Testimonials

“I've been involved in martial arts off and on for 20 years. The styles I've studied include Shotokan Karate, Wah Lum Kung Fu and Tae Kwon Do. All this time, I've been looking for something that is very effective for self-defense in real life, yet doesn't require a sizeable commitment to learn. I had already realized that no martial arts school will fit that requirement by design. I was not interested in having to wear an outfit and test for belts anymore. Then I discovered Personal Safety.

After just a few weeks (weeks – not months or years), I was hitting much harder than ever before in my life – as measured objectively by a punching bag. A relative who had been a US Marine, Boston police officer and SWAT team trainer was so impressed when he watched me striking a heavy bag that he wanted to join himself.

The instruction is very impressive, as it applies real world scenarios with careful explanation of what works and why it works. Everything I had learned came together and made sense for the first time. If what you're looking for is an intensive yet informal environment, and being able to defend and protect yourself and your loved ones on the street is the goal, look no further. This is the most direct path to getting there.

I'm in my 40s with a professional job and a family that includes two small children, but I make the trip every week from Mansfield to Cambridge because I look forward to continuing to learn – and there is no substitute for the combination of life skills, workout, friendship and fun I get at Personal Safety."

David LaBrie – Mansfield, MA

“I'm in professional school, and we have clinic every week in high-crime areas of Boston that I have to travel to alone, often after dark. There have been scary incidents of crime even in school-sponsored events and parties. You cannot isolate yourself from threats in a big city, even if you make all the right lifestyle choices. So I wanted to find the most effective self-defense training out there. But as many people in professional school would agree, I simply don't have the time to devote 3 hours a day to something over a period of years, even though learning self-defense has been on my “to do list” for a long time.

When I found Personal Safety, I was first skeptical. Though what I saw the instructors do was amazing, they looked like bodyguards to me, and I was very unsure about my ability – at 5’4” and 120Ibs – to defend myself with similar success against a grown man. Since then, I have been 100% persuaded through a combination of first-rate instruction, patience, encouragement and hard science. It has very little to do with size and muscle. It is sheer skill – both the physical and mental aspects – and seeing that I could develop that skill with such modest time commitment per week is empowering. I’ve got to tell you – the first few times you take a grown man down when he is not cooperating, it’s a huge rush. Building that confidence is a process, and I’m by no means there yet. But seeing such progress in a few short months is exciting.

I am determined not to let my size or gender restrict how I move through life and what I feel comfortable doing. If you feel the same way and you don’t have years to burn, Personal Safety is the way to go.”

Andrea Vosbikian – Arlington, MA

“I’ve joined Personal Safety with an extensive background in martial arts and contact sports. After competing in football and wrestling at the college level, I studied jujitsu, boxing, advanced self-defense and traditional Japanese martial arts over a period of eight years.

I’ve sparred with Olympic-caliber wrestlers, lived and trained in Japan and studied "combat" forms of certain arts. While I’ve learned much that I still find valuable (by being lucky enough to run into some of the better programs and instructors), I have also been frustrated to see much of what is being offered out there.

Nothing seemed to offer a convincing, direct path to personal safety. Much of what’s taught is dangerous fantasy, or at best, a well-meaning waste of time. Among the few who know what they’re doing, many times the teaching style is not conducive to working with a variety of
personalities. Doing vs. teaching in self-defense is very similar to coaching in sports. Having been a great athlete does not necessarily mean one will be a great coach.

The ability to teach physical skills is a real gift, and the Personal Safety instructors have it. There are no barriers to learning, hierarchical or otherwise. They welcome and even encourage honest questioning ("seek the truth" is the motto) and always have legitimate, pertinent responses.

At Personal Safety, I finally found something that pulls together all the best of my previous training experiences. It is a “one-stop shopping” venue for learning true and serious self-defense. I’m not interested in fighting anyone in the ring, competitive sparring or games. I am interested in learning how to protect my wife and teenage daughters against a criminal, a predator or a home invader if the situation ever occurred.

Of course, sensing danger before it occurs is the key to avoiding threatening situations. The de-escalation techniques at Personal Safety are taught for this very purpose. I am interested in being able to talk down a violent person on the street who believes they can inflict harm upon me because they have successfully attacked others before. I am also interested in being able to overcome that person when all other possibilities have been exhausted. If and when that occurs, I am confident that my training will keep me on the right side of the result, and the right side of the law.

Regardless of physical capabilities, age or previous experience, anyone who wants to learn true self-defense will get the training they need at Personal Safety."

Tim Daly, Medford, MA.

“I was at the tail-end of a bad marriage to someone who had grossly misrepresented himself. My then-husband had a criminal record, and as I was leaving him, things got extremely precarious. Facing death threats from someone who had every indication of being able and willing to carry them out, I obtained a restraining order and started living with family and friends, often sleeping somewhere else each night. While the police were helpful, there was only so much they and the law could do. I still had to face my soon-to-be-ex husband multiple times with attorneys, in court, and privately for property settlement purposes. In order to survive this ordeal, I knew I needed to learn how to defend myself in a way that would work in the grimmest of real-life scenarios against a habitually violent person who also happened to be literally double my size.

So I turned to Personal Safety. I was greeted with a competence that immediately inspired confidence. I received not only amazingly effective instruction in how to defend myself physically, but also clear guidance and professional consultation on everything from home security to safe procedures for court appearances, from psychological profiling to tactical knowledge of how to deal with a stalker. I now had a plan, and all the support I needed to carry it out. I'm happy to report that I got out safely with my physical and mental health intact. I was treated without judgment, with empathy, and was made comfortable every step of the way. The physical skills I learned are only a small part of what I got out of the experience, which I will always carry with me. Having moved on to a completely new life, I can honestly say that sending that email to Personal Safety is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I would wholeheartedly recommend them to any woman who is facing verbal or physical abuse, is going through a bad divorce, or is otherwise under a credible threat to her physical and emotional well-being.”

Jennifer B., Location Undisclosed

“There are lots of things you can take up and do on a regular basis – go to a gym, attend a martial arts school, etc. I chose Personal Safety because the idea of learning brass tacks life-skills while getting a workout appealed to me. After I joined, I found out that it had even more to offer.

There aren’t a lot of socially acceptable ways to get physical with other guys without some stigma attached. I’m not talking about “Fight Club” here, but a safe, sane, non-competitive way to exert yourself, be challenged, break a sweat and learn about yourself in a primal way. Personal Safety has just the right combination of these ingredients. The guys in my group come from all walks of life, there are no shady characters, and everyone treats everyone else with high regard and respect. You really do bond and you really do feel better when you throw each other onto the mat, exchange blows (always safely) and feel the adrenaline, all in the course of an hour. You can think of it as alternative therapy.

So the answer to the question “Why am I drawn to this” is at least two-fold. There is the totally practical aspect of learning to protect yourself and knowing it will actually work where the rubber meets the road, but there is also the way the activity and the process make you feel – same reason why some guys ride motorcycles or work on cars. I’d highly recommend Personal Safety whether you’re simply seeking the most effective training out there, or your main goal is stress release or personal growth”.

Jay Hastings – Framingham, MA

“I was referred to Personal Safety by a friend. At first didn't know what to expect beyond knowing that I always wanted to learn how to handle myself physically, and that they come very highly recommended. I am learning valuable skills and am having a great time in the process.

As a teacher, I can appreciate how difficult it is to motivate people to put forth effort on a straight line, no matter how great the reward at the end. The instructors do a great job of making the course applicable to real life scenarios, non-threatening and fun all at the same time. I have learned how to do things that I never could have imagined myself doing, and it's because the instructors encourage you, challenge you and make you feel comfortable.

I also really like the fact that the classes are co-ed. I've come to see why they say women's self-defense is its own science. Women react differently, and they face different threats than men. But women need to train with men on an ongoing basis so they develop a working knowledge of fighting a man and the adrenal conditioning that goes with it. That is what realistic training is all about. There is a great dynamic in an all female one-time seminar as well, but for ongoing classes where most of the learning happens, having both male and female participants makes a huge difference. I enjoy the company of the women in my class so much that we meet outside on our own time around a punching bag, drill what we learn, help each other out. You've got to admit – as a woman, there is something very powerful about being able to fend off a larger man in a way most people would never expect from you. If you want to learn how to defend yourself, get exercise and have fun, this is the place to be!”

Sarah DeCruz – Somerville, MA

“I have always wanted to be able to really handle myself physically. Who doesn’t want to walk the streets with the confidence that if it ever came to that, they could take an aggressive, larger attacker? I have looked, and a program that can take a busy professional off the street and give them all the right instincts and transform their (often self-imposed) limitations is very hard to come by.

Martial arts schools tell you what you want to hear in order to sign you up – often with long-term contracts. It works just like a gym membership where they sell you the whole year and hope your new year's resolution expires after 3 weeks, and you stop going. Then if you do show up, you often end up bowing to an "instructor" who is a 17-year-old kid with exactly no real life experience. Alternatively, if you end up in a really good school, you had better be willing to devote many years of concerted effort to acquire skills that may or may not be useful in the real world. So if what you really need or want is self-defense or personal safety, or your needs are ill-defined, they'll tell you what you want to hear. It took me a long while to fully appreciate the difference between martial arts and self-defense, which is vast. I realized why I'm much less interested in the intricacies of an esoteric art or its sports/competition form and much more interested in the confidence that comes from being able to actually defend myself in real life. I want hard-core life skills, not a commercialized adolescent fantasy.

The instruction at Personal Safety is exceptional and an incredible value. You have light bulbs going off in every class, even regarding things that should be common sense but somehow aren’t because we’re conditioned away from them. You also hear some pretty good stories. And you don’t have to be in great shape for all this either. It is designed to work under any condition, so it doesn’t rely on the fitness (or strength, speed, etc.) you bring to the table. If the idea of being able to do things you never thought you could do excites you, I couldn’t recommend Personal Safety enough.”

Gary Lavine, PhD – Waltham, MA

“What I really like is how friendly the instructors are. The subject matter and its coverage of real-life situations as they actually happen out there can be intimidating. Despite their obvious depth of knowledge and experience, the instructors are really easy going, which makes the classes comfortable to be in. The environment is informal, no matter how naturally intense it gets at times.
The instructors give you honest feedback and help you work through your weak spots, but are always encouraging. They are also very enthusiastic, and the energy definitely transfers to the participants and carries the day. I did not suspect how enjoyable it would be to learn all about self-defense and personal safety, and there’s no doubt that you get a confidence boost and a positive change even in one day. The class sizes are perfect as well – I think larger groups would cause people to lose valuable interaction time with the instructors.”

Miranda Lee – Boston, MA

“Self-defense has always been an area that has interested me. I'd often wondered how I would handle a dangerous situation where I, or a loved one, was put in harm's way. I wanted to gain some knowledge on how to handle these types of scenarios, but typical martial arts schools were not appealing. To me, colored belts and uniforms did not translate to real-world self-defense training and capability. The appeal of real-life situational training was the first thing that brought me to Personal Safety.

My time at Personal Safety has been informative and a lot of fun. The focus on proven techniques – ones that give you confidence in their efficacy – is a huge plus. Not only have I learned the physical side of self-defense, but also more subtle issues such as awareness, prevention, verbal de-escalation, and legal issues. We watch video clips of real fights and criminal assaults taking place on the street, and see for ourselves how what we're being taught is true and relevant. We see our newly-developed skills fall apart when the force-on-force training starts and the adrenaline flows. And then we watch them get built up again under stress.

I recommend Personal Safety to anyone seeking an efficient, challenging, and fun approach to learning true self-defense.”

Tim Moloy, Medford, MA

“I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, since I had never been trained in self-defense or personal safety before. After going through the course, I can’t recommend it enough to any woman who wants to build confidence. When danger presents itself, there’s just no substitute for the feeling that if push came to show, you’d be able to actually handle yourself, whether it got physical or not.

It is clear that a great deal of thought went into the training methodologies used. The talking part introduces the concept with stories, down-to-earth examples and a lot of non-intuitive, alternatively thought-provoking, entertaining and shocking information. Then the particular skill is demonstrated and broken down step by step. Then you perform, and the performance itself becomes more challenging each time, but at a manageable pace. The training includes just the right amount of talking, watching and doing, and you can’t help but walk away a lot more knowledgeable and confident than when you started. The physical skills are very formidable, and the tremendous amount of non-physical learning that happens in there makes you think about how knowledge is power.”

Isabel Alonso – Cambridge, MA

“My training is as a medical doctor. As a scientist, I have little tolerance for mystical explanations. What I liked right away about the Personal Safety is how analytical their teaching is and how that allows you to dissect what you’re doing yourself, correct your own mistakes and continuously get better at it. This gives you a sense that self-defense is not the special realm reserved for a few who are born with great talent or lucky enough to learn the “secrets”. It makes you realize that you really can do it. In addition, what really impressed me is that the chief instructor has such definitive understanding of self-defense and teaches the underlying principals so well that you really feel you’re on solid ground.

You also get lots of personal attention in small classes from instructors who are very patient and friendly. They accommodate different learning styles. Some of us are visual learners, some need more verbal explanation, and some just need to do it over and over. The classes are small enough that there is room for this kind of individual attention. They teach you a ton of detail in one hour, but never faster than you can absorb. There are periodic reviews, and you never fall behind. The way you think and react really does change in a matter of months, as advertised. To be able to pull that off while keeping the environment so light and informal is no small feat.”

Zhi King – Malden, MA

“Personal Safety offers a very practical and educational experience. Granted, no woman wishes to ever be in a situation where she is forced to use the tactics we are taught. But the reality today is that women are more and more at risk – on the street, at work, at school, while traveling, even in familiar environments. And we need to learn self-defense to protect ourselves. Overall, the experience here is very dynamic and has made a significant impact on the way I would handle any situation in which I feel threatened – whether the threat is physical or not. To me, the real value lies in this connection to everyday life. Getting an unusual workout and a challenging experience while socializing is awesome, but the impact wouldn’t be as great if it stopped there. The training really changes you for the better and gives you tools that alter the way you respond to everyday events.

The instructors have very impressive expertise in all areas of self-defense and personal safety, and they excel at making complex things easy to learn. They make the scenarios feel very real. I would strongly recommend that all women take advantage of the Real-Life Self-Defense course, or at least a seminar with Personal Safety. The experience will not leave you where it found you.”

Kelly Cyr – Boston, MA

"The training at Personal Safety is a great experience that I would recommend to all women. I gained valuable information and learned ways to defend myself in dangerous situations that I’d have never thought possible. The material is simply fascinating, but the most important thing that I took away is confidence. I now know simple moves that can stun or temporarily disable strong predators, in order to gain time to flee the scene unharmed. Even more importantly, I am no longer taken in to the same extent by the common myths that we all believe without even realizing – about how dangerous places and situations work, how criminals operate, etc. The de-mystification of what we all fear is a hugely empowering take-away.

I like the delivery of the hands-on experience in terms of the self-defense moves being taught. You can’t but help feel good when you see yourself doing something convincingly that a short while ago looked complex and intimidating. I look forward to learning more about the most common predator and aggressor scenarios in all settings, and ways in which you can proactively avoid dangerous situations. Overall, Personal Safety offers a great experience where the workout is just icing on the cake."

Amber Hiergesell – Boston, MA