What Empower-HER is
A women's self defence course built from the Jan de Jong Jujutsu lineage — over seventy years of teaching tradition behind the techniques you'll learn.
Six weeks.
One night a week.
Small group.
You drill in pairs. Each technique repeated enough times that your body starts to know what to do. By week six, you have a set of practical responses to the situations women most commonly find themselves in.
No empowerment seminar, No motivational warm-up. No certificates.
Just structured, technical work — taught by instructors who train every week themselves.
Why this course is not a workshop
There's a difference between learning a technique and being able to use it.
- It takes hours to learn to drive
- It takes laps to learn how to swim.
Self defence is no different.
A one-off workshop can show you techniques. A course gives you the time to drill them — until they're physical, repeatable, available without thinking.
That's the difference between knowing something and knowing how to do it. Confidence isn't something we teach you.
Confidence is what builds naturally as your capability grows.
After six weeks you can handle scenarios that would have overwhelmed you in your first lesson — not because you've been told you're stronger, but because you actually are.
Empower-Her isn't a degree.
The degree is the years-long journey to black belt — that's the dojo's main programme, and it's not what this course is.
Empower-Her is closer to a first aid course. Practical capability, learned properly, over enough weeks for it to stick.
You leave more capable than you arrived. That's the whole point.
Who this is for
Empower-Her attracts a specific kind of student.
Not a specific age, fitness level, or background — a specific disposition.
It's for teens and adults who:
— Have been thinking about learning self defence for a while
— Want to learn something properly, not collect a workshop attendance
— Prefer small-group learning where you actually practise
— Want instructors who train regularly in a real martial art
— Move through the world the way most women do, and want to know what to do if something happens
You don't need to be fit, flexible, or experienced.
You don't need to be physically strong.
You don't need to bring anything except interest and attention.
What training looks like
Classes are small.
You work in pairs, slowly, learning how posture, timing, and structure change what your partner feels. Both people are working together to improve.
Everyone has been a beginner here. Senior students help their partners. Beginners always receive direct guidance.
No sparring.
No fitness test.
No performance culture.
The work is structured, technical, and practical from the first minute.
Classes are small.
You work in pairs, slowly, learning how posture, timing, and structure change what your partner feels. Both people are working together to improve.
Everyone has been a beginner here. Senior students help their partners. Beginners always receive direct guidance.
No sparring.
No fitness test.
No performance culture.
The work is structured, technical, and practical from the first minute.
Who teachers Empower-HER
The course is led by B'Elanna Diaz, who teaches alongside Andre Diaz, the dojo's owner and principal instructor.
B'Elanna Diaz trains at Self Defence Central Dojo, specialising in Tsutsumi Hozan Ryu Jujutsu within the Jan de Jong lineage. She leads the Empower-Her course and also teaches in the dojo's Young Samurai children's program — meaning she works regularly with beginners of all ages, not just experienced students.
Andre Diaz owns and runs Self Defence Central Dojo. He holds the rank of Sandan (3rd Dan) in Tsutsumi Hozan Ryu Jujutsu and has been training continuously in the de Jong lineage since 1985 — nearly forty years.
He teaches across the dojo's full programme — children, adults, and the Empower-Her women's course.
The Jan de Jong Jujutsu lineage has been part of Perth's martial arts community for over seventy years, taught now across multiple generations.
The instructors who teach Empower-Her teach the dojo's regular jujutsu classes too. They train every week themselves. They're not weekend specialists. They're not workshop hosts. This is what they do.
The lineage matters.
What you learn in Empower-Her isn't improvised material assembled for a women's-only course. It's drawn from a continuous teaching tradition with seven decades of refinement behind it.
The techniques work because they've been tested by thousands of students across multiple generations.
See if Empower-HER is right for you
We've put together a short page that walks through the kinds of questions women usually ask themselves before signing up — what the first session is like, who the course isn't for, and how to start a conversation if you'd like to know more.
Self Defence Central Dojo
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