“My career in martial arts really started when I took a summer job as a lumberjack in high school. I got to Montana by hitch-hiking and jumping trains. But soon after I got there, my boss got stung by hornets and had to shut down the operation. So I got a job as a dishwasher instead.

“It was a really small, conservative town and I had long hair like a hippie. So when I got off my shift, all the intoxicated laborers in the town would search me out and beat me up. It’s really bad when you start getting bruised on your bruises. I became inspired to pursue martial arts.

“When I got back to Los Angeles, I started studying with various teachers. I eventually ended up in the Black Karate Federation (BKF), where I studied for 16 years. It was an all-black organization, but I was accepted by the Grand Master and eventually earned Black belts.”

“I was on the cross-country running team in high school. Our coach would instruct us to run 15 to 20 miles a day – very difficult! I got side aches and sore muscles. Eventually, I would be so tired that I wouldn’t feel like continuing.

“But I found that through breathing in a certain way, I could enter into a tranquil state of mind. It felt like I was in a bubble where everything was isolated. And it made all that running very possible. That was where I discovered that breath can lead you into something other than just keeping you alive.”

“When I was young, I ran away from home many times. In high school, I rode my bicycle from Los Angeles to Paradise, which is almost 500 miles away.

“I didn’t plan anything. I just put some gear on my bike and I went! I slept wherever, just winging it the whole way. And I had a really great time. I learned that if you have a natural sense of curiosity, that leads to taking adventures. And taking adventures leads to trusting life.”

“I took up hang-gliding and started to understand aerodynamics. I was friends with the owner of an airport who taught me how to fly airplanes. I started working as an airplane mechanic (more about that here), fixing vintage airplanes and eventually I owned a hangar.

“One night, an airplane crashed at the airport. I ran over and saw that the pilot had run off, leaving behind a plane full of drugs. A few minutes later, the D.E.A. Drug Enforcement showed up. The D.E.A. officers arranged for me to keep the airplane in my hangar after they stripped it for evidence.

“That lead to several years of becoming a custodian for seized property. After awhile, I got connected with a company that handled seized property and took a job as district coordinator for L.A. County. And that’s how I ended up in the corporate world.”

“After working for awhile in an office setting, I found myself getting physically ill. I had gone to many doctors – chiropractors, acupuncturists, all kinds of medical doctors – and they all said I was healthy. I thought, then why do I feel so bad?

“After a lot of physical therapy, I finally decided to go back to what I knew: yoga, vegan food, meditation, martial arts and running. And I immediately started to feel better.

“I was offered an executive position and it was an incredible offer – a lot of money, pension, and benefits. But my happiness was more important to me than my wealth, and I knew that I wasn’t happy in a corporate lifestyle. So I turned it down.

“One of the reasons that the Divine gave me this corporate experience is so that I could relate to people in this position and understand this perspective on life.”

“While working for the seized property company, I became an auctioneer. I found I was very good at it because I knew about Zen flow and breathing.

“When you are up there at the podium in front of 3,000 people, they call it chanting. I had to keep track of the bidders, what number item I was on, how much each item costs… all while encouraging people to spend more and maintaining excellent pronunciation. I learned about control of breath, posture, clarity. It reminded me of the martial arts.

“I was able to chant for a good three hours – longer than most people. After I would do an auction, my body would have a vibration in it for three days afterwards because I was using my diaphragm so much. That vibration was the Kundalini energy.”

“After many years of martial arts training, I had seven herniated disks.

“I couldn’t walk for months. I couldn’t lie down, stand, walk, lie on my belly, lie on my back, or sit in a chair. The only position that didn’t cause me to have severe pain was sitting cross-legged in a meditation position. So I spent basically three months straight meditating. And you know what? It worked! I learned how to fix backs.”

“I met someone who introduced me to a Korean monk. This monk taught martial arts, yoga, and Zen. I wanted to study with him, but he wouldn’t see me. So I would sit at the door of his temple waiting for hours, day after day, until finally he accepted me as his student.

“I trained with him for years and was invited to study at his monastery in Korea. I became his first American Black belt in the martial art form, Sunmudo.”

“One of the things I’ve learned from studying yoga is how important it is to be true to your word. At the Korean Monastery, I would arrive at 4am, ready to learn. Because that’s what I had committed to doing.

“I realized how important it is not to tell people something, just because it might be what they want to hear. If you speak from the heart, you avoid complications like resentment, anger, irritation, frustration. That all goes away and you are left with one thing: the truth.”

“I’m not sure how to label my gift, but I definitely know I have one. My validation is longevity and the communication that I get from other people – not all people – but people who have been my clients. I’ve noticed that people come to see me because they want to know something. They want to know my opinion, my experience of them. That’s the best way to put it.”