About Paul
In 2014, Paul founded the Kali Center brand and community. This choice was solely based on emails he was receiving from individuals (for about 2 years) all around the world expressing their interest and desire to learn the art of Kali, but had no access to a teacher, school, or training.
He thought, “I can’t be the only one these people have been contacting for the past two years to learn Kali. If no one else is up to the task in servicing these people, then I will step up and create the best service.”
Paul’s Story
It all began at 6 years old when Paul stepped into his first martial arts class. At 15, he was first introduced to the art of Escrima (Kali, Arnis). Since day one, he was hooked and has never looked back. Over the decades, Paul has learned from and trained with many teachers, not just in Filipino Martial Arts but across many martial arts, in search of answers to ever-evolving questions. Some of these notable teachers across the board have been Roy Harris, Tim Waid, Matt Numrich, Nik Farooqui, Paul Vunak, Shawn Knapp, Dustin Keith, Ki Oh Change, Jim Dinella, and a number of others.
In 2009, Paul was promoted to Head Instructor at Elite Defense Systems in Chicago, IL. This school was founded and led by Paul’s teacher, Matt Numrich. This was a “Street Fighting” school that specialized in Jeet Kune Do, Filipino Martial Arts, and Grappling. At the end of 2011, Paul branched out to open his own school in the Chicagoland area called RFA Martial Academy, where the focus was to Require Further Achievement through the practice of Kali. This eventually evolved into Kali Center.
Nowadays, Paul lives off-grid in the deep south of Georgia, where he is currently solo building his home and gardens.
“I believe in living a life with full intention and to gain the deepest experience of what it means to be human and wild.”
In a recent Livestream, Paul talked about why he now rejects all the “certifications and authorizations” he received over the years in his martial arts and physical culture education.
In any and all of my martial arts certifications…
I was never taught anatomy of the body, yet I was teaching how to destroy it.
I was never taught anything about athletics, yet I was teaching people how to push their physical performance.
I learned from many “senior instructors” who had forgotten important details of their art and curriculum. Sometimes they even had forgotten their curriculum all together.”
I learned through observations of behaviors that “being a student first,” is actually a lie to most teachers."
I learned that majority of “Certifications” are about profits and fame through signature rather than integrity of the art and its practice.
“I learned from and observed so many teachers across many professions with the intention of building the most effective approach to teaching others of all personality types. Teaching is not a one-size-fits-all program. I’ve witnessed too much injury in people who learned from “Certified” martial arts teachers, injuries that should never have occurred in the first place if martial arts teachers were actually taught how to teach.”
His Teaching Belief
The thing that is most important isn’t how I’m remembered, nor if I’m remembered at all. It’s not the world giving me credit where credit is due. What matters most is the truth in the art and practice of Kali. The skill transfer and rich effect it has on the lives of the people you share time and the art with.
The art doesn’t survive through me. It doesn’t survive through you. It survives through time, memory and remembering. It survives through practice and the practice of truth.
What Kali is to Paul
I do not prescribe to pontificating what I believe onto others. Understand this is my expression in what I believe through my own experiences in this practice.
I don’t actually use the term “Kali” in the meaning of Filipino Martial Arts. I use it in the etomology of the word which means… “the fullness of time.”
In observance through training and living, I believe in what I call the “Great System,” proof that the world, universe and time were designed by something higher and greater than myself. When you hear the language and see the math, the physics, the process of logic and experience this time and time again across all the terrain you witness this in, it is hard not to feel and believe in something ultimate.