10th Degree Black Belt Zen-Do-Kai Karate
8th Degree Kru Kick Boxing
4th Dan ki fusion Aikido
1st Degree Black Belt BJJ
Trains in Systema and Krav Maga
As a career Martial Artist, my journey has been long and full of self development.
For many of the forty eight years of my training, I travelled and embraced the physical path. My primary style of Martial Arts, Zen Do Kai, reflected this. However, this is because I practised this Art form on a superficial level only.
As I grew in maturity as a Martial Artist, I became increasingly aware that I was lacking in certain areas. The conundrum was that I was not sure for what I was looking. The search for further depth in my Art form was accelerated by a gradual reduction in my physical strength. Yet as my physical strength gradually diminished, my spirit grew.
I found what I was searching for in the teachings of Sensei Mal McRae. Here was the completeness I sought. Mal is an exponent of the Art form of Aikido unlike any other I have encountered in Australia. He embodies the rare and precious element of softness in Martial Arts. He truly fuses the hard and soft together in the most complete and devastating way. It is this ability that I yearn to emulate.
I was always known as a Hard Man of Martial Arts. For the first thirty years or so of my Martial Arts Journey I blindly pursued the Hard Way. Kick Harder, Hit Harder and Train my Body Harder. These were my mantras and I lived by them. I thrived on this way of thinking until little by little wear and tear on my body made me reassess my original thinking that the Hard Way was the only way.
As my journey started to take a different path I was lucky enough to begin Master Classes with Mal. Mal is a true Master of the Art of Aikido, and I was very quickly able to see that under his tuition the Soft Way of Aikido is stronger, harder and more durable than my train harder mantra.
I cannot recommend more highly Mal as a teacher of Aikido and cannot emphasise enough the value of Aikido in this part of my journey as a Martial Artist. The soft way will help sustain me for the remaining part of the journey as I go full circle.