What is Kenpo All About?
While the art of Kenpo has many different branches today, its lineage can be traced back hundreds of years before even some styles of martial arts that are considered “traditional” were created. Kenpo has influenced many martial arts in other cultures as it spread from its ancient origins in China. Despite the many branches that have grown from that common trunk, there is plenty of connective tissue that binds Kenpoists together.
Kenpo can mean a plethora of individual techniques that educate on the various ways to respond to a hostile stimulus. It can also mean a variety of ever-increasingly intricate and challenging katas. However, for many practitioners, Kenpo simply means self-defense.
What Does Kenpo Mean to Me?
Everybody has their story of how they came to be martial artists. Many of them involve personal hardships and challenges. Mine is no different. Kenpo changed my life.
Kenpo is My Strength.
As a young man going through middle and high school, I dealt with bullies all too often. I knew I was lacking in strength. I wanted to retaliate in rage and fury, knowing full well that it would end badly because they were much bigger than me. When I found Grandmaster Mark Tracy at nineteen years of age, I didn’t even know what Kenpo was. He showed me, through education and mentorship, the strength that I had been looking for most of my life. It wasn’t merely an external, physical strength I achieved. It was what was on the inside that had become truly strong.
Kenpo is My Confidence.
Through the training of countless techniques and katas, I found confidence. However, this was not the false, chest-thumping bravado of the person who knows how to fight and is always ready to prove it. No, this was the confidence in knowing that I could tolerate any verbal insult and still NOT be provoked into a physical confrontation.
Kenpo is My Balance.
I was riding on top of the world and tearing a path through the belts towards the first black belt rank of Shodan. That came to a halt at second-degree brown belt when I had to take a break because of increasing bills, decreasing time, and a wonderful newborn son. In short, life stepped in. There were good and bad times in the time away, but I was losing my balance each day I was away from it. The highs were higher and lows, ever lower. I couldn’t fathom how important Kenpo was to my balance until I returned almost 11 years later. However, now I couldn’t fathom losing that part of me again.
Kenpo is My Family.
Through this art, I have met so many amazing people. These people have shown me generosity, mentorship, and most of all camaraderie. It didn’t matter how much of a “big deal” they were in my mind. Grandmasters and Masters or not, almost every one of them has treated me like a friend and brother. Simply a student, just like themselves. My family grows every day. I am forever grateful to every one of them. To those who have simply offered me nothing more than a right fist covered in a left open hand in a sign of respect, I return that salute!
Kenpo is Who I Am.
I could never have realized what I was physically capable of without Kenpo. I certainly wouldn’t be even half of the person on the inside that I am today without it. It changed my life in ways I couldn’t imagine. There’s no way I would be writing this if it weren’t for Kenpo. I am forever grateful to Grandmaster Tracy, who put that advertisement in the Yellow Pages 18 years ago. Kenpo isn’t just something I do, it is who I am.
It doesn’t matter what art you practice. If it makes you a better person, let it seep into the very fabric of who you are. To all of you who have sweated, cried, bruised, kiai’d, and bled for your martial art of choice and come out the better for it, I salute you.
This is a just a small portion of my story. Every one of you reading this has a martial arts story that is worth telling. If you enjoy hearing martial artists stories at http://www.whistlekickmartialartsradio.com/ Please fill out the guest form if you would like to tell your story!
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My experience with Kenpo is much similar to yours, I trained with Ed Parker when Iived in phoenix years ago and my training has stayed with me ever since. When I tested with Ed Parker for my black belt, it was a life changing event that I will never forget.
I guess it true that a man must hit bottom, before he fined his true self. I too study Kenpo and have been for 13 years. When I found my Master who study under SMG Ed Park, when I was at my lowest point in my life. Keep up the great work. Kenpo for life.🤚🤛