Manners For The Modern Warrior - Life Skills & Self Defence

Turn your kids into polite, well mannered & helpful good citizens. Modern Warriors programs teach life skills, self defence & communication skills for kids

Having been involved in the Martial arts for the past 20 years, I started the Modern Warriors series as a way of teaching ethical and moral behaviours to martial arts students that western culture had ignored and forgotten when teaching the physical skills of martial arts.

There are currently ten books in the series, covering everything from good manners, to dealing with bullies, to learning how to do your homework in a timely manner, to understanding resilience and overcoming your circumstances to thrive and succeed.
You do not need to be doing martial arts in order to benefit from these programs, but I do believe the study of a martial art can only benefit all young people.

The programs have become so popular that I now present them to high schools and youth groups as “stand alone” courses, without the need for involvement in the martial arts.
I guess I should explain a little more about what it is I do -you might wonder what these things like “Manners” and “Modern Warriors” have to do with martial arts, and the easy answer is “nothing, and everything”

I believe we have in many ways emasculated our young men, and over-sexualised our young women, leaving them with no ideals to strive for beyond their 15 minutes of reality TV fame.
To be a Warrior is to be an honourable, and honoured, member of your community.
Using the idea of being a “Modern Warrior” – a person who is adapted to living in this space and time, using the resources they have around them to survive, and thrive, is not a new one. But teaching it to our young people, to inspire them to become leaders and role models within their peer groups, is.
It is something parents are afraid to hope for, worried their children will in some way miss out if they are expected to raise their standards or behaviour, or personal responsibility.

It became clear to me over the years that Manners were the biggest thing parents wanted their children to learn from martial arts, along with resilience and focus. What I also saw was that the competitive nature of some martial arts was creating students who were just human weapons and not Warrior-Leader-Protectors. The same applies for competitive sports of all kinds, where winning is valued over all else, and the value of good sportsmanship, teamwork and “best and fairest” is lost in the scramble to be a “winner” at all costs.

The Warrior-Leader-Protector is an ideal, but one all martial artists, should strive for. And even for those of you coming to this page without a martial arts background or involvement, these are still ideals we should hold dear. Everywhere a Warrior goes, everyone is happy that the Warrior is there. They know they will be helped, assisted, protected by the Warrior. This then is at the root of what I teach.