2005 was a difficult year. The business
I started 13 years before was essentially ejected from its
location and my wife and I didn’t know what to do next. In
1992 I started a gym in West Hollywood, California and began
to explore the fusion of martial arts and fitness in a new
context. I wanted to merge the eastern arts – rich in
philosophical value with western sports science. In this gym
I tested the concepts and curriculum, met my wife and
launched a separate martial arts school within the facility.
I was fortunate enough to train many celebrities and expose
a western audience to some of the eastern values I held so
close to my heart.
However, in 2005 one chapter closed and another opened. At
the time I was terribly disappointed in the turn of events
that transpired. The martial arts school within the West
Hollywood gym was getting too big for the facility to hold.
My wife and I were told that we would have the option of
purchasing the gym from the owner or “get out”. When we
tried to buy the facility we were given an outlandish price,
which was far beyond reason, so we had no real choice but to
leave.
Around the year 2000, my wife and I developed a concept and
wrote a business plan for a facility that merged eastern
tradition and western technology. We wanted to create a
facility where participants integrated mind, body and spirit
in a positive environment with like-minded people. And we
wanted our connection to the eastern traditions to be as
authentic as possible.
In 2005 while all of these issues were arising with the gym,
I was searching for a Taoist teacher and had received
multiple recommendations. I had been a professor at UCLA for
10 years specializing in eastern philosophy, kinesthetic
learning strategies and martial arts – so I was no stranger
to the eastern wisdom traditions. As I explored the
recommendations, I also decided to perform an internet
search to see if anything came up in the Los Angeles area.
The first site that came up was www.taoism.net which is the
site of the I Kuan Tao Temple in El Monte, CA. I looked at
the schedule and saw there was an English speaking class the
following Sunday. That weekend my wife and I visited for the
first time. After attending the first class we were invited
to participate in the ritual, and were initiated immediately
afterward.
My wife and I were both raised Roman Catholic but had felt
no real connection to the religion for some time. I felt the
limitations and restrictions – particularly those which
implied Catholicism was the only path to God, couldn’t
possibly be valid. When I heard the philosophy of the Tao –
the ultimate source and how it can be expressed in many
ways, across cultural boundaries I felt an innate sense of
truth. My wife is Native American – she felt the Tao
philosophy closely paralleled the path of the indigenous
people of the Americas. This is why we chose to be initiated
so quickly after coming to the temple.
As I mentioned before, 2005 was a turning point. We moved
out of the facility I started 13 years before. The concept
we developed in 2000 of a center devoted to the merger of
eastern tradition and western sports science was high on our
agenda. We hired consultants and put a substantial
investment into the development of a business plan to launch
the facility. After shopping the plan to multiple investors
we finally came across an investor from India who was quite
receptive to the idea. We had a series of meetings with he
and his board members and were told that his attorneys would
be drawing up papers to finalize the deal. A week later we
were informed that he had decided to fund a motion picture
instead of our facility.
At this point I felt defeated. We live about 30 miles north
of Los Angeles in a suburb called Santa Clarita. In 2007,
with nowhere to go, we decided to open a small studio (1360
square feet) a short distance from our house. I continued to
teach at UCLA and work with the other students in West
Hollywood at another gym – and started over - it was my
wife, four walls and I. The only students we had were a few
friends of our children who played sports together.
The Masters from I Kuan Tao came to our small facility and
gave us a custom painted and framed image of “Tao” and a
statue of Guan Gong. They gave a blessing, wished us the
best of luck and Master William even offered business advice
and reduced printing costs to help the start up business.
In 2008 the USA went into the worst recession in the
country’s history. Despite the economy’s terrible downturn,
our little studio continued to slowly build students. By
2012 we had outgrown our current facility and were looking
to expand to a slightly larger space. We initially looked
around to rent additional square footage and were not having
any luck. My wife suggested purchasing a property, but I
hesitated because we really didn’t have the money to invest
in ownership of a building.
One afternoon at the temple, Master William sat down with me
and asked how we were doing. After listening to our story,
he told us that he felt it would be wise to look into
purchasing a property. I told him that we didn’t have enough
money to purchase, but he insisted that it would be to our
advantage to move forward and we would find a way. That gave
me the confidence to find creative ways to move ahead. Now I
must say, that my wife intuitively knew this before – and I
ignored her, so I think there’s a lesson to be learned for
me as well…
I decided to gather about 10 friends and students together
to see if they would be interested in creating a
partnership. Several members of the group were very
interested, but then one particular student stepped forward.
This student said that he and his family would like to fund
the entire project for a percentage of ownership. In my
experience, that type of angel investor doesn’t come along
very often.
We went from looking for a 3000 - 5000 sq. ft. space. After
looking at multiple buildings we suddenly found a 10,500
square foot building that was nearly the same price as the
5000 sq. ft. buildings we’d been looking at.
This wasn’t nearly the end of our journey. We went through
so many issues with banks, and loans and construction! It
took nearly two years to find a building, get financing and
complete construction.
In April 2014 we opened Ekata Training Center, a 12,500
square foot facility dedicated to merging the worlds of
ancient eastern tradition with western sports science. We
offer all forms of movement training from Jeet Kune Do, to
Muay Thai, to Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, to Qi Gong. We offer
acupuncture, massage, child-care and even a study hall with
free tutoring. We also have a juice bar that serves
vegetarian snacks and drinks. Our mission statement is as
follows:
Our mission is fuse ancient tradition with science and
technology. We empower our members through physical
expression thus opening the gateway to spiritual and mental
health.
But I’ve saved the best for last. Since 2005, I’ve become
close friends with our English-speaking teacher at the
temple, Derek Lin. Through Derek’s selfless guidance and
recommendations, I’ve structured the entire facility to be
an authentic Tao center. Derek even came up with the name –
Ekata, which means “Oneness” in Sanskrit. He and I have
conversed through countless emails as I developed the
concepts and curriculum that we now implement at the
facility. While the facility is entirely secular, the lesson
plans I’ve developed to teach character training for the
children are based on the “Principles of I Kuan Tao” because
these universal guidelines appeal to everyone regardless of
their religious affiliation.
The Masters and members of the temple even gave us the
ultimate gift – a shrine. This shrine is where all
meditation is taught. We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive
response. We are not attempting religious conversion, but
sharing principles that appeal to a western audience. Our
western society is fraught with aggression, stress and fear.
I feel our new approach to fitness and well-being might be
an instrumental method by which principles of the true Tao
might be introduced in a non-threatening manner.
We’ve always felt that it was important to have an authentic
connection to the Tao teachings. This is why my wife and I
were initiated to the temple and began to study the Tao with
our Masters. We believe that bringing this authentic
connection to Western society through our fitness center
will increase interest in the teachings and help us
integrate these practices into western life.
In 2013 we held a traditional Chinese groundbreaking
ceremony with the help of temple members. It was a wonderful
day, and many of our students and friends attended. Everyone
enjoyed the ceremony, and then celebrated with traditional
Chinese vegetarian food that was prepared by our friends at
the temple.
In preparation for the opening of our facility, my wife and
I took the Ching Ko ritual with Master Joseph Chen. We had
both been vegetarian for some time, but the ceremony
formalized our vegetarianism and prepared us to become
owners of the shrine.
Grand Master Chen named our shrine “Chuan Chang” which means
“the flourishing totality”. (The physical, mental and
spiritual aspects of life) This is the perfect name for our
shrine because our facility is designed to teach not only
the physical aspects of health but how to improve the
connection between the mind, spirit and the corporeal body,
thus strengthening the jing, chi and shen.
On the day of the shrine opening, temple members worked with
us to prepare all of the items needed for ceremony. Our
friends from the temple brought absolutely everything that
was needed to install the shrine, including the beautiful Mu
light. Master William Kuo gave us implements for the shrine
opening ceremony that he brought all the way back from
Taiwan.
Master Joseph Chen officiated the Shrine Opening Ritual.
Derek Lin provided a lecture about the Tao during the
ritual. Once the ceremony concluded six people decided to go
through the Tao initiation. I was very happy that six people
who really knew nothing about the Tao felt so connected to
this universal truth; so much so that they went through the
initiation immediately.
Of course without our temple friends we could have never
conducted such a beautiful and joyous celebration. We
believe this was the start of a wonderful opportunity to
share Tao teachings with citizens in our community.
Master William told us that when I Kuan Tao started in
China, a martial artist was instrumental in the growth of
the movement on the mainland. We hope to provide the same
catalyst in the US. There has been a wide acceptance of
“mindfulness” practice to abate stress and improve health.
We feel that by providing a family based series of
activities that incorporate eastern health practices,
philosophy, western science and universal spirituality we
can help bridge the worlds of east and west.
Our journey is far from over. We opened this facility in an
area that is very politically conservative. While Taoist
philosophy is not well known here, we hope that the
universal themes of family, compassion and service to others
will help our efforts to flourish in Santa Clarita, and move
beyond the boundaries of our single location. My wife and I
believe that if this area in the US is receptive to the Tao
message, it will be received equally well in other areas
around the country.
So in closing, we owe a great debt to I Kuan Tao, the
Masters and our great friends Derek and Janice Lin. We’re so
pleased that we have found other like-minded individuals
with whom we can share this path. And we thank all those
sages who have come before us from which we can learn these
valuable lessons.
