Petaluma Profile: Martial Arts teacher Dan Cuthbertson

Instructor shows how to use water bottles and pens in self defense|

Behind the brick and tile facade of the former livery stables at 620 Petaluma Blvd North, Dan Cuthbertson - owner and principal teacher at the Petaluma Academy of Martial Arts (PAMA) - embodies the balances of a dedicated professional. Continuously training in both empty-hand and weapon-wielding martial arts since he was 17 years old, Dan is a master of Japanese Kenpo Karate, Filipino Latoas Escrima, and Chinese-form Tai Chi.

“The three disciplines complement each other,” Cuthbertson says, “and as you continue through the levels of training, you increasingly learn to incorporate your physical, mental and emotional states. For example, the skill levels in Kenpo are designated by the color of belt worn. The students never get bored because each belt has a different set of requirement techniques. Historically, Japanese Kenpo students started with a white belt that would darken over time to brown, and eventually to black.”

To earn the coveted Black Belt today, he explains, you will have spent the equivalent amount of time it would take to earn a Master’s Degree from a university.

“At PAMA,” he notes, “Black Belts are only awarded to those who have put in their hours, can provide a written, ten-page essay on personal development, pass classes in anatomy, display physical skills, and create their own form of Kenpo which incorporates their own self-defense techniques.”

Cuthbertson opened his first Kenpo class at a Water Street exercise studio in 1979.

“Back then, only adult men took karate classes,” he says, “but as soon as Karate Kid appeared (in 1984), kids started showing up. Now, nearly 80% of our students are girls and boys.”

Another change is the growth of self-defense classes.

“Originally, these were women-only classes, but as soon as we started offering the family self-defense option, the numbers grew,” says Cuthbertson. “We set up inexpensive family self-defense courses every two to three months, where I teach that a person’s biggest enemy is the cell phone. Instead of being aware of your surroundings - your escape scenarios-you are glued to a screen. We train how to avoid bad situations, to build body memories using your palm, hammer-hand, elbow and knee, shin kick and foot stomp. We also hand out ‘weapons’ and teach how to use them.”Those weapons? Water bottles and pens. “They love it,” he says.

During his years as a competitor, Cuthbertson suffered a number of serious injuries, but he nver lost faith in Martial arts.

“I lost faith,” he says, “in bad fathering. I was raised in a fearful household. I craved stability.”

His unhappy upbringing was a large part of how Cuthbertson’s martial arts training became a quest for a healthy father figure.

“When my body started breaking down, I searched out a tai chi master who also practiced traditional Chinese acupuncture and herbal medicine,” says Cuthbertson, who now credits yoga with saving his life. In more ways than one.

“Because of yoga, I met my wife (yoga instructor Nikki Cuthbertson), became a father, and grew to be a whole human being.”

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