Ruse on the Loose: Dover doctor healing through martial arts

Helping others has always been a way of life for Dr. Janice Taitel.

As a pediatrician and practitioner of Aikido for 23 years, she knew the Japanese martial art would be an added benefit to her patients.

But setting up a dojo, the gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts, Dr. Taitel knew the only way to get patients to come would be if it were convenient.

"I think it's really something that's good for everybody, but especially if there were kids who were having social issues who were bullying or were being bullied or if they had ADHD, if there is a history of violence in the home, all kinds of problems, Aikido can really help them," said Taitel, who's worked at the Zufall Health Center in Dover for the past six years.

Taitel said that Aikido is different from other martial arts in that its participants focus on protecting themselves, not hurting the other person.

"So I recommended it but the patients we have, a lot of them don't have cars, a lot of them don't speak English. There's a great dojo in Randolph and I would recommend they go there but they couldn't make it over there. Randolph is four miles away and it's an insurmountable barrier."

In August of 2009, the Rockaway resident started the Aikido Center of Dover, moving four times before finally settling on her current location directly across the street from the Zufall Health Center, right in the heart of town.

"I wanted to be right in the middle of Dover so people could walk to it," Taitel said. "When I saw this place, it seemed good and I just did it. I backed it with my own money and I invested a lot in it and I'm not going to regret it. It was never meant to be profitable. Our goal was just to exist and be able to offer Aikido and not to make money."

Recently, the Aikido Center of Dover attained their 501(c)3 non-profit status as Aiki Access, Inc. Taitel is the executive director, or dojo cho, and chief instructor of the dojo. She and Assistant Instructor Bill Oakes are the only teachers and both donate their time to promoting the non-violent martial art.

Taitel does worry about paying the rent.

"Once I get where the rent is consistently paid, then I can offer it to anybody and I can help more people. It'll be great to be able to say just come. I do anyway but then I pay out of my pocket. So hopefully we'll start to work out because I can't keep doing that," Taitel said, laughing.

"I set the dues low because I found that if you set them higher and say, 'Don't pay them if you can't,' most people don't come. Everyone's afraid of taking advantage. So with cases if they can't pay, they stopped sending their kids but I want them on the mat, I want them to train. So the dues are really low and some people pay what they can. I just really want to be able to share the Aikido so that's why we're there."

The Aikido Center of Dover, a member of the United States Aikido Federation, also offers Yoga, dance, exercise and a new program, B.E.A.T., Being Empowered After Trauma. B.E.A.T. uses simple movement and exercises to explore and change physical, emotional and cognitive responses that a person may have developed to survive trauma.

"One woman who had a history of domestic violence couldn't be in her house by herself. But after coming to the B.E.A.T. program, she could. It was just a big difference with nightmares and things. People with PTSD, they have flashbacks and relive experiences. If someone is abused as a kid, they develop ways of protecting themselves and it's hard to let go of them. We all have defense mechanisms. We develop them and use them because we think they work," said Taitel.

"B.E.A.T. teaches you to be in that open, relaxed state. Then you can look at the past instead of going back there and reliving it and practicing those old defenses and those old physical reactions. You get to look at it from a new place and you don't revert back to who you were when you went through it. So that's a cool program."

Growing up, Taitel wasn't sure what she'd like to do with her life. After graduating with an engineering degree, she worked six months before deciding the work wasn't for her. At the same time she was coaching gymnastics, something she really enjoyed.

"When I was 22 I sat down and said, okay, let me put together everything I like. I like coaching, I like science, I like teaching. So a doctor is all those things and that's how I look at my relationship with patients," said Taitel, who graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1991. "I look at it as coaching. It's all the same. The dojo, the practice, it's all the same thing. I trained in a good system of neighborhood health centers and I had worked on the Navajo Reservation. This is the kind of medicine I want to practice. It's cool stuff."

After teaching at a seminar in the Philippines next week, Taitel will be making her first trip to Japan. There she'll be practicing and meeting other Aikido teachers at their headquarters, Hombu dojo in Wakamatsu-Cho, Shinjuku.

"Everyone always asks, have you ever used the Aikido? I haven't personally but if Aikido's successful, a fight becomes a non-fight because ideally nothing happens. But one of my students, a 6-foot, 3-inch Marine veteran and judo champion, got attacked on the street by three big guys. He credits Aikido with saving his life because it's a different mind-set," said Taitel, who has a daughter, 20 and a son, 16.

"You're not focusing on one person, you open up, you relax and you're about protecting yourself as opposed to hurting the other guy. He was injured on the initial blow but he's the last one standing and he thinks it saved his life."

The Aikido Center of Dover is located at 16 W. Blackwell Street in Dover. Visitors are invited to come in and try a free class by calling 973-879-5510 or visiting http://www.doveraikido.com/.

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