Rich Howells

NEPA SCENE PODCAST: Tsunami Self Defense, Girls on Guard, and practical martial arts

NEPA SCENE PODCAST: Tsunami Self Defense, Girls on Guard, and practical martial arts
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Professionally recorded on Mondays at The Stude in TwentyFiveEight Studios in Scranton and released exclusively on nepascene.com on Tuesdays, the NEPA Scene Podcast is a free supplement to the website, expanding on the arts and entertainment stories covered on the site and going beyond them to discuss other news and entertainment topics.

Each week, the unedited and uncensored podcast features Rich Howells, NEPA Scene founder and editor; Mark Dennebaum, president and owner of TwentyFiveEight Studios; and Lauren Quirolgico, commercial and content strategist at Lavelle Strategy Group and editor at TwentyFiveEight. Every episode streams on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and nepascene.com.

In Episode 51, we talk with Tsunami Self Defense founder and sensei Robert Thomas and assistant instructor Megan Brosky to raise awareness about everyday violence and the need for self-defense in an unfortunately violent world. Robert discusses his extensive martial arts training, the moment that changed his life that made him switch to teaching more practical self-defense techniques, what Tsunami Self Defense is and where the name comes from, the Girls on Guard system and empowering women to defend themselves and escape bad situations, the warning signs of physical and mental abuse, the importance of understanding consent, local examples of violence and why there may be an increase in violent acts, sobering statistics and being realistic about violence that can happen any time without fear-mongering, teaching everyone from children to seniors, presenting at colleges and why it is difficult to get into high schools despite the need for this type of education, and being a funeral director in Taylor. Megan also explains how she went from student to teacher and describes what it is like to work with women as a social worker and as an instructor.

Lauren delivers her Rapid-Fire Qs, and in The Last word segment, we get into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of past and present and how pop culture and Hollywood can be misleading in its portrayal of martial arts, despite how entertaining it can be. We emphasize what self-defense really is, and after we wrap up, Megan gives Mark a first-hand demonstration in the studio, which can be seen below and on YouTube.

To learn more about Tsunami Self Defense (418 S. Main St., Rear, Taylor), call 570-562-2579 or e-mail 570dojo@gmail.com. Girls on Guard classes are being held on Wednesday, March 9 at the AfA Gallery (514 Lackawanna Ave., Scranton) and Monday, March 21 at the old location of the CVS Pharmacy (107 8th St., Honesdale). Visit girlsonguardpa.com for more information.

Listen on iTunes.

Listen on SoundCloud:

Listen on Stitcher.

Watch the video version of the entire show on YouTube:

Watch a Girls on Guard demonstration in the studio:

Photo by Mark Dennebaum/TwentyFiveEight Studios