Potomac Kempo

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The Balance of Humility and Pride: Lessons from Kempo

Humility and pride might seem like opposites, but they coexist beautifully. In Kempo and life, true growth arises from balancing these qualities.

What does it mean to balance humility and pride? Are they opposites, or can they coexist? True humility isn’t about downplaying your achievements but recognizing your potential and the vast opportunities for growth. It’s not about minimizing what you’ve accomplished but embracing the journey of what’s still possible. Similarly, pride, when rooted in genuine effort and self-improvement, can be a powerful motivator. In Kempo, humility and pride are not opposing forces but complementary qualities that drive personal growth.

Understanding Humility and Pride

Humility is often defined simply as “not bragging.” While this definition may seem reductive, it is actionable and deeply instructive. In practice, humility is about acknowledging our room for growth and acting in ways that reflect respect for ourselves and others.

Pride, on the other hand, is tied to our sense of self-worth. The key question is: Who is the most important source of your pride? The answer is yourself. However, many people struggle with this. We’re often our own harshest critics, aware of our flaws and failures, which makes self-pride challenging. This inner conflict can lead to a paradox: criticizing ourselves privately while boasting publicly—a contradiction that undermines true humility.

Potomac Kempo - Humility and Pride

How Kempo Teaches Humility and Pride

In Kempo, the lessons of humility and pride come alive through practice. Two guiding principles help us cultivate both qualities:

  1. Do the best you possibly can.
  2. Strive to improve upon your previous efforts.

This simple yet profound philosophy shifts the focus away from comparing ourselves to others and instead emphasizes personal growth. Consider the following examples:

Alex and Mia: A Tale of Two Runners

Imagine Alex, a 10-year-old, running a race against 5-year-olds. She wins easily, but the victory feels hollow. Why? Because Alex didn’t push herself to her limits. Her pride would be justified only if she ran faster than ever before. Without that effort, the accomplishment rings shallow.

Now, picture Mia, a 5-year-old, racing against older children. Despite her determination, she finishes last. Should she feel ashamed? Not at all. If Mia ran her hardest and improved her time compared to her previous races, she has every reason to feel proud. Even in defeat, her effort and progress make the experience a success.

These stories illustrate that pride and humility aren’t about outcomes but about effort and growth.

Potomac Kempo - Humility and Pride

Cultivating Balance Through Martial Arts

Kempo provides a perfect environment for developing the balance of humility and pride. Martial arts constantly challenge you to perform at your best, refine your skills, and surpass your previous efforts. Yet, the practice also instills respect—for yourself, your instructors, and your peers.

Each step forward in Kempo is an opportunity to grow stronger, both physically and mentally, while embodying the balance of humility and pride. The satisfaction comes not from external validation but from the quiet confidence that arises from genuine effort.

A Perfect Place to Grow

Practicing Kempo is more than just physical training; it’s a journey of self-discovery. True pride and humility coexist when we focus on doing our best, striving for improvement, and letting our actions speak for themselves. When pride arises from within, it needs no external validation. And when humility guides our actions, it needs no explanation.

Takeaway

Humility and pride are not opposites but partners on the path to growth. Through consistent effort and a commitment to improvement, you can cultivate both qualities, allowing them to complement and strengthen each other. In Kempo, as in life, this balance is the foundation for true success.

Three Complementary Training Methods for Martial Arts Success

Three Complementary Training Methods for Martial Arts Success

How Combining Practicing to the Air, with a Punching Bag, and with a Partner Can Help You Reach Your Goals

Martial arts is a fantastic way to improve your fitness, develop your skills, and achieve your goals. However, simply practicing techniques and movements is not enough. To truly excel in the martial arts, you need a well-rounded skill set and a balanced approach to training. Here, let’s focus on three crucial components of your training.

We believe that the key to martial arts success is combining three complementary training methods: practicing to the air, with a punching bag, and with a partner. Let’s take a closer look at each of these methods:

  1. Practicing to the Air: This type of training involves performing techniques and movements without any equipment or targets, allowing you to focus on extension, follow-through, and precise technique. It’s safe, easy to do, and can be done anywhere, making it an ideal option for at-home training.
  2. Practicing with a Punching Bag: This method is excellent for developing power and strength, as well as conditioning the striking surfaces to prevent injury. Whether you use a punching bag, focus mitts, or similar, this type of training provides resistance, making it a great workout and an essential part of any martial arts training regimen.
  3. Practicing with a Partner: This type of training gives you a more realistic sense of targets and how the body responds to force, allowing you to practice techniques with an opponent in a controlled environment. However, it’s important to train slowly and with less power to ensure safety.

By incorporating all three training methods into our curriculum, we help our students develop the well-rounded skill set they need to succeed in the martial arts. Each method offers unique benefits, such as refining technique, developing power and conditioning, and enabling realistic application of techniques, to help students achieve their fitness and martial arts goals. With this combination of training methods, students will acquire the skills and abilities necessary for success both inside and outside the dojo.

Chris Santillo, Shihan

Three Awarded Fourth Degree Black Belts at Potomac Kempo

Potomac Kempo - Santillo Simpson Gibbs Jelsma - Fourth Degree Black Belt

Sometimes the best amongst us are the humblest, which is certainly the case with these exemplary martial artists.

For many people, the practice of martial arts is a strange—possibly intimidating—concept. People often wonder what happens in a ‘dojo’ with unfortunate misconceptions often perpetuated by movies and television. But the martial arts, and specifically the art of Kempo, which we choose to practice, is not strange or mysterious. It is an ancient self-improvement practice with fitness training and self-defense fitted in to fill out the edges.

In life, we often find that our greatest adversary is ourselves, as we all too often stand in our own way—sometimes going so far as to sabotage ourselves actively. But in Kempo, we work to overcome these traits by developing and utilizing methods that work in the studio and as well as in other aspects of life. By doing so, we work to create well-rounded, successful, and healthy lives.

In this spirit, we wish to acknowledge the accomplishment of three of our most esteemed students. In December 2021, Kevin Simpson, Jon Jelsma, and Geof Gibbs earned their Fourth Degree Black Belts in the Art of Kempo. They are the first students to reach this level in Potomac Kempo’s seventeen-year history, representing less than one-tenth of one percent of our students.

These gentlemen have practiced the martial arts for an average of twenty years, teaching as well as training, and have studied multiple arts.

In addition to his Kempo practice, Kevin Simpson has studied Ninjutsu, Hapkido, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Army Combatives, in which he is a Level 2 Certified Instructor. He is a Sergeant First Class in the US Army Band, and he volunteers to teach both Kempo classes and grappling basics.

Before practicing Kempo, Jon Jelsma studied Tae Kwon Do, Shorin Ryu Karate, and Fencing. Amidst his Kempo practice, he has also studied Jeet Kun Do, Pekiti Tirsia Kali, Inosanto Academy Kali, and Kosho Ryu Kempo. He is a patent examiner for the US Patent and Trademark Office and volunteers to teach Kempo and Kali classes throughout the week.

Geof Gibbs began his martial arts practice with Kempo and has since come to supplement it with the study of Kali and Kosho Shorei Ryu. Having left a former life as a computer scientist, he is now a career instructor, acting as our Senior Staff Trainer and the Chief Instructor of our Huntington Metro studio location in Alexandria, Virginia. In addition to teaching Kempo, he leads our Kosho Club. Consistent with our relatively new tradition of passing on belts, Geof was presented with my own Fourth Degree Black Belt that I wore when I was that rank.

We are honored by their accomplishments and are proud to have them as part of the Potomac Kempo team. It is rightly said that “You are only as good as the people you train with,” and these exemplary practitioners are an asset to all of Potomac Kempo. Their work is a testament to lifetimes of dedication, learning, and growth.

One final thought:

As I sat on the floor of an empty studio presenting belts to three very sweaty persons, I searched for words to capture the moment, for praise that would not seem redundant or superfluous. My mind circled twice, and I settled back on humility. I have known these men for decades; we have spent more hours training together than I could begin to count. They are my most accomplished students, yet they may also be my most humble students. And I don’t think that is an accident or coincidence. In martial arts, we tell the story of a student whose cup is so full it will not hold any more tea. Through all of these years, Kevin, Jon, and Geof have all managed to keep an empty cup, space to learn, never believing that they have learned it all.

I wish them a lifetime of continued success and health.

Chris Santillo, Sensei
Potomac Kempo
Founder, Headmaster
Godan, Shihan, Master, Guru

Potomac Kempo Simpson Gibbs Jelsma Fourth Degree Black Belt

The Long Way to Belgium

The Long Way to Belgium

Our path to Belgium started a decade ago in Pennsylvania. Obviously.

One of my students was headed to a martial arts seminar in Pennsylvania. I reached out to the host, and he graciously invited me to join the roster of instructors. It was a humbling experience, and I say without reservation that I learned far more than I taught and am still a student of the host, Sensei Jeff Driscoll, Kyoshi.

While in Pennsylvania, I met another of Sensei Driscoll’s students, Sensei Bart De Backer, Shihan. He, in turn, invited me to join with the other instructors at a seminar that he hosted. Again, it was a humbling and enlightening experience to be amongst such a host of skilled martial arts professionals.

Potomac Kempo - Santillo - The Long Way to Belgium

While at Sensei De Backer’s seminar, I met Sempai Bart Matthijs, Sempai Bene Laloo, and Sensei Rik Moelaert, Renshi, who, many years later, invited me to teach at their event in Belgium this Fall. This seminar was in honor of Shinkai Kempo Karate’s Tenth Anniversary and was impeccably professional and impressively international.

Instructors from five different countries gathered to inspire students of all ranks and ages to achieve a new level of martial arts understanding. Here was a chance to interact with the larger world of martial arts and see that, even in a different country, with instructors speaking many different languages, we have a common language of martial arts principles.

In addition to being a rewarding intercultural and educational experience, this seminar was particularly memorable because I had the privilege of sharing it with Sensei Gary Covington, Sensei Geof Gibbs, and Sensei Kevin Simpson, who flew across the Atlantic for the opportunity to participate.

Potomac Kempo - Santillo - The Long Way to Belgium
Potomac Kempo Family Reunion in Belgium

Furthermore, we were all the more delighted when the host instructors invited us to guest teach Shinkai’s next evening of classes. Sensei Holly Santillo, Renshi taught the children’s classes, and I led the adult classes. What a wonderful group of enthusiastic students! It was a delight and a joy to get to work with them.

There may be many ways to get to Belgium, but the most direct way seems to be to meet people, make friends, and accept invitations. Regardless of where opportunities and invitations arise, if you have the chance to participate in such events, I encourage you to do so! Spending dedicated time immersed in the practice of martial arts, surrounded by people of similar passion, is truly fulfilling.

And you never know where it might take you!

Respectfully and gratefully,
Sensei Chris Santillo, Shihan

Potomac Kempo - Santillo - The Long Way to Belgium

Singleness of Purpose – Overcoming Life’s Obstacles Without Punching

Some people describe a punch in terms of the structure of the body that supports and projects the arm and fist. Others harken to the term “throwing a punch” and explain that a punch is led by the hand and that the body needs but to form behind it. Of course, they are both correct as far as each goes. However, I like to take a step further back, beyond the body and to the mind that initiates the idea of the punch in the first place. 

A punch begins with a thought. An intent and a target create motion from stillness. The idea propels the fist and simultaneously structures the body behind it. To the extent that the individual understands and is well practiced in the posture, skeletal alignment, and muscular fluidity necessary for a strike, the punch will come into being to fulfill the intent created by the mind. 

Singleness of Purpose - Overcoming Life's Obstacles Without Punching

If all of this sounds esoteric, that’s because it is.

But everyone who has ever practiced has had moments when a strike was better (or worse) than the physical input should have made it. Inevitably, it was the mind overplaying (or underplaying) its role that created the mismatch. 

But what about all of the moments in life when we’re not punching people?

I’m glad you asked. As you have probably noticed, there are surprisingly few problems in life that can be solved by punching. Most issues need a much more subtle approach. Luckily, there is a direct translation between the skills associated with punching that you practice in your martial arts studio and the methods appropriate to solving and overcoming the other problems and challenges that life presents you with. 

In particular, the notion that the execution of a strike is initiated by the intention in the mind and formulated through the whole being as a single unified action directly translates into daily life. In this way, when we are confronted with a difficulty—be it an assignment at work or school; an interpersonal conflict with a friend, colleague, or stranger; or a developing a legacy project—you can apply the same single-mindedness of purpose that you practice with every punch you throw.

By so doing, you align your entire being behind your purpose. You bring not just your physical body but the greatest intentions of your mind and also the formidable powers of your spirit to bear on the problem at hand. And when you do, few things can stand in your way.

Except when it doesn’t work.

It is worth pointing out—and it’s worth writing a separate blog post discussing—that it doesn’t always work. In the same way that a powerful, focused, targeted strike will not settle all physical confrontations, a direct approach will not overcome all of life’s challenges. And in those instances, it is our ability to be flexible that will help us to prevail. 

But let us leave those greater subtleties to another day. Today let us simply relish the feeling of strength that we feel when we fully align our mind, body, and spirit and appreciate how much we can accomplish when we do so.

Dojo Is Where Your Class Is

I’ve opened a number of dojos over the years. One of the exciting things about opening a new martial arts studio is seeing the time when it is just a construction site and experiencing the magical moment when it becomes a dojo.

Yesterday the painter was working in his coveralls and boots, taking his lunch break in the middle of the room. Today the carpeting is being installed by men who walk callously through the venerated keyhole doorway and don’t know what a dojo is—or that they are helping to build it. But tomorrow—tomorrow we will call it a dojo. Shoes will be shed at the door, we will all bow as we enter, and the tone inside will be focused and respectful.

So what if you’re training in your living room?

I have trained in more than a dozen countries in the world. I have trained in my own home, rented apartments, and hotel rooms. I have trained on roofs, in courtyards, and behind kitchens. Back alleys, dingy basements, and mountain tops.

I have had good classes, and I have had bad classes. But it’s never been the fault of the setting. It’s never been the lack of mats or mirrors that has dictated the quality of my class or my training. It’s the focus and respect that we bring to each class that creates a good experience for us and those around us.

We create a dojo wherever we are when we enter and conduct ourselves with a focus and respect that our training deserves. Approached with the right spirit, your living room is a dojo.

So be sure to arrive early, get warmed up, bow, and pay your proper respects. Welcome to your dojo.

Potomac Kempo - Dojo Is Where Your Class Is
The Santillo boys training with Renshi Cassie from our living room in Cambodia