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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Is Chi Shuo (Chi Sao) Applicable in Fighting?

 

Taken from an Audio Recording of Calasanz

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Chi Shuo vs. Figthing.

Let me give you the first concept or idea about reality towards this.





If you are a Wing Chun guy and you want to get close to me to do Chi Shuo and we are standing there the first thing I'm gonna say is you can't fight because you have to get to me.  Before getting to me... say I'm a guy from Holland, a striker  or a Thai boxer or something...  I am going to strike, so that gives me the edge towards you.

If we are standing close and both of us are killers then in Wing Chun the guy who is smarter is gonna win because remember in Wing Chun the guy who delivers the first 2 or 3 shots probably will win because it is electricity.

Put two electrodes together and there is an arc, a shock, electricity.  You see... If I fight Leung Ting I can be the loser or he can be the loser; with my power I have a little chance.  You know, everyone around me always said no matter who it would be, "Okay, Calasanz is gonna win."  People would joke, "If Mike Tyson and Calasanz get into the ring who is going to win?"

Everyone said, "Of course Calasanz."  

Today I say, "Get outta here!"  I never wanted to be against Mike Tyson anyway.  Back then maybe it would have been allowed, but with the UFC and MMA being the way they are today that fight would never happen.  You see, back then the UFC did not exist and I had done so much that people really thought I was not human.  Remember, we are talking about 1986, guy, people believed that I was something from another planet.

'seems like because from then, having been so well rounded at that point in time no one else was so multidisciplinary... and you were.'

"Exactly, Exactly, so that is why today I can put it together so... chi shuo, again if you are a fighter you don't want to start the fight at close range because now the wing chun guy is going to defeat you.  That is the difference between being a fighter and not being a fighter.

If you know Wing Chun Kung Fu and you're also a fighter you are the deadliest person on the planet.  But if you just know traditional Wing Chun and you are facing a fighter, now you have to be careful.  Leung Ting can be against a UFC fighter, but if he is not ready to take the punishment the fight might not go his way.  This is what happened in "Fighting Black Kings" when most of the Japanese defeated the Chinese.  The Chinese were just regular people doing Wing Chun as regular people.  They were not competitors like the Japanese preparing for punishment and training for the fight you know?

Now you're on the street getting ready to fight the person... if the guy knows the same amount of Wing Chun as you, you are not going to fight him.  The wing chun guy, the kung fu guys don't fight on the street.  The two of you are going to end up as friends.  "Oh you train Wing Chun and I train Cheng Chuan Longfist.  Okay, you teach me Wing Chun and I will teach you my kung fu."  But if one of you doesn't know martial arts then there is going to be a fight.  Now the Wing Chun guy is gonna take the street fighter and have him by the nose.  This is what you would do to a street fighter with wing chun.  But again, the guy didn't know how to fight, and that's the difference.

When you're talking about the guy who is trained to be a fighter going up against a guy trained in Wing Chun doing traditional chi shuo and is a very good martial artist, but isn't a competitor start from far because then you have the edge.  You can probably kick or punch the guy.  But the minute you touch the Wing Chun guy as a street fighter with no Wing Chun you have to be ready mister.  How are you going to block 11 attacks?  That is why boxers don't block.  They have to cover.  If the boxer could block that onslaught they would be blocking, but Wing Chun is more than that.  Wing Chun is electricity.  It's not just that the Wing Chun guy is throwing 11 attacks, its 11 attacks followed by blocks.  Look at the Wing Chun punch, there was no block, but there was a block.  The punch is a block and a block quickly turns into a punch if the guy is not going to block.  If the punch is thrown he's gonna block.  But the guy that doesn't know doesn't feel and ends up getting hit because he just tries to act.

So still some cannot understand why the Wing Chun guy is faster than the boxer.  Of course, the boxer defends.  The Wing Chun guy doesn't defend.  Defense and Attack go together; one technique.

One of my students A. R. (name abbreviated for privacy) said, "I was on the street and all of a sudden I see five guys on the ground, but I don't know what he did."  If you know Wing Chun immediately you're going to make the assumption, "That must have been Wing Chun."  So this is a real story.  He recounted it several times and was disappointed.  It was funny, he said he should have taken Wing Chun.  Later when he found out, when he saw Wing Chun, he said that was exactly what he saw (Wing Chun).  Five guys on the ground that didn't know what hit them.

So yeah, Wing Chun and Chi Shuo are good for the street, but going into a cage against a trained fighter you are gonna want more than just traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu.

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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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Alignment through Bodily Awareness and Martial Art

It is no secret that Bodily Awareness and Martial Art go hand in hand.  From continued practice any student can develop proprioception, exteroception, balance and grounding to an astounding degree over time.

Hand-eye coordination will become greatly enhanced.  Awareness will be amplified.   Awareness not only of yourself but also of your surroundings will pour in and be reflected through your action.  Confidence will radiate from you naturally through how you carry yourself.

When it comes to Calasanz' Physical Arts exercises these qualities are being absorbed and developed during concentrated and focused training.  Again, you must be careful.  As you train pay attention to your body and the signals it is giving you.  While a bit of "pain" normally accompanies the exertion and eventual exhaustion of muscles and tendons it is important to remain cognizant of what is too much or too far or too incorrect.  Stubbornness, ignorance and negligence will lead to injury.  Train smart.  Listen to your body.  Make adjustments.  Keep your wits about you and do not take anything on blind faith or false belief alone.  Revisit your technique regularly with honesty and integrity towards improvement and perfection.

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Martial Arts and the Perfectionist

"Don’t be afraid to correct perfectionists because you feel it will upset them. An instructor who feeds into this is not really teaching. Constant praise is counterproductive and doesn’t help the student learn."

I appreciate martial arts students who want to do everything perfectly. They are usually very committed and hard working.  They sign up for classes ready to train and full of enthusiasm.  Unfortunately, this enthusiasm disappears very quickly.  The one problem is that perfectionists worry themselves to death.  They start off with a very positive attitude, but set the bar so high that they get depressed and disappointed if they can’t meet their expectations often times allowing the slightest error to completely deflate the moment and block reception of the lesson.

Students with such high anxiety also tend to ask a lot of questions and over-analyze the lesson or the techniques.  What happens then is that instead of enjoying their martial arts training, it becomes stressful.  Some don’t want to take promotion tests because in their minds, they are never really ready.  Usually they are of the mind that nothing they do is ever good enough.

I’ve taught martial arts for over 30 years because I love teaching.  I've said it again and again, I don’t like to give up on anyone, perfectionists included.  They can be superior athletes if trained properly.  My best approach is to encourage them to lighten up.  I have to constantly remind them not to be so hard on themselves.

I will limit the amount of questions I allow during a class.  As a sincere teacher and instructor I can’t ignore all questions because some are legitimate but sometimes the barrage of inquisitions gets out of hand.  A martial arts class, however, should not consist of a lot of chit-chat.  Most people want to work up a sweat and learn the art; talking simply inhibits the experience.  Too many questions can also bore and even agitate the other students so maintaining focus on everyone getting a good workout is important.

During open workout sessions, I specifically direct perfectionists on what they should work on for that hour.  Some students are so self-directed that they show up to an open workout with an agenda of what they want to work on and can keep themselves busy for an hour.  Although, if the Perfectionist needs a plan... Give it to them!  They will rise to the occasion.

Don’t be afraid to correct perfectionists because you feel it will upset them. An instructor who feeds into this is not really teaching. Constant praise is counterproductive and doesn’t help the student learn. Make constructive corrections and tell the student how to improve!

Above all, focus on the overall learning experience!  When directed by a knowledgeable instructor perfectionists have the potential to be, to become, outstanding Martial Artists.  Encourage them to enjoy the journey!

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