FOUR-WEEK SERIES • ADULT WOMEN • OAKLAND
Own Your Space: Women’s Self-Defense
Practical training for adult women in awareness, boundaries, and physical self-defense.
Build on the experience you already bring. Practice recognizing pressure, using your voice, making decisions, and taking physical action to create opportunities to get away.
Four Sundays: April 11, 18, 25 and May 2, 2027 • Noon–1:30 PM Pacific
Four 90-minute classes • Six hours of training • One registration for the full series
Through guided exercises, pad work, and partner practice, you’ll explore how to respond when someone ignores a boundary, closes distance, or makes unwanted contact. Training progresses with clear expectations and your consent.
No previous martial arts experience is required.
Who this is for
This course is for adult women who want practical self-defense training and room to develop their skills. You bring your own experience; we give you a structured place to examine habits, try responses, and practice under controlled pressure.
Explore situations at work, while commuting or using a rideshare, on dates, at social gatherings, and in interactions with acquaintances or strangers. Pressure and ignored boundaries can come from someone you know.
You register for yourself through one adult registration path. No previous martial arts experience is required.
AWARENESS • BOUNDARIES • VOICE • ACTION
Serious preparation without fear-based teaching
Harassment, coercion, and violence are real. Pressure can begin with manipulation, isolation, intimidation, boundary testing, or unwanted contact.
Build on what you already notice. Practice recognizing concerning behavior, communicating boundaries, making decisions, and taking physical action when needed to create an opportunity to leave.
No false promises. No victim-blaming.
No course can guarantee safety. Fighting, fleeing, calling for help, complying temporarily, freezing, and waiting for an opportunity can all be survival responses.
Your response to a past situation is not a measure of your worth or courage. Our purpose is to expand your choices and give you practice using them.
THE FOUR-WEEK PROGRESSION
Awareness, voice, action, escape, and support
Build practical skills through four weekly 90-minute classes—six hours of training in all. Each class connects related concepts, revisits earlier skills, and makes room for guided practice, breaks, and questions.
Class 1 — Awareness, Boundaries, and Voice
Class 2 — Creating Space and Responding Physically
Class 3 — Close-Range Situations and Getting Away
Class 4 — Putting It Together
Challenging training with participant control
Realistic practice should build capability—not recreate helplessness.
Choice remains active
You may pause, observe, modify, or skip an exercise without explaining why. You do not need to disclose a personal experience.
Consent before contact
Your consent is required before partner work and may be withdrawn at any time. There are no surprise attacks or unannounced grabs.
Gradual progression
Skills begin cooperatively, progress to pad work, and become challenging only after expectations and options are clear.
MEET YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Master Sheldon Callahan
With more than 30 years of direct Shaolin training, Master Sheldon brings a living tradition into a practical and welcoming classroom. As Head Instructor of Shaolin Life and Executive Director of Deep Root Center for Spiritual Studies, he helps students build awareness, resilience, confidence, and embodied skill.
His approach is direct and grounded: take danger seriously, avoid false guarantees, practice simple responses under controlled pressure, and never confuse empowerment with blaming someone for how they survived.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need martial arts experience?
How challenging is the training?
Do I have to share personal experiences?
How is physical safety handled?
How do I register?
Do I need a particular fitness level?
Can I participate with an injury or mobility limitation?
What should I wear or bring?
What happens if I miss a session?
Register or support scholarships
Standard Tuition registers one adult participant for the complete four-class series. Supporter and Sponsor contributions are for community members who want to fund scholarships; they do not include course registration.
Standard Tuition
$247
Register one adult participant for all four 90-minute classes in Own Your Space: Women’s Self-Defense.
Four weeks • 90 minutes per class • Six hours total
Sponsor Scholarship Contribution
$347 or more
Support scholarship access for Own Your Space: Women’s Self-Defense. This community contribution does not include a participant place or event registration.
Scholarship contribution • No course registration
OWN YOUR SPACE • ADULT WOMEN
Practice your options
Four Sundays: April 11, 18, 25 and May 2, 2027.
Noon–1:30 PM Pacific every week.
Four 90-minute classes • Six hours total.
Deep Root Center for Spiritual Studies, Oakland, CA.
Standard tuition: $247 for the full series.
Planned group size: approximately 15 participants.