Success the Beginnings

Successes comes in many forms but there is only one path to get there.  You have to work smart and hard and never give up. Once you train Karate for a while you begin to realize that it has very little to do with punching and kicking. “Osu” means to persevere and spirit of perseverance, which leads to success is the core to Karate especially Kyokushin. I started fighting in my mothers stomach, then learned a few moves from Kung-fu flicks, tested them in school yards and kept what worked. I then learned a style of Hapkido (Kido) at 13 and met great mentors Sensei Frankie  & Sifu Ruben Torres who cultivated me each in their own way. I got flexible, fast and I won every single  point system tournament I fought in except for one. I came in third at the Junior World Championships because this kid from South Africa hit me with an illegal punch in the face. It was the hardest I had ever been hit in my life at that time. Sensei Frankieand the judge talked and then he walked over to me and asked, “You still wanna fight?”  Man, I beat the life out of that kid and then took third because I lost  to the next guy because I wasn’t used to fighting with one eye. This will to struggle and push forward translated into picking up a book and teaching myself how to edit videos and then doing videos for Vitamin Water, Busta Rhymes, and the Roots. Think that is awesome? It has nothing on the application of Kyokushin and the success you will read about in the story below.

Success is a Journey

Success is a journey. The journey is filled with ups and downs, but if you put in a lot of hard work you will have many more ups than downs and this will help you level up. It is the same with the martial arts. I stopped training for a while and lost myself completely.  Then I trained in many different styles trying them out. Wearing them like jackets to see if the style fits. Kali (stick and knife), Muay Thai and when I went to Kyokuhsin Karate I fell in love. Kyokushin means the absolute truth. On the physical it is bare knuckle, bone to bone real cave man stuff. Mas Oyama the founder of Kyokushin killed 50+ bulls with one punch and is the first style and foundation for Georges St-Pierre the current UFC Middle Weight Champion . In mind it is infinite because as above is below. In spirit it is the absolute truth and so advanced that I can only equate it to love. Example, Jevan Sean Seepaul  got shot and the bullet broke his back and exploded in his stomach. The doctors said he will never walk again and here is is walking at our Kagami Biraki New Years training. That my friends is legendary and on some real life Bruce Lee power. Instead of feeling sorry for himself excepting what the Doctors (authority) told him, he used his Will Power and LOVED himself back to his feet. That is amazing and is what Kyokushin is all about.  Please stop and think about that for a second. It is legendary!

That is success and that is what you learn from Kyokushin Karate. You learned to push forward and persevere no matter what life throws at you. When other people give up and tell you to quit, you know that, that is not an option at all. In your mind you are already walking. Then you work hard to wiggle that toe. Once it wiggles you rejoices and thank God and the people who supported you for helping you get there, then push on until you are in the ring sparring again. Kyokushin teaches you to cultivate yourself daily and never give up. It teaches you that today you should aim to be just a little better than you were yesterday. It gives you all of this power, it literally teaches you how to take a life but teaches you to never use it because with great power comes great responsibility. You will never learn that anywhere in the world and when you are blessed to train under a Master Karateka like Sensei Raul Dueno who teaches you how to apply it to life. I mean the type of guy who when he is personally training for something you will never want to miss his class cause he is going to try and kill himself on the floor so you are going to die with him and get reborn stronger. The type of guy  who loses sleep because he has been thinking about a combo that he tailored for your strengths and then works you to the bone to fix your weaknesses. I’m talking about a guy who gets you home safe but late every night because he still wants to talk about Karate after an hour and a half class of doing it. With this level of love and effort being generated through the system that is Kyokushin there is nothing that you can’t do. This is why I brought my mother and wife to be in the dojo and our children will feel the vibration of the “Osu” while cultivating in their moms tummy. So big shout out to everyone who has helped me and inspired me on my path of self-cultivation because in the end that is the most successful thing you can do. This video is for you.