All my life I have had a love for the Martial Arts. I watched everything I could get a hold of as a child that had anything to do with combat. My two brothers and I often played all types of games from empty hand sparring to full armor made from strips of old carpet with wooden weapons and shields. Gorilla warfare and search and capture tactical games were often employed in the vast layout of our neighborhood block on summer nights. Back in those days it was all about fun and competition. My parents never allowed me, especially, to ever learn any real Martial Arts. They were afraid of what we might do to each other. Even though it was about fun, most of the time someone got hurt. Perhaps that was because we didn´t know what we were doing. However, all of us were, at times, highly aggressive and bad tempered. I, myself, by far the worst. I was one of those kids that would have been put on ridalin when I was three if it hadn´t been for my parents rejecting my doctor´s suggestion. The Physciciatrist told my Mom that the only thing she could do when I flipped out was wrap her arms and legs around me until I stopped. That was what she did. By the time I was thirteen I had gained an understanding of right and wrong and stayed relatively out of trouble, always knowing what I could get away with. Rarely I had violent fights with my friends and siblings. I would imagine this is not out of the ordinary, but it was the intensity that I carried with that scared everyone.

     When I got out of high school I traveled. Hitchhiking to Colorado and New Mexico. There I stayed in the mountains for almost five weeks. I was with many friends when I got there but still spent several days alone on a ridge about a day and a half from camp. My love for Martial Arts ever stronger, I never stooped practicing flowing movements and manifesting my own ideas of practical combat. I always believed that if I really did learn how to fight that I wouldn´t be stable enough mentally and emotionally to handle myself. Out in those mountains, my mind opened. I began to understand myself a little. I gained some peace and control over myself and was able to put into the motions I practiced. For the next two years I came home during the fall, wittier, and spring to again travel to the mountains during the summer. Searching on my quest for what I might do with my life. I knew I wanted to help people. I had round a natural talent for massage. It was easy for me to find someone problem and at least ease someone´s discomfort. It felt as though I could feel my own energy and that of the recipients to help them. It was then that I decided that someday I would learn some style of Martial Arts and become an instructor regardless of whatever else I was doing with my life. I knew a little bit about some of the styles offered in the area. Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Kempo, Kickboxing all seemed empty to me. Although demonstrations I had seen were impressive and skillful, they just didn´t grab me. Hapkido and Aikido seemed most likely to be the systems to choose between. I truly favored Aikido for its Philosophy and harmony of mind, body, and motion. Yet still something seemed missing. Then one day I met a student of Northern Shaolin Lohan Kung Fu.

     I first met Robert D. Edwards in late July of 1998 at the St. Louis Bread Co. I worked at. He had just started working there. My friend and now fellow student, Mike Bazzoni, had hired Rob and told me that he was helping to open a Kung Fu school here in town. The first thing Rob made reference to me was a Yin Yang I had drawn on my nametag. " Why a Yin Yang?" he asked. " Balance." I replied. " Balance of what?" he said. I smiled and simply said " Everything." He then went on to inquire about how I gained my belief of universal balance. He was surprised to find that, unlike most people, I learned from personal experience and instinct rather than actual schooling. When asked of martial training I told him of my childhood and that no real learning had ever taken place. He was interested in the "Tai Chi" kind of flowing exercise that I used for relaxation and meditation. So that same day after work we went to his house and I demonstrated my movements for him in the front yard. He was impressed. He said, " Let me show you just how close you are to the real thing." And he demonstrated a small portion of the Tiger form. When I saw the similarities of fluid movement and weight I knew that my search was over.

     A few days later Rob took Mike, myself, and a couple of others over to Sifu´s house. There he talked with us and interviewed us all. From the moment he walked in the room the air changed. This was not just a man who had gained great proficiency with his Martial skill. This was a man who had control of the energy surrounding him and coursing through him. When he shook my hand I knew I had found a true Master, my Master, my Sifu. Never before nor since have I met any masters or instructors with such unexplainable yet subtle power and energy. I never expected or could have been prepared for what was to come. All I knew was that I had just found my calling in life. Over the past two years I have had to re-learn concepts of possibilities and reality. Kung Fu is not just Martial Arts, but an attitude to be applied toward all aspects of life. Nothing less. It is constantly pushing yourself beyond your limits and someday, in theory, you may have no limits. The beauty of Kung Fu is that it takes all of yourself. All your energy from work, play, friends, family, and lovers must be poured into yourself. As a result you fill yourself to the peek and flow over, allowing all the things you care about to benefit from the love you have for each of them.

     -Mark A. DeMate-