Revitalizing
the Working Mom™
SENSEI LEVY, TELL US A LITTLE
ABOUT YOURSELF:
I’m probably one of the most unique
martial arts instructors you’ll ever
meet. I’m 4’11”, weigh 100
pounds soaking wet, have three kids ages ten,
five, and one, I own a martial arts school
with my husband Sensei Joel Levy, and I’m
a black belt. I have a B.S. degree in Early
Childhood Education and am also a certified
teacher.
I began learning martial arts shortly after
meeting Joel because he was concerned about
the saftey of me and my daughter when we were
alone or out at night without him. (I was a
single mother living in an apartment that had
already been robbed) He decided it was time
for me to learn how to protect myself and the
baby.
We eventually got married, had two more children
and left our teaching careers to establish Family
Martial Arts Academy in my hometown of
Highland Park, New Jersey. As a black belt,
now I'm the head instructor of our Kinder-Karate® program.
My background as an early childhood teacher,
the fact that I'm a mother of three, and my
experience in martial arts have all served
to prepare me for becoming a Sensei, (or teacher
of martial arts) particularly when teaching
women and small children.
WITH THE HOLIDAYS COMING UP, CAN YOU GIVE
US TIPS ON HOW TO SAFELY GO SHOPPING WITH
KIDS?
Definitely! I can tell you first hand how
important it is to be prepared and safety conscious
when you are shopping. I have a pre-teen, a
school-aged child, and a toddler myself. When
I am shopping with all of them I know how easy
it is to be momentarily distracted, and take
my focus off of my surroundings, my children,
or even myself. That is just enough time for
the ‘bad guy’ to make his move,
if he has been watching you.
Keep in mind that the bad guy is always looking
for an easy target because he is basically
a coward in the business of crime. He doesn’t
usually have an alternative plan if things
go wrong for him...what he has is an alternative
victim. That’s why training is so important.
At Family Martial Arts Academy we teach a course
called Shopping Sense® as part of a larger
course called Family Protection.
This is the first and most important rule:
- NEVER LET YOUR CHILD OUT OF YOUR DIRECT
LINE OF SIGHT.
- While most interaction is friendly and
harmless, always be aware, and be vigilant
about any stranger who gets too close to
you or your child.
- When walking to your car, always hold
your child, or child’s hand with
your STRONGER hand,
so if you have to move the child out of the
line of a stranger, or a car that suddenly
pulls out, you will not lose your grip. If
you drop what is in the weaker hand, it can
be replaced, the child can not.
- Always put your packages in the car AFTER you
have put your child safely in the car.
Never leave the child standing unattended
while you put your groceries in the vehicle.Finally,
NEVER leave the child alone in the vehicle
while you run into the store for a ‘quick
errand’. At the least, children
can get hurt while playing alone in the
car, and at the worst, this is a prime
opportunity for a random abduction.
While many of these things may seem obvious,
but they are all easy to overlook when you
are in a hurry. And what working mom isn’t
in a hurry? None of these tips involve any
physical training, so anyone can apply them
immediately.
The physical training component can be easily
learned by anyone of any age using the Training
For Life™ techniques which we teach in
Shopping Sense®. For excellent personal
protection information and techniques, I recommend
Tom Patire’s Personal Protection Handbook
or video tapes. Both are available at my website
http://www.FamilyMartialArtsAcademy.com
For anyone traveling near the New York metropolitan
area, I recommend scheduling a one on one customized
saftey lesson with us. For working moms in
Central New Jersey, it's even easier; just
attend one of our regularly scheduled courses.
And for the working moms in other parts of
the country, I can recommend a good training
center in nearly every state in the nation.
(Just email me through our website or call
our office at (732) 296-1677).
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW WHEN
WE'RE SHOPPING ALONE?
As a matter of fact, I can think of at least
ten:
- For example, when I’m leaving
the mall by myself I keep a HOT cup of
coffee in one hand with the lid completely
loose. If anyone gets too close to me
with bad intentions they are getting
a hot cup of coffee right in their face!
(I like this better than the keys between
the fingers because it gives me a little
more distance.)
Here are a few other suggestions that have come my way, and I recommend them
to other women who ask.
- If a robber asks for your wallet/purse,
DO NOT hand it to him. Toss it away from
you. Chances are that he is more interested
in your wallet/purse than you and he will
go for the wallet/purse. Run like mad in
the other direction! And scream to call attention
to your situation.
- I you are ever thrown into the trunk
of a car: kick out the back tail lights
and stick your arm out the hole and start
waving like crazy. The driver won’t
see you but everybody else will. This
has saved lives.
- Women have a tendency to just sit in their
cars after shopping, eating, working, putting
on make-up, etc., DON'T DO THIS! The predator
will be watching you and this is the perfect
opportunity for him to get in on the passenger
side, put a gun to your head, and tell you
where to go. As soon as you get into your
car, lock the doors and leave.
- If you are parked next to a van, enter
your car from the passenger door. Most serial
killers attack their victims by pulling them
into their vans while the women are attempting
to get into their cars.
- Be aware and look around you. Look
at the car parked on the driver’s
side of your vehicle, and the passenger
side. If a male is sitting alone in the
seat nearest your car, walk back into
the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman
to walk you back out. It is always better
to be safe than sorry. (And better paranoid
than dead.)
- Always take the elevator instead of
the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places
to be alone and are the perfect crime
spot. Don’t get on the elevator
if someone suspicious is there. Get off
the elevator if you are going to be alone
with someone. Wait for the next one or
until someone else gets on with you.
- If the predator has a gun and you are not
under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The
predator will only hit a running target 4
in 100 times; and even then, it most likely
will not be a vital organ. Run!
- As women, we are always trying to be
sympathetic: Stop it! It may get you
raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial
killer, was a good-looking, well educated
man, who always played on the sympathies
of unsuspecting women. He walked with
a cane, or a limp, and often asked “for
help” into his vehicle or with
his vehicle, which is when he abducted
his next victim.
- Another safety point: If you are home
alone at night and hear a crying baby
do not open the door. This was recently
mentioned on America’s Most Wanted when they profiled
a serial killer in Louisiana. The killer
has a baby’s cry recorded and uses
it to coax women out of their homes thinking
that someone dropped off a baby.
WOW! THIS IS GREAT INFORMATION FOR ANY
WOMAN. WHAT SORTS OF THINGS DO YOU THINK
KIDS NEED TO KNOW?
Aside from our regular kids classes in which
kids learn respect, responsibility, and discipline
along with fitness, confidence, and self-defense
we actually teach a separate course that deals
directly with physical saftey when children
become separated from their parents.
I teach a series of classes called Know and
Go®. Some of the things they
learn in our Know and Go® course are what to do when:
- They hear glass breaking.
- They hear car tires screeching.
- They find themselves in the middle of a
panic stricken crowd.
- They encounter a vicious dog barking.
- Police, Fire, and Emergency vehicles are
in motion.
- The smoke detector alarm goes off.
- There is a train in motion.
- A stranger asks them for help.
I also teach a second level of Know and Go
which teaches them how to escape
an attempted abduction. This involves things like what to remember about the
bad guy and how to use your body and obstacles to get away.
We also teach a course on bully prevention.
LASTLY, IS THERE ANY OTHER SAFTEY OR SELF
DEFENSE QUESTION YOU WISH WE HAD ASKED YOU
ABOUT IN THIS CONVERSATION?
Yes, there is. I wish you had asked “What
can martial arts training in general and training
at Family Martial Arts Academy do for me or
my child?”
For overall personal safety and well-being
nothing replaces regular training during regular
class times. To begin with, being more physically
fit, having stronger muscles, joints and bones,
and being more limber, will make you much less
prone to injury while doing other things. Secondly,
being in better physical shape will boost your
immune system and keep you safer from ordinary
things like colds and flu.
Furthermore, in our system of American Freestyle
Karate under the head instruction of my husband,
Sensei Joel Levy, the self-defense techniques
and applications are very direct and to the
point with no unnecessarily fancy or wasted
movements. In the cases where our students
did have to physically defend themselves they
have been consistently able to do so quickly
and easily.
Finally, the most important benefit of being
physically more adept and able to defend yourself
is the level of self-confidence that permeates
your whole being. The bottom line of safety,
as we alluded to before, is that the bad guy
wants an easy victim. A person who is filled
with self-confidence projects that confidence
automatically, and therefore prevents themselves
from being a victim by simply not looking like
a target. At our school we focus on the whole
person not just martial arts techniques. I
think one of the things that characterizes
Family Martial Arts Academy is that we aim
to serve the student whereas traditionally
the student was expected to serve the master
or the style. Moms constantly tell us that
they had no idea of how much training with
us would help their child beyond the walls
of our school. They report everything from
better grades, to better self-esteem, to not
being bullied anymore. Many of the parents
of the children end up enrolling in the school
because they see the positive impact it has
had on their children.
Parents tell us that they most enjoy the stress
reduction, renewed levels of energy, the disappearance
of aches and pains, and unwanted fat, not to
mention the ability to defend themselves and
their loved ones. What I can tell you is that
we are on a mission, “To leave the world
a little bit better than the way we found it
through martial arts” ®. In other
words, we want to help as many people as possible
through the physical and psychological benefits
of martial arts training.
Thank you, Workingmom.com for giving me the
opportunity to share this valuable information
with other working moms. I encourage anyone
with any questions to feel free to contact
me at Family Martial Arts Academy in Highland
Park, New Jersey at (732) 296-1677 or contact
me through my website: www.FamilyMartialArtsAcademy.com.
Sensei Yvonne Levy
If you would like more
information about Sensei Yvonne Levy, please
visit her website www.FamilyMartialArtsAcademy.com.
