N-Flux

Katherine Daw

I took Colleen’s Women’s and Femme’s Self Defense Intensive and loved it. First, Colleen is an amazing person and I want to be her best friend. Second, the self-defense weekend was incredible and I truly think I’m better for it. Colleen has designed the curriculum with both practicality and thoughtfulness in mind. She made sure all of us felt safe, cared for, and heard throughout the experience, even as we were tackling difficult topics and potentially triggering exercises and drills. She and the ladies helping out were very knowledgeable and gave great pointers and individual attention to everyone in the class. The session on verbal deescalation was unlike any other self defense class I’ve taken, and in the best way— it’s pretty amazing to have a martial arts teacher be up front about the fact that martial arts is not always the ideal or best approach to self defense in some situations. I’ve come out of the weekend very sore, but feeling empowered and much more confident in my ability to defend myself in an emergency. This class has also inspired me to continue training in martial arts at N-flux so that I continue to hone my self defense skills and increase my confidence. The N-Flux students that I met over the weekend could not have had more nice things to say about N-flux—they spoke about how wonderful Chris and the staff are and how inclusive and welcoming the gym is to women and marginalized people. I look forward to becoming part of this community.

Posted 5 months ago

Jenna Bernfeld

Colleen's self-defense workshop (Guerrera) completely exceeded my expectations. This course is trauma-informed and accessible to people of all athletic abilities. Colleen is a gifted instructor and creates a safe, fun, and inclusive experience. In addition to being physically challenging, the course includes a thorough de-escalation information session, which was extremely helpful and immediately actionable. I really can't recommend this class and this gym more, you will love it!

Posted 3 months ago

Emma B Strong

I was really excited to take the Women’s/Femme self defense workshop after taking a different one 15+ years ago and having a great experience. I rely on reviews a lot and I think sometimes either when it is a small business or there are only positive reviews people don’t feel comfortable to share anything negative. I am sure the positive reviews are totally genuine, I just wish there had been other reviews so I could have saved my time and money for another class. The pros are the class seemed really well organized and the people taking the training were a really friendly positive group. The cons were that we didn’t do much of any stretching or warm up before getting into being encouraged to punch and kick bags as hard as possible, and I am pretty active and athletic and I hurt my knee about an hour and a half into it. The instructor also made a lot of comments that felt really off putting and unprofessional. She also joked a lot about wanting to be attacked so she could get in a fight - jokes are great overall but that one didn’t feel good especially when there are possibly people in the class who have been in that situation. To be upfront, because of my injury I didn’t return to class, so it could have gotten better. I asked for a partial refund and was told that I could not because the class was full. It’s totally her right to keep the funds, but if she had been willing to refund some portion I would have held off on the review. She did offer for me to share it with someone else (I’m not able to make future classes) but I would honestly not want a friend or family member do this class. If you are interested, Id suggest checking out one of the shorter classes and maybe you’ll run into the instructor who teaches this class to see if you connect well and if you like the space and environment.

Posted 2 months ago

Alissa H

I will never stop recommending N-Flux to everyone who will listen. Finding this gym was life changing for me, I mean it. I was first introduced when I took the women and femmes guerrera self defense intensive. Colleen will never ever tell you that one weekend of training will guarantee your safety, but you will learn the basics of de-escalation, creating space, falling safely, and enough fighting that in a high stress moment your muscle memory will hopefully kick in at least a little (but it’s not your fault if it doesn’t). I left knowing that the workshop was just the beginning for me—2 classes a week became 3 became 4 became 5. It became my favorite part of my days. Over the next year and a bit I branched out, trying out and incorporating jiu jitsu, kickboxing, mobility, and strength training. As a very small woman in a major city, I became more confident walking through life. I am unbelievably grateful for Colleen, Tahira, Chris, Maicie, Gonz, and the entire community. This is a truly beginner friendly space. The instructors are excellent at providing critique without it feeling like you’re being judged, at pushing without hurting. I can’t emphasize this enough. When I started at N-Flux, I couldn’t even do a single push up on my knees (a physical block) I was afraid to somersault (a mental block). Everyone I have met there is encouraging, supportive, and uplifting. I felt incredibly safe at N-Flux, especially because so many women train there. I celebrated so many small milestones. Show up and give it 100%, you will be absolutely amazed by what you can do. There’s some unlearning that may need to happen: the fear of being loud, over-apologizing, holding back when you weren’t asked to. This gym was transformative for my physical and mental health. It’s the first gym I never got sick of. Although I haven’t been able to train there since the new year, it’s not for a lack of love or motivation. I truly hope that in due time I’ll be able to get right back at it. If you’re looking for an engaging, challenging, and fun workout where you will see real progress week by week, this is the place for you.