EXPOSED.

Martial Arts Principles Owner Speaks Out and Reveals the Raw Truth about That "Self Defense/Combat/Knife Fighting Expert" Tom Sotis.

Paul Bowman

This guy, Tom Sotis, promises all of sort of things: ethical, legal, and tactically responsible solutions to violent assaults; functional skill in the shortest interval with realistic and safe training; One set of moves to fight with any weapon (or empty handed) against any weapon (or empty hands). I’d say, “This sounds like the same hype every “Expert” is selling.” Now, I’m going to tell you the raw truth about this guy and his “secrets”.

My name is Paul Bowman. I live in Keene, NH. Just after high school I started practicing martial arts and began a passion that still burns today. Please do not get offended as I throw political correctness out the window for a moment, so I can share this story. In hindsight I would have to say that most of what I practiced for the first 15 years was retarded martial arts. Someone I respect very much put it like this: “Imagine that you walked into a martial arts school, you saw a class full of people, a bunch of stripes on the teachers black belt, and an impressive plaque on the wall. Before this, you really had no reference to what good martial arts was. You think THIS IS IT...What if this stuff was retarded and you just didn’t know any better?”  Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of smart people fall into this trap, every year. I still respect most of my teachers from back in the day. They had great intentions and like me at the time, just did not know any better. And they still taught me some great lessons.

About eight years ago, about the same time I opened up my martial arts school, Tim Barchard of Tim Barchard’s Professional Martial Arts Academy (one of the largest and most “Professional” martial art schools in the country) said, “You have to come to this knife fighting seminar. This guy, Tom Sotis is good.” I have always respected Tim’s opinion, so I went. I almost did not go because at the time, I had been respectfully telling my teachers that I wanted nothing to do with weapons. I just wanted to focus on my empty hands.

I immediately recognized that Tom’s knife skills were amazing (and that ours sucked). More important to me was how brilliant his footwork and empty hands foundation was behind that knife. I set up a series of regular seminars with Tom that continue to this day.

Soon after working with Tom on a regular basis, he showed me his curriculum. I was pissed. I had been working with “Black Belts”, “Professionals”, “Experts”, “Masters” and “Grand Masters” for 15 years. Tom’s curriculum was brilliant in the basics. It had integrity and congruency. It was prioritized, functional and complete. NOT one of the so called experts had 10% of this. If they did, they did not or did not know how to teach it. I immediately began to implement Tom’s work into my school.

Since opening my school, I have been magnificently obsessed with with bringing my students the "Best of the Best" curriculum including: health & fitness; life skills; safety; effective Martial Arts; self defense; & Fun. After 4 years at Professional Martial Arts College, 1-1/2 years at Martial Arts University, 1 year with Premier Martial Arts Group, and much self study, I would still say that Tom Sotis’ skills, understanding, and organization of martial arts, self defense, and combat are leaps and bounds above anyone that I have ever seen or worked with. Martial Arts Principles has been voted “Best of the Best” 4 years running. I owe gratitude to many people, but an especially big thanks goes to Tom Sotis. I don’t want to imagine what would have happened if I never went to that knife fighting seminar.

When any teacher or owner works with Tom, they generally go one of two ways. 1. They lack the integrity, confidence, understanding or skills to make drastic changes. or 2. They swallow hard and get busy making big changes in the best interest of everyone under their influence.

Why is Tom so different? Tom constantly travels the world teaching and LEARNING. He will learn from anyone and everyone and he puts it all to the test in some of the most dangerous  places on the planet. If someone respectfully tells him that something sucks, he says thank you and asks why. If someone gets the best of him in sparring or a fight, it is a lesson and that person is now the teacher. He looks at traditional martial arts as cultural martial arts, designed by humans (some better than others), in a certain environment, and against a certain enemy. Take those cultural arts out of that environment and change the enemy and you will find many holes. Tom realizes that we all have the same physics and same body mechanics, so within those cultural arts are principles that can be used universally. Tom has a deep understanding of how much of the martial information has been hidden, misinterpreted, or poisoned as it has been passed on through the generations. Tom knows that it is important what you teach, but more important is how you teach it and how it is practiced. Tom understands effectiveness and efficiency in combat.

If you are like most people, you have never been to a seminar like the one’s Tom teaches. It troubles Tom that most people, for many reasons, never take responsibility for their own safety. “too busy, I’ll never need it, I’m not comfortable, when I get back in shape. I can handle myself. Not another expert”  Then, the one time in their life that they will probably need it and they are not prepared.

As brilliant as it is, Tom recently came to the conclusion that his AMOK knife fighting and combatives was too scary and too much information for most people. So, he founded Personal Safety Consultants, LLC with a mission to make people safer and to reach as many people as humanly possible with his life saving lessons.

This article is just the beginning of a long list of reasons why I believe in my heart and soul that everyone (You) should investigate what Tom Sotis has to teach. What reasons do you have for NOT looking at this? And here is how easy it is: I am going to continue my ThanksGiving theme. Tom will be in Keene, NH for a Desperate Measures and Managing Knife Attacks seminar on Sunday, November 28, 2010 from 10am to 1pm. For anyone (student or non-student) that brings a guest (non-student)  I will  waive the $49 fee (already a deal) for both. Space is limited. Register Now!

By the numbers, even NH residents will probably need this once in their lifetime. If you could freeze in that moment when you needed this training and go back in time, what would you decide to do? Train or Not Train? If someone you love is in peril, this is what you want them to know.

By the way, I wasn’t paid even a penny or given anything to write this about Tom. It is just that my mission is congruent with Tom’s and if it isn’t blatantly obvious already, I want to expose as many people as possible to these priceless lessons.

Paul Bowman

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