I grew up in a small town called Vriddhachalam in Southern part of India in a typical Indian middle-class family. My dad was working hard to provide us the most needed things like shelter, food, clothes, education etc. and my mom is a home maker who looked after us. I’ve two younger sisters and they are grown up now and have their own families. Like any Indian middle-class family, I was taught to believe that education was only the means to survive better in life and I put everything of myself into it. I studied hard and got a seat in prestigious engineering college in 1999 but I was weak physically, mentally and spiritually. I needed something which could make me strong. So, for the first time in my life in 1999, I started showing serious interest in something (Martial arts) other than education. I never thought this is going to be significant part (or way) of my life.

During my college days, I started learning Martial Arts in Japanese Style ShitoRyu under the guidance of Master Devaraj from 1999. I started learning karate in Aug-1999 and got my first black belt in May-2003. I was practicing in that style for more than 7 years. Martial arts made me strong both mentally and physically. It gave me immense joy and energy. Life has started becoming fresh and interesting. I participated in many karate tournaments in India and I met many karate instructors there. They all had something in common. They appeared very strong and lively. I learnt several techniques and attended many tournaments. I had very rich experience which I cherish always but I didn’t have clear purpose and connection between life and art.

I joined an IT job in 2003 in Chennai and my financial wellbeing started growing up. But I didn’t know about myself and I had lot of questions about everything in life. I attended lot of popular yoga guru’s workshops and listened to lot of spiritual discourses. That didn’t help much.

I came to Fremont, CA in 2007 for an onsite trip and started looking for martial arts studio for training. I met Master Bell in Healing Arts Center, Fremont and he looked Very Graceful, Balanced, Strong, Tall and Handsome. He asked me simple questions like “How are you? What are you looking for? Etc.” and meeting him was a profound experience by itself. I somehow got the inside connection that this person can help me in my life. I started training in Tang Soo Do with him from March 2007 and I started to understand more about myself. Master Bell revealed me the inner spiritual aspects of Martial arts and taught me the strong philosophy along with the art. Each single movement in the art is practiced with Mind-Body-Spirit balance concept. I begin to become centered on myself which gave me stability, balance, clarity and peace. I understood the connection between the life and the art. It is more than punching, kicking, doing some forms or breaking boards. It is a beautiful system to elevate the human consciousness or awareness about oneself and about life.

Martial arts remain as a myth to most of the people in the world. People see that as all about developing fighting skills, participating in tournaments and getting stronger physically-mentally. Most of the schools promote the same. Martial arts is a way of life. Getting a black belt shouldn’t be just an accomplishment. Rather it signifies the personal growth.

After training with Master Bell, I learned about myself through the art. The art helps me to explore profound purpose of my being. The art is strategically in tuned to life. After years of training in marital arts, I learned the tools to elevate myself to very balanced place within myself, a way to deal with day-to-day challenges, in a nutshell a way to live gracefully and teach the same to the people. 

Apart from martial arts, Master Bell also taught me Yoga and Chi Kung which complement each other. With deep stretches in yoga, the mind-body-spirit comes together in a beautiful balance and I experience profound peace and my inner self.

Chi Kung is the profound system to become aware of the life energy and to rejuvenate one's energy to maintain inner harmony. After started practicing Chi Kung, I became very aware on my habits like eating, sleeping, breathing and thinking. And, I became conscious of my conversation with people around me.

Through these healing arts, I studied my own human makeup and other human behaviors in an experiential way. My character has become lot stronger in terms of Integrity, Honesty, Humility, Discipline, Peacefulness, Well Balanced, Loving & Caring, Patience & Tolerance, being Responsible for all my choices in my life. My perspective towards life changed a lot. I learnt to look at big picture of my life and learnt to look inside myself to find solutions for the life situations. My life has become very simple through a systematic way of living. I became very productive at my work. My relationships with my family and friends have become realistic and stable. I learnt to share my love, happiness and clarity with them.

Today as a 4^th degree blackbelt with more than 21 years of experience in martial arts, I’ve come to my best place so far in my life – 38 years old, a trained human being, and knowing my roles in life as husband, son, brother, teacher, manager and being responsible, committed to all the roles and choices makes my life more Purposeful and Meaningful. After several years of training with Master Bell, I moved back to Chennai, India in August 2019. People started to reach out to me for Clarity, Wisdom, Peace etc like the same way I reached out to Master Bell. I’m looking forward to sharing these Healing arts to build a Stronger community.