Calasanz is a master martial artist that has spent over 30 years developing and perfecting his system of martial arts and fitness training. His unique teaching methods have helped countless men, women, and children of all shapes, sizes, and fitness levels enjoy martial arts while becoming physically fit in the process. The Calasanz System develops mind, body, and spirit as a whole. At Calasanz’s dojo, you will learn something to take home every day that will last you a lifetime. Start your training at Calasanz by calling him at (203)-847-6528, by visiting the dojo at 507 Westport Avenue, in Norwalk, Connecticut, or by checking out the website at http://www.calasanz.com/. Come on by for a free trial class.
The Calasanz System provides a diverse way to take your body, mind, and spirit through a range of experiences that forge your existence through a delicate blend of rigor and nurturing. Creating a person that is strong, healthy, calm, confidant, clear, humble, and in complete harmony with the universe around it. There is a magic to the study of martial arts. Legendary images and stories of tapping into ancient secrets of being able to achieve superhuman feats made possible by harnessing chi, the life-force of the universe. The stories are true, and that Calasanz has created a way to use them to empower your life. Start your training at Calasanzby calling him at (203)-847-6528,byvisiting the dojo at 507 Westport Avenue, in Norwalk, Connecticut, or by checking out the website at www.calasanz.com and come on by for a free trial class.
For so many years I wanted to have a system that could be so simple that students would not have problems challenging themselves at anytime, especially if they did not maintain a previous active lifestyle. I maintained students for years and showed them different styles of martial arts on top of what they were here studying, this way, after they earned their black belt; they already had the knowledge to build on those skills. I was not interested in belt rank, and I wanted to keep students involved at all times, but when they took a break and got out of shape, they lost most of their technique. Instead of being able to pick up an additional certification on top of their black belt, it would take many lessons since they stopped training. Had they continued their regimen, it may have only taken two lessons.
For example, one student said, “Calasanz, I have not been there and I want to take two weeks to get back in shape.” Since this student already had a black belt, I wanted to get specific with his training and get him some certifications on top of his black belt, which we call “Items” under the Calasanz System. My suggestion for his training was two weeks of mixed martial arts, certification in either American or recreational boxing, and part one of a Kata, which is great for getting in shape. I would have loved for him to take part one in Wing Chun but it is too slow and takes longer to get in shape unless you take part one of Chinese boxing. I told him to let me know what he prefers since there are around 700 hundred basic items, with sub-items exceeding 4000.
Before I give you another example, I have to mention Kyle. He is eight years old and is very happy to be a black belt. Once in a while, Jeff or I will ask him, “What about the next certification?” He just says, “Of course, my parents and I are all for it.” Kyle has the legs chi sau certification, and he just got the first part of Wing Chun certification. Being so young, it is exciting for him, but also it is cute to see how happy he is and how effective this program is.
Another student is a U.S. Marine named Erik, who was the first student to get 17 certifications along with his black belt. During the course for over two years, he has become one of the best qualified instructors from my school and he is getting ready to open a school in Florida which will be based on private one-on-one personal training. He is also qualified to speak and demonstrate in a martial arts seminar.
An important item we offer is boxing, both traditional American boxing and recreational boxing. Traditional American boxing is what you are accustomed to seeing on television but recreational boxing is something you would take up without having to become a competitor. Recreational boxing will make you faster, stronger, and more flexible, grounded, balanced, to get in better physical condition, and will give you the best self defense. It only takes Calasanz a half hour to give you enough self defense, to enable you in becoming capable of surviving on the street against any opponent. You could experience a thug throwing punches at you and by closing the gap, you will not get hit and you can counter at any time. The reason why is simple: the guy on the street is not a boxer and if he was a boxer, he may not have attacked you in the first place. Recreational boxing makes it easier for you to take care of yourself without getting hit and makes it easier to hurt the attacker.
Make sure you understand that if you take a half hour of boxing to learn how to defend yourself, if there is no power in your arsenal, you have not gotten the point of the exercises and that is why we also give you the responsibility to learn these exercises so you can practice them at home. Real defense means you are empowered to take care of yourself, your grounding, and your balance. These are the main tools you need in order to be successful on the street.
In boxing, there are a few techniques but it can take you many years to master them. It is similar to Wing Chun, there are few blocks, a few kicks and punches, but it requires talent, intelligence and a lot of work in order to be able to master that art.
Since I went to my first karate school, I already understood this and I did not believe in rank. I remember seeing all these ranks on a black belt, but I also remember going to one class and not coming back for about three months, and being able to develop on my own during that time. Still, I was not completely sure where I was in the martial arts. All I knew was that I understood something that they did not. During that first class, all I witnessed and experienced was brutality and I knew “martial arts” was much more than that!
Calasanz came to this country with a dream and knew what he had to do to achieve it. Coming to the U.S.was a long journey. Even though Calasanz worked at the most popular bank in his home country of the Dominican Republic, some of his earliest stories in America came while he worked at the restaurant Victoria Station. He went there and applied for a busboy position, only the chef, a Peruvian man named Carmelo was working in the kitchen, and they did not need a busboy, but rather someone to wash dishes since they were expecting 600 customers that night. Carmelo could not do everything by himself and asked Calasanz to do the work that five people would normally do since the restaurant was shorthanded. Good thing for Calasanz that he was able to understand and write in English. It was the beginning of his career in the states and he made a lot of money. During the first three months, Calasanz did almost every job in the restaurant including cooking, bussing tables, waiting tables, and soon he was the top waiter and eventually a bartender.
Calasanz never forgot a woman he met at the restaurant named Joan, who was studying to be a journalist; she was one of the most beautiful human beings he ever met. She thought Calasanz had a great personality even though his spoken English was not perfect. There was no doubt that she was any man’s dream girl. Calasanz came here with the ultimate goal of making a movie and for eight years he did not look at anyone, all Calasanz did was study and train, hoping to emulate what Bruce Lee did in this country, and felt like there was so much left to accomplish. With Joan it was different, even though he was nervous around her; it was hard not to glance in her direction.
Around this time, Calasanz was in the U.S.A. for less than one year, but was very popular already and had a body that was possibly better and stronger than Bruce Lee at his peak. Calasanz trained day and night, with two percent body fat and 135 pounds, just like Bruce. Calasanz wanted to model himself after Bruce Lee so much, that if he weighed more than that 135 pound limit, he locked himself inside a car with the heat turned up to act as a sauna to sweat off the extra weight.
Even though Calasanz does not drink, Joan once offered him a glass of red wine, so this one time, he made an exception. He could not say no because she was such an impressive and engaging woman. Personality, intelligence, humor, good character, she had it all; guys would just stare at her. Joan really saw something in Calasanz and believed he would achieve anything he set out to accomplish.
With all the hard work Calasanz had to do to get the recognition he so desired, Joan was a bright spot, she always believed in his success. If she is out there somewhere, reading this, Calasanz would like to say “Thank You” for everything.
Having good character is very important to Calasanz. He is the son of Eugenio Martinez, one of the most respectful, respected, and serious men in the Dominican Republic. Calasanz’s father raised the best 11 kids in the country and raised them all to follow his good character and respectful ways.
Another incident in the restaurant involved a manager that showed poor character involving a man who worked there as the general manager. The waitresses were very scared of him, he terrorized everyone, especially the ladies, but not when Calasanz was there. This person finally got fired for his behavior and was never to be allowed to ever enter a Victoria Station restaurant. Even though Calasanz believed this was a harsh punishment, he should not have treated people the way he did.
Calasanz enjoyed his time at Victoria Station and that is why he is sharing these stories. That company treated him very well and was a building block to get to where he is now.
Calasanz came to this country with a dream after he found out not that he was just a talented martial artist, but that he was born with this gift. During the mid 80’s Calasanz created a strong name in law enforcement by teaching police officers, security personnel, special agents, and state troopers. He taught them how to properly defend themselves and it only took one hour with Calasanz to achieve this.
His fighting style involved counter attacks and what worked on the streets, especially for women. Martial arts is a religion that people want to believe in, here is a link of this lady who is one of the strongest people you could ever meet, with hips, torso, and pelvic strength that many do not possess.
Check out this video (above), some of the comments you read are from people that do not understand these methods. Comments like, “These are pointless techniques, that will get you killed in the street,” are examples of what you will read but those that know these tactics understand that these techniques are applicable to a real life situation. This person that made those comments believe there are no “bad students,” just “bad teachers,” and that “this technique will get you killed in the streets.”
Anyone that has met Calasanz knows that he does things that not many people can do. When it comes to power, speed, flexibility, the beauty of martial arts, he does movements where others would have a hard time understanding them, all related to expressing yourself. If Bruce Lee were alive, he would have been one of those skillful martial artists that wanted to meet Calasanz.
Comment: u are a best martial arts trainer!! Anish J.
Response: Thank you for your compliment, Anish. What I originally wanted was a great scholastic career, and I earned over 25 certifications by learning languages like English, French, Italian, etc. Then I saw the movie “Enter the Dragon,” starring Bruce Lee and that was when I decided it was all I wanted to do. I came to this country with one dream, and that was to make a movie. I achieved that goal and that film is titled “Crossing the Line.” I was born to teach, I am sure that you have seen some of my videos.
Anish, one of my main goals is to help students of the martial arts, who are already martial artists or teachers. It is good to know that these skills allow me to help anyone, no matter how advanced they are. I can improve what talents they already possess. My philosophy is based on you keeping your cup full of the knowledge that you have already, together, we will fill it up with more knowledge. -Calasanz
Calasanz was born with a gift to understand martial arts because he was able to see the beauty, power, style, balance and reality of it at early years of his life. Above all else, Calasanz had the understanding that martial arts should not be primarily used for fighting purposes but as a way of life or around your life, especially when you follow its principles. Having a strong core, possessing good chi, and at the same time, the feeling of being yourself, are all possible with a martial arts background.
His system’s popularity started immediately when Calasanz began to demonstrate the reality of the martial arts, following his hero Bruce Lee. Mainly what made him recognized in a very short period of time was the beauty and style that he was able to bring to the public. Calasanz also built his name by training students to be fighters without having to be competitors.
People who train at Calasanz do so because they want to learn something that they can take home. Bruce Lee Said “I came to this world of martial arts to prove that an old tradition can be changed. Calasanz believes that you can add to an old tradition but you never can change it. If you strive to be more, if you want to be more successful than what you are, then you should train in martial arts.
Our system is based on style, logic, facts, and reality but above all else, the Calasanz System’s focuses on common sense. If you study the word “Zen,” it has a broad philosophy and trying to understand it is as difficult as trying to understand the Calasanz System. If you wanted to understand Zen, as compared to the Calasanz System, the key term of knowing what Zen is and the system is “simplicity.” The Calasanz System can be learned by someone in a few simple techniques.
Simplicity has been forgotten, mostly because martial arts have come so far in the world but it still works and is utilized in the Calasanz System. But simplicity can also be infinite, meaning you can spend two lifetimes just trying to learn the basics and the ins and outs of the system. Imagine trying to read and understand thousands of books, if you took one percent of each book you would know the meaning of the entire book. This analysis is very much like the Calasanz System, if you understand a little, you will realize that you understand much more than that.
“Siam does not teach anymore.” This is a phrase you hear in regards to ancient martial arts. Today, those older, more traditional forms have been modified, especially here in America.
Being born with a gift for martial arts, being aware of the fact that when you train in the correct martial art, you can say age does not exist, it is not just that you are working out but rather what kind of work out are you doing. If a grand master comes and sees you training, immediately they would know what kind of physical activity you participate in. If you are at a gym pumping weights, do you know that all you are doing is taking years off your life? There is a way that you can do things differently and turn your training into your best advantage. That is when we say, “Age is just a number, you can beat it.” But how many do it? Let’s makes it clear, aging occurs, you get more mature and you get older, but you can turn it around and even when you are 90 years old, you could be capable of doing anything that a 35, 40, 45 year old can do. First find the facts, find the logic, find the science, and above all else, find common sense to what you are doing.
95% of the population is not doing the right training, including those who do physically demanding work but still are not gaining much. People are going to a fitness centers, or doing martial arts are not adapting training and martial arts into their lives or as their way of life. Here comes the word, “Breathing.” Do you understand the meaning of Breathing? Probably not. If you see a karate instructor, a physically fit person, or a body builder, approach to them and touch their body or muscle, you will notice the tightness and the amount of force wasted, meaning every second that passes they are taking days, months, or years off their life span just because they are doing something that is not helping them at all. This all comes from not breathing properly. The training that they are engaged in is just hurting them but when they are young and working out, they feel good and do not notice.
All of this knowledge as you get older, become more mature, and gain more intelligence, converts into skill, then skill converts into understanding and that is when you find the answer to the phrase “Siam is not teaching anymore.” Watch the movie “Kickboxer” starring Jean Claude Van Damme and you will see a lot. When you, as a teacher of the martial arts, primarily Kung Fu, start understanding the secrets behind it, sometimes you want to pull back from making others feel better, helping them live longer and have a better life. All of this is based on the reality of life and that is, if there is not trust on your part towards these people, then it will not work. Yet, many masters still insist on hiding or preserving their secrets and pulling back from teaching, they do not feel that you deserve it and that is the real truth.
Many believe the Chinese have discovered the secret to a longer life. If you understand the beauty of life, the beauty of a longer life, then you would think otherwise. 10 years extra of life, even one year is great, you would see more of this world than you would have seen had you not lived in whatever extra time you were granted by discovering these secrets to longevity.
The reason that Calasanz became so popular and one of the most respected names in the martial arts world is because in the early 80’s he was working 24 hours a day training his guys to promote him and that is exactly what they did. They promoted and made Calasanz’s name, and not just because they looked good doing it. It was because Calasanz, together with his students, were doing the incredible and still doing it, and he does it better in the present day, in a more organized way.
My main job is to teach students to understand their bodies and themselves. When people come to our martial arts and fitness center, they will take something home with them, knowledge. But above all, it is important to teach students how to do martial arts and exercise without causing them injury. That is my primary focus in my studio.
Since day one, I have met fighters who think they can fight with anyone. When you are a well balanced martial artist, you meet students who are good fighters, but are very tight, meaning their body is not relaxed. It is not just how tight they are but it is their belief of how great a fighter they think they are. Another common problem is that people forget to breathe when fighting. You can be a tough guy when you study at a traditional school, but they will not teach you what is necessary when you actually go up against a real fighter, that in itself is completely different. You cannot trade punches with a boxer who is relaxed when you are not even breathing. You can get away with this when fighting people on the street or at your school, but to step on the ring with a competitor is a different story. Here my school we can help you with relaxation and breathing when you fight.
I had one student that studied martial arts for about six years and nobody taught him how to correctly position and relax his shoulders. It was very difficult but it took me just two hours in a private session to correct this person that was carrying this problem for nearly six years. Do you have any idea how badly you can get hurt when your shoulder rises up and gets tight immediately? Many people, especially women, have the tendency to tense up which lots of times comes from being abused or scared. This is just an example of just one thing we here at Calasanz can help you with among many others.
