A Handwritten Card, a Gesture of Appreciation, and the Power of Community
earworm: [Miley Cyrus – The Climb]
The techniques mattered, but some of the greatest lessons were about confidence, composure, community, and what can happen when women have the time and space to learn together.
Our final Iron Flora session at SIT after eight weeks together. Shared with permission from participants.
Published: 25 August 2026 | Reading time: 5-6 min | Category: Iron Flora
Empower One. Empower Many.
As we sat in a circle for the final time during our eighth session, bringing the programme to a close, one of the participants suddenly got up and went to her bag. She came back with a small white envelope. I genuinely wasn't expecting anything, so I didn't think much of it at first.
Then I peeked inside.
It was a handwritten thank-you card.
I was very, very touched.
When showing up is already a gift
I never designed those eight sessions hoping to receive gifts. I designed them because this is something I genuinely enjoy teaching and something that has been close to my heart for many years. Simply having women choose to come back week after week was already a reward and a joy in itself.
Every Wednesday from 5pm to 6pm, they could have stayed in their offices finishing something or done any number of other things. Instead, they came to learn together.
Somehow, the time always passed ridiculously quickly. I would look at the clock and wonder how an hour had gone by already. It certainly never felt like an hour to me. Perhaps that is what people mean when they describe being in a flow state.
Iron Flora in action, bringing together confidence, awareness, composure and practical self-defence.
I was teaching something I cared deeply about, responding to questions in real time, watching people practise and improve, and thinking about what we could explore next.
I loved it.
Feedback matters
As an educator, I have always been grateful for feedback. Constructive feedback allows me to improve, while positive feedback reminds me why I teach.
The handwritten card was one of those moments.
What touched me wasn't simply what they had written. The participants came from different divisions and buildings across the SIT campus, yet somehow they had coordinated among themselves and found the time to write a card together. Anyone who has worked in education knows what April and May can be like, particularly for academic staff. Final assessments, marking, meetings and deadlines don't disappear because somebody wants to organise a thank-you card.
Everyone was busy.
That was why the gesture meant so much to me. Time is one of the most generous things we can give another person, and they had chosen to spend some of theirs doing this.
The handwritten thank-you card from the participants. I was very touched that they had even chosen pink deliberately for the message on the front. Shared with permission.
The words inside mattered too. Participants told me that they felt more confident and more aware after the sessions. For me, that was perhaps the most meaningful feedback I could have received because those were exactly the things I had hoped Iron Flora could help women develop.
At the end of the programme, the participants also gave me NTUC supermarket vouchers. I cook a lot at home, so the vouchers quite literally went towards nourishing my husband and me. I was very happy with them.
I still appreciate the handwritten card the most.
“I used to walk around outdoors, not paying attention to my surroundings. This class, conducted by Celestine, didn’t just teach me to punch; it taught me to see and be present. I am so much more aware of my surroundings now, and I finally feel like my reaction time would actually kick in if something felt wrong. Best investment in my safety I’ve ever made. Thank you!”
– Syifaa Mansor, Manager, Recognition of Prior Learning
“I really enjoyed Celestine’s classes. She is good at breaking down complex movements into simple to follow steps. I especially like her class on the “right” way to fall by rolling to avoid injuries. I have also picked up quite a few self-defense tips, such as how to free myself should I be grabbed and facing the attacker while running away to a safer distance, instead of turning around to run which would put me at greater risk of being grabbed again. Overall, I would highly recommend Celestine’s class if you are looking to be empowered with practical personal safety skills, as well as have some fun and exercise in the process.”
– Tan Li Ping, Director of Investment
The physical techniques mattered, of course, but self-protection was never only about techniques. It was also about awareness, communication, judgement, composure, knowing when to leave, knowing when to say no, and being able to act when something didn't feel right.
I had gone into the programme hoping that perhaps one woman would leave knowing a little more than before. Their feedback told me that something had landed.
Confidence takes practice
One thing became particularly clear to me over those eight weeks: confidence isn't something that appears because someone tells you to be confident.
It needs opportunities to grow.
A participant might initially hesitate during a drill, then try it. The following week, she remembers a little more. Someone asks a question. Another participant suggests something. We try a different scenario. Something that initially felt awkward becomes more familiar.
That was also why having eight sessions rather than only one made such a difference.
Practising, asking questions and learning from one another during one of the eight Iron Flora sessions at SIT.
We had time and a safe space to learn together. Time to repeat, ask questions and make mistakes without feeling awkward or embarrassed. Time to become more comfortable with one another and, eventually, time to build trust.
Community has always mattered greatly to me in full-contact martial arts too. One reason I have stayed in the full-contact martial arts community for so many years is because of the awesome people I have met along the way. Even after years of training, we still learn from one another, exchange ideas, ask questions, and occasionally discover that somebody else has a completely different way of approaching the same problem.
I had seen the same thing in the self-defence classes I taught at different points over the years, beginning in 2009: a good self-defence class isn't simply about an instructor demonstrating techniques while everyone else copies them. People bring their own experiences, questions and perspectives into the room, and sometimes one person's question gets everybody thinking.
By 2026, I also had more than a decade of experience in education behind me. Through teaching, curriculum and assessment work, adult education training and postgraduate study, I had developed a much stronger understanding of how to design learning deliberately. Iron Flora gave me the opportunity to bring these different strands together: years of martial arts and self-defence training and teaching, my experience with movement and Yin Yoga, and more than a decade of experience and training in education.
Winding down together at the end of an Iron Flora session.
My background in Yin Yoga also influenced how I thought about the rhythm of the sessions. After practising physical self-protection, I wanted participants to have time to wind down through stretching, gentle movement and breathwork. We could practise something physical and intense, then slow things down and leave feeling calm and relaxed.
The eight sessions reinforced something I have believed for a long time: learning is rarely one-way. Participants learnt from me, but they also learnt from one another, and I continued learning from them.
Building Iron Flora together
There was also someone else who showed up throughout all eight sessions: my husband. After each session, we would discuss what happened, think through different scenarios, and talk about what might work better the following week. He continues to work alongside me as we build Iron Flora today.
As I wrote in Why the Name Iron Flora – Strength and Gentleness Can Coexist, Iron Flora is deliberately centred on women and girls, but I have never believed that women empowerment has to happen in isolation. Men can be partners, friends, colleagues, educators and allies too.
Ultimately, however, the women themselves also became part of building Iron Flora.
When I first walked into that one-hour workshop on 18 March 2026, I hoped that perhaps one woman would leave feeling a little more confident than when she arrived. I certainly didn't expect that one workshop would become eight sessions.
By the end of those eight sessions, Iron Flora was no longer simply an idea I had carried with me for years. The women had brought their own experiences, questions, feedback, and perspectives into the room. They helped me see what worked, what they wanted to explore further, and what Iron Flora could become.
I couldn't find exactly the programme I was looking for, so I built it myself.
Then something even better happened.
Other women helped me build it too.
Bring Iron Flora to your community or organisation
If you're an educator, community organisation, corporate HR or wellness professional looking for practical confidence, awareness and self-defence training for women and girls, I'd love to explore how Iron Flora could support your students, staff or community.
Iron Flora programmes can be adapted for different age groups, needs and contexts while keeping the same core focus: developing greater awareness, composure and confidence, together with simple and practical self-defence skills that participants can remember when they need them.
Empower One. Empower Many.
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