Imagine being a short, dark-skinned boy with white pockmarks from a mosquito-bite allergy. Growing up in an all-boy’s school, I was a bully’s buffet. My physical appearance made me a prime target for teasing, ragging, name-calling, you name it. Considering I wasn’t fluent in the local language either, it was difficult to be quick-witted enough to fight back verbally. So, I needed better methods to defend myself. I learned martial arts to protect myself from bullies (which I talk about in People of Colour). Then, I grew to love it. It taught me how to explore the limits of my body and how to use self-defence to protect myself and others. It gave me the fitness, flexibility, reflexes, and proprioception to get a headstart in any sport. Until today, it empowers me. It taught me how to win a conflict without fighting. Martial arts was never just a sport. Training in classical martial arts is a philosophy, a mindset, a lifestyle. It is a part of my identity.

Martial arts has benefited my life so much that I love to learn and share it with others. After getting my 1st Dan black belt in Karate, I spent a couple years reaching an advanced level in Nejad. After this, I diversified into trying out Muay Thai, Capoeira, Aikido, Jiujitsu, Arnis, Taekwondo, Kobudo, breakdancing, and other related activities. I draw on these experiences in my lessons.

When teaching, I split my instruction into two individuals: ourself and the others. We learn about the individual as a combination of body, mind, spirit; or as a combination of strength, speed, sense, spirit, soul. In either approach, our learning follows three phases: first calibrate, then investigate, and then innovate. The best way to learn is by doing, i.e., contact me to book a session.

1. Ourself

To learn about yourself, I have developed a 1.5-hour-long workout. Using the playlist below, we perform a set of movements (adjusted to your capabilities) with each song. This calisthenics bootcamp can be done anywhere because it does not need any equipment. I myself have been doing it almost every week since 2016. Hopefully, one day we would be able to use the ATEAM to do it together all around the world!

Remember that the strength of your core is the core of your strength. If you have already done the workout a few times with me, here are my movements so that you can reference them while practicing your version of the set:

#	Song	Movement (F: Front, B: Back, L: left, R: right)
1	Pharrell Williams – Happy	Joint rotations, loosening, 4-count breathing
2	Enigma – Return To Innocence	Stretch neck, torso, shouders, hips
3	Vanessa Da Mata – Boa Sorte	Stretch other joints: wrist, ankle
4	Grits – Ooh Ahh (My Life Be Like) (feat. Toby Mac)	Knee raises
5	Classified – Higher	Toe touching
6	Spirit Of The West – Home For A Rest	Front: crunches 30s 30l 30r 10 knees
7	System Of A Down – Chop Suey!	Back: 30 superman 30l 30r starfish raises
8	Disturbed – Down with the Sickness	Hip stretch: side-situp, side facing, back twist
9	Fort Minor – Remember the Name (feat. Styles of Beyond)	Front: leg raises 30F 30L 30R (bottom leg suspended)
10	System Of A Down – Prison Song	Back: 30 skydiver 30 scissor 30 ankle grabs
11	Lebo M. – Mbube	Scissor jumping jacks w front kick, 10 knee-to-chest, split kick, high jump
12	Coldplay – Up&Up	Seiza to headstand to handstand
13	Eminem – Cinderella Man	Front: bicycle
14	Savage Garden – The Animal Song	Back: flutter kick
15	Dropkick Murphys – I’m Shipping Up To Boston	Pushups: 10 jump switch finger-knuckle, 10 jump switch alternates, 10 chest
16	Breaking Benjamin – I Will Not Bow	Pushups: 10 chops, 10 waves
17	Lamb of God – Now You’ve Got Something to Die For	Side situps w block & cross-punch stretches
18	Red Hot Chili Peppers – Snow (Hey Oh)	Stretch: sitting hands to toes
19	Epic Score – Liberators	Front: flutter
20	Marilyn Manson – This Is the New Shit	Triceps: 10 knuckle back, 10 knuckle side, 10 finger, 10s knuckle suspend, 10s finger suspend
21	Smash Mouth – All Star	Side situps to loosening kicks: 10R10L front kick, 10R10L side kick
22	George Michael – Faith	3 bridge walks w 5F5B steps
23	Linkin Park – Leave Out All The Rest	Stretch out everything
24	Marconi Union – Weightless	Stretch, flow
25	[optional] set a 13-min timer	Lie down face-up and meditate!

Remember that your level is probably less intense than what’s listed here. Don’t break yourself! If you’re feeling confident with your level, come back and we’ll upgrade your movements to the next level of difficulty.

Our self is unique, and our understanding of our self must be better than anyone else. Think about how much more effective you are when using tools that you understand well, even in comparison to fancier tools that you don’t know how to use. Understanding your self is your greatest advantage.

2. Others

The others are everyone who is not our self. They could be our allies, opponents, innocents, or charges. As we move through the world, they can be a threat, tool, or benefit depending on the context. For example, an opponent who tries to hit you but misses and hits a threat, is more valuable in that context than an ally who tries to hit a threat but misses and hits you. Therefore, we must accept all others as equal until the context determines their relationship to us. And the context always changes.

The workout routine for the second set is much looser – simply because it “takes two to tango”. There is no “one size fits all” for this session, so we’ll adapt it to your needs in the moment.

Philosophy

If you’ve scrolled this far down the page, then you’re obviously into this! So here’s some more information to satiate your curiosity. I would suggest tackling each section on a different day so that you give it time to practice and sink in before adding on the next one. Remember to calibrate, investigate, innovate and most importantly, have fun with them! 

Our body: Our body is a vehicle, tool, musical instrument, ecosystem, and weapon. By becoming aware of it, we can learn how tune it and therefore train it. Here are some things to keep in mind while you go through your day:
How do you sit, stand, and walk?
Are you balanced at every part of your walk or do you throw your bodyweight from one foot to the next?
When is your breathing slow and deep?
In which parts of your body do you get tense?
Which muscles are deactivated when you slouch or hunch?
Which movements do you jerk and when are you graceful?
What sensations do you enjoy the most (eg. sun on your skin, drinking water, breeze)?
What makes your heart race?
How does your skin feel against different surfaces?

Our mind: What do you love to do in your free time, and even daydream about it? What topic do you enjoy thinking about the most (eg. a specific sport, music, TV series, field of study, your latest crush)? Pick just one topic that you’d enjoy thinking about all day. Now let’s try to channel that positive mental energy into every aspect of your day!
Today, I request you not to multi-task. Although don’t worry! If all goes well, you might actually get more stuff done 🙂 Throughout the day, at the back of your mind, hold onto this topic that you love so much. It will help you build a positive association to whatever you’re doing. Use it as your source of mental energy. At the forefront of your mind, focus on only the task at hand. Typically, one of three things will happen:
(1) If you’re getting frustrated, great! This is an opportunity to use the “middle” of your mind to try to find a way to connect your favorite topic at the back to this frustrating one at the front. For example, I enjoy thinking about physics and dislike coding, so after years of practice, my work is coding physics LOL 🤦‍♂️ Seriously though, there is always a way to relate to your favorite topic no matter how different it may seem. You just need to find the link, or make it up and keep adjusting it until you believe it. Remember your mind will believe anything you tell it to (hence our political climate).
(2) If you get bored, great! This is an opportunity to practice awareness. Single-minded flow states are rare. Most of the time, we’re thinking about multiple things, like parallel processing in a computer. So train that. Use the middle of your mind to become aware of your surroundings by engaging your 5 senses. For example, when you’re eating (main focus), notice the cars passing by, how the light hits different surfaces, the temperature gradients, what every person around you is doing… all at the same time! Practice situational awareness without losing focus. This will directly benefit your street fighting skills.
(3) If you’re getting distracted, great! But would you get distracted if you were thinking about your favorite topic? So this is an opportunity to practice strengthening the connection between that topic and your current task. It will help you enjoy it, so that it’s easier to focus. We often assume that “mind over matter” means “where there’s a will, there’s a way”. However, our mind loves deception. So let’s find a way to enjoy the matter so much that we really don’t mind focusing on it 😊
For the last hour of your day, try to do nothing. If you think of stuff to do, take note of it instead of doing it. Let your mind wind down – this is when it’s most creative. And creativity, or innovation, is the basis of all great fighting styles. So let go of that productive urge and just chill. Sleep well!

Our spirit: The practice of martial arts cultivates our body, mind, and spirit. Today, we find our spirit. My ex-waterpolo coach once said, “Good athletes play hard until they’re tired, and great athletes start playing hard once they’re tired” [or something like that]. Our spirit can help us stay standing and it can even help us get back up, but it can sometimes be what keeps us down. So, to train our spirit, we need to learn how to (1) stay standing and (2) work through the fears that knock us down so that we can (3) get back up. Knowledge shines a light on fear. So, although the following questions might feel intrusive, please remember that you don’t need to answer them to anyone but yourself.
(1) Stay standing: What is your motivation to get through the day? Which parts of it come from loving what you’re doing vs just keeping the wheel turning? Is there a way to do more of the tasks you love, or at least learn to love the tasks you do? Maybe yesterday’s exercise on the mind could help with this.
(2) Get knocked down: “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link”, so what are yours? How easy is it for you to say no? Sometimes it’s better to lose a battle in order to win the war. Are you prepared to make such a decision? What do you do, and what do you avoid, in order to feed your ego? Our insecurities come from our fears. We all have fears – we just need to know what it is that we’re scared of. If we can identify our fears, then we can learn to accept or overcome them. In a fight, this can improve our ability to remain cautious and yet not flinch. This helps us develop resilience, or in other words, get better at not getting knocked down.
(3) Get back up: Think of the dark or sad phases in your life. How did you / are you healing from them? More importantly, why? Each answer gives you a way to keep going, that matters to you. Together, these ways can help you tap into your source of spiritual strength, or in other words, your spirit.
Today’s request is a similar technique as yesterday. Pick an activity that you’re so passionate about, that it automatically motivates you to try your best and never give up. Remember how energized you feel when you’re doing it? Hold onto that motivation. Channel it into whatever you do today. If yesterday helped you focus, then today should help you do so with energy. Keep your spirits up!

Our efficiency: Yesterday we learned how to use the practice of martial arts to train our mind, body, and spirit. Another way our strength, speed, sense, spirit, and soul. Today, let’s look at the combination of strength, speed, and sense (kind of like combining body and mind).
(1) Strength can be a like a mountain or like a river. It doesn’t need to be unyeilding, it just needs to be enough force for the purpose. If it’s too much, then it’s not sustainable because our strength decreases as we get tired.
(2) Similarly, speed is not fastness or slowness, it’s whatever is appropriate. We never see plants move and yet they do so everyday, right in front of us. We only need to be fast or slow enough to be invisible. Ninjitsu is great at teaching this.
The combination of strength, speed, and sense is efficiency. So, today I request you to try to be efficient in everything you do. Minimize the effort and maximize the impact. This includes even the mundane tasks like brushing your teeth or reaching over to grab an object. What’s the best way to do it at a quality level that’s “good enough”? This sweet spot can sometimes be far below “perfect” but we don’t realize it because we’re so busy keeping the wheel turning. It helps to remind ourselves that we can achieve a lot with very little. The better we get at this, the more we can achieve. In a fight, this can be similar to soft kung fu techniques which show us how to deal with a larger opponent. In this case, the purpose is to conserve your energy in each task so that you can do more after. Have a productive day!

Our spirit and soul: All over the world, different martial arts styles have been developed almost independently of each other for centuries. They might not have won against war technology in the short term, but yet here we are learning how to live from our martial arts practices after having laid down our weapons. That’s because martial arts offers a way of life which war and simple violence cannot. What do you find in common between all practices of martial arts? Are they naturally protective of those around them? At peace with their inner conflicts? Honorable? Strength of will? They say, “One who fights for himself will give up when he fails whereas one who fights for things beyond himself will die trying.”. What do you fight for?

Our advantage: When you fight, what is your advantage? Statistically, you are likely to have certain advantages over most people. You could be generally taller or closer to the ground, faster or heavier, stronger or more flexible, more impactful or more agile, calmer or more aggressive, smarter or more instinctive, deeper or lighter… Another way to think about this is, what kind of warrior are you? Samurai, ninja, sumo, swordsman – remember that these were not just professions, they were lifestyles. So, what aspects of yourself are unique? How can you harness them to enhance the way you live your life? Go forth and amplify!

Our self: Some challenges are fun, like playing sports. Others show us what we’re capable of, like winning against an opponent whom we think is better than us. I hope that you had a chance to explore your capabilities over the last week. Our capabilities help us push beyond our limits. During the first session on Our Self, we’ll find our limits. To push beyond them, you’ll need to channel the capabilities that you’ve been developing over the past week. Today I request you to try using them all together. Find a harmony between them that works for you. Also remember to eat early enough so that you’re ready to push yourself this evening. When we push our limits, we calibrate ourselves. Hope you’re ready!

Others: If dance is the art of expression (which can involve contact or not) then martial arts is the physical art of contact-based communication. The point of communicating is not to send a message but for the other to recieve it.
“All dancers make mistakes, but good dancers cover them up, and great dancers make new moves.” This isn’t really about the dancer, is it? It’s about how we interpret them. We’ll learn to get into the mind of the other. See how people respond to you when you smile at them vs when you don’t.
Use what you learned yesterday about body language to try to interpret what’s going on in people’s minds. Are they having a bad day? Are they sleepy? Are they angry? Are they hustling or on holiday? Do their movements tell you how competent they are at controlling their limbs?

There is way more content in my teachings and thoughts than there ever will be on this website, haha. Feel free to let me know if you’d like more information or to book a training session!