Seven Star Women’s Kung Fu

I took the beginner’s cycle at Seven Star because I wanted an indoor sport for the times of year when you just don’t want to be outside in Seattle. Six years later, not only do I have a regular excuse to for some physical exercise, I also have membership in an incredibly diverse and supportive organization that makes a positive impact on me (bad day? go to kung fu and kick your friends! guaranteed mood lifter) and on the community through self defense classes (so many free or low cost SD workshops have been taught around the Seattle area by 7* I can’t even count them).
There’s always more to learn and someone new to meet as well as old material to practice and old friends to catch up with. Seven Star draws volunteer teachers from the ranks of advanced students, so you get a variety of teaching styles as well as a variety of activities. Never boring. Come watch a class if you’re not sure you want to sign up, but you should probably just sign up. :)

I found out about Seven Star at an dinner/​auction for Bike Works in Columbia City. I bid on a gift certificate to the Beginner Class because I thought it sounded fun and would be good to learn some self-​defense. Best decision ever.
I have now been training for two years and love this place! It’s a welcoming, friendly, and diverse community of students and teachers, who make exercise fun. I feel more confident, fit, strong, and kickass than before I started training here.
I encourage every woman in Seattle that I know to try a class here — whether it’s the self-​defense series or the regular/​full kajukenbo martial arts (which incorporates self-​defense as well). I feel much safer walking around my neighborhood knowing these skills.
Turn your fear into fierce!

I stumbled upon this women’s defense course based upon my trusty Unilocalers’ great reviews and Google. I wanted to be proactive before moving to a new city by myself, so why the heck not? Michelle and her team are so helpful and empowering. Her workshop is the most bang for your buck because most places will try to lure you in with a membership to be the next karate kid. Seven Star is a non-​profit, so there’s none of that business, her workshop is straight to the point and offers you the basic skills you need. I live on the Eastside and trek all the way to the Central District because truly, this place is one of a kind. I highly recommend taking a workshop or come to an open house and try a class!

When my teenage daughter wanted to take a self-​defense class, I found Seven Start Women’s Kung Fu on the internet and decided to attend a Try-​A-​Class night. It was so much fun that we both signed up for the 8-​week beginner’s cycle and have now continued on and have been training there for several months. The training is amazing — it’s fun, challenging and everyone is respected and accepted for who they are and where they are at. There are no ‘egos’ at Seven Star and I think it would be impossible to feel intimidated or inferior in any way (and for a Martial Arts school, that is saying something!) The instructors, who are all amazing, have done an excellent job of fostering this environment and all the women who train there are also amazing, both as martial artists and as people. There is such a sense of community and inclusion there and we feel so lucky to have found this place. Do yourself a favor and at least check out the new 4 week Self-​Defense classes or the 8-​week Beginner cycle. The self-​defense skills that you will learn in either program should be mandatory for every woman and even if you decide not to continue training, you will learn skills that could save your life someday. Excellent, excellent school!

After stumbling across Seven Star on the internet, I decided to give the «Try A Class» night a chance. I had nothing to lose, right? Well, I was instantly hooked and signed up for the 8-​week beginner’s cycle before I left on that fateful first day.
I’ve been training for about four months now, and I love it! The instructors are wonderful and the other students are all super nice. It’s a very welcoming environment for beginners — especially those of us who have otherwise busy schedules that just want to fit something fun in between work and home life. It’s a magnificent learning experience, and a good workout that beats the hell out of going to the gym!

Seven Star is an amazing community of women committed to training in martial arts. I have trained in many places and never found a school that was so good at combining martial traditions with with making training meaningful to modern women.

I’ve now been training for about 9 months, so I figured it is time for an update!
I am still addicted to kajukenbo and completely happy with Seven Star. The teachers are fantastic and the community is amazing. The women who train here are some of the nicest, most interesting women in the world!
I’m mostly updating this review to share some new info about the school. Starting this year, in addition to the 8 week beginner’s cycle, Seven Star will also be offering 4 week self defense classes, meeting once a week. It is a great way for women who want to learn self defense to do so if they don’t particularly care about learning martial arts. The 8 week beginner’s cycle splits time between martial arts and self defense.
The school also has a fairly new ASL interpreting program to help enable deaf women to train. They are always looking for new ways to enable women to train, so if you have a particular need that is not yet being met by the school, you are welcome to talk to them about starting up a new program.
They still do try a class night a few weeks before each beginner’s cycle, which is a great way to try it out once without any sort of obligation to come back. You are also welcome to come watch a class, you just have to schedule a time with the head instructor, whose email address you can find on the website.
Women as young as 13 can take the beginner’s cycle, just FYI.
Maybe see you there sometime!