What is Physical Arts?

Let us make it simple here. 98% of those who go to a gym or do any other sort of training are not in touch with their age.


If you are 18, 20, 23, etc... you can do anything, but still young people can get hurt if they do not do it right or are careless. What happens here is the fact that there are many people over 40, 50 and 60 years old. If you are older you cannot do all the things that young people are doing here.


Just for you to know, learn how to do it right.  Learn about your body.  Then remember and don't forget, there is not age.  Just train properly.  Learn to know your limit.  Learn to do it right and take it home with you.  It is in fact very important and it is what makes Calasanz and his system so unique.  Come to Calasanz because you want to take something home with you.


The first link on this post, I can never get enough of it or her. I can watch it her all day. Why? She is the type of person that listened. She respected what she was learning, she wanted to learn it and she knew how much it did for her. Many others did the same, but she was unique in respect to style and character. She is remembered at Calasanz forever.

Today there are many who have learned and continue learning the skill and concept of Physical Art under Calasanz.

Long ago men started also training and doing these movements the same as the women I trained. Physical Arts for a while was done mostly by women, primarily on the 90's. Today physical art is being done by men, women and children.

"Come to Calasanz because you want to be coordinated, you want to be strong, balanced, poised, grounded etc. Come and Learn Physical Arts under the Calasanz System"

www.calasanz.com

www.westportboxing.com

Calasanz Martial Arts

507 Westport Avenue

Norwalk, CT 06851

203-846-3321
203-847-6528

Calasanz' Students Go to Olympic Trials : Win Gold and Silver

Taken From an Audio Recording from one of Calasanz' Students.
(names removed for privacy)

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"Calasanz' knowledge... Calasanz has so much knowledge in the Martial Arts man.  He told _____, 'You're not ready for the tournament.  You're not going.'  See he didn't want to take no for an answer.  He insisted.  Even the day before the tournament I was sparring with him.  He was going crazy trying to kick me and trying to... you know.  And I was there just blocking.  Calasanz got mad at me and gave me ... I think it was 50 push-ups because I didn't want to counter punch.  I didn't want to hurt ____ to stop him from going to the tournament.  It was crazy man."

"Spinning roundhouse kick... I saw the kick coming miles away.  I could have called him on the phone and said, '____, you got a spinning roundhouse coming.  Get your hands up.'  But it was too late.  I mean I saw the kick coming when the guy was lined up and then the first spin....  I like the guy, but... if you can't walk the walk don't talk the talk.  You understand?"

"When did you go?"

"When? Ehhh ... What year was it? 1996.

"It was nice man.  I was fearless.  I didn't care.  The fights were pretty much easy  'cause the system and the way we fight and in tae kwon do, the way they fight it's different you know.  They rely a lot on their kicks.  I tried to play their games for the first 2 seconds.  The guy started jumping around.

The first one started jumping around and I just countered him.  He went with a spinning kick which is very popular in tae kwon do and I hit him with a counter round kick.  Boom.  I knocked him out."

"To the head?"

"Yeah."

"The second one was the same thing.  The second one I move up to him, I shuffled.  I shuffled.  We used to do a lot of shuffling here.  I shuffled and hit him with a round kick.  He went down."

"The third one threw a kick at me.  I blocked it.  Then I hit him with a round kick.  It was all round kicks.  It was 3 round kicks.  3 knockouts."

"The 4th guy I was supposed to fight was a guy from here because he was beating everyone from his end and he bowed out to me because Calasanz didn't want us to fight.  So I ended up with the first place.  The gold.  He got the bronze medal.  Excuse me, the silver.  Yeah, [the forth guy was a student from Calasanz and he bowed out to me because we had a rule that whenever we end up facing each other at a tournament, the student who had been training the longest gets bowed out to and get the points.]"

"That was the trial, did you end up going to the Olympics though?"

"I didn't go because I tore my ACL playing soccer.  I had to have a surgery on my left knee."

"Did anybody else go (to the Olympics) from here?"

"I was the guy with the first place.  The other guy won the silver medal.. you know what's crazy I think they found out that he was from here, they didn't give him the medal.  They said they ran out.  If you know you're supposed to have so many fights how can you not have enough medals?  It's all bullshit."

"Was it because they didn't like the fact he was training here?"

"Well they knew we were students from here.  But we didn't go to the tournament under this school because it was a strictly Korean tournament; Tae Kwon Do tournament."

"How many went?"

"4 of us... 5. Yeah."

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Prevention and Longevity

"As you go along you'll probably find this a very very nice topic to write because it helps people to understand that we are not just martial artists or whatever. We are people who know more than just that. Live longer. Prevent."

Taken from an audio recording of Calasanz

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You know, there is something that I respect in the way my Father thinks and in the way his mind works.  He's always had the belief of preventing problems.  He's the kind of guy who would do whatever it takes to prevent a tragedy.  If he has to yell he's going to yell.  If he has to spank he's going to spank.  Just prevent at all costs.  And I respect that.  His approach is just completely logical and then, even if an accident happens he has a mindset that I just respect.

Okay.  You're going to love this.  When I was young, about 10 years old, I would go to gather wood.  At that point there wasn't the prevalence of technology that there is today.  I would take the machete, chop the wood and bring it home to make a fire so that we could cook.  I probably had about five years like that before technology started appearing all over and finally reached all these places.  And just to get you a perspective, just to let you know we were living at that time as middle class without a stove.

So I went out to gather some wood.  I got to the tree and started cutting.  For just one swing I was not paying attention 100% and  *Boom*  I chopped my hand below the thumb.  The blade nearly went clean through.  My entire thumb was opened up and I held it bleeding as I ran home.



Now, if I went to my mother she would be screaming and crying "Oh my God! My son is going to die! Oh my God!  Oh my God!"  But my father, in his own kind of genius reacted differently.  He took my hand immediately, "Let me see."  he said.  And went to work.

"Hold on Jose.  That is nothing.  It's already done, we're gonna cure."  he said almost shocked that I wasn't screaming or anything.  He goes and takes salt, lemon, a variety of medicinal tree extracts or whatever and wraps it up.  My entire thumb was open, almost completely gone.  I did not care what he did.  I had already cut it.  He dressed it with those things, wrapped it up to protect it and within three days I was healed.  No scars, no marks no nothing.  No doctors, no anastesia.  You know, it was like the Wild West or the Revolutionary War where they would amputate or treat or whatever.

Hah, I can hear my mother now screaming, "Oh my God!  Oh my God my son is dying!" and my father yelling back.  "Shut up!  It's already done!  Now we're gonna cure!  What?!  No screaming!  No crying!  For what?!  It's already done!"

So, that is the mindset of my father and I respect that about him a lot.

So these are the facts about preventing.  You do everything you can to prevent, but when something goes completely wrong you jump and get to fixing it.

It's like when I spoke with you about depression.  People don't take it seriously.  Your parents see you depressed and they say, "Ah, get yourself to work."  Look, if you see your kids depressed, you jump.  If you see your friend depressed, you jump.  Do something.  Depression is the worst illness on the face of the Earth but nobody cares.  Anxiety is the same.  Why?  Because everybody one way or the other gets depressed.  Everybody one way or the other gets anxiety.  But did your mother ask you, "How long does your anxiety last?"  Did she ask you how long the depression lasts?

Look, right now if I get depressed I'm gonna kick it out in 10 minutes.  Why?  Because I am in shape.  Being in shape and eating well gets you out of that.  But what about if you are eating like shit?  Those people when they get depressed how long does it last?  1 day?  2 days?  A week?  Months?  Longer than that?  What about people born to be depressed?  Still their parents don't care until they drop dead or kill themselves or whatever.

You remember that I mentioned to you about J.S.? [Name abbreviated for privacy]  She's the only lady that in 1 day learned the entire 20 arm dummy.  I tried with Charles but I had to stop because his mind was blowing up.  J.S. 's mind was going and going and going and going and going and going.  She is the daughter of one of those famous inventors from Westport.  Since she was 15 I would call her all the time.  "Are you okay?  Are you okay?"  She was the first in her family to train Martial Arts with me and then she told me about her mother.  They called her the most beautiful person in Westport.  She was like a model.  Beautiful but depressed.  Divorced.  I could never get her here.  I told you before about her.  The day I scheduled her was on Monday and I had her scheduled for Thursday morning I believe about 10 o'clock.  So she had several days to get it together and get here.  I was waiting and waiting and waiting.  I tried to get her here earlier but I decided just to wait.

That same day, I believe, was the day that she hanged herself.

I was calling and calling and calling.  7 days later was when they found her.  Up to today I believe that if she would have opened the door and trained with me she would still be alive today.  If her daughter, J.S., would not have come over here for 3 or 4 years probably she would not be alive today.  Not long ago she called me, "Calasanz I am working out.  I am good.  I am healthy and eating well."  J.S. is going to be about 35 this year I believe.

 Okay?  So preventing.  Preventing.

Another example.  It just happened here in town locally.  Three kids just in high school died.  This is the thing that makes me angry, seeing how they died.  These kids were doing everything right, wearing seat belts, not drinking.  Probably the only thing was they didn't have parents telling them, "When its snowing go in the right lane.  Don't follow the trucks when it's snowing.  They have good tires and you do not.  They don't care, they just have a destination.  Stay safe.  Don't go so fast that if you start to slide you cannot stop the car because if you do you know you're going to crash." or whatever.  You know...  Probably I couldn't go on the road because I'd drive so slow everybody would be honking, "Hey move it!" slamming their horns.

You will see it.  If you go to channel 12 you will see it.  People doing it just like that.  It's snowing and slippery and everyone is going 40 or 50 miles per hour.  Some maybe more.  If it's snowing and slippery I don't care what sorts of tires I have, I would go 30... 20... 25... 15... heck, probably I would leave the car behind and go walking.  I'm gonna prevent that accident.  But is that a real life to live?  Probably not, but that is my belief that parents do not talk to their kids about preventing or at least not enough.  Parents must go reminding at all times.  There was no reason for that accident of those three kids.  Now one kid, very popular, from Staples is dead at what... 17?  18?  And two more of his friends.

I remember when I left the farm to go to the city.  About 90% of the children followed me and came with me.  That was the love that the people in my community had for me.  When I got to the city my father would be calling at all times.  "Don't do this.  Be careful.  Don't go to that place.  If you go, you go protected.  Go with someone.  Okay, be careful, be careful, be careful.  But remember if they call me that you are sick, or you have an accident the first thing I'm going to ask is, 'Does he live?'"  If yes, okay he would get onto the horse or into the car depending where he is immediately and go.  If somebody would call him that I had an accident that wasn't prevented or whatever, "Okay, I'll be there in the next 2 days or so."

Thinking on this topic I am reminded of one of my friends.  One of my best students, P.M. [name abbreviated for privacy]  He was one of the first to invest in my school, in my name.  He was from a family in New Canaan.  This guy was the best guy.  Alan, he did it all for me.  I mean the guy just loved me.  He would drive me wherever , hold boards, he'd do anything for me.  And for me to know that he is dead because the family gave up on him.  It's very hard to take.  He was into carpentry with one of the best families in the town, but his family did not care.  When I finally heard that he overdosed I called the family and they hung up the phone on me because they gave up on him.  "Better of dead." they said.  They said, "You die or put it together."  And it was very hard to take.  The family gave up on him.

This is America you see?  When you are in the DR it's a different story than being an American.  In America they just move on.  They let you go.  They take care of you at first but if you go doing drugs they're gonna try to help you.  They're gonna try.  But it gets to a point that the typical American person is gonna say, "You know what?  Survive.  If you survive and use your brain then you're gonna be very successful."

If I have a kid I'm gonna try.  I'm gonna try to do the best I can and never give up. 
If I give up it's because I'm gonna put him in jail or... I'm not going to say it here...

So you see, that is my belief.  If I'm gonna give up could be that I say, "You know what son, I want you dying happy.  What is that you're doing?"

"Dad, I'm addicted to drugs."

"How much drugs do you want today son?"

"Dad I want one pound."

"Oh.  Here you are.  Come get it.  Do you want to take it all at once?"

You know.  Like that.

But when it comes to the American approach there's something very smart about it.  You know, some one just being in that condition, being depressed or an addict or whatever, they can bring 3 or 4 people with them.  You can kill your mother.  You can kill your dad.  You can kill your sister.  Even when they are just trying to cure you.

And that is a smart way if you look at how Americans work.  If you look at it, it is not that they are doing something very wrong.  All they're saying is, "All of us are going to drop dead trying to cure you because we feel that you don't have a cure.  So what about if we survive and we let you decide for your life."  Nothing is wrong with that.  But my judgement is that I do not give up.  And when I give up then I want the person to go happy.

Today I am part of one of the largest families in the DR.  In my family I was one of eleven children and now all of my sisters have 3 or 4 kids and my brothers all with children of their own.  Then we can count the grandchildren, probably there are 35 or more in our family in all and up to today it is a pure family.  There hasn't been one tragedy.  No one has been in trouble with the police or the law or whatever.  It is a pure family to this day and all is based on one thing:  

Preventing.

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Inspired by: Calasanz

Calasanz as an Instructor

Calasanz as an instructor has always had a unique and real way of training his students.  Not only through teaching but also by making each of his students partially responsible and accountable for their own training and learning.  Calasanz' approach to teaching created the fiercest and most feared competitors in the world of Martial Arts out of local, every-day people.  It is simple fact that he could, can and did take anyone with the guts and dedication to achieve and made them superb Martial Artists.  His system and style of teaching continues to evolve further beyond and above anything else out there as it always has incorporating Body, Mind and Spirit.

"Do not forget.  Not everyone listens or wants to understand the real meaning of coming to a real and unique system like the Calasanz Physical Arts System." - Calasanz

You can research and answer for yourself how he did it.  The way he created the name and the way he trained those who brought the name to the highest level of fighting was by using the people that he trained under intensive training programs.  This means action.  He did it by putting his most apt and well-trained students up against those who wanted to compete.  It is an action based system and Calasanz always knew that discourse based learning within Martial Arts is severely limiting, is no way to become talented and will never make you superb outside of theory. 

There are stories upon stories about Calasnaz' students.  Those every day investors or scientists coming in looking for a hobby or to get an idea of how to defend themselves ended up being more skilled even than those training to compete.  He would regularly pit competitors walking in against his students, even those with limited training, many of those training to compete would then buckle under the trauma of their iron shins, throw in the towel, or even end up hospitalized.  Why?  ...How?  Because this is a system based on reality.  Head movement.  Power.  Coordination.  Technique.  Grounding.  Endurance.  The results speak for themselves and show how Calasanz as an instructor knew how to do it then and knows how to do it even better today.

The methods.  The training.  They're effective.  It's undeniable how capable and talented his pupils are and have become through their training and time spent here.  The people, the history, the reality, they are impossible to ignore and cannot be dismissed.  Understand, this is not like anything else ever seen before, at least on such a transparent and global level.  This is the birth of a rooted, universal, modern and evolved Martial System happening before our very eyes without veil, smoke-screen or diversion.  Sober up and open your eyes.  Calasanz is not teaching some other person's system (although he has many he can draw from).  He is creating one.  His vast background of study, his lifetime of dedication to The Art, his extensive training and voluminous experience teaching thousands of others are actual facts, not fantastical stories.  His experience and knowledge of the Martial Art is something that will be near impossible for anyone to surpass.  Calasanz, with the revelation of his system, has completely let the cat out of the bag for the world to see and indeed it is a VERY big cat.

Education vs. Motivation

"Education is received extrinsically,

                              Motivation comes from within."

When it comes to training anything with any degree of seriousness it is necessary to take the time to become educated on the topics involved.  And in order to see that training develop into any degree of competence a certain amount of motivation must be in play.

We take an example of say... someone training to become a helicopter pilot.  In learning how to fly a helicopter one does not simply jump into the cockpit and start randomly toggling the controls expecting the thing to take off (although this may occur for an exceptionally lucky individual).  There is classroom study, independent study, a general understanding and knowledge base that must be absorbed and retained, at least on a rudimentary level, prior to a successful flight.  There are flight simulation exercises, practice programs and a great number of training tools utilized by the student in order to earn the receipt of his flight license proper.

As a general statement education is important and incredibly helpful prior to becoming proficient in any new skill, hobby, or activity.  As purveyors of a completely unique fitness program and body development system our first job is to educate the user to the best of our ability about how to really use the system and of course about common peaks and pitfalls.  When someone really learns a technique or exercise and becomes educated about it, that education will serve them for the rest of their life.

 Motivation on the other hand is equally as important, but plays another role.  An art student for example could read and learn about every brush technique known to man but without the motivation to pick up the brush and begin experimenting with and experiencing these techniques first hand his artistry only lies latent within.  This is where motivation enters.  Motivation can occur from any number of influences: a family member, a friend, a character, an athlete, a quote, a conversation, even... yourself.  Yes, indeed you are the most powerful tool you have to motivate yourself.  Yet many still struggle with taking action remaining content in lethargy or shackled by grandiose inertia.  This occurs on a widespread basis usually spawning from a lack of self-confidence or no desire for self-achievement / progress.  To those : BREAK OUT AND DO SOMETHING!  You will more than likely be pleasantly surprised.

Our approach is to take primarily an educational role.  As we continue and develop into what we are becoming one of our goals is to plant a seed.  This seed may flourish if nurtured properly and indeed can grow rapidly beyond belief.  Or this seed may lie dormant within forever.  As we release our system locally to our attending students and outward to the corners of the globe digitally we hope to provide enough information for anyone to become super human and to give them the means to educate themselves thoroughly enough to spark the necessary confidence in individuals to act and let their gains and their progress motivate them intrinsically.

As a learned pupil you will have all the means necessary to achieve your personal goals the only things left are easy, dedication and practice.  (I always think of the old Nike addage "Just Do It!")

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Calasanz Remembers Moy Yat

Taken from an audio Recording of Calasanz

 

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I remember I was looking for northern styles of Chinese kung fu.  I already had read about Wing Chun Kung Fu and I knew that two of the main styles in China were Long Fist, that is Cheng Chuang Long Fist and of course Wing Chun I knew about because of Bruce Lee.

My friend Angel said to me, "No, no, no.  Go to Moy Yat.  He was a classmate along side Bruce Lee."

Moy Yat

So I went to Moy Yat.  I went to his school in China Town and immediately paid $50 dollars.  They put me in front of the mirror...  I remember it so clearly.  We were in front of the mirror and they put me into a stance like a pigeon, the traditional Wing Chun stance, and showed me the first few techniques.  The lesson was Tan Shuo, with the left hand, heun, and chamber and then the same with the right hand.

"Okay, that's it for today."  they said.  I responded almost in disgust, "That's it for today?  You must be kidding.  You must not know who am I."
I started doing pushups, exercises... the incredible, doing all these things.  They got angry, but they let me stay there.

You see, when I came to this country with that dream of being Bruce Lee nobody was going to stop me.  Nobody stopped me.  I was the craziest little bastard, little gorilla, chimpanzee, black cat, cheetah... unstoppable.

During my first few weeks at Moy Yat's school I became well known very quickly.  People would come in to fight the Chinese; you know back then it was different from how it is now.  I remember specifically two occasions.  There was one guy, he must have been about 6' 4, easily 3 times my size.  He came in and we ended up doing Chi Shuo.  We were trapping and hitting each other for over an hour, but neither one of us said 'Uncle'.  It was one of the only times I would take punishment, I delivered a fair share of punishment to him as well.

While I was doing Chi Shuo with this guy the Chinese were all around looking, talking, murmuring among themselves out of the sides of their mouths behind open hands.  You see, at this point I was new at Moy Yat's school and didn't have any training in Chi Shuo, I was just reacting to him.  Fortunately, I already had the necessary skills involved from training with George Wood.  He would hold two sticks and I would rotate with the two sticks as he held them for me.  So that gave me the ability of chi shuo.  I must have ended up winning because the guy never came back. 

The other occasion took place, when a guy came in, again, to fight the Chinese.  He was sweeping and flipping them onto the floor like nothing.  They were landing very hard.  Luckily it was a wooden floor because they were landing very, very hard.  He was unimpressed.  "I come to Moy Yat and this is how they fight?"  Understand, a lot of the people training there had never even seen the dummy, let alone hit it.  They never did anything but Siu Nim Tau and rotating in chi shuo, so they couldn't take a shot, they could not fight.  He came over to me and I said, "Try doing that to me. "  When he came and delivered that kick to sweep me I did exactly what I did in the Dominican Republic.  I grounded my leg.  He came to sweep me but failed because I had grounded my leg so well and immediately I countered him.

*Boom*  

You should have seen the Chinese when I came through the door the next day.  They started whispering; I remember one lady, this one little girl in particular, I will never forget.  She was the best of the best, probably only 75 pounds but she moved like a little cat.  She watched me non-stop, but I hear her murmuring still to the others, 'wshewsewshs... 10th degree black belt.' as she looked at me out of the corners of her eyes.  "This guy is black belt, he's 10th degree black belt, watch out for this guy shwhshsh."  They just talked and talked and talked.

Later on, Jon, a guy who worked for Moy Yat and who was responsible for bringing some of the bigger names in Martial Arts at the time to the school, came to me and said, "Go talk to Moy Yat."  So I went to the office and sat down there.  Moy Yat tells me, "Calasanz, we already know the skill you have."  He said, "Pay me this much and in 3 months you can teach, in one year you will have a certification and a picture with me."  It was exactly like that.

I went directly to Steve James, my boss at Victoria Station.  I said, "Steve, if you give me Saturday opening at 7 am and closing at 5 in the morning I can take wing chun with Moy Yat."  At that point I was the number one bus boy / waiter / employee there.  He said, "Of course Calasanz."  And I worked.  I worked all day and night, 22 hours.  By the time it was 5 in the morning I had about 7 or 8 hundred dollars cash plus whatever my hourly pay was at the time.  I had made the money for Moy Yat working at Victoria Station on a Saturday in just one day.


So I paid Moy Yat what he asked along with a $500 dollar fee which was what he charged anyone just to touch the dummy.  Normally nobody can see the dummy.  It was kept in a back room; maybe you could see it looking through a crack in the door, but it was kept away from the main area.  The minute anyone gave him the payment he led them to the room, took a key and locked the door.  I remember he led me there and locked the door and turned to me and said, "Okay Calasanz.  Now we go."  I'll never forget that.  At this point I am being trained privately by Moy Yat.  A lot of people who used to go there say, "But I never saw Calasanz there."  It's because I was in the back room working on the dummy.  The first day he gave me 'section 1' of the dummy and said, "Do section 1 as many times as you can.  Spend one week on section 1, then I can give you the entire dummy in 1 day if you want."  Exactly like that.

Here, this is a real story now.  This is real.  This is exactly how it happened.  When I finished there I spent 3 days just hitting the dummy.  I looked down at my arm there was nothing there.  It's all gone, all the hair on my arm gone, the skin almost gone.  It looked exactly how it looks when a snake peels its skin.  All the skin is gone, just peeled.  Think about it... hit the dummy for 1 day and still that is not going to happen.  I spent three days hitting it.  So now maybe you can understand what was the extent of the obsession that I had, that I hit the dummy enough to peel my arms entirely.  That was me Mr. Alan.  This is how, and that is the obsession that I had with being better than Bruce Lee.

Once I had completed that year we went to this cannoli place in Chinatown.  He was supposed to bring the picture and the diploma but he must have forgotten them.  Years later in 1988 I had him here for a seminar and even after calling him again and again to remind him,  "Make sure you bring the diploma."  he still didn't bring it.  You know, maybe if we do everything we can it could be that it is still over there.  Maybe someone in his family or someone over there has it because I know he would not break it or get rid of it.

Later on I figured out why he didn't want me to go and get the diploma.  Previously I had paid him no insignificant sum of money for a video of him on a projector doing the 3 forms.  Siu Nim Tao, Chum Kiu and Biu Tze.  I have the projector sitting right here in my office.  Not too long ago a good friend and long time student of mine, Mario, went to take a video of it from the projector so we could have it digital or whatever.  Ends up that on it was one of his students, a child maybe 11 or 13 years old, who was studying there at the same time as me doing siu nim tao.  So it wasn't even all three forms or done by him.  I wouldn't mind getting the forms from a kid anyway but that was a lot of money for Moy Yat to do it.  Anyway, probably he didn't want me coming and asking about that too if I went to get the diploma. 

Moy Yat, he was a good instructor.  He did what a good instructor does, you know.  He realized who I was.  He did not go and say, "Calasanz let me try to give you a lesson." and beat me up, not that he could have anyway at that point.  I respect him but he never had the capacity of giving me a lesson like that.  But he could have said that.  Instead he called me and said, "I'm gonna teach you."  That's what a good instructor does.

It's like me now.  When I see someone like that, dedicated and has passion for the Art I don't go trying to beat them up.  I want to raise them up.  For example, now I am building some of the youngest and most well rounded martial artists, the youngest masters I call it.  It's tremendous what someone with that sorts of mind-set, dedication, passion, desire and devotion to the Art is capable of learning and achieving even at a young age.  It's Incredible.

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Calasanz Hosts Charity Kick-a-thon : Frank Dux Runs Seminar

 Back since the school's foundation we have always been involved in charity towards the community and other community efforts.  Now we run a clothing and goods donation within the school where we send items big or small directly to Calasanz' sister (Cipri) in the Dominican Republic where she supplies them to the farmers and the [much] less fortunate.

(You Can Donate Monetarily Here : Every Dollar Helps)

 

In the past Calasanz Physical Art would hold charity events like the 'Kick-A'-Thon' or the 'Train Like a Fighter for LLS' events.  At one such event one of our main instructors at the time, Frank Dux, was scheduled to hold several seminars over the course of the weekend at our dojo, our school, for treatment of muscular dystrophy.

So the story goes that ...

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A student and friend of Calasanz, Bill Smith, was helping to organize, plan, run and promote the event.  Bill, the great guy that he is, worked very hard on the event for us even knowing how Calasanz was, how Calasanz would just destroy money.  He would make money, but just destroyed it.  It came to a point that the school no longer had any money to destroy.  But Bill, Bill worked with the school anyways and he continued helping.

At that time Frank Dux was at our dojo regularly.  Calasanz says, "Remember, I was the guy who promoted Frank Dux.  He was looking for someone to promote him when he was very famous from the movie 'Blood Sport'.  Frank Dux knew that I was one of the biggest schools and had one of the most real schools of those times."  And it's true.  His name, Calasanz, was [and still is] recognized locally and internationally in the martial arts world long before Frank Dux came here.

It's not like today where you see a lot of real schools.  Now there are a lot of real schools all over the place since the UFC came out; but again my school is not just being real, its being complete.  Good Karate.  Good Kung Fu.  Good Energy.  Good Practical Approach.  You don't have to be a professional fighter over here.  It's the only school probably that has that, I don't know who else can do that.  We could do that and we've been doing that and we have many many names, we have hundreds of names of people coming through here who fought the pros, who could fight anyone, and many of them won."

And so... Frank Dux was here to do a seminar that we had promoted all over Connecticut.   There ended up being 70, 80, maybe 100 people here after spending over $50,000 dollars on promotion.  The school didn't even make 25% of the money back.  But again, that was Calasanz, destroying money.  How could he do something like that?  Well, at that time he was so into the passion and the love for Martial Art that the last thing he was doing was planning for anything, he just spent money.  He would tell his people, "Here, go to WeBe 108 with $10,000 dollars.  Make a deal for promotion." Sending them off with check in hand.

We were the first school to do the best commercials of martial arts without a doubt.  We even had commercials on Larry King Live.  We would spend for those commercials $7,000 or $8,000 to have the best martial arts commercials on television, if not the only martial arts commercials on television at the time.  So it came to the seminar, the event.  Jenifer Lee was there working with us.

"I was there but so focused all I could do was focus, not looking at anyone, focused on how I am going to portray my technique on Live T.V."

But What Happened with Frank Dux?

"It's a long story, it's a story that Frank Dux denies today, but at that point everything went wrong.  I tried to keep everything quiet but what went wrong was beyond belief.  Nobody put it together but me.  Look, after taking thousands and thousands of dollars, writing checks all over the place and to believe I could make that money back out of signing people... only I would think something like that.  So that seminar it was a disaster on the fact that Frank Dux left.  The next day he came back in the afternoon, everybody had been waiting for 3 hours or more...


Everything went wrong over there.  But Paco Prieto and all of the people there were enjoying themselves and there was I, Calasanz, trying to keep faith, to keep a face, to do what I
could.  The day of the second seminar all I could do was run the seminar myself, to perform.  But since I could ... it's not the thing I like to talk about but that anyone knew I could do 10 times what Frank Dux could do.  Besides he had such a conflicting schedule everybody started asking, "Calasanz, why don't you do the seminar yourself?"  Because I wanted to keep faith, everybody had been waiting.  Everybody asked me that.

"I respect Frank Dux and he is the best.  He is a very good guy and he is for real.  I respect that.  But yeah.. that I had more to offer back then than even him?  Yeah... Because I am a guy born with a gift.  Because I am devoted 24 hours.  So the second and third days it was mostly me doing the seminar, giving techniques, exercises, doing all this stuff with the people.  The people were ready and excited when Frank Dux finally came.  So the experience there with Frank Dux was not a thing anybody wants to experience but we did it and we had the event."

The Above is transcribed and developed from an Audio Recording of Calasanz

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While the intentions of the event were noble and high minded those most important and trust bearing duties were not fulfilled.  Although everybody involved put forward their best efforts, somehow the event fell to shreds. The relationship between Calasanz and Frank Dux is deeper than this and will be brought to light in due time in another entry.  Stay tuned.

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Calasanz Near Death : Finds a Way to Come Back

Taken From an Audio Recording of Calasanz

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That you set out to find another man more determined, more mental, more spiritual, more physical, more super crazy than me?  You won't find it on this earth.  Even if they find people on mars, never can you find it. 

At one point I am testing 120 people, I am training them with the help of the wonderful, beautiful Renee F.  At that time Renee, she was a very nice person, but for some reason that day she was very tough to deal with.

We had started testing at 4 in the morning but then at some point Renee decided that she was going to give me the finger and leave because she was angry.  I couldn't say why she was angry, its a mystery to me.  Why would she go and get angry at a saint like me?

So, she left and I said to myself, "You believe that you're gonna make a mess out of me?  No way Jose, there is not going to be a mess."

I had over 100 students testing that day and I did it all.  I held boards, picked up the broken ones; I got the belts, I lead, I coached, I held more boards, I talked to them, I talked about philosophy, I bowed again and again, I gave the exercises.  I did it all by myself.  I did not use anyone to even write down who payed.  I did it all, collected money, collected whatever.  I didn't take any time to eat, just tested.  I ran the show, I ran the whole thing.  I did it all without even a bite of food.

Then at around 11 o'clock that night I had a vision, I saw the building falling in on me.  I picked up the phone and I pushed the number 9 to dial 911.  I didn't know what was happening to me.  After pressing '9' I caught a glimpse of the water fountain.  I ran to it immediately and began to drink.  I probably  drank enough water to drown myself, but after drinking that water I was restored to some degree of normalcy.

That was when I really found out about the curative properties of water.  From drinking that water I was able to come back to be myself again... and I realized then also that... "Wow, I didn't drink any water all day."  I hadn't eaten or drank at all that day being so busy.

You see, nobody came and told me, "Calasanz, you can do this by yourself without eating food, but without drinking water, it will kill you."  Nobody told me that.  Seems like nobody cared or maybe because I didn't speak up, or I didn't talk about it.  I am not stupid, but I was so busy I couldn't even remember 'I am supposed to drink water'.  Maybe I could have gotten away with not eating food for that time, but then without drinking water, it nearly killed me.

To tell you the truth, it was one of those times that you remember and go thinking back on and say, "My goodness, they could have found me dead over here." 

I remember another incident like that when I was very young.

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I was painting cars at one of those well known car dealer repair shops in the Dominican Republic.  I worked there because I was going to school and working; working and going to school.  Of course I had to make a little extra money because my father couldn't pay for everything.

But that was the purpose, that was in the DR [Dominican Republic], I remember... I have history, still up to today there, I did so much stuff over at that well-known dealership, Albreo.  The car racers in the mid 80's and 90's they were known all over the world for having some of the best cars and racing in the DR.

I went over there and in just 1 hour I would make more money than probably any one over there because I could paint in 20 minutes or 30 minutes what another person takes 5/6/7 hours to paint.  I was so energetic and so focused that I could do that, so that was me.   Like I said...

Anything I do, I do it with courage, I do it with passion and whatever, but that day I can never forget because I said after an event... "I'm supposed to be dead!"... the electricity burned everything around me and left this 14 / 15 year old kid there, alive like nothing had happened.  I remember standing there watching electricity and sparks go all over the place.

It was like fire works.  

I was standing downstairs painting in that auto-shop with cars all around, then...  something happened.  A loud bang came.  Something had broken on one of the cars and all this electricity came from nowhere and was all around me like fireworks going everywhere.  Everything was whizzing, sparkling and burning, another guy who was working there painting outside came running.  There he was and he saw this kid about 14 years old in the basement.  He looked at me and his face said it all.  It was saying,

"How this guy is alive?  He's supposed to be electrocuted..."
 Meanwhile the manger was sitting there thinking, "I'm gonna get sued."   

The other workers, they couldn't get into the place because of the explosion, but I just was there, I stepped into the water, I stepped out of the water and I got out.  But no, the electricity didn't come to me... It would have electrocuted anything standing in that water but no, this child lived.  I was alive, I survived.  Thinking on it now, probably I survived only because I was wearing shoes.

And I have the same feeling, about that day when I had over 120 people testing... I ask myself now... How could you not drink any water??

But I proved my point that day, that I really was a mentally strong, spiritually strong and physically.. forget it... super strong person.  And that was me.

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Calasanz Physical Art
507 Westport Avenue
Norwalk CT  06851

203-663-6651

Story Inspired by Calasanz
Transcribed and Developed by Alan Wedell

Happy Training!

On Being and Being Well Balanced

 Taken from an Audio Recording of Calasanz

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Today I had a tremendous experience with one of my students.

We were talking as we all eventually get to to talking.  We came to how we have all sorts of instructors.  We have a good instructor of tai chi, one of the best, we have another that teaches Wing Chun, we have another to teach Karate and another for Ti-Kwon-Do.  All sorts of instructors.

 As we went talking I said listen, still up to today there are people who tell me, "Calasanz do you want to learn this?"  [referring to a type of martial art]


I said, "Look, if you give me 300 life times.. that means I lived and died 299 times.. still I don't have enough life, enough time, to teach people or to help people teach all that I know."

For example, a guy comes here and learns Cheng Chuang Long Fist, and then he wants to learn the snake.  Fortunately here he can ask that question and we can do that because we have a good instructor. And next he wants to learn the dragon... Then the next and the next, and again, lucky for him that we can do that.  But listen, guy, you just need 1 technique. 

Anyone can go and say, "Okay, I know the snake style, I strike here like that.  Now I want to go to another guy that I can learn another snake style."

I don't mind that because, yeah, its understood that Kung Fu when it comes to Kung Fu as the way of life.  Anything you do in Kung Fu is good.  Any one with the right time and dedication can have 90 forms but really you just need only 4 forms.  First one that is basic, then one in the middle, and then one a little bit more advanced, the last one advanced.  But 90 forms?  What is the purpose of that? 

The purpose is here, it is to keep your body working.  So now, Kung Fu means work.  Work.  Patience.  Work.  Patience.  Work.  Patience.  That patience, that is Kung Fu.  To keep working,  To keep the body active.  So that is the reason behind learning many forms.

But many styles?  Guy... why you want to waste that time?  If you have 10 forms of Cheng Chuan, spend your life mastering that.  But if you get bored, if you want to apply yourself in something else, then go to something completely different.  Go to kick-boxing, go to Wing Chun, go to Chinese Boxing, go to boxing... But don't go and keep doing the same thing.

So... whats going on wrong?  Just learn.. I'm going to let my guy teach you. I'm going to give my guy the opportunity to teach you the system of Wing Chun, but not just becasue of what you pay; just for love because you do a lot for me.  But don't come to me talking about you want check about this or that... please!  And he was laughing, he was laughing and laughing. 

Study with him I'm going to let him help you.  That is the way, and yes you can become more well balanced here.  Just remember, UFC fighters are some of the best most well balanced fighters in the world today, but that doesn't mean that these people can teach; that these people can carry you further in body mind and spirit.  They are fighters, not instructors.

Calasanz on the other hand, that is exactly what he does, what his school does.  Calasanz can take you further in body, mind and spirit down any way that you want to go.  Professionally we're the best.  Simple.  I have 300 terabytes of information.  All that information can be reduced down.  One gigabyte is all I need to give to you to make you the best fighter in the world.  All that information though we cannot use all of it because it takes a lifetime to master.

And this is for my students, so they don't get confused.  Go and learn something first.  Go and get the equivalent of a black belt in Wing Chun... learn that, but don't keep going and getting 20/30 forms of the same style.  What is there?  Not even if you would be me.. born with it.  See, you can teach me 300 types of martial arts, 300 forms and I can learn it and distinguish them and I can talk a little bit about each.. okay that one emphasizes this, this one emphasizes that... but that is me... born with.  But you are not.... so you know what; learn something simple.  Go and finish learning Wing Chun from my guy under my direction... go and learn something, but don't be dumb anymore.

And he was laughing.

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Calasanz Takes a Hit : «Be Alert While Training­«

We recount an unfortunate training accident which occurred at Calasanz Physical Art and Martial Arts Center.

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A guy, [we call him J for confidentiality purposes], he was here training for over 5 years.

He is a kid that just wouldn't grasp the lesson when someone was teaching him, either out of incompetence or stubbornness... at least any lesson involving martial art.  There was nothing you could do.  So what I did was I remembered the system.  "We can teach anybody."  "We can teach ANY body." and J was somebody, so we taught him.

What did I put J to do?  I put him to get stronger.  I gave him techniques to build power.  He got over here at age of 16.  He had been training here for 5 years, he was 21 years old now.  Just knowing the kind of punch that this guy capable of delivering after 5 years of training with me.  And I prepared him to do it.  I trained him to throw a punch like that.

He would come to the school and he would hit the bag non-stop for over one hour... bare fist.

Just imagine I have you hitting that bag here all the time because you cannot learn the form, you cannot learn the kata, you cannot learn the dummy, so you know what I said... "I'm gonna make him good.. I'm gonna make him as good as anyone."  Because you know he cannot learn the kata, but with this training at least he can survive, he can kill the person.  So that's what I did with this guy.

And then all that turned.  Turns out he was preparing.  The reason that the punch got up so...  Because the punch was so hard... 

 

It was.. I was just in the office and I came out to explain something to the boxers training here because I was watching them from the office.  But you know, if you are like Bruce Lee, if you are like me and you love the martial art you want to help no matter what.  So I came out to explain to them a little bit about blocking, about closing the gap by showing them blocking different techniques.

I put J to demonstrate, for the others to help me show them something in training, in calm training.  But here I was sitting on the ring and he was in front of me with no weight on his front leg.  I saw that at the time, that he was waiting, getting ready to deliver something big, getting ready to unload a punch, just to see if I could block an unreserved shot delivered purposefully, hard and fast towards my head.  But even that was not enough,  as my gaze shifted to one of my boxers to explain the concept J goes and throws the punch.

He throws a punch like he is in a fight; as if he was in immediate and express danger even, as if his life depended on that punch.  He throws that punch so hard, and fully extended with everything he had, it was 100%, nothing held back.  He threw every ounce of power his body could generate into that punch.  With that power I had helped build for him, that I had taught him how to build over the last 5 years.  That amount of energy was thrown straight at me in that punch. If my head wasn't in the way it would have finished well behind my head, that punch was ready to go through my skull, but then it landed, it landed straight into my eye.

There has not been one person who did that ever before, who punched like that in training, in that cool  atmosphere.  That punch was so hard, he threw that punch to pass through.  It was a punch, he was trying to test me.  He was delivering this punch trying to test me.

 ===================
 (Perspective Shift)

As an outsider and witness to this event, [call me K for confidentiality purposes] I was stretching on the low table when it occurred not 20 feet in full view in front of me.  I can assure you this was no ordinary punch.  It caught Calasanz just in they left eye socket as he was turning his head to speak to another student, a boxer named Nick, seated on his right.  Calasanz reacted as a blind man to a silent punch, meaning he did not react at all.  (and as we all know the first thing he'll teach you is "head movement" plus he's always made it look the best with that hair)  But no, he did not react; with vision averted it could properly be labelled a 'sucker punch'.  Without movement of his head it landed solidly.

It sounded like a car accident.

It barreled him backwards from his favourite seated position on the outside of the ring into the ropes then swaying back forward slowly.  He grabbed his head immediately, almost curling up, and did not move for several breaths.  He went to the bathroom as he was ready and re-emerged to ask me how bad it looked.  Somehow he kept his composure with student J.  There was a small cut on his eyelid which was bleeding slowly and a slightly swollen redness began to emerge around his eyes before my very own.


He would heal from this punch over the next 4 weeks or more wearing an eye patch to hide the injury.  Every so often he would adjust it to reveal a rainbow, ranging from deep purple to an almost indistinguishable yellow-green radiating outwards from the eye.  Still sometimes when he is tired you can almost see something lingering about that area.  This was no ordinary punch.

As a first hand witness observer I can assure you this punch was purposefully thrown the way that it was thrown, but I also believe the pugilist was oblivious himself as to why he performed it suchly.

Perhaps he had built someone up so much in his head, perhaps he'd seen too many Dragon Ball Z episodes and just somehow forgot he was dealing within tangible reality, facing a fallible human and not an immortal, fictitious, super-powered psychic-warrior.   The world may never know, but this was no ordinary punch.

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Taken from Audio of recording with Calasanz

Developed and Transcribed by Alan Wedell