Martial Arts
Although I have many hobbies, this is the only one that ranks close to music in terms of its value in my life. The ways in which the study and practice of martial arts have shaped me as a person are so profound that I could not imagine the person I'd be without it, nor can I relate to the memory of the person I was before I took up the art.
My first memory of an interest was at around age 5. I recall watching the Kung Fu series that starred David Carradine with my dad, and being really enthralled by the action. At age six I was briefly enrolled into a karate class, and actively encouraged to practice at home by my father. He would hold out a broom handle for me to kick over, so as to force good knee position. Although this education was short lived, I believe that because I was so young, certain fundamentals of good technique were permanently ingrained in me.
My next experience was at age 13. One of my very close friends at the time was a black belt in tae kwon do. I convinced my parents to let me join his class. I trained there for a little less than a year. This school was actually quite disappointing (although I didn't know it at the time), and by the time it closed I had learned very little. However, the fire in me had been stoked - I began actively looking for a quality dojo. Eventually, another good friend of mine introduced me to Yoshukai karate. I was immediately impressed by the logical, methodical, and scientific approach of this school, and to this day I've not found a more practical and learnable approach to self defense. I have since actively trained within Mike Foster's Yoshukai International Association for about 10 years and have attained the rank of Shodan. I've also trained without supervision for about three years, and for the last two years I pretty much have been allowing myself to become fat! The good news is that as of this writing it is my intention to get back into consistent and serious training. I also hope to begin making trips to train with qualified instructors so that I can eventually progress in rank (to my knowledge there are no Yoshukai schools in Los Angeles).
Besides my official training in Yoshukai, I have had other noteworthy training experiences:
- Over two years of training in contemporary wushu under the widely recognized master Luo Li
- Informal training in judo, jiu jitsu, kenpo, traditional kung fu
- A few months formal training in kendo
- Approximately two years of weekly no holds barred, full contact sparring with a group of my equally trained colleagues from other schools
- I'm also somewhat scholarly on the subject of martial arts, as I've read dozens upon dozens of texts on the subject
For my future goals, I hope to eventually earn a yondan in Yoshukai. I'm also very interested in formally studying aikido, wing chun, and tai chi.
For several years I was very dedicated and at times trained several hours everyday. Eventually, I had to make the decision to put music first. This has caused my training to diminish to the point of non-existence. But, we'll see what happens next…