Do you feel unsafe on the streets? Do you constantly look behind your shoulder when you walk at night? Do you often have to pass through rough neighbourhoods? Do you wish you knew how to defend yourself, just in case? Maybe the risk of being attacked is not that big but wouldn't it feel better if you knew what to do if something happened?

The fact that you read this article means that you are aware of the danger and that you would like to know how to feel safe in the street. So you have take the first step and decided you are going to learn how to defend yourself. Next step is to lean how to find the best self defense instruction.

There are many options if you want learn self defense but which is the best one? There are plenty of different martial arts and almost all of them claims to be the best and most effective self defense you can find. There are courses in Karate, Kung-Fu, Jui-Juitsu, boxing, Krav Maga, the list is very, very long. There are also courses simply entitled "self defense" without any mention of martial arts. Then there are self defense DVDs and self defense devices such as stun guns and pepper spray? So how do choose, and how do you know if something is good?

What you should choose depends on many things. If you want to learn effective self defense quickly, then you should find a course specifically dealing with self defense and how to feel safe on the streets. Traditional martial arts such as Karate and Kung-fu will take a lot more time and commitment to learn and they also contain a number of complicated movements which will not be useful if you are attacked in the street.

Combat sports such kickboxing or Mma might be of some use as self defense, but remember that they are sports and as such they contain rules. On the street there are no rules. Despite combat sports require a good level of fitness.

However you can check with your local martial arts club and see if they organize courses in self defense, many of them do.

Clubs and schools are also all different, some of them put the priority on competition, others on exercise and others still on self defense. Talk to people in the club and check around a little, this way will find out what they teach and how they do it.

A course designed to teach self defense will contain simple and effective methods you can use in order to immobilize or stop an attacker. It will not contain any hard to learn moves or moves which require a lot of strength and agility. A good self defense course will work for any one, man or woman, young or old, weak or strong.

Finally, there is the option of training dvds. Now I am not saying that you can learn self defense simply by watching a dvd, but you can learn the movements from a dvd and then practice them with a friend. This is a good option if a good self defense course is not available where you live.

So, in order to find some good self defense instruction, check if the course is really intended for self defense and not sports. It should be simple and easy to learn as simple movements art the most effective in a dangerous situation. A good self defense course will make you feel safer in the street and to have peace of mind is really worth a lot.