White Tiger Approach

Sensei Darren uses the three pillars of discipline, awareness and organization to unlock his students from these patterns and allow them to begin re-balancing their lives. Awareness alerts us to internal and external stimuli while discipline holds us steady and calm so that we may take that moment to organize and prioritize rather than reflexively react.

The three pillars will be tested through solo practice (kata), cooperative, non-competitive partner practice (bunkai) and uncooperative, competitive partner practice (jiu kumite).

When a student begins using all three pillars of discipline, awareness and organization consistently, they begin restoring balance and extinguishing internal conflict, thereby also reducing external conflict. When a student masters these three pillars, they will find more peace, balance and joy in their lives as well as maintain a sense of vigilance capable of staving off the negatives and seizing all of life’s positives.

Isshin Kempo

We practice a traditional Okinawan karate (as popularized by Hollywood in the original 1984 Karate Kid movie) called Isshin Kempo. Literally, these words mean ‘one heart/mind’ and ‘clasped hand’, but Sensei Darren expresses this as “the direction of one’s heart and mind is firmly within one’s grasp.”

Historically, Okinawa is considered the birthplace of modern day karate. This martial system was created by farmers in order to fend off invading Japanese samurai. Isshin Kempo is a direct descendant of Isshinryu, an art unique to Okinawa. Isshinryu was founded by Master Tatsuo Shimabuku in the mid 1950s. Isshin Kempo’s kata today still mirror the traditional Isshinryu kata handed down to us by Tatsuo Shimabuku over 60 years ago.

In the 1970s, after returning Marines had propagated the art in the United States, W. Scott Russell expanded Isshinryu’s horizons through his unique physical training methods and philosophical approach. In 2000, Shifu Goedecke, founder of the Wind School and noted author on the martial arts, picked up where Sensei Russell left off and furthered the inquiry into the ‘how’ the martial arts were developed and ‘why’ they are still very relevant today.

Today, Sensei Darren continues to teach the Isshin Kempo system in Berkeley Heights, NJ, where he holds classes 6 days a week to a thriving student body.