I had the wonderful opportunity of speaking at the 2011 Hispanic Women’s Conference in Phoenix, AZ. In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness month, I spoke on how women can reduce their risks of sexual assault and domestic violence. Although I couldn’t teach every woman there physical techniques, it was indeed a Self-Defense workshop! Self-defense is a mindset, and it includes basic awareness principles and the ability to set verbal, emotional, and physical boundaries for ourselves. This mindset of protecting ourselves should apply whether the attacker is a stranger… or someone in our own home. A couple of brave women even volunteered to learn and demonstrate several self-defense techniques, and proved to everyone in attendance that no matter how impossible any situation may seem, a technique or strategy exists that will enable us to overcome!