Sensei Ted helps women access their warrior spirit

Women and children are too often victims of aggression, and a Lewes martial arts instructor aims at empowering women to respond to violent threats.

Sensei Ted Dabbs, head instructor and owner of Seaside Dojo Martial Arts school in Lewes, has always been passionate about incorporating self-defense into martial arts training. Along with teaching martial arts for children and adults, he has started a separate, simplified self-defense program for women.

Dabbs said he trains women and men separately at the beginner level because of the emotional aspects involved in training.

“Over the years I’ve taught women, I’ve taught men and I’ve done group training. There’s certain dynamics: perhaps a woman was attacked previously, maybe she was abused or in an abusive relationship."

Dabbs said women-only classes offer women a chance to do fear-based scenario training without being intimidated by men. Women can learn to stand up to aggression, be aware of danger and escape violence when trouble finds her.

Dabbs employs the a system of fear-based adrenal stress training, known as FAST, developed by Bill Kipp and designed to help students deal with the emotions produced during a physical attack. Students train in a high-stress situation to help them see how they react under pressure and how to use adrenaline to their advantage. Most important, they learn that their adrenalin and fear can be their best friend.

“Women need to be self-empowered and take a proactive responsibility in defending themselves,” Dabbs said. “They cannot always rely on men and on the police because most of the time, they are not there when an attack happens.”

Dabbs’ combative fitness class is not only about self-defense; under the umbrella of self-defense it incorporates fitness, wellness and health.

“I’ve always told people that a stronger, fit person is capable of self-defense better than a weaker one who is not fit,” Dabbs said.

Fitness plays a huge role in being confident, which is part of Dabbs’s self-defense program. He teaches ABCs of self-defense: awareness, boundaries and combat.

Awareness refers to being aware of the environment and of one's inner voice. “If you feel something bad is going to happen, you listen to that voice, so you have your external and internal awareness,” Dabbs said.

He teaches that boundaries can be physical as well as verbal. “I teach kids and adults to stay at least two steps away when they sense danger,” Dabbs said. Learning to use words such as "back away" or "you are too close"  is very important, Dabbs said.

When awareness and boundaries are not sufficient, Dabbs prepares students for combative-level response. “This level is the last one I want a person to have to do, which is fight, but I teach some effective types of striking techniques that can be used in an adrenalized state,” Dabbs said.

According to Dabbs, self-defense involves more than kicking and punching. “A lot of times when we think about self-defense, we think of a combative technique, but when you really study it, when you really understand it, the last thing I ever want my students to do is get into a fight. But this does not mean they have to be submissive, either,” Dabbs said.

Dabbs holds black belts in tae kwon do and heiho shin do jiu-jitsu. He was a former children's instructor at Faustini's Institute of Martial Arts and Fitness  in Oradell, N.J. He is a certified Level 1 FAST Defense instructor, specializing in bully prevention, stranger abduction and self-defense, and he is a member of National Association of Professional Martial Artists.

Dabbs is also passionate about teaching martial arts self-defense classes for children, where he incorporates FAST self-defense techniques into traditional martial-arts training.

"In martial arts, our goal is to change the world one student at a time. If you want to change the behavior in schools and the whole issue with bullying, you really have to start with kids at a young age and teach them how to react, how to respect and how to have discipline and self-control,” Dabbs said.

Seaside Dojo Martial Arts school is located at 34396 Tenley Court, Unit 3, Lewes. To learn more about women's self-defense or antibullying programs go to www.SeasideDojo.com or email teddabbs@mac.com for consulting.