A Sensei of Ketsugo Jujutsu and Guro of Brewster Arnis. Also, the creator of Combat Elements.
I started my training in 1999 with self defense lessons from Master Terry Dow. Terry introduced me to Guro/Sensei Peter Freedman in 2000 when I began my Filipino Martial Arts training in what was then called “The Boston Arnis Club”. It was eventually renamed to Brewster Arnis in honor of the late Grand Master George Brewster.
After a year of Arnis training, which emphasizes Stick and Knife in the beginning, I began training in Ketsugo Jujutsu in 2001 with Pete as well.
Both Arnis and Jujutsu then became a passion, and both arts complimented each other. Jujutsu started with an empty hand emphasis and required highly technical understanding of Anatomy, Physics, and Biomechanics. Arnis started you off with weapons and emphasized more challenging, coordination drills. Both arts, taught by Peter, emphasised footwork.
As a 20 year old that had severe insecurity issues both in defending myself, physically and verbally, but also life’s purpose. As I started to get more involved in the martial arts, I noticed that I started to get more involved in the other aspects of life. I became an avid reader of martial arts books and eventually got interested in reading and studying other subjects by extention. Anatomy, History, Nutrition, Survival, Psychology, etc. I became a student of everything. Eventually, I made the decision to teach to share not just the martial arts, but a philosophy that see’s life as a classroom. We can take the lessons we receive everyday and choose to grow from them as a human being.
Combat Elements began after my interest in wanting to organize together the main principles of what I learned in both martial arts and personal development. My goal is to share this vision, that Peter encouraged, and create a central hub for resources to open minds and promote this type of natural confidence in self.
• 6th degree black belt (Shihan) in Freedman’s Method Ketsugo JuJutsu
(began training 2001)
• Senior Guro in Brewster Arnis (began training 2000)
• Won 1st Place in 3 events in March 2005 Bakbakan International Tournament by winning “Single stick sparring”, “double Stick sparring”, and “Knife sparring”.
• Founder/Creator of Combat Elements
• Wrote, designed, and illustrated two workbooks for Freedman Sensei’s dojo:
“Freedman’s Method Footwork: The Locomotion of Ketsugo Jujutsu”
“Kansetsu Waza: The high art of Japanese joint locking and bone manipulation”
Zen in the Martial Arts
The Magic of Thinking Big
The Secrets of Judo
Verbal Judo
How to Say it with your Voice
Finding True Magic: Transpersonal Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy/NLP
Emotions Revealed
The Art of Profiling
Strength Training Anatomy
The Anatomy of Movement
Joint Structure and Function
Practical Chin Na
The Behavioral Arts
Mike Mandel Hypnosis
Tim Ferriss – Apollo Robbins Episodes
National Geographic – Brain Games