The Black Belt Podcast

“When you go into a Hostage Rescue you have to see it as if you are protecting or trying to save your own child, your own mother, your own brother. If you can’t put yourself in a situation to see it that way you can’t do that job. And that’s the way Miami Dade SWAT SRT, that is what our perspective was. The Job that we do is real, and you are going to have to perform. You are going to be put in situations where you have to respond at the highest level, and if you fall ...

“Jeet Kune Do to me is not about the perpetuation of an art, it is about the personal cultivation of an individual. To me Jeet Kune Do is a state of being. It’s a dynamic way of thinking and acting that encompasses the same fluid operating principles you use in dealing with opponents that you would use every day in the arena of life. I would like to see Jeet Kune Do resume its place in the Pantheon of Martial Arts. The position that I feel it deserves to be in and it should ...

“You want to find this place with the person that you are working with, sparring is working with people, it’s not working against people, you are going to receive what you give. If it’s too hard, and you do not respect the parameters that are set, something is not going to go right. Work with people in the gym, don’t work against them. You express your skills and give them a chance to express theirs. You want people to express themselves so that they can be the best th...

“I never wanted to be the greatest martial artist ever, I always saw myself as a teacher. I want to influence people, I don’t want them to be impressed by what I do, I want to be a vehicle for them to learn. To me integrity is a moment by moment choice. My work is to challenge myself to choose the way I respond to situations. Who we are is more important than what we do.”My guest this episode is Fariborz Azhakh, who is a master of Hapkido and a student of Master Steve Sexton...

“The real goal is not to be a great martial artist, but to be a great human being. A Black Belt is a good human being that is constantly working on themselves, it is somebody of a high level of skill, that brings their practice to life in ways that makes other people stop and look and listen. It’s about the Artist that brings the practice to life.” – Tom Callos My guest this episode is Tom Callos, who is a Black Belt in BJJ and a 7’th Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. ...

“Spiritual Growth is not necessarily found on a yoga mat, in the dojo, or in a meditation room, it’s found in the space between your thoughts, it’s found in the space between your decisions, it’s found in the still point in the transition between stimulus and response. If I can pause and master those transitions and come to center in those moments and choose something other than what I would have done, that is functional spirituality and growth in all aspects of my life. Now I become pl...

“Champions have a very strong spiritual understanding of when is the right moment to throw a perfect technique, using time and timing to understand the right moment. It’s impossible to put into the an equation how it feels, because if you stop to think, you are late, flow is not a motion, flow is a state, it’s a congruence, it’s a rhythm that you acquire and then control, and this allows you to conquer technique.” – Xande RibeiroMy guest this episode is the legendary Xande Ribeiro, who ...

“When pushing the boundaries of the human body, either I’m going to break, or it is. Can I pull the trigger and go? It can be this way in self-defense, life, and everything else that we do.A great question is to ask what is the absolute worst that could happen in this situation, when you can wrap your mind around that worst-case scenario, I know that I can digest that and we can move forward. You have to know I might break, it might, but you have to know that you can pull th...

“The Jail that I was in was easy. The Jail that most people are in today without being incarcerated in a Jail Cell, is the Jail cell of the mind and the heart. It wasn’t till I learned to love me in Jail, it wasn’t until I learned to express me in jail, that I was able to look at myself in the mirror, and say, Let’s Go Bam.”My guest this episode is Willie “The Bam” Johnson, who is a seven-time sport karate and kung fu world champion, a two-time All-American champion, and a true he...

“Everyone has a gift, but not everyone seeks to find it, or has the patience to go within themselves to find it. It’s passion, what are you passionate about? What part of you gives you the drive to work hard to get good at something, no matter what it is. We can be mediocre or we can be average, but what makes a person driven to become extra ordinary. You are being driven to do something; we need to find that drive. Everyone has a talent, as teachers we need to underst...