In March 2025 I was preparing a women's self defence seminar to be taught as part of my work with FairFight in India. As a third and final upskill for the local team, I put together a sequence of basic drills built from previous teaching and simplified to be memorable as I was to be teaching in Hindi (and my Hindi is not very good!)

I therefore took on the traditional karate method of codifying the drills as a kata to help me sequence them in teaching.

The drills are to demonstrate principles - they are not a comprehensive self defence programme. They are the orange squash without the water and can be expanded and varied hugely depending on group and context. Some are relevant to any situation where there is a significant power differential and some are particularly relevant to gender-based violence and domestic abuse.

They can be a springboard for non-physical education as well as an emergency escape package explored in the old-style kata format. I present them in that context, as an experiment in practical karate and a way to highlight the importance of broadening self defence teaching beyond the common expectations of male social violence.

Thanks are due to Christopher Webb of Grove Martial Arts for his patience and professional input through the months of development; to 500Rising for the incredible in-depth training in the realities of women's self defence; to Iain Abernethy for many discussions around what goes into kata (and what should be left out!); and to Don Came for inviting me to teach these in our joint seminar in June. Thanks also to Charlie Stevens (my daughter) for her help in recording the drills.

This footage is intended as a revision guide for those who attended, and is offered as a curiosity to anyone interested in the general flavour of the work.