Challenge Of A Lifetime: A Ten Year Martial Arts Mastery Program

By Christopher Caile

Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming, one of the most celebrated and respected masters of Chinese martial and healing arts today, has issued a bold and audacious challenge.  It also represents a career opportunity.

Dr, Yang is looking for about 15 dedicated volunteers from around the world for a 10-year full-time total immersion program of the study of Chinese martial, meditation and energy arts together with academic courses. Training will take place at a newly-created YMAA California Retreat Center, located on 240 acres of remote forest.

The length and depth of training roughly equals a Ph.D. path in an institution of higher education, but instead of high college tuition, students accepted into Dr. Yang’s program will be given full scholarships.  Graduates of the program will be awarded a Masters Degree in Traditional Chinese Martial Arts.  The training will outfit graduates with the physical, educational and language skills to be outstanding teachers and educators in their field.

“The goal is to preserve and transmit in-depth Martial Arts and Qigong (Chi Kung) knowledge to a new generation of teachers,” says Dr. Yang. “We hope to raise the standard of Chinese martial arts training in the West and train future teachers. Not only will they have the highest levels of skill, but the discipline of training will also instill morality, humility and spirituality qualities in initiates. This way we can help restore the level of Chinese martial arts seen years ago.”

Yang’s Students during practice at the retreat center.

Training will be conducted directly under Master Yang, including Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan (taijiquan), White Crane, Chin Na and Shaolin Long Fist Kung Fu, and meditation. There will be extensive training in the Chinese art of energy, or Qigong, used both in martial arts and as part of Traditional Chinese Medicine healing arts. The curriculum also includes history, theory, teaching skills, creative capacity, writing, martial morality (Wu De), financial management and business planning, Chinese language and culture, English literature and writing. In the later years of the program, other masters will be invited to pass on knowledge of their own martial styles, such as Baguazhang and Xingyiquan.

The program requires dedication and commitment. Training will be conducted nine months a year for 10 years. This program parallels similar academic calendars of colleges and universities. The education, however, is specialized in the Chinese Arts, culture and language, although other academic courses will be offered.

Students will live in a similar environment as in ancient times. “Students used to train and live together with a Master for an extended length of time, training in his style for many years and absorbing his knowledge,” says Dr. Yang. There will be no TV, computers, or external distractions, no outside social pressures and luxuries will be minimal.  “The idea is to perfect a model which demonstrates the possibility and method for preserving Martial Arts. In the process we can plant the seed for a future generation of teachers and masters who will follow the correct path.” Graduating students will be encouraged to go on to establish their own training centers, and continue to offer the intensive training experience of the Retreat Center.

The students selected for this program will be selected from worldwide applicants including those drawn from YMAA (Yang’s Martial Arts Assoc.) schools currently active in 18 countries. Applicants should be men, 17-22, in great physical condition and willing to dedicate themselves
completely to the training for 10 years.

Dr. Yang and the Retreat Center staff are accepting and reviewing applications throughout 2007. Complete applicant information can be found at: http://www.ymaa.com/retreat-center.

Participants will not be charged for tuition, lodging or meals. Instead, costs will be covered by contributors through donations to the non-profit YMAA CA Retreat Center. Instead, students will annually accumulate a security deposit loan as collateral, to ensure their completion of the program. If a student quits early or is asked to leave, he forfeits the loan, and is required to pay for the training he received. However, this security loan is refunded entirely to all students upon graduation. This collateral is to ensure that Dr. Yang does not waste his efforts in his last ten years of teaching. He does not have a second chance to spend ten years transmitting his knowledge.

Dr. Yang chose an isolated training area in the mountains for training, because in modern society life and attention are too fragmented. “Even my dedicated students can’t find the time and focus to fully learn the depth of their arts,“ says Dr. Yang. “China is the same way.  Even today, ancient knowledge is all but lost.”

Dr. Yang acknowledges that Hollywood Kung Fu portrayed in TV and movies has popularized the martial arts. But at the same time Hollywood Kung Fu has also commercialized the martial arts. “What has been lost is not only martial morality, but self- discipline and spiritual development.”

Dr. Yang shows off a solar panels that convert the Sun’s energy into electricity at the YMAA Retreat Center.

“We will live simply and train hard, away from the distracting factors of the modern lifestyle,” states Dr. Yang. “This way I can pass my knowledge down directly and fully so these arts can be preserved and will continue to develop.”

Dr. Yang established the YMAA CA Retreat Center in 2005 with the goal of raising the standard of the traditional Chinese Martial Arts. It will be supported through grants and contributions. Contributions and a substantial investment by Dr. Yang of over $200,000 is funding construction of facilities including two gyms, lodging, cafeteria and a training field. Construction will be completed before training begins in August 2008.

Total funding for the 10-year project is projected to be upwards of $5 million.  Individuals or institutions wishing to make financial contributions can contact Project Manager David Silver (617 953-3318 or dsilver@ymaa.com), and visit http://www.ymaa-retreatcenter.org.

Preserving the traditional Chinese arts and their spiritual components has been a long time dream of Dr. Yang; something he is committed to for the rest of his life. Another related project of Dr. Yang is to establish a Qigong Public Research Foundation. Its goal is to translate ancient Qigong documents, and promote Qigong healing arts and spiritual cultivation in the West.

Dr. Yang was born in Taiwan and started his training at the age of 15  under Master Cheng, Gen-Gsao in White Crane Kung Fu. Master Cheng encouraged him to study Yang style Tai Chi Chuan under Master Kao Tao in order to heal an ulcer.  He also learned Shaolin Long Fist style with Li, Mao-Ching, now a Grandmaster, who still attends annual YMAA Summer Camps to oversee the training. Dr. Yang’s training included barehand sequences, push hands, chin na, weapons, massage, meditation and Qigong. At 18 years of age Dr. Yang entered Tamkang University in Taipei to study physics, later to become a physics professor. In 1974 he came to the United States as a student and achieved a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University. In 1982 Dr. Yang established Yang’s Martial Arts Association in Boston with the goal of passing on the Traditional Chinese Arts that he learned from his own masters.

Dr. Yang has been the subject of hundreds of articles in various martial arts publications. He has also published many books, videos and DVDs about his martial arts and qigong and his works have been translated into many languages. Throughout the year, he travels extensively, teaching through his association of more than 55 YMAA International Schools in 18 countries, and in various seminars.

Author’s Note: Dr. Yang’s 10-year training program is a once in a lifetime opportunity. He is one of the most skilled and ablest teachers in martial arts today. The depth of his understanding of Chinese martial arts and qigong is remarkable. To write this article and a follow-up interview I was invited by YMAA to meet and train with Dr. Yang over several weekends in New York, New Jersey and Boston in Chin Na and White Crane Kung Fu.  I was very impressed with his skill and knowledge. Those students who are lucky enough to be selected for his program will get a unique and highly skilled in-depth training that will serve them for a lifetime.

About the Author Christopher Caile

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Christopher Caile is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of FightingArts.com. He has been a student of the martial arts for over 65 years.

He first started in judo while in college. Then he added karate as a student of Phil Koeppel in 1959 studying Kempo and Wado-Ryu karate. He later added Shotokan Karate where he was promoted to brown belt and taught beginner classes. In 1960 while living in Finland, Caile introduced karate to that country and placed fourth in that nation’s first national judo tournament.

Wanting to further his karate studies, Caile then hitch hiked from Finland to Japan traveling through Scandinavia, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia — living on 25 cents a day and often sleeping outside.

Arriving in Japan (1962), Caile was introduced to Mas Oyama and his fledgling full contact Kyokushinkai Karate by Donn Draeger, the famous martial artist and historian. Donn also housed him with several other senior international judo practitioners. Donn became Caile’s martial arts mentor, coaching him in judo and introducing him to Shinto Muso-ryu under Takaji Shimizu.

Caile studied at Oyama’s honbu dojo and also at Kenji Kurosaki’s second Tokyo Kyokushinkai dojo. In his first day in class Oyama asked Caile to teach English to his chief instructor, Tadashi Nakamura. They have been friends ever since. Caile also participated in Oyama’s masterwork book, “This Is Karate.”

Caile left Japan with his black belt and designation as Branch Chief, the first in the US to have had extensive training in Japan directly under Oyama Sensei. As such, Oyama Sensei asked him to be his representative on visits to his US dojos to report on their status.

A little over a year later, Nakamura, Kusosaki and Akio Fujihira won an epic David vs. Goliath challenge match against Thailand’s professional Muay Thai Boxers in Bangkok, Thailand, thrusting Kyolushinkai and Nakamura into national prominence.

Back in the US Caile taught Kyokushinkai karate in Peoria, Il while in college and later in Washington, DC. while in graduate school. Durimg this time Shihan Nakamura had moved to New York City to head Kyokushinkai’s North American Operation.

In 1976 when Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura formed the World Seido Karate organization, Caile followed. Living then in Buffalo, NY, Caile taught Seido karate and self-defense at the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo) for over 15 years where he also frequently lectured on martial arts and Zen in courses on Japanese culture.

Caile moved to New York City in 1999 to marry Jackie Veit. He is now an 8th degree black belt, Hanshi, training in Seido Karate’s Westchester, NY Johshin Honzan (Spiritual Center) dojo. In Seido Caile is known for his teaching of and seminars on kata applications. He also produced a 14 segment video series on Pinan kata Bunkai currently available to Seido members.

Caile is also a long-time student and Shihan in Aikido. He studied in Buffalo, under Mike Hawley Shihan, and then under Wadokai Aikido’s founder, the late Roy Suenaka (uchi deshi under Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido and was Shihan under Tohei Sensei). In karate, Suenaka (8thdan) was also an in-house student of the Okinawan karate master Hohan Soken.

Having moved to New York City, Caile in 2000 founded this martial arts educational website, FightingArts.com. Twenty-five years later, in 2025, it underwent a major update and revision.

For FightingArts.com and other publications Caile wrote hundreds of articles on karate, martial arts, Japanese art, Chinese Medicine and edited a book on Zen. He also developed relationships with a cross section of leading martial arts teachers. Over the last four decades he has conducted extensive private research into karate and martial arts including private translations of the once secret Okinawan hand copied and passed on Kung Fu book, the Bubishi, as well as an early karate book by the karate master Kenwa Mabuni. He periodically returns to Japan and Okinawa to continue his studies and participate Seido karate events. In Tokyo he practiced (with Roy Suenaka Sensei) in a variety of aikido organizations with their founders – including private interviews and practices at the Aiki-kai Aikido Honbu dojo with the son and grandson of aikido’s founder, Doshu (headmaster) Kisshomaru (an old uchi-deshi friend) and his son, Moriteru Ueshiba and in Iwama with Morihiro Saito. On Okinawa he studied Goju Ryu karate under Eiichi Miyazato, 10th dan founder of Naha’s Jundokan, and also with Yoshitaka Taira (who later formed his own organization, who specialized in kata Bunkai. While there Caile also trained with Hohan Soken’s senior student, Master Fusei Kise, 10 dan as well as with the grandson of the legendary karate master Anko Itosu.

Caile’s other martial arts experience includes: Diato-ryu Aikijujitsu and Kenjitsu, kobudo, boxing, Muay Thai, MMA, Kali (empty hand, knife and bolo), study of old Okinawan Shoran-ryu & Tomari body mechanics, study of old Okinawan kata under Richard Kim, study of close quarter defense and combat, including knife and gun defenses, Kyusho Jitsu and several Chinese fighting arts including 8 Star Praying Mantis, Pak Mei (White Eyebrow), and a private family system of Kung Fu.

Caile is also a student of Zen as well as a long-term student of one branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chi Kung (Qigong). As one of two senior disciples of Chi Kung master Dr. Shen (M.D., Ph.D.) Caile was certified to teach and practice. This led to Caile’s founding of the The Chi Kung Healing Institute on Grand Island, NY. In Western NY, he also frequently held Chi Kung seminars, including at SUNY Buffalo and at the famous Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, NY. His articles on Chi Kung also appeared in the Holistic Health Journal and in several books on alternative medicine.

Caile holds a BA in International Studies from Bradley University and MA in International Relations with a specialty in South and Southeast Asia from American University in Washington, D.C. While in Buffalo, NY he also studied digital and analog electronics.

In his professional life Caile also worked in public relations and as a newspaper reporter and photographer. Earlier he worked in the field of telecommunications including Managing a Buffalo, NY sales and service branch for ITT. He then founded his own private telephone company. This was followed by creation of an electrical engineering company that designed and patented his concept for a new type of low-cost small business telephone system (which was eventually sold to Bell South). The company also did contract work for Kodak and the US space program. Simultaneously Caile designed and manufactured a unique break-apart portable pontoon boat.

Most recently Caile co-founded an internet software company. Its products include software suites with AI capability for control and management of streaming media, such as video and music, an all-in-one book publishing software product for hardcover, eBook and audio book creation and security software for buildings and government use.

For more details about Christopher Caile’s martial arts, work experience and life profile, see the About section in the footer of this site.