Sheila Haddad has been training and teaching martial arts for close to 18 years. With black belts in various martial art disciplines, she is a much sought after instructor and has therefore been travelling across the world.
Metrolife caught up with Sheila on the eve of her self defence workshop in Bangalore.
Sheila's martial arts journey began in college. She says in college she was required to take up a martial arts course for her psychology degree. "I began to realise that the training was bringing a new strength in me. I had always been athletic and strong but this brought in a sense of confidence like nothing else. So I decided to pursue it further." says Sheila.
"Women don't play, fight and wrestle while growing up so we don't know how to handle ourselves with another body. Martial arts helped activate what I call my 'masculine' side whenever I wished. This makes us feel stronger." she adds.
 But what is the psychological aspect of Sheila's workshops and classes? "I also concentrate on the psychological aspect of learning self defence. It involves learning who we are as women, how we are conditioned, how we can break out of that, how we can be more aware of what is around us...even day-to-day things that may turn out to be potentially dangerous situations and how we can have the strength to tackle them," she says.
Sheila says, “Women are abused everyday. Even though a woman maybe confident and strong, she is not necesassarily trained for self defence. When you know physical techniques of defending yourself, it gives your mental confidence a backup. Women who can defend themselves, not only feel much different but they do not come across as easy prey to attackers. One must learn to defend themselves and if the need arises, then even their family. It’s all about the three 'A's - Awareness, Assessment and Action." 
Living between California, Germany and Japan, Sheila has seen much of the world and explored various societies. But perhaps the trip that changed her life was the workshops in Afghanisthan. Being a society where women are greatly suppressed how open were they to self defence? Says Sheila, "My workshops were aimed at women social workers and psychologists who face danger everyday, so they can tackle situations better and help more women. But I also did teach women at a safe house. They have experienced so much pain, they are depressed all the time and are just in that safe house waiting to die. The situation in the country is very bad, in fact we didn’t make it known that we were teaching women self defence."
And how has the journey been for Sheila as a woman in martial arts?
"It was always tough. I wouldn't say I was ill-treated but I was often treated as a 'girl'.
And that was frustrating. When I started teaching, then it was another issue, I was always challenged in the sense it was as though I had to prove my skills. But things weren't too bad. There are many women martial arts groups and I am a member in some. These are councils of very string women with high qualifications in martial arts. So it isn't that hard being a woman in this field" says Sheila with a smile.
AT A GLANCE
Sheila Haddad is conducting two, one-day workshops on self defence for women on July 14 and 15. The course is priced at Rs 2500 inclusive of lunch. The course will be from 9.30 am to 6 pm at St Joseph's Boys School, Museum Road. Those interested should preferable register in advance though on the spot registration is also possible depending on availability of seats. For details and registration call: 9886754552/ 9945536559.