Learn how to protect yourself and those you love… always.

Learn and wield the arts of psychological self-defense and persuasion in an immersive six-week course. Recognize manipulative tactics. Repel deception and power plays. Reclaim your personal agency from the dark forces who prefer you powerless.

  • Ever walk away from a conversation realizing someone played you?

  • Ever said “yes” when what you really meant was “no”?

  • Ever just hate how the worst people seem to always get their way?

The world is full of power games, hidden influence, and subtle coercion. If you don’t understand them, you’re at their mercy. But you can learn to see them. You can learn to counter them.

Defense Against the Dark Arts is a 6-week in-person class designed to make you:

  • Resilient Against Manipulation — Spot Deception before it traps you.

  • Strategic in Power Dynamics — Know when to counter, and when to step back.

  • Ethically Persuasive — Learn how to wield influence without coercion.

This isn’t a passive lecture series. This is real life training, taught through the lens of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers (the hated and the beloved ones). Each week you’ll practice live scenarios, role-playing, and tactical exercises, learning practical skills and memorable “spells” that translate into real-world strength.

Recognize

Learn to spot and analyze dark manipulative tactics.

Repel

Develop strategies to deflect and neutralize influence attempts.

Reclaim

Step into your own power, using persuasion ethically.

Build your personal shield and learn the incredibly simple Protego charm to keep your calm amidst chaos.

Face your own shadows and learn how to bring some Riddikulus to everyday moments of anxiety.

Resist cruel systems of coercion and practice Occlumency to keep them from shaping your dreams.

Recognize charm-based deception and learn the Expelliarmus spell to disarm the arrogant.

Reveal your true enemies and know how to Stupefy those who have been turned against you.

Wield influence with emotional intelligence and know the shape of your own Patronus.

What happens without these skills?

Keep falling for the same traps. Feel powerless in conflicts and negotiations. Let others dictate your choices. But when you understand and experience how you’re being manipulated, you’re no longer a pawn, you’re a protector of yourself and the people you love.

Take back your power.

Improv Instructor (11 years)

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Copywriter (18 years)

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Ex-Marketer (4 years)

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Proud Hufflepuff (forever)

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Improv Instructor (11 years) • Copywriter (18 years) • Ex-Marketer (4 years) • Proud Hufflepuff (forever) •

Hi, I’m John Mark. I’ve spent 15+ years in marketing, design, storytelling, performing improv and teaching workshops nationwide to spark creativity and joy. The pandemic pushed me to leave agency life and build something new. This page was crafted to influence your nervous system, scroll to the bottom to explore how. Defense Against the Dark Arts is my way of giving you the tools to see through this kind of bullshit.

“Yeah of course I’ll give you a quote. Umm… ‘Go get ‘em you crazy wizard.’ That good? Okay but really what do you want the quote to say?

—Ben, Magneti Marketing

“John Mark is a one-of-a-kind human. Thank goodness he’s a Hufflepuff. Can you imagine If he’d been sorted to Sytherin? Oh dear."

—Birgitta, Director; Milibo Art Theater

“Hey, easy on the happiness number six.”

—This referee in a soccer game that I’ll never forget.

Apply for your acceptance letter to Defense Against the Dark Arts and equip yourself with the skills to keep yourself safe in a world of power and persuasion.

Next Session Begins April 2025
(Applications close March 28)

Thursday Nights | 6-8pm
Above Poor Richard’s Bookstore | 320 N Tejon St, 80903

$150 for Six In-Person Classes
Scholarships Available | 10 Students Max to Ensure Engagement

I used a classic marketing strategy that casts the product as a solution to a problem, rather than focusing on technical details. This reinforces your identity as the hero of an important story, which though I firmly believe you are, is something marketers use to make this things magically more compelling than others.

  • I placed the visitor of this page in a narrative where they are a hero with a challenge to overcome. It implies that not joining the class is a failure—a fear-based motivation to sign up. I made the stakes personal by talking about you as the protector of yourself and people you love. Without saying it, I made you question if you’re good enough as you are. That’s up to you, not up to evocative writing.

    Defense Strategy: Recognize when an offer tries to craft your identity for you instead of allowing you to define yourself.

  • I created an external enemy without being direct about who “they” are. In this case, it’s manipulative people and unseen influences.

    Defense Strategy: Ask yourself, is this risk real, or is it being exaggeraged to push urgency?

  • Then I can make this class the solution to the problem that again, I created for you—it makes the class an authority providing "the answer,” bypassing some critical thinking.

    Defense Strategy: Challenge authority, always: What’s their expertise? Are there alternatives?

  • The three-step plan (Recognize, Repel, Reclaim) makes the solution seem effortless. Simplified solutions bypass complexity—real personal defense skills take time, but a clean three-step structure makes it feel immediate.

    Defense Strategy: Look for nuance. Ask: Is this a process that requires deeper effort than it suggests?

  • By using language and characters from a familiar magical world I also primed all the neurons in your brain that are connected to that world. This makes the solution not just feel practical, but practically your own.

    Defense Strategy: Strip things of branding. Would you still be interested without a personal connection?

  • A classic. Limited spots available. Registrations close soon. This kind of crap triggers a fear of missing out—one of the most prevalent modern forms of psychological dark arts. And what the hell does it mean “Apply for Your Acceptance Letter?” (Honestly, not a great CTA). Might as well just click it and find out. Every click can make you a little more invested.

    Defense Strategy: Do you really need this? Do you really need it right now? How could you educate yourself on these topics without me?

  • Look how hooooonest I’m being with you. You can click all these little drop downs and learn more, so it makes things feel very supported and true. You’re also “in on the secret” now. Which makes you feel like you’re part of something bigger.

    Defense Strategy: Are they really showing their work? Or just making it seem that way? Trust your own bullshit detectors.

  • I’m a designer who loves good layouts and creating pages that your eye can quickly scan. This is a lot like simplifying complexity, by making things “feel” like they all click, I can position this solution in your mind as obvious. It’s not.

    Defense Strategy: asdf

Dark Arts I Did NOT Use:

I did not use: psychologically triggering colors, arbitrary scarcity, curated “third party” ratings, price anchoring/fake discounts, overpromised results or guaranteed success, hidden costs or upsells.

If you have ANY questions or concerns, I’d be grateful for your feedback. Email me at johnmark@johnmark.co.