Beyond Self-Defense: How to Say No, Set Boundaries, and Reclaim Your Agency--An empowering guide to safety, risk assessment, and personal protection by Shihan Michelle, CMA Book Review

In Beyond Self-Defense, Shihan Michelle has written a book about self-defense and how to hopeful prevent an attack. Her background is she is the founder and leader of Self Defense Services and holds a six degree in Black Belt Karate. She begins the book by explaining what sexual assault is and how it basically means any nonconsensual sexual act. She started the book with a story about Lynn and her older brother was left alone when their parents went out of town. Lynn and her friend wanted to go to a party. At the party, they chose to go smoke a joint. Two guys noticed them and offered them a ride. When they woke up, they were beaten, bruised, and sexually assaulted. This story was based on someone in her family and her mother warned her about the dangers. 

 

 

 

In the book, she looked at the studies and how it is reported that 80% of people sexually assaulted have known their attackers beforehand. It mostly isn’t strangers. She discussed the topic of context and used two different stories to convey the importance of understanding context. This can lead us to seeing the world differently in different settings. She also gave you a powerful lesson about how we can discover how a person handles rejection when we tell them no and set a boundary. She explained how she has yet to meet who is confident to say no to anyone at any time. In the book, she touched on lightweight and strong-weight movements in order to stand up against someone else. She enclosed tips on how to perform simple actions to display strength in self-defense. 

 

 

 

 

I would recommend this book to anyone who is needing to learn how to stand their ground and they are fearful of the world even. I liked how she discussed context and how we see our environment and the world around us. I liked how she shared some of her background in her karate and what it taught her on standing up for rape victims. The book contained much more than just techniques to use if you have to, it went deeper into the recognizing signs and triggers and provides you with the knowledge to handle any situation. 

“I received this book free from the publisher for my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/162317998X/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=162317998X&linkCode=as2&tag=netg01-20#averageCustomerReviewsAnchor