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The mission of Lakas Filipino Martial Arts is to educate, preserve and honor the martial arts from the Philippines as well as those fighting systems born from the Filipino American experience. This vision of this podcast is to capture and share the stories of teachers, instructors and mentors that have not only contributed their life and spirit to martial art, but have helped paint the portrait of who I am today, and what Lakas Filipino Martial Arts continues to develop to be.
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I first became aware of Mark Mikita when I lived in Southern California. On a hot afternoon amidst the crawling West LA traffic on Washington Blvd, I saw his school. The exterior was white, with clean lettering and black Baybayin on the side. “Mi-ki-ta” I said to myself, reading the ancient syllabary. Above it all, clear and simple with no adornmen…
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Shortly before moving back home to Maryland, I watched Guro Inosanto online as he presented our Filipino Martial Arts to a captivated audience at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. The program, entitled “Filipino Martial Arts: From Kali and Escrima to Boxing” featured faculty from the University of Maryland but also …
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“Yes! The rhythm! The Rebel!” – Public Enemy I started listening to Sifu Dwight Woods years before his podcasts, “The I Love Jeet Kune Do Broadcast“, “The Jeet Kune Do Dialogues” and “The FMA Files“. I started watching Sifu Dwight on YouTube back in the day, intently listening to his clips from his classes, talking about Guro Inosanto, JKD and Kali…
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I see it in footage today, just as I saw it in person back then. But I cannot explain it. “It must be his position” I thought. “Or maybe the angles.” In the hot, and very humid Florida sun, we stood around Gat Puno Abon Baet at he easily touched his opponent’s head with his stick while staying out of range. I watched their shoulders. Their feet. Ev…
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“Watch how he moves. Look at him.” I looked over my shoulder for a moment. “Did you see him?” I was partnered up with Guro Victor Gendrano for the evening Kali class at the Inosanto Academy. I was there for Instructor Camp, so the school was crowded with both students as well as visiting instructors from around the country, even from around the wor…
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We all leaned forward, on the edges of our seats. As the Stormtroopers surrounded her, she sat still, forging tools in hand. One prodded her helmet with his blaster. Suddenly she sprung up, alive in action, her hammer and tongs whirling and smashing and crushing. We all shrieked in exhilaration! My daughter next to me jumped up off the bean bag, my…
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I could barely believe it. I was standing outside in the Southern California sun, looking up at the Ed Parker’s Kenpo Karate sign at his original school in Pasadena. I was about to go inside and meet Tuhon Ray Dionaldo, the incredible Filipino Martial Artist that had captivated my attention over the last several months on YouTube. I had started Say…
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Sometime during my college years, I came across a book that truly captivated me and significantly influenced my views on Filipino Martial Arts. That book was “Filipino Martial Culture” by Mark V. Wiley. Growing up, I loved going to bookstores and my local mall had at least two or three. I would scourge the graphic novels and fictions sections, but …
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Guro Steve Grody is one of the pioneers in sharing JKD and Kali through video. He is the one that put Burton Richardson on, and propelled Mark Balluff to mega stardom. But what really set him apart at the time, and what is still immensely valuable to me was his emphasis on very specific components of the arts. Both highly specialized but also extre…
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Guro Inosanto always shared with us that it was the martial artists, the warriors who protected the culture. He once commented that any culture that exists today, only exists because there were warriors there to preserve it. And as long as I have known about Filipino Martial Arts, I knew that somewhere in that culture and history, existed the ancie…
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