Self-Defense in 5aspects
WHY SELF-DEFENSE BELONGS IN EMBODIED DEVELOPMENT
At 5aspects™, we are committed to helping you cultivate safety, confidence, and embodied autonomy. While much of our work focuses on inner development, the Body aspect also includes a crucial outer-world capacity, and one of those is: the ability to protect yourself when needed.
We offer self-defense training because:
· personal safety is a prerequisite for personal freedom
· embodiment includes the capacity to act in one’s own defense
· learning to function under pressure transforms not just the body, but the whole self
· many people live with fear, freeze responses, or unresolved experiences of threat
· reclaiming physical power is a deeply human developmental milestone
For these reasons, we searched for a method that is both effective under real-world conditions and deeply respectful of the human condition.
Model Mugging: Full-Force Self-Defense System
Why We Chose Model Mugging
Model Mugging® represents one of the most effective, humane, and developmentally attuned self-defense systems ever developed. Its philosophy, structure, and pedagogy align deeply with the 5aspects approach, making it a natural foundation for this work.
At its core, Model Mugging supports:
- full-force learning delivered with care and safety
- progressive capacity-building through slow, medium, and full-speed practice
- a female–male instructor pairing that models cooperation, respect, and mutual strength
- a strong emphasis on empowerment, dignity, and personal rights
- belonging through group cohesion, shared learning, and witnessing
Because of this intrinsic alignment, Model Mugging is the self-defense method we teach within the 5aspects system.
What Makes Model Mugging Distinct
Model Mugging is the first—and still the most advanced—full-force, adrenaline-based self-defense course in the world. For more than 40 years, it has helped thousands of women and men overcome freeze responses, access instinctive power, and learn how to stop an assault using effective, realistic techniques.
Participants train in ways that closely resemble real-life conditions—without being overwhelmed or harmed. In practice, this means:
· training under realistic adrenal activation
· striking full-force against a fully padded instructor
· rehearsing real-world scenarios safely and repeatedly
· learning to overcome freeze, collapse, and shock responses
· developing instinctive skills the body remembers under pressure
No other self-defense method integrates psychological, emotional, and physical empowerment through full-force training at this level.
A Brief Word on Its Origins & Scope
Model Mugging was created to address a critical gap in traditional self-defense training: the inability of most techniques to function under real threat and adrenal stress. It is not a martial art, not role-play, and not a theoretical system.
It is a rigorously tested, scenario-based training designed to work with—rather than against—the body’s natural survival responses. Its longevity and global reach speak to its effectiveness, integrity, and ongoing relevance.
Within 5aspects, Model Mugging serves as the grounded, reality-tested core upon which additional layers of nervous-system awareness, integration, and reflection are built.
How 5aspects Shapes the Learning Environment
Model Mugging stands fully on its own as a powerful and effective self-defense system. Within 5aspects, we teach it with an added layer of perceptual precision, relational skill, and developmental integration drawn from our broader work with embodied learning and human wholeness.
As instructors, we bring refined attention to:
· how each participant’s fight, flight, and freeze responses emerge under pressure,
· when to encourage challenge and when to support integration,
· how emotional and relational responses naturally arise alongside physical learning,
· and how moments of strength, choice, and agency can be more consciously integrated into everyday life.
Model Mugging already engages the whole person. What we bring is careful, real-time attunement to how each participant meets intensity. As facilitators, we track responses as they arise and offer support that helps emotional reactions and insights integrate with greater coherence and self-awareness—without turning the training into therapy or analysis.
This allows full-force learning to remain powerful while also becoming more digestible, integrated, and personally meaningful. Skills are not only learned in the moment, but more reliably carried forward as embodied confidence, clearer boundaries, and increased trust in one’s own capacity to respond.
The Instructor Team
A core principle of Model Mugging is that every course is taught by a female instructor and a male instructor working together.
This pairing is foundational. It allows participants to experience strength, intensity, and accountability within a relational field that models respect, cooperation, and clear boundaries.
The Female Instructor
Provides orientation, guidance, and continuity throughout the training, supporting pacing, choice, and integration as intensity increases.
The Male Instructor
Serves as the padded assailant and scenario lead, providing realistic full-force simulations within a clear container of respect, accountability, and safety.
Together, the instructors model a new relational template: strength + presence + attuned care.
Instructor Credentials
Grace Viola Henrich — Model Mugging Instructor
Grace completed her Model Mugging Instructor Training in July 2019 in Switzerland, under the direction of Mark Vinci, Executive Director of Model Mugging. Her training included the full Model Mugging curriculum and instructional methodology.
Heath A. Wilson — Model Mugging Instructor (Advanced)
Heath completed two rounds of Basic Model Mugging Instructor Training in August 2016 in California with Mark Vinci, followed by Advanced Model Mugging Instructor Training with Matt Thomas, founder of Model Mugging, in June 2017. He has been teaching Model Mugging courses since 2016 and assisted in the Swiss instructor training in 2019. He has co-taught courses in both U.S. and European contexts.
Learning & Outcomes
Training Progression
Model Mugging follows a carefully designed progression that builds capacity without overwhelm:
1. Slow-motion learning
Establishes clarity, orientation, and form
Builds confidence and nervous-system readiness
2. Medium-speed practice
Introduces activation, resilience, and adaptive focus
3. Full-force, full-speed scenarios
Engages real adrenaline
Trains instinctive responses
Cultivates embodied empowerment
This progression supports skill acquisition, confidence, and integration under realistic conditions.
What You Learn
Participants develop practical, embodied capacities, including:
· Full-force striking
· Ground defense and safe recovery
· Verbal boundary-setting
· Navigating fear, shock, and adrenaline
· Mobilizing through freeze responses
· Scenario-based survival strategies
· Embodied courage and self-worth
Many participants describe the course as life-changing—not only for what they learn, but for how they experience themselves afterward.
In Their Words
“Baby steps can take you much further than big jumps.”
Romania, Model Mugging
Self-Defense Participant
“This workshop brought out so much confidence in me — powerful, effective, unlike anything I had trained before.”
France, Model Mugging
Self-Defense Participant
“Model Mugging helped me reclaim a strength I thought I had lost. Fear dissolved — courage took its place.”
Germany, Model Mugging
Self-Defense Participant
Course Schedule
This training is immersive, structured, and intentionally paced for nervous-system capacity and integration.
FRIDAY EVENING, 18:00–21:30
· arrival, orientation, agreements
· slow-motion learning & foundational movements
· group cohesion & readiness building
Starting Friday evening reduces the intensity of Saturday and allows participants to settle into the work more gradually.
SATURDAY, 09:00–18:00 (with a 1-hour lunch break)
· skill progression
· medium-speed practice
· emotional regulation & resilience focus
· scenario preparation
This is the most substantial training day, yet intentionally shorter than the traditional 10–11 hour format to support pacing and sustainability.
SUNDAY, 09:00–17:30 (with a 1-hour lunch break)
· full-force scenarios
· graduation fights
· consolidation of skills
· integration and debrief
We complete by 17:30 so participants may travel home the same evening when needed.
Total Training Hours: 20–23 hours (depending on group pace and readiness)
Tuition & Participation
Tuition and participation details are discussed directly, based on group size, setting, and format.
When needed, reduced-fee options are available to support accessibility.
Our Lineage & the Wider Model Mugging Community
Model Mugging is an internationally established self-defense system with its roots in the United States and a growing global presence. We are proud to teach Model Mugging as part of this wider community and to represent the work in Germany and Europe through our affiliation with the official Model Mugging organization.
If you are interested in experiencing this training but are not located in Germany, we warmly encourage you to explore courses offered through the official Model Mugging network worldwide.
Visit the official Model Mugging website to find trainings and instructors near you.
This work matters—and wherever you encounter it, we trust its power to support safety, agency, and embodied strength.
Begin Your Self-Defense Training
If you feel called to develop embodied confidence,
personal safety, and the ability to act under pressure,
this is where your training with us begins.
Questions You May Have
Safety is foundational to how Model Mugging® is taught. Training follows a carefully paced progression—from slow motion to full force—so your nervous system can build capacity rather than be overwhelmed. You strike only fully padded instructors, and participation always respects your limits, readiness, and choice.
Full force is invited, not imposed. You are encouraged to build toward it gradually, and you decide how far you go. Many participants discover that accessing strength at their own pace is part of the empowerment itself.
Freeze responses are common and deeply human. This training is designed specifically to work with those responses, not against them. The structure, pacing, and instructor support help you learn how to mobilize even when fear or shock is present—without shame or pressure.
Model Mugging® is designed to avoid harm and respect participant choice. Within 5aspects™, we bring additional nervous-system awareness and attunement to how intensity is met, helping experiences integrate rather than fragment—without turning the training into therapy.
No. Techniques rely on leverage, positioning, and instinctive responses rather than strength alone. People of all ages, sizes, and fitness levels participate successfully.
Many people report increased confidence, clarity, and self-trust. While the training can be intense, it is also often described as grounding and empowering—supporting a deeper sense of agency both in the body and in daily life.
Explore Readiness
We’re happy to answer questions, explore readiness,
and help you sense whether this training is the right fit at this time.