Check out our award winning commercial directed by Shannon Lark and featured at the Parkway Theater in Oakland. Voted by The East Bay Express as the Best of the Bay's Butt-Kickingest Low-Budget Ad!
Impact Bay Area is a nonprofit
organization preventing violence and promoting healing by teaching Impact style self-defense,
a unique form of full-force self-defense for mind, body and voice. We offer a variety
of courses, each with the aim of making you more safe and secure in this world.
We are one
of the only self-defense organizations in California (and one of just a handful in the world) that
uses highly trained padded mock assailants. This allows us to train using realistic fight scenarios,
in an adrenalized state which moves people beyond the natural mental and physical freeze response that happens
when attacked verbally or physically.
Since 1985, Impact Bay Area has given more than 12,000 women
and girls the skills to defend themselves against verbal, physical and
sexual assault (we also host a Men's class every summer).
Impact's self-defense training is different from ordinary self-defense training
in several ways.
We teach full-force self-defense. By training
students to fight full-force against padded mock attackers, in an adrenalized state, we engrain our techniques
into your 'muscle memory'. This means that your body will remember - and respond appropriately -
even when the mind has forgotten or "freezes" during an attack.
We teach using realistic scenarios.
Our instructors are trained to use real-life scenarios of violence and potential violence
by playing the role of perpetrators so that you are prepared to counter an actual assault.
Training is tailored to each individual. While our techniques utilize the
strengths in most student's bodies, they can be learned by virtually anyone regardless
of age or physical ability. Class size is limited to provide a maximum
level of individual instruction.
We understand the extremely emotional nature
inherent in confronting the fear of violence. Our classes
are taught in an extremely supportive environment by trauma-informed instructors. We help you
develop your inner strength and work through your fears, as well as honing your physical abilities.
Impact Bay Area is internationally recognized as a leader in the self-defense
field. Our clients include Yosemite Park Service who chose Impact Bay
Area as their self-defense provider after the Yosemite murders in 2000.
We have also helped found Impact chapters in North Dakota,
Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. We have been featured in "The
Wall Street Journal," on "The TODAY Show," "CNN," "The Biggest Loser," "Oprah," "Dr. Phil" & "Tyra Banks" and on MSNBC's
"Weekend Magazine" and were voted Best of the Bay Area
by San Francisco Magazine.
Watch the IMPACT 
