Welcome to On Her Own
A place for the woman who has herself together and is just messy around the edges AND the woman who aspires to be that woman
- Jane Smith
Personal Coach
So you want to be an instructor…
In my travels around the internet, I see a lot of folks who are interested in becoming an instructor of some type. Many, even most, are people excited about their skills, and in the self-defense space, they’re interested in passing it on to help others feel or be safe too. It’s an admirable impulse, and
Lessons from an Alabama shooting
The story of Adam Simjee and Mikayla Paulus has been floating around the news recently. As is often the case, there is some disagreement between sources about exactly what happened, but here’s the outline we’ll go with today, based on the initial Clay County Sheriff’s Office news release and early news reports. It was mid-morning
Debunking the pepper spray paradox
Pepper spray is on my mind, and in my eye, as I taught the basics to a friend this weekend and am preparing to teach a few seminars on it next month. Keep an eye here for the announcement and sign-ups; I’m finalizing details but save the date of September 17, in Epping, NH. In
To do or not to do: that is the question
How do you decide something is worth doing? One of my followers asked me about deciding whether or not they should get a motorcycle, but the question makes me think about all sorts of other decisions too. They can be big ones like whether you should get married or move in with a significant other,
Boundaries 101
At its core, self defense is really about establishing and enforcing boundaries on your life. It’s deciding what someone can and can’t do with your body, mind, and heart, and then enforcing those limits against those who would intrude. It’s often easy to decide some of the big boundaries: Nobody gets to kill me. Nobody
Step 4: Profit!!
This past weekend, I spent two days with John Hearne of Two Pillars Training. Advertised as separate classes, Saturday was all about examining the characteristics of people who win in violent fights, and how we can learn from them to increase our own odds of success if we face that worst day ourselves. Sunday, we