I trained for about three years in a so called “self defence” class (we were actually trainning a precussor of MMA as we studied Muay Thai, Jiujitsu and Krav Maga) and from the start the feel of the class was very down to earth, very connected.

The instructor was a former marine, with a PE degree and a history of olympic judo, most of the people trainning were police or military personel but there wasn’t a macho ambience in the gym. I was 16 then and one of the youngest and was treated like an equal and everyone was always looking out for each other. Our worst dread was actually when women enrolled as they tended to play dirty and kick low!

Politics was a banned subject. We had all skin colors in the class (including purple and blue; it was a contact sport!) and we even managed to help some guys on very tricky situations, like domestic violence and mental abuse.

15 years later I go back to martial arts and the class was pure toxic garbage and indoctrination, in a so called non violent style; people got in and lived for that, almost exclusively, to the point of having no other social life. That was a scary experience.