Your voice is powerful. Whether you are a seasoned boundary setter or just dipping your toes in, this workshop offers an opportunity to connect with your intuition, discover new tools for defining and defending your boundaries, and cultivate a feeling of confidence, safety, and well-being in your daily life and relationships. In a carefully held container, participants will experiment with a range of assertive communication strategies, voice exercises, and somatic movement practices to support their boundary work.
This workshop draws from Toby Israel’s holistic self-defense methodology, which is rooted in deep respect for personal autonomy, a commitment to trauma awareness and healing, and an intersectional feminist approach to empowerment.
Please come prepared to turn your camera on, engage in activities with other participants, and get loud (if possible in your space). It is good but not required to have a bit of space to move around. You may like to have a notebook handy if you know you like to take notes, but presentation notes will be shared afterwards.
Toby is the founder of Choose Empowerment, as well as founder and lead facilitator of Mujeres Fuertes Autodefensa (Empowered Women Self-Defense).
She has created these businesses with a mission to bring tools for holistic self-defense to as many people as possible, and she is passionate about the potential for Holistic Self Defense to bring healing and freedom to both individuals and communities.
Toby is a Level 4 Certified Instructor through ESD Global and a trainer of trainers. She holds the IAESDP Credential from the International Association of ESD Professionals, and an MA in Peace and Media Studies from the UN-mandated University for Peace, Costa Rica. She is the producer of Mujeres Fuertes (Strong Women), an award-winning documentary about the healing power of self-defense, and the author of Vagabondess: A Guide to Solo Female Travel.
Since 2018, she has reached thousands of people across Costa Rica, Central America, North America and Europe with self-defense retreats and workshops, weaving somatics, mindfulness, conscious communication and healing modalities with empowerment self defense training.