danger is everywhere, that you need to be prepared and that you can prevent or diffuse a dangerous situation – unless a weapon is introduced (that is when the rules change completely)
How do you get the awareness of personal self-defense?
- Read our self-defense tips
- Talk to survivors
- Speak with those who support victims of violence
Next is knowledge – you need to know HOW to defend yourself.
This knowledge comes through both theoretical information, as well as hands-on self-defense classwork.
Muscle memory might be what saves your life one day when you are confronted by an attacker! Practice self-defense moves, over and over and over until you can react in a split second!
Last but not least, while gaining awareness and knowledge, you gain confidence. Confident people are by default, not an easy or ‘preferred’ target!
Basic Self-Defense Moves and Tips
Use your senses to stay alert
- Don’t walk or run with headphones; you can’t hear any approach you
- Listen for clues that someone might be following you
- Use your voice to scare someone off; yelling ‘Fire’, screaming loudly and ‘Get away from me’ are all signs you are in trouble and can alert someone nearby to come to your aid.
- Look up from your phone; don’t walk to your car while typing
Listen to your inner voice to detect danger
- If it doesn’t feel right, it isn’t right
- If you feel uncomfortable, get away – go towards people!
- When things seem ‘off’ don’t dismiss that feeling, act on it instead
Flight, then fight
- it’s best to try to diffuse a situation and then get away from your attacker
- fight when there is nowhere to go
- while it’s called self-defense, you can take the lead on attacking once someone has a grip on you
- use your elbows, knees, and fists to strike. Count to three. Three strikes then move to the next body part
- when fighting for your life, yell! Scream as loud as you can. Self-defense includes scaring off an attacker
- if someone holds a gun to your head and tells you to drive somewhere, buckle up and then drive right into a pole, a ditch, another car if needed, or a building. You’d be injured most likely, but your chances of survival are much higher.
Anything within your reach can be used as a weapon
- keys
- purse
- shoes / boots
- books
- hot coffee
- anything sharp or heavy (glasses, pen, rock)
- groceries
- pots and pans
- lamps
- wine / beer bottles
Muscle memory is your best weapon
Self-defense classes are so important for many reasons. One of the biggest reasons you should take not one, but several, self-defense classes is that you need your muscles to remember what to do when attacked. There will be no time to think. Only to act.
Myrtle Beach Self-Defense Offers Class for Women and Girls
Whether you are on the Grand Strand in the Myrtle Beach area, or live elsewhere, take self-defense classes and learn what to do in case of an attack!
Your life could depend on it!
Learn more by visiting our self-defense division.
January is National Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month
Do you Know How To Defend Yourself?
January is National Personal Self-Defense Awareness month! We want YOU to be safe and secure at all times and this month we teamed up with another local business, Karate World, to bring FREE self-defense to our community.
This past weekend we brought together a great group of local people, including five children who together learned how to kick, squeeze, pinch, punch, push and chop themselves out of potential danger!
One of the main things we teach during these introductory self-defense classes is to try to PREVENT an assault before it happens.
As Master Jason quoted in class
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
This certainly applies to self-defense.
The Importance of Giving Back to our Myrtle Beach Community
Heather, owner at Strand Security knows first-hand the importance of self-defense training. She credits self-defense training with saving her life when she was confronted by a criminal at gunpoint several years back. You can read her story of survival here.
It took her several years to overcome the trauma of that event. She’s now determined to bring self-defense to any and all who want it, need it or might like to know it!
The local community, as well as the local news, is taking notice of her mission!
⭐️ Heather was interviewed by WMBF News nearly two years ago when she started Myrtle Beach Self Defense.
⭐️ WBTW News 13 came out this past weekend to do a story on the FREE class.
Teaching Self-Defense At Coastal Carolina University
Since January is National Personal Self-Defense Awareness month, Myrtle Beach Self Defense, a division of Strand Security, is teaching self-defense classes to anyone who is interested.
Last week, MBSD hosted a special class at Coastal Carolina University with about 25 sorority sisters in attendance.
We Can Bring Self-Defense To Your Group, Organization, Association, Neighborhood, Business Location, School, or Church!
We are mobile and would love to bring our self-defense class to you. Get in contact with Heather today!
You can email Heather at heather@strandsecurity.com or give her a call at 843-318-1192 today and schedule your class.
Learning and knowing self-defense helps with self-confidence, awareness, and personal safety issues.
Who do you know that needs to learn self-defense?
Intermediate Self-Defense Class Coming in February
Once this busy month has passed, we are moving right into Intermediate Self-Defense on February 10 for those of our past class participants who want to learn more! We will go over some basic self-defense moves and add ground defense moves to the mix!
You can sign up for this self-defense class through this link – or by connecting with Heather at 843-318-1192 or heather@strandsecurity.com
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