Moy Yat Kung Fu Academy Giving Back to the Community

As a response to a series of attacks on women in the local community, Moy Yat Ving Tsun Kung Fu Academy is offering 2 months of free self-defense classes for women beginning in January 2012. We want to be a vital part of our local Austin community, and we can think of no better way than to help people feel safer in our neighborhoods.

I also wanted to share an email I got this morning and my response. It's amazing that someone took the time to actually email this one sentence response to me being on the news.

What makes me snarky with this guy is that he sent this after Heath and I just gave about 14 hours of our time working on, preparing, appearing on live TV, answering calls and emails and then actually teaching.  For a man, women's self defense is a very tough and emotional class, hearing stories of some of these women have been attacked and listening to their fears and emotions.... it's not easy, nor should it be.


I'm very happy to give my time and have my wife and son with me when I do, if this is what I can do and all I can do, then that is good. So I can say, thank you osborne for the email I hope to see if you respond.

---Vyvial Sifu

We are all alone in this together.

osborne	11:13 PM (10 hours ago)
"Your trainees would have a better chance of surviving an attack if they used a pistol"

Aaron Vyvial 7:11 AM (2 hours ago) You really have no idea what self defense is. We mostly teach avoidance, awareness,  conflict resolution and the use of body language. What we do would not be replaced by a pistol.  Most violent attacks occur "with no warning" they happen in seconds.  When would the pistol be useful then?  What would happen if a poorly trained, scared women fails at pulling out a gun?  Now a weapon has been introduced into the equation and the attack, mugging etc...  has been escalated and has the gun. I'm not against guns or weapons at all, I'm highly trained with rifles,  knifes and pistols but they are only part of the equation and the physical self defense  or "Kung fu" is just part of it as well.  If a female in your life, was surprised and couldn't pull out her gun, what would she do next? If a female in your life had the body language skills, avoidance training, conflict resolution and  never had to pull out her gun, wouldn't that be better?  So be honest with your self and ask these questions and then look at your original statement to me,  looks pretty ignorant. I hope the women in your life get better advice from someone other than you. --Aaron Vyvial

One of my kung fu nephews just sent me this info with a quick note:


This is such a wonderful and empowering program. I've been teaching self defense for women in Guatemala for 4 years now and I can tell you that you are in for a very rewarding experience. I'm sure you most likely already have this resource, but if you need input on dealing with folks who've been exposed to human trafficking, war rape and femicide survival please let me know (most of my past students fall into one of those categories) We see a lot of this in the Hispanic community (your area is on one the main trafficking routes from Central America) and is one of the reasons why so many flee into this country. So anyway, I think what your doing is awesome and is a great representation of the Family ♥


Attached is a link to one of my project blogs which should give you an idea of the environment some of these women came out of and should explain some of the tips being passed on.

Violence Against Women: Femicide In Guatemala