"I want to tell you that I love, love, love the Devi video.... We currently run a small martial arts school as a family and really enjoy the fact that our whole family has the means to work as a team in any situation. Peace of mind is so great to have.
Your video has helped in allowing me to think situations through... I watched it in it's entirety with a few friends of mine, all girls, and encouraged them to buy it as well for their library of training. What made me think to finally contact you, was that I heard from one of my friends, just the other day, that her sister ordered it and has been sharing it with all the important women in her life and is saying the same thing I have been. Encouraging them to keep these simple things in mind when out & about, or just buy the DVD. The mental arsenal is the best weapon, because it's harder for someone else to disarm it once it's been conditioned.
It made me feel good to have been able to share this with my friends and family... what you have put together has been touching the lives of so many."
"We have all waited a long time for this video... the Devi DVD is a college course in self-defense... so impressive in scope and depth and with an acute understanding of women's issues. The Devi DVD will be my gift to every woman I know."
Dr. Belisa Vranich is a clinical psychologist, author, and presenter. Dr. Vranich has a private practice in New York City where she focuses on short-term dynamic psychotherapy that is highly interactive. Her passion as a clinician manifests itself in comprehensive, holistic diagnosis and treatment that integrates spirituality, physical health and relationships.
Dr. Vranich has written five self-help books. She is currently promoting He’s Got Potential: a field guide to shy guys, bad boys, intellectuals, cheaters and everything in between (Wiley Pubs) and Boys Lie (HCI Pubs), a sexual and emotional wellbeing book for teens. She is also the author of Get a Grip: Your Two Week Mental Makeover (Wiley Pubs), Dating the Older Man (2008, Adams Press) and The Seven Beliefs: A Step by Step Guide to Help Latinas Recognize and Overcome Depression (2003, HarperCollins; 2004 Spanish translation).
Dr. Vranich is a regular guest on the “Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” CNN, and Fox News. She will appear as the Sex Expert in Bravo’s new Fall 2010 show, “Pregnant In Heels.” Dr. Vranich has been interviewed as an expert in hundreds of publications, including the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, Spin, AARP, Seventeen, Good Housekeeping, and Parenting. She is the former advice columnist for the New York Daily News, Foxnews.com, and Spin magazine.
"Teja makes it personal, makes it real. [She] has created teaching that resonates."
Excerpt: "There are aspects of problems that [as a man] I can never fully understand. We are all wired differently, all have different experiences. Teja is fast becoming my Subject Matter Expert for women's self-defense issues. Partially because she sees it so clearly but even more because she can explain it in a way that gets through...
Teja talks of consequences: "She tries to fight, but that first hit is half power... more struggling than fighting and he hits her back, hard. She's never felt pain like that and she is afraid to try again... and he says, 'Just don't fight me and I won't hurt you.' She has to believe it because it seems like the only chance she has is to believe he is telling the truth.
Teja understands her vulnerability [as a woman] and faces it square on. She is a trained and efficient Sayoc Kali fighter. But she doesn't look at things just through that lens. She works mental and physical skills. She thinks about protecting her child. She does not tell students the answers, but gives them lists of options. The students work it out: What could I do? Where does that choice naturally lead? [She] has created teaching that resonates"
Rory Miller is a writer and teacher living peacefully in the Pacific Northwest.
He has served for seventeen years in corrections as an officer and sergeant working maximum security, booking and mental health; leading a tactical team; and teaching subjects ranging from Defensive Tactics and Use of Force to First Aid and Crisis Communications with the Mentally Ill. For fourteen months he was an advisor to the Iraqi Corrections System working in Baghdad and Kurdish Sulaymaniyah. Somewhere in the midst of that he received a BS degree in Psychology; served in the National Guard as a Combat Medic (91A/B); earned college varsities in judo and fencing and received a mokuroku in jujutsu. He has drunk chichu with reformed cannibals and 18-year-old scotch with generals...and loves long sword fights on the beach.
Rory is the author of Facing Violence and Meditations on Violence.
"Devi should be required for every young female college student or mother-to-be. If every woman watched this video even once, there would be a lot less for me to do."
"Teja Van Wicklen has vast self-defense knowledge and martial arts experience. She's dedicated her life to her quest to keep women and families safe."
Erik Kondo is a father of three, and has been a T4-5 paraplegic for the past 20+ years. He currently teaches self-defense to people who are at a physical disadvantage. Erik is a successful businessman and entrepreneur.
He also owns and runs a play spot for kids called Together in Motion in Arlington Massachusetts.
"I have known Teja Van Wicklen as a serious student of the martial arts for over 20 years. Her no-nonsense, practical workshops are truly effective."
J. B. Miller, President & CEO of Empire Entertainment, is an Emmy Award-winning producer with over two decades of experience as a producer and representative of the interests of global corporations, not-for-profits, private individuals and governments in all areas of the entertainment industries. Empire Entertainment has booked/presented musical artists such as Jay-Z, Aerosmith, Bono, Dave Matthews Band, Justin Timberlake, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Gwen Stefani, Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson, Phil Collins, Sheryl Crow, Lenny Kravitz, Andrea Bocelli, Kylie Minogue, The Pretenders, and The Blues Brothers; comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Bill Cosby, Ray Romano, and Jay Leno; speakers such as President Barack Obama, President Bill Clinton, Steven Speilberg, George Lucas, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, General Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani and Al Gore; and presented theatrical productions and variety artists including Blue Man Group, David Copperfield, Penn & Teller and Riverdance.
As an Executive Producer, Miller has personally created, produced and overseen production on thousands of major corporate, not-for-profit and private events on six continents for clients that include Google, Time Warner, Microsoft, The Walt Disney Company, Goldman, Sachs & Co., Mercedes-Benz, PepsiCo, IBM, Samsung, SONY, American Express and hundreds of others.
