These included re-enacting real-life scenarios, he said.
"We talk about everyday items in your car and your house that you can use. It's illegal to carry an offensive weapon, so we cover those areas too," Mr White said.
"You can use perfumes, whatever sort of aerosol you've got in your car if you have to."
The course empowered women, many of whom had already been victims of assault, Mr White said.
The weekly, hour-and-a-half sessions cost $15 each.
The death of Mrs Gotingco has shocked her North Shore community in Auckland.
Responding to the crime, Mile High Karate North Shore has invited women and their daughters to a free personal safety course this week to learn techniques to defend themselves.
Owner Paul Bryant said the school was "taking a stand" to help mothers, wives, partners and daughters not become victims.
"Sadly, there are too many news stories about women being abducted or assaulted and beaten, or worse," he said.
Attacks on women were terrifying and potentially life changing.
But with the right knowledge and basic skills, women could escape and help others.
"Given the proper personal safety and self-defence training, a woman can break through her 'initial shock', utilise her adrenal rush and the skills she had learned to improve her odds of escape."
While devices like pepper spray and tasers are outlawed in New Zealand for personal use, some self defence instructors encourage women to use perfumes and aerosols in their place.
Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children spokeswoman Leonie Morris said self defence classes were just one tool in the fight against violence towards women.
The biggest problem was our culture, which perpetuated outdated and sexist ideas about women.
"What we really need is men to stop being violent towards women. To achieve that, we need to challenge the many misogynist ideas which underpin that violence."
