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for a demo of me doing kung fu and playing guitar go to video page or https://youtu.be/GvURvXUuQ5k on my YouTube channel also if you have questions or want to schedule private lessons can call me at 612 558-8252 or email from the contact page, can also go to my face book page https://www.facebook.com/kasilean/  thanks

This site offers martial arts articles and videos on tactics, techniques and training, a martial arts movie review/recommendation page, my background and a classes page covering my current group classes and private lessons being offered. In the articles and videos I'm trying to cover subjects in more detail or areas that I don't spend as much time on in classes, where the focus is more on technique and I try to explain things as simply as possible to maximize the amount that can be covered each class.

Kung fu - isn't an actual style, the literal meaning of Kung fu [gongfu] is to develop skill through time and effort. Most commonly in the west the term is used to mean Chinese martial arts [Wushu]. I use this term in my teaching because I built a lot of my foundation in Chinese martial arts and have also (like the literal definition) continued to study many other styles over the years in an effort to always improve my knowledge, abilities and teaching. 

Finding the right school: If you are looking to study martial arts don't just go to the closest school, you need to find the right fit as their is a huge difference from style to style. The best way to evaluate which martial art is right for you is to compare what your goals are with those of the teacher. There are four primary ways that martial arts can be taught. Many styles will combine these four but the instructor must always make choices on what to emphasize and spend class time on as there is a limited anount of time in class. So it's important that students think about their own priorities and pick schools and teachers that have the same goals. Keeping in mind that many instructors will claim to teach all of these, but what percentage of the instruction is spent on each area is important. For example a class that spends 80% of it's time on working out (cardio,stretching, Etc.) and 20% on self defense is quite different then one that does 80% on self defense. There is not a correct mix, your interests and goals will determine what is correct for you, the four types of classes are as follows.

Health
All martial arts have some health benefit but some have more focus on it, and on different aspects of it, examples are flexibility, body mechanics, coordination, balance, muscular strength, cardio, stress-relief, and weight loss.

Self defense                                                                                                                                                                  Learning the most effective ways to defend yourself and others. most schools claim to teach this but if they're focused too much on any of the other three they probably are not teaching the most effective self defense                    

Tradition/Cultural preservation                                                                                                                                                                                                    Attempting to preserve a style as it was performed in the past. This can include traditional technique and possibly cultural, historical or spiritual aspects, a style with this focus does not evolve or change over time.                                              

Competition/Sport                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Competition through modern martial art sports (boxing,MMA,Etc.) or traditional tournaments, if a school has a lot of trophies than you know their focus is at least partially on competition.

An example of why these goals often aren't compatable, is many sport/competition styles claim to teach self defense, but if you're training to compete you're training to fight in a known enviroment for example a ring, with a ref, and rules, sports try to be consistant and fair, but self defense can't be predicted it can happen anywhere and the two most dangerous situations would be multiple attackers and weapons, things you don't have to worry about in competition.  

The emphasis of this site and my classes is primarily on health and self defense, I do also offer private lessons which are individualized to the students needs and wants so we can focus on the goals you want to achieve and the area you want to learn, also special events/camps that more focus on having fun/games for kids or on exercise for adults or seminars on a specific topic are available. When teaching classes I use both traditional drills and techniques and new ones, choosing what I teach based on its effectiveness not on tradition. I teach traditional weapons (sword, staff, stick, Etc.) to those interested focusing on practical use and also use them to improve cooridination.