North Bay Woman

44 NORTH BAY WOMAN | S P R I N G 2 0 1 9 There's also common sense, de la Cruz outlines. Where you walk, and when you walk. What to look for in your environment if you are out jogging or walking alone at night. Paying attention to the bigger picture around you. It's like activating an animal sense. "I think that people are much more informed and educated now, which helps women choose to become more empowered in this way. Men, too, are more aware. I'm meeting men in authority who are fathers and want their wives and daughters to be safe. I see more men encouraging women to take a self-defense class," de la Cruz says. While she doesn't have an actual check-list of what women should have with them when they are moving through the world, she does initiate discussions about self defense products such as cayenne pepper spray. "I have advice about those but don't tell people they should carry them," de la Cruz says. "The key is to know how to use them. If you are running early in the morning, hiking alone or doing something else in which you might be more vulnerable, you make sure that it's in your hand or clipped to something on your wrist or waistband. It needs to be easily accessible so you can quickly grab it and have it in your hand. Just pointing something like that at someone, looking them in the eye, and yelling, will deter potential attackers. But you also need to practice using it. Go into an empty field, make sure the wind is not in your face and spray the thing. Make sure you know how to utilize it. Even if you just do it once." Another point she emphasizes is the difference between screaming and yelling. "Part of fighting back is making noise," she says. "A high-pitched scream is communicating 'I'm terrified, I'm helpless.' We want to communicate a very different message. So I teach the students how to yell properly and how to stand. Defensively. Where your feet are apart, knees are bent, hands are up in front of you in what I call a 'stop sign' and looking right into the attacker's eyes. It all goes together." De la Cruz says her business has been growing. She teaches classes now in community and recreation centers, high schools where she is invited in as a special guest instructor, even businesses. "It would be great to branch out north to Mendocino to Napa, and do more in Marin County." The classes certainly seem to make an impression. According to Sara Bixler, 47, a Windsor resident and solo trail runner who took classes with de la Cruz two Sundays in March, "My biggest takeaway was the realization that I don't need to have a huge amount of muscular strength to protect myself. If I'm in a situation between being pulled along or someone was trying to move me somewhere or hurt me in some way, I could use my body strength to strike out. I was impressed to realize I could be as strong as I was, even be less strong, and still do quite a bit of damage. It made me feel significantly more secure and confident. It gave me more assurance that if a worse case scenario came up, I have a skill set." As Bixler sums up her experience, "What I particularly liked is that Jade talked a lot. We learned actual physical skills for hours, and verbal methods to establish confidence and power. But she also talked a lot about the realities of what can happen to women. It wasn't fear-mongering. She was honest. l felt that I really knew more about the realities of life in Western society after this class. To be honest I wish they taught this in high school. I wish that all young women could have access to a class like this." For more information about de la Cruz's self-defense classes for girls and women, go to selfdefenseforgirlsandwomen.com or email selfdefenseforgirlsandwomen@gmail.com. n A key technique in reacting from a place of empowerment rather than fear, is recognizing that a woman has the element of surprise to work with. Jade de la Cruz's classes from left to right, March 2016 and a teen class from 2014. – Photos courtesy Jade de la Cruz – Jade de la Cruz – Photo by Cecilia Sen

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