The Empowerment Podcast By Naga
Interrupting the Cycle Violence through Self Defense. Research proves that empowerment self-defense programs work. Participants are less fearful, more aware of their boundaries, and are able to speak up sooner when faced with manipulative or threatening situations. Furthermore, for those who have experienced trauma in the past, evidence shows that empowerment self-defense training can interrupt the cycle of violence and decrease the likelihood of a future assault. Join host, Silvia Smart in this safe space. With over three decades on the frontlines, she’ll give you all the skills and knowledge you need to live your most fearless and empowered life! Support this important work. Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/silviasmart Donate through my website: https://nagacommunity.com/product/support-the-empowerment-podcast-by-naga/ Join “The Empowerment Project” Group on Facebook. If you don’t answer the questions, we will not accept you into the group. Special thanks to our producer/editor: Henry Smart-Denson
Episodes
We’ve got an award-willing guest speaking with us and we’re about to learn a lot about the origins of the women's self-defense movement in the United States. Turn up your volume and put on your thinking cap. Here we go!
Wendy Rouse, among many other things, is a historian who teaches at San Jose State University in CA. She’s a researcher, the author of various articles and several books, and as the program coordinator for the Histo...
Stephanie Cyr has started an Empowerment Self Defense Program at SFSU that is rolling out in the Fall of 2024! In this episode, she’ll tell us all about it, share a wonderful self-defense success story and so much more. Our wide-ranging conversation covers how great it will be when we can make ESD a standardized course offering in all public schools and how ESD can impact health, along with positivity and lots of hope for the futur...
Did you know that complying and playing along are essential tools you already have in your toolkit? It can help us buy time to get help or get to safety. Join host Silvia Smart as she shares how one person “played along” to stop an attempted rape and get to safety.
Our stories are important. YOUR stories are important! Consider sharing your story with me and with my listeners.
Resources:
National Sexual Assault ...
Host Silvia Smart and author Lauren Taylor discuss this newly released book which is an excellent resource for everyone – those interested in empowerment, in self-defense and instructors of ESD as well. Join Silvia and Lauren as they do some of the exercises in the book and chat about the ins and outs of this fascinating publication worthy of a read!
Resources:
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673
Smart shares one of her favorite success stories in which a person running solo through the woods gets free after an attack from behind.
Special thanks to my editor, Collin Taber (@that2ndtaberkid)
Resources:
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673
National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse
Support this important work:
Thank you!
Join “The Empowerme...
There’s a clear uptick in mass shootings across the country leading to lots of fear, confusion, and anguish. Who better to talk to than the FBI? Join me and my guest, Special Agent in Charge of the Portland FBI, Kieran Ramsey.
We discuss how regular people like you and me can help prevent mass shootings and play a role in stopping this disturbing cycle of violence. (Hint: it will not make the news.) We discuss the ins and outs, ups...
Folks, Florida is on the front lines right now. There are huge safety concerns brought on by the cruel laws, restrictions, rhetoric, and policies of Ron DeSantis and his friends that are affecting many people. Because of this, Equality Florida, along with the NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens, have all issued travel advisories for the State of Florida.
I wanted to find out more and am thrilled to introduce you ...
If we’re gonna talk about Empowerment Self Defense, we have to talk about denial. When talking with survivors of sexual assault and survivors of other types of relational violence it is common to hear that the survivor had a funny feeling something was wrong but then doubted themselves or rationalized or minimized their intuition and flat out ignored it. This is called denial.
Denial can put us at risk and because of that, breaking...
Hey listeners! If you haven’t had a chance to take an empowerment self-defense class and you want to, or if you know someone who’d like to, I’m teaching a beginning class in June on Zoom! I'd love to see you there!
Also, if you’re at all interested in my training around active shooter survival strategies, I’m doing an hour-long class a little later that same day.
Listen to find out more and if you'd like to register, here are the l...
Meet Jill Shames, Empowerment Self Defense Instructor. Listen in as she and host, Silvia Smart, share a few self-defense success stories and talk about all the things the survivors did RIGHT! Find out why they recommend a perspective shift as you think through your own experiences! You are strong and powerful and Jill and Silvia believe in you!
Watch video of the self-defense success story Jill and Silvia talk about here.
Connect ...
Meet Lauren Taylor who has been working to end gender-based violence since 1978, when she co-founded Washington, D.C.’s first shelter for abused women. As an empowerment self-defense teacher and founder-director of Defend Yourself, she’s trained more than 35,000 people in the D.C. area and elsewhere in the U.S. She's also trained dozens of trainers around the country and around the world.
Join us as we find out more about Lauren a...
Join host Silvia Smart as she shares pieces of her journey to empowerment and survival from a cult-like martial arts system. Listen to the red flags that crop up around these dysfunctional and sometimes dangerous systems and people.
Cults and charismatic leaders with ill intent are everywhere – Qanon, NXIVM, Scientology, and The Children of God, are just a few examples. Cults and narcissistic, manipulative, and sociopathic leaders ...
Smart shares a surprising self-defense success story that is near and dear to her heart. Find out how her 90-year-old dad responded when he was choked from behind while walking down the street!
Zoom Self Defense Classes with Silvia
Special thanks to my editor, Collin Taber (@that2ndtaberkid)
Resources:
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673
National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse
Su...
Join host, Silvia Smart and her guest, Tasha Ina Church, an empowerment self-defense teacher with a life story you want to hear about! On her website, she writes: “Empowerment goes beyond physical safety. It is understanding that YOU have a VOICE and that voice has POWER — It’s about knowing that in any fight; physical, psychological, or emotional, YOU are Worth Fighting For!”
Get inspired, and then check out all of Tasha’s links:
Happy New Year! It’s 2023 and I’m glad you are here!
Welcome to my new listeners. I hope you find something here that helps you out or inspires you to become your most empowered self. Listen to this quick recording to get your sea legs and hear my quick recommendations about how to listen.
My hope for all of us is that we keep defining who we are, what our values are, and what our boundaries are, and then practice using all our mus...
Empowerment is a lifelong journey. Celebrate your wins and contemplate your next steps. Join host, Silvia Smart, as she shares a piece of her journey into and beyond a lifelong challenge that impacted every area of her life. Find out how she vanquished her dragon and lived to tell about it. Think through what's on the horizon for YOU!
Empowerment means doing stuff that is hard and scary, looking at the way we limit ourselves, the w...
Are you ready to set a Zero Tolerance Policy? Is another person’s behavior toward you hurtful, demeaning, disrespectful, or downright threatening? In this episode, we contemplate our tolerance levels for others’ behaviors. We think through becoming ready to make a boundary and draw a line: to have “Zero Tolerance”. We look at the planning and preparation needed to ensure we set ourselves up for the greatest success possible.
Hear t...
Blowback is another person’s reaction when you reclaim your power, take up your space, set boundaries and make changes in your life. Blowback comes in a large variety of sizes and shapes and can look and feel many different ways. Ultimately, it’s about the other person trying to maintain the status quo. It’s their way of trying to keep the power dynamic between you from changing.
Like all of our self-defense, the level of blowback ...
Listeners ask questions. Let’s discuss: What should I do if I see someone being followed or pursued? Do I help? If so, HOW do I help? Here’s a quick episode to talk you through some options.
Support this important work:
Thank you!
Join “The Empowerment Project” Group on Facebook. For everyone’s safety, please know that if you don’t answer the questions, we will not accept you into the gro...
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