How this Martial Art Practice protected me from Harassment
Soumya Diddi, is a B-Tech graduate and has experience in digital marketing. She supports gender equality, child education and strives consistently for growth of knowledge. She says “One should never stop learning and should try new things breaking their comfort zones to succeed in life”. In her free time she loves visiting new places, reading books, watching movies and working out. Spending time with her loving husband and family is what she does during the weekends.
How this Martial Art Practice protected me from Harassment
It is a well-known fact that women face sexual harassment in their everyday life. Many organisation work towards helping women fight harassment and protect themselves. Self-defence is a sector growing in need and importance owing to the increasing number of cases of harassment.
When people talk about self-defence techniques, the most popularly known ones are martial arts like Kung-Fu, Karate, and Wrestling, but in this article, I will be talking about a Brazilian martial art, CAPOEIRA.
Brief History of Capoeira:
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art originating from the dark days of slavery. The African slaves who were traded to Brazil for work were not allowed to practise any type of self-defence or martial arts. But the slaves kept Capoeira alive by practising it in a dance form. This new way of practising martial arts helped many of them in achieving freedom and fighting against their owners. This is why Capoeira is known as a blend of music, dance, singing, acrobatics, and fighting.
My Experience With Capoeira So Far…
Today, there are many active men and women Capoeiristas in the world training people from several places. Capoeira has become famous in many countries including Australia.
I got to know about this during my recent visit to Brisbane. This art fascinated me so much, I decided to take some classes at two different schools called Ungu Capoeira School (run by Coach Pererenz) located in Woolloongabba and Mao_no_chao (run by Coach Siobhann) located in Highgate Hill. Both the coaches helped me in my journey to learn the art.
UNGU CAPOEIRA SCHOOL, Woolloongabba, Brisbane, Australia
Mao_na_chao Capoeira team, Brisbane, Australia
Capoeira has helped me with fitness and with boosting my confidence as well. I have observed a bunch of positive changes in my lifestyle from the moment I started practising Capoeira. This martial art helped me in:
- Doubling Stamina Level: Like most women these days, I wanted to balance my personal and professional life and become an all-rounder. But the fact is that most of us don’t have the necessary energy levels and are exhausted at the end of the day struggling to do our chores after a long day.
I am glad that I found a solution for this by practising Capoeira. From the very basic stretches, Capoeira helps in releasing toxins from the body and improves stamina. As a result, now I can see myself active until I go to bed.
- Meeting So Many Amazing Souls: Capoeira is the perfect martial art for both extroverts and introverts. As this is practised in groups, you get a change to meet new people from new cultures.
Personally, this has helped me to come out of my comfort zone and as a result, I am now feel less shy in meeting new people and in fact can hold a long conversation with them.
- Building Balance Between Mind and Body: Acquiring a good balance between mind and body helps us to have a healthy routine.
Capoeira lets you achieve this by doing several tasks like playing instruments, singing and practising acrobatic forms at the same time.
4.Flexibility Improvement: From cartwheels to handstands and basic warm-up to intense moves, this helped me develop great flexibility.
Me training Capoeira (the one on Left side)
Now it is not an exaggeration to say I fell in love with Capoeira and it has become a part of my life. I have observed a rise in my confidence and feel stronger physically. I would say I can defend myself from harassment now. I personally feel that self-defence arts must be a priority for every woman not just to protect herself and her family but also in order to become successful at work and have a fruitful life.
“Why face harassment when you can kick it right in the face?”
Opinions expressed are of the writer.