Episode 238 - Grand Master Mark Shuey
Grand Master Mark Shuey is a martial arts practitioner from California. He is the creator of the American Cane System.
I learned in martial arts, it wasn't being tough. There's a lot more to it about maturity, taking care of the family, taking care of yourself...
Grand Master Mark Shuey - Episode 238
Martial arts is a path many take when they want to learn self-defense and protect yourself from aggressors. This is definitely not the path Grand Master Mark Shuey was taking when he first started martial arts. Grand Master Shuey was a weightlifter, wrestler and wasn’t always known for being a pacifist. He started with Chuck Norris' system and from that point, his journey as a martial artist was solidified, in not only winning championships but also creating his own cane system. Grand Master Shuey truly had an adventurous ride, but it was worth it. Listen to the story of tough-guy-turned-martial-artist, Grand Master Mark Shuey.
Show Notes
Grand Master Mark Shuey
Movie - Enter the DragonActors - Steven Seagal, Chuck NorrisToday we mentioned the past episode with Damion LupoOn today's episode, we mentioned Pat Johnson, Ernie Reyes, learning yoga in Hawaii, Tom Callos, Bill Wallace, Chuck Norris, Don Wilson & Joe Lewis.Links from Grand Master Mark Shuey:https://www.facebook.com/groups/CaneMastersCommunityCaneMastersDojo.comCaneMasters.comCanemasters Phone number - 800-422-2263
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below or download here.
Hey there. This is episode 238 of whistlekick Martial Arts Radio. And today, I'm going to be joined by Grandmaster Mark Shuey, the cane master. If you're new to the show, I wanna welcome you, thank you for tuning in, thank you for giving us your time. My name is Jeremy Lesniak, I'm the host here in martial arts radio. I'm also the founder of whistlekick sparring gear and apparel, we make some great stuff including sparring gear and we're always coming out with fun, functional, apparel. Sweatshirts, sweat pants, tees, some other cool stuff. If you're new, you might want to check out our boots. It's kinda of what we've become known for, we don’t do it strap under the toe, double reinforcement, better quality foam, a more durable yet flexible coating, really, we just took everything that wasn't working with boots and we fixed it. we got them at a great price, and you can check those out at whistlekick.com that’s the best place to find everything we've got going on, from our calendar site to tons of stuffs. check out whistlekick.com you can check out the show notes for this, or any other episode, any of the 237 episodes that we have at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. Our guest today is a pretty special guy, he was in the army, he was a former weight lifter, wrestler, and now, he's best known as the guy behind the American cane system, you may know him as the cane master. He is Grandmaster Mark Shuey, a martial arts practitioner who specializes in using the cane as martial arts weapon. He has been through rough stuff, you know, as a kid, and even face some challenges as an adult and were gonna talk about a lot of that today. And on today's episode, we hear not only about Grandmaster Shuey, and how he found the martial arts and how it changed his life, we're gonna hear about how he became such a strong proponent of the cane, and even how yoga fits into his life. It's not a common trilogy of those three, martial arts, canes and yoga,1 but for Grandmaster Shuey, it really couldn’t have gone any other way. So, let’s welcome him to the show.Master Shuey, welcome to whistlekickMartialArtsRadio
Mark Shuey:
Thank you so much Jeremy, I'm proud to be here.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hey I am proud to have you here. I'm proud that we've created something that would attract you. I think a lot of folks out there are gonna know who you are and I think there maybe another good contingent that knows who you are but maybe not by name and I know we'll get into that, we're gonna go on a ride today talk about a lot of different things. The best way to start is the way that you started, the way we all started. How did you originally become a martial artist?
Mark Shuey:
Being a hardcore martial artist you might say, when I got to the army I used to work out quite a bit with weights. I was 00:46 in junior college and in high school and I went I was working out 00:54 and I wanted one day to work out and everybody 00:57 and that's not what I work out for, so I was with a friend of mine and we decided to look into the martial arts. This is back in 69 or so, 69 70 and we went to find a dojo and ended up with one in Tarzana that was just close to my house, Tarzana California and with Chuck Norris system so I started out the Chuck Norris system back there and that's what's got me into the martial arts back then that it was called tang soo do. So I stayed with the Norris system for about 8 years, got my black belt and then had main man I studied under there are a couple of them 01:39 Neil Citron and Neil was branching out and he went to some other stuff with the Hapkido and Taekwondo so I started doing some Taekwondo then went down into Hapkido so that's all of my stuff is obviously Korean background but that's sort of got me in which is not wanna be a weight lifter any longer and do something that would give me some good exercise and I can learn something.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And of course, you're not the only person to have that initial poll into the martial arts for those reasons but not everyone stay. Obviously, the martial arts is not the easiest physical pursuit, it's not the easiest way to sculpt your body, there's a lot more to it. Why did you stick around?
Mark Shuey:
I don't know 02:27 first three months and then I started to like it I was you know I was when I was a kid I was 02:32 and I have never been on the ground all my hands and knees 02:36 out of me and kids were having a good laugh and he was kinda pushy then I just sat there and say I'm never gonna let this happen to me again and I was lucky cause my best friend’s Dad wears golden gloves so he taught me how to box and I don't know how deep you want me to go into this but I started boxing with him every day having fun and then one day I'm away to Junior high a bully picked on me and I'm with my buddy who I was boxing with and he's picking on me and this guy's name is 03:06 do something I said I wanna fight, I wanna fight 03:10 . Anyway, a block and a punch later he was on the ground and I kinda had fun and I started fighting back cause back in my day of school when you got into a fight you went to the alley and caught some of the teachers that are watching. So 03:25 school grounds they were happy and then after a fight we'd shake hands become best friends and it was awkward. So, I did a lot of fighting in junior high, just for fun and then when I got out of the army and I started up with the Norris system out of Tarzana and then went over to the main 03:42 that time who has Mr. Norris' and his movies career back then so I didn't see much of him but I surely learned a lot.
Jeremy Lesniak:
The idea of fighting for fun or the idea for fighting for anything other than exact self-defense as something that might be a little bit foreign to some of our younger listeners or even older listeners that grow up in different areas with different values.
Mark Shuey:
Well I just wouldn't get bullied I wouldn't let anybody pick on me and when you are out there having fun and there's always somebody 04:19 who wants to see if they could beat the other guy who's supposed to be tough. So, I did a lot of fighting in the 7th grade to 9th grade. What stopped me from fighting I think I was in the 11th grade and I got to a fight with a gentleman he chose me off we went out to the alley there and I hit him and he had a seizure of some kind. I thought I killed the guy, he was down 04:43 dead fish and I just get the hell out of me I stopped fighting. I didn't do any fighting after that expect for, when I had to and it made me know that I could hurt people fighting, I don't like hurting people but I don't like being hurt myself. So, I pretty much slowed down my just fighting for fun you know in the alleys with the guys around school.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Is he okay? Ultimately?
Mark Shuey:
Yeah, he was fine yeah. I'm not exactly sure what he had, he had that 5 minutes later he got up and then they carried him off in the nurse's office and he's fine the next day so he just had a seizure of some kind.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Mark Shuey:
That was 05:20 me let me tell you.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What, when you talk about jumping into martial arts you know with a background in boxing and I'm sure you got some sort of combatives when you are in the army you mentioned feeling like a fish out of water. What was it because for a lot of people coming into the martial arts they don't even have that amount of background?
Mark Shuey:
Well I never won at a flexibility, I had none. I mean I had to, putting my feet, 2 feet apart hurt and my first goal was to get flexible which I did. I was 05:55 years old I can do the full splits 3 ways, so I'm, I stay flexible and learning all those the block martial arts style and especially the kicks to do a good kick people don't realize that to do a good kick you gotta use your hips and you gotta use your foot you gotta place your hips in the right position. There's a lot of stuff mechanically wise you know in the body you have to know to throw a good kick. That some of the teachers don't even teach the kids properly. They don't tell these people to turn their foot, get their hip involved and it was just a totally different thing than boxing for me cause you didn't get to use your feet in boxing besides for dancing around so it was a totally different thing using my feet, and learning how to kick and learning how to kick high because I was not flexible. I was a runner, a wrestler and a swimmer but not a kicker, that's for sure.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Did that change? Did you become...
Mark Shuey:
Oh yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
primarily a kicker?
Mark Shuey:
Yeah, I've I definitely wanna do a kicking 06:54 and I fell in love with it. Once I learned how to use my hip and get these you know when I kick the bag it would go up halfway hold on a second 07:05 sorry about that but I would kick the bag and then when I had to learn how to turn my hips that extra half inch and get a full slamming there and the bag will go up and hit the ceiling and I'm going wow this is nice. So, I learned how to kick properly and I could kick somebody in the head without a problem after you know two and a half years of getting into the full splits. So, kicking was a game because you know just like Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do was the same thing back in the old days I think they had two masters that have a little problem, they separated but so they're both pretty much identical except for their forms are a little bit different. So, Taekwondo and Tang Soo Do are pretty close to each other you know I think 07:46 the katas we did and I just fell in love with it. I hated katas which is kinda funny because when I failed my red belt test not doing it properly the whole thing is because my kata, because my red belt test I was fighting one of Pat Johnson's private students and he was you know 3 or 4 inches taller than me and I was training up on the mat with him and he passed the test and I failed. I almost dropped out of the martial arts but then he goes came by to my shop and we talked, we were good friends and I got went back in martial arts and I've been doing it for 55 years now.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know it, we don't talk a lot about those failed belt tests or maybe those major stumbles but I mean when I look back on mine.
Mark Shuey:
No go ahead, I wasn't gonna say something go ahead.
Jeremy Lesniak:
When I look back on the times that I stumbled, those were the points in my martial arts education or I guess anytime I stumbled in life, it's from those that I feel like I learned the most.
Mark Shuey:
Oh, you gotta learn something, I mean look at Einstein he failed twenty-five hundred times making the light bulb or whatever he made, he yeah failing is a growing 09:04 for someone. I try not to fail that's for sure, that's where my heart is but every once in a while, fail cause that happens so 09:12
Jeremy Lesniak:
What did you learn from your failed red belt tests?
Mark Shuey:
Well I learned that martial arts wasn't about being tough, there's a lot more to it, about maturity, taking care of the family, taking care of yourself, it wasn't just about how tough you were and of course I got into promoting tournaments with Tom Callos and Ernie Reyes and learned a lot more after I got my black belt I mean it's the martial arts is quite a trip you know most people probably 90% they get their first black belt and they think they're a black belt, that's just the basic, they become a master of basics I mean they're just starting to learn and if they'd stay around a little bit longer it's just you know a great trip for me. I mean like picking up this cane which amazed me because after researching it and the cane being one of the oldest weapons 10:06 there was no system on 10:07 cane and I found my niche. So, martial arts has a lot of surprises I had to 10:16 30 weeks 10:16 now around mostly doing seminars to people we do a 10:20 veterans, project we work on it called the lawyer cane project and but the martial arts has taken me a trip that I can't believe I just my life is wonderful.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well I'm sure of that and I know we're gonna hear more, we're gonna hear more about the cane and the system that you've developed and your offerings as we move through. Here on martial arts stories, it's all about stories I love hearing stories and even if all of the listeners don't love the stories though I suspect that they do, I love hearing them.
Mark Shuey:
Well interesting most of them. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah and that's really why we have the format of the show that we do is to encourage storytelling, what's your favorite martial arts story from your past?
Mark Shuey:
Oh story, martial arts story you know I don't know if it's a story but a growing career in the martial arts for me cause I thought I was doing pretty good, I was doing tournaments okay and stuff and then I was going through a divorce in my life and I ended up in Hawaii and I learned yoga, yoga changed my entire martial arts career, it made me balanced, it made me sturdy, it made me flexible and at the same time I was taking up the cane. I had only been in the martial arts about 20 years at that time and you know when I first had to do the cane back when I went for my third-degree black belt in hapkido cause like everybody else my instructor walked in with a cane and I thought he got hurt and I said what's wrong then he really wipe me on the mat for about a half hour I figured out that he didn't have any problems the cane was actually a tool in the martial arts. Anyway, getting back to my yoga, I became very flexible in more ways than one, a very focused and I became very strong it was all from the martial arts I mean that's all from the yoga that I learned and I was doing yoga about 8 hours a day 7 days a week for 6 months and it changed my martial arts because I became strong and flexible and I learned how to do more mind setting. When you set your mind to do something you can do it. Just like when I set my mind for the doing tournaments with the cane, I mean that was pretty hard to beat 12:47 and for 4 years I was number 1 and about 4 or 5 different organizations for karate tournaments and I was to do katas and I hated katas as I told you I failed my red belts test on doing katas, 13:03 like them and here I have what over 12 world or national first place titles in katas, open hand and empty hand, 13:13 empty hand and full hand but that's my story is that what changed my life in the martial arts is learning yoga.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Jumping into yoga isn’t something that's new, I mean plenty of people have done it and there's certainly have some overlap between yoga and martial arts. We've even have guests on the show who have blended martial arts and yoga into kind of this hybrid style that they instruct now. But if I'm, if I've got the timeline right yoga wasn't quite big yet and you jumped in you know 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, you jumped in with not just both feet but both feet had the hands and everything in between, what happened I mean you mentioned you know going through some personal challenges but how was it that that resonated with you so strongly. Most people don't do anything 8 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Mark Shuey:
Well, I was got woke up one morning and my back was killing me I had to crawl, I crawled to the bathroom and suddenly got up. Saw some doctors, doctors wanted to operate, I was going through a lot of stress in my life as I said you know divorce and stuff and I didn't realize what 14:28 all the stress was but yeah like I said the doctors wanted to operate and I'm going I don't want to have be operated on so I traveled around and then I finally ended up I mean I went to Germany talked to doctors over there, talked to the ones around here, acupunctures, nothing was helping and I finally was got into a yoga camp over in Hawaii and after 5 weeks of this yoga camp all of my pain was gone. I didn't have any more pain and then as that cause that where I got all my world and national titles with the cane and then the yoga just took me out of pain I could walk I could stand up straight. I didn't had to be a I didn't have to have an operation so yoga saved me about 10 years until I got hit by a drunk driver and I have nuts and bolts in my back but and the yoga's helped me again go and get through all these BS 15:17. But putting yoga in with the martial arts is necessary, some of these teachers just 15:25 years ago 15:27 stretchings or warm ups they just right into techniques and stuff but now when I teach you've got a good the class is an hour and a half long you got 45 minutes of stretching and then the rest is going for techniques and stuff. The stretching is so important for your health number 1, less injuries number 2 and things you know being able to put your leg with other people who don't think it's gonna get that high.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right the idea of being able to maintain your body means you can maintain your practice, you can continue on in your development of your technique with less regression I agree with you, flexibility conditioning is so greatly undervalued in many martial arts schools.
Mark Shuey:
It is and it's so important, just for health I mean it amazes me that there are schools don't have yoga or some kind of stretching program in our elementary and junior highs and high school. I mean the last thing they think about nowadays is physical education and it is so important cause you have to do it your whole life to stay young, to stay in shape you have to exercise. We look at this country now I mean was it 50% obesity?Jeremy Lesniak:
60
Mark Shuey:
It's crazy out there yeah. I would say you're probably right. Sitting on these airports when I help people 16:39 through the door and you have to sit next to somebody who's taken up half your seat but yeah it exercise is so so important and stretching is more important because it keeps your 16:51 flowing I mean I have 16:54 in sick maybe 2 days 16:55 15 years cause I do the 16:58 the yoga was this breathing exercises. I do one that's called belly bouncing where you massage all of your internal organs through breathing and it's amazing stuff and it just keeps you healthy.
Jeremy Lesniak:
For sure, cool stuff and folks out there who are listening you know I there are a lot of different kinds of yoga and I'm sure there's one out there that even if you don't enjoy it in a way.
Mark Shuey:
When I started there was only like 7 different kinds now they got like the martial arts 17:27 turns around and gets a new martial art out there was just kind of 17:30 too.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's right
.Mark Shuey:
And you have more 17:31 out there than I know when I started, notices a third degree, now that's five thousand 10th degree is just getting silly in my opinion.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I wanna go back a second, there's this paradox here and I don't if you've seen it listeners, I don't know if you're hearing it but this notion that you at the same time or roughly the same time in your life you go from some physical issues in to yoga, rehabilitate yourself come out feeling better but then you go to a cane as a weapon and to me there's this interesting kinda paradox almost a contradiction there, is that something you've observed I'm guessing I'm not the first one.
Mark Shuey:
Well about 90 I would say 90% of the population doesn't even know the change of weapon. The hardest person to sell a cane to is a senior, they think your cane makes them a 18:31. So the cane is a, you might wanna call it a secret weapon, that when I first started teaching that I can't 18:38 harmony, masters and GMs and the Korean artists are telling me that I shouldn't be teaching the cane and it's 18:44 say it was too hard for the kid, people to understand I say hey it's a stick but a nice 18:49 on the end but anyway yeah it's well I've been doing this 22 years now I probably hit maybe 50 or 20% of the schools they just they can't picture what the cane can do and it's a medical device and as long as you stick in your head that it's a medical device you can carry it anywhere in the world and they can't even ask you why you have it because 19:13 your personal problems health problems are nobody's business 19:19 so you can carry that cane anywhere. Of course, I tell my students that they're gonna get serious about the cane, have your doctor write you a prescription for one. The reason that being you don't really need one but if you get in a situation you get a prosecutor that's a jerk I mean they can say well he's got this cane and you're practicing martial arts so you turn this medical device to a weapon and when you have a prescription you say I'm sorry but I need this cane and then here's the prescription and doctors will give you prescription because if they don't give you prescription and you fall down who's liable? So, it's easy to get a prescription and I just think it's a smart idea just in case you do get into a situation where you have to use it, there's be no repercussions from the illegal side of it in my opinion and
Jeremy Lesniak:
I am certainly not an expert or even, I wouldn't even call myself a novice in using the cane but I have advocated for people to explore it as a weapon. We've talked about it on this show because there's I can't speak to the regulations outside the united states but within the US it is the only martial arts weapon we have that is federally supported. Everything else we do is prohibited, this is federally supported as being able to be carried anywhere.
Mark Shuey:
Oh, all the countries I mean I go to Europe all the time and I had no problems. I, you carry a case around with 4 canes, really nice canes in my case 20:47 and I mean especially in Northern England I mean they question you about all this stuff getting on the plane, they say what have you got there and I said canes and they just pass right by it like it was nothing and it's you know you can get a cane going over 250 miles an hour in a half a second's time. It is a hell of a tool and then you'd have they can't 21:09 because if somebody takes your cane from you at security and you tripped and fall they're liable, they've got a problem. I was in a court room, here's a martial arts story for you. I was in a court room justifying and the judge says what do you do and I said sir I'm a professional martial artist, he goes really what do you teach? and I say I had my cane on the table where I was you know up front there and I said I teach people how to use a cane for self-defense and he goes really and the three security guards inside the courtroom walked over to me wanted to pick the cane 21:42 start walking away and I said I hope I don't fall sir cause you'll be in a lawsuit. He looked at the judge the judge smiled and put the cane back on my table. So, the cane is a medical device and everybody recognizes it and they have a lot of things saying well you have all those you know 22:00 and stuff on there. I have an exercise in with the cane so 22:04 I call them sharp teeth and when I'm in front of security I call them 22:10 for my exercises 22:12 for my exercises then which is true it also makes a great back stretcher so I have the other I had the ideas through all these whole things I put on the canes and then they all have a reason why they there medically and physically so I have no problem get my canes through in the airport. I've never been hassled anywhere in the world and I have traveled to Asia to Canada, I have not been to Australia yes and I'm working on that but I'll be going to Europe again next year 22:41 through the UK and there as long as you tell people it is a medical device and you have balance issues or your sore ankle or whatever it happens to be, you can carry that cane anywhere you want. Once you say oh it's for self-defense it's no longer a cane it's no longer a medical device, it's a weapon. So that's the first thing I install into my students’ brain is you never if anything besides this thing is helping you get around, does that make sense to you?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Absolutely and hopefully it's making sense to everybody out there it's I forget who explained the concept of the cane to me but once I heard it and you know very much what you're saying now, it kinda blew my mind cause there's nothing else out there like it.
Mark Shuey:
You're right, you maybe right. When I sat down and discovered the cane I was 23:32 my brother in Palm Springs and this is what got me started into it and the weekend I was there 3 ladies over the age of 65 were brutally attacked, two of them had canes 23:41 have in their hand. So I started researching it so I want to get a good fighting cane I couldn't find anybody 23:47 fighting canes and I was at that time I was a general contractor 23:51 employees so don't know if I was doing okay but I said well I'd make the cane and then I started to make cane and I started playing with and I said well maybe I can make these canes 24:01 and I started doing really good in the tournament circuits and then one guy comes up to me and goes how can I become a cane master and I said Jesus that's a good question so I had to revise a cane system so three years later I had the complete system and then we revised the system so now we have belt 24:22 all the way up to 10th degree black, it's recognized in most countries around the world and I'm just having fun out there but this it’s so hard to get the cane out to the general public because they think it's a crutch and they think it makes them look old or it makes them look weak and after when you do a class with me within a half hour most people one of the funniest thing is one of the veterans we 24:46 I could put a hundred dollar bill on my pocket to be able to see it and I'm gonna go walk in the park tonight, test this cane out. So, it's I mean it's a hell of a tool and there are thousands of techniques just 26 different ways to hold the cane, so and each one different way to hold the cane you can do different techniques with it so it’s a hell of a tool.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It certainly is. It's pretty clear to anybody listening right now that you're passionate about the martial arts, you're passionate about sharing what you know is there time and space in your life for non-martial arts things? Are there hobbies, are there, is there anything that draws your attention away?
Mark Shuey:
I love to hike, I live in Lake Tahoe which is God's country and I trying to hike 3 of 4 days a week for a few hours cause it's good for you and the views are breath taking so I'd say that would be my number one thing 25:39 and I swear 25:41 just got back from swimming so I try to swim 3 to 4 days a week just to stay healthy and in shape but the martial arts number 1 that's for sure and then I hike, when I hike I take my dogs with me and my kid's dog and everybody else at least I have around 4 dogs when I go hiking so nobody bothers me. Of course, when you hiked around here, very seldom do I 26:04 with people don't know about I mean is I can leave my back door and go all the way to Reno which is about a 25-mile hike and I wouldn't see another house 26:13 the right direction. So, I just love to hike I love to look at the beauty of things. Hobbies I collect coins, I’ve been doing that since I was 12 and going out and I do enjoy food, if I didn't exercise I'd weigh 500 pounds. I do like to enjoy good food and the lady that I'm with, Lyn she's probably one of the best cooks in the world. She used to have a catering service.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well that's a good company.
Mark Shuey:
So, I do know how to eat 26:47 exercising is so important 26:49 to keep you healthy.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure
Mark Shuey:
And keep you young, that's what keeps you young, is exercising.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What's your favorite meal that Lyn cooks? What's your favorite meal of hers?
Mark Shuey:
I don't know I, she just I walk, I'm looking into the refrigerator and go Christ you got nothing to eat in this refrigerator we gotta go out tonight and she goes no we don't and she’ll sit down and make some kind of stuff and put all these ingredients in and it's just delicious but she's amazing at doing that I can't talk right now. And anything she cooks is good I'm a steak man myself I like the barbecue, so I try to barbecue 3 or 4 days a week all different kinds of meats but her favorite dish got she got so many I can’t nail it down to just one sorry about that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's quite alright I will make you, I won't sit on you and make you do that. You told us a little bit about challenging time you know your divorce and how that lead you to yoga so maybe we'll talk about this time maybe we'll talk about another time but one of the things I love when talking to martial arts is how they use their martial arts whether it's the physical practice or the mental practice as they go through difficult times. I'd like you to tell us about a time in your life that things weren't going well and how you were able to use your martial arts to get through it.
Mark Shuey:
Well then were going right back to the major divorce that I was in and it was I mean it was terrible she went to 5 attorneys and I ended up trying to get out of here and that's when I decided to go to Hawaii and I just started doing yoga and as I said I had yoga 8 hours day was true but I also spend another four hours a day picking up the cane that's when I first picked up the cane back in the early 90s and I started fighting with that and just not having to think about what my personal life was doing all my because at that time I have 11 houses etc. etc. and 29:03 it was still falling apart and I just got totally into martial arts and totally into yoga and that's just probably the best thing I ever did for myself cause I'm they say if you have a job that you're in love with you don't work a day in your life and that is so true cause I mean I travel 30 weeks a year, here and there all around the United States and you kinda get invited overseas and not one day a week do I ever work it's all fun and I'm having a blast. So, I don't know if I explained that very well but it just kept me busy, kept me exercising the fact I went over there in three months I didn't even know it when I lost 35 pounds and I thought I was in good shape when I went out there. So, I was you know they try to get me to be a vegetarian the yoga camp that I was in you're not allowed to have meat there oh I would sneak maybe one day a week and I used to love Korean food so I'd sneak off to Korean barbecues and stuff but living for about 6 months on very little meat and lots of vegetables was good but I love meat so I had to get back to it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yoga and vegetarianism does seem to go well together, I'm not sure why but you know the 2 have been married up for quite a long time.
Mark Shuey:
Yeah, it's I have one lady cause I drink coffee she said that I wasn't a yogi I said well let's go through a little work out here and she couldn't do anything at all and she said but she just had because I drink coffee I'm not a yogi I said you know tea's got caffeine in there I just like coffee but better than I like tea so it's silly some of these with these yogis I call them think about in fact we've had some I've never going over to Tom Callos you probably heard of him. We went to a studio he was in Hawaii and I went over there and he hired a lady to come and do yoga and the lady came in to the dojo and she looked around and she goes I'm sorry the energy here is bad I can't teach yoga in this building like bullshit this to me is a total joke and in my 31:10 he's not that the dojo's energy is 31:15 But, so I'm not a full-fledged yogi per se but I do yoga every day.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, you're a yogi who drinks coffee and eat steak
Mark Shuey:
That's it
Jeremy Lesniak:
And I think that's just as someone who doesn't eat steak I see no problem with you eating steak.
Mark Shuey:
Well thank you.
Jeremy Lesniak:
My opinion means I absolutely jacked but you know I'll still offer it.
Mark Shuey:
Yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
If I was to ask you who the most influential person on your martial arts has been, who would that be?
Mark Shuey:
Influential person, one who helped me was Ron Balas he dies last year he was great. We would sit and talk for hours, he was a hell of a martial artist. He was you know a veteran for the Korean war and stuff. He taught me a lot of stuff just his memory going through that. As far as anybody who slapped me in the face as being a mentor or stuff I guess it would've been I had to say, Master Norris because I best the school that I started and he is the 32:28 of his schools, he's the one that got me into the martial arts and so and one of my teachers Harold Gross and Neil Citron they were very big influences on me and I guess going to a few of a Bill Wallace's turn cause I mean I know Bill really well and have been you know friends for over 30 years and he taught me how to give good stretching seminars and make it fun so I guess it's not one person, it was a group of people that helped me get through this martial arts, those were the ones.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And now if you could train with somebody that wasn't in that list, somebody you've never trained with and they can be anywhere in the world, they can even be passed away, who would you have wanted to train with? Or who would you I mean they could still be alive and there's still an opportunity?
Mark Shuey:
I mean I like working out with Erik Lee, we're very good friends too, Erik Lee, Don the Dragon, he's hell of a martial artist, God you know you go down the list there's so many, there's so many that are good and they're all, they all have their little secrets. That what I love about teaching the cane you go to different schools, you get a little bit of taste of every martial artist got a little bit of different twist to it and stuff and they're all a little different and they're all good. So, going out to one person that would, I would go work out with I can't say one, I had to you know put a few in there even you know Mike DePasquale he's great 34:20 stuff I love the Wallace system, Lewis, Joe Lewis was excellent, I only got to do a few of his seminars, he was amazing fighter so I have, you know I 've done so many different seminars with people in the last 30 years, it's all good I can't decide, just can't pick out one person though cause they all have a little 34:50.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's quite alright, the way you answer the questions even if there are complete departures for what I ask tells us a lot and that's okay that's why I love this format. You mentioned competition, you mentioned about competing, doing the forms with the cane, were you doing other things, were you fighting in tournaments? Tell us about your competitive time.
Mark Shuey:
It's funny I was definitely a fighter, cause that's what you know Norris' system is all about was fighting, he did have katas in the system but I always didn't catch on to the katas, and I'd love the I was a fighter I did fighting in the late 70s or early 80s and then what got me into katas was the cane and I started doing a few katas you know bo katas and nun chucks a little bit of that stuff and then when I got the cane in my hand I just totally changed and it was amazing and the one who really got me into the cane was my son, Mark Jr and he got me doing it after I started doing it with Master Neil Citron, he was the first one that taught me the techniques about the cane and then I just I went the cane was on me and that's I was I got known now as the cane master and I just I fell in love with the cane and I'm here on this planet this is my job and to get the cane out to people and that's what I do. I'm gonna tell you a weird story that's strange I told a few people but I was in my back yard this is 20 years ago making the cane for a customer, and it was 11:30 at night and I wasn't drinking or smoking and this light came over me and told me that's where I was here for was to get the cane out to people. At that time, I got told 36:44 with 91 employees and I paid attention and then it scared the hell out of me and I don't know if being scared is the right word but it slapped me right in the face and I 100% into the cane from that time on. I got all my men, till I had 37:00 in construction I got them all a new job and I just started doing martial arts in canes that was it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It can be difficult for a lot of people to believe to swallow stories like that but that's what makes them powerful and even if.
Mark Shuey:
Well it's 37:18 I mean I'm not religious, I'm very spiritual but I'm not religious at all so it would have been with that light came over to me it did get slap me in the face and I did 37:30 to it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah well if it was a common occurrence it probably wouldn't have changed your life, you know if a dog walks by and poops on your front yard that's probably not gonna change your life, but if you've never seen a dog before if they don't exist in your world well that's a significant thing and what your describing to me is the same thing, it's something that's powerful because it's unbelievable.
Mark Shuey:
Yeah it was definitely powerful and that's I have been doing the cane 100% ever since that day.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Are there any...
Mark Shuey:
Yeah go ahead
Jeremy Lesniak:
Are there any memorable students, any stories from teaching people cane that come to mind comical stories, or serious stories, did anybody do anything remarkable while you were working with them?
Mark Shuey:
Well there's one gentlemen his name is Michael Patterson, when I've met him over the phone I was just about to leave and he was at Florida, he was the chief of I think it's 38:35 county 38:36 and he wanted to get he didn't do anything about the cane at that time and I talked him into a gentleman's cane he was doing some school stuff he had some projects he had to do with his work and he fell in love with the cane too and he has done an amazing gentleman game that came out they're all over Florida and part of North Carolina. He is teaching police departments with their little thing called cane sue and it's kind of a beginnings of the cane to wake up people 39:16 cane is not a crutch and he's teaching police departments and the police departments are going around and they've only done 5 so far but this is on our agenda to do a lot more but he teaches the police departments, the police departments are going to 39:30 and they're teaching seniors how to protect themselves with a cane because they're being attacked out there, left and right 39:38 nowadays because there's knock out game they have going on the stuff but they think someone as vulnerable especially if they have a cane in hand you'd look at people that haven't taken my class that walk with a cane most of the time their heads looking down and they're not moving very fast and after they do one of my classes their heads' up straight and looking around cause they are now aware and it's a whole different process but I'm not losing my track here but Michael Patterson has been teaching police departments and fire departments and he's taken the whole state of Florida in turning it around and then and doing an amazing job teach the cane to government type employees and waking them all up, let them know the cane is not a crutch.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's great.
Mark Shuey:
So, Michael Patterson I would say I gotta attack him on the back he's gonna, a great person 40:35 I have a lot of students out there that are doing a great job. I have some physical therapist, they are doing the cane and they're teaching it to their patients because 40:48 and I've mentioned before about the lawyer cane project we have, we give the warrior kid, they have to be a veteran and we give them a custom wood cane that would sell over the internet for over 200 dollars, they get one for free and then they go out and teach them anywhere in the United States 41:09 groups of 25 and we 41:12 we give them 3 hours of training with the cane all for free and we fly out there for free but yeah they have groups like I say of 25 but getting that project, the man who started that project was Tom Foreman he is the one hell of a gentleman. He is a little guy about 6 foot 5 41:30 275 pounds but he's the one that started the warrior cane project and he's helped over 850 veterans so Tom Foreman has to put in there, he has started a project out that has helped so many people. It's amazing what he's done for veterans especially and anybody else he runs into. So those are two big names that's really helped our cane masters 41:56 they get out there and help people.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's great, I'm seeing more and more people step up, companies step up and offer their support to veterans directly or through other organizations. There's a lot of good work that martial arts and martial artists are doing for people all over the world in all types but I think for many of us there's a particularly soft place in our heart maybe I shouldn't speak for others I could speak for myself. I know that it really resonates for me when I see folks working with veterans because I think I never served but it's a group that I think is ignored at times.
Mark Shuey:
It isn't, when you teach 42:38 and you get them out there and they're wondering why they're there when they come over there and then within half hour you can see there, there's light come back in their eyes and they've got a smile on their face and they understand that the crutches they're carrying around is no longer a crutch, it's a billy club with a meat hook anywhere in the world and learning how to use it it's not hard it's not rocket science it's only a stick but there's so many things you can do with that stick.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay, billy club with a meat hook, I love it, I love it. Are you at all a fan of martial arts movies? 43:19
Mark Shuey:
I know I guess Enter the Dragon everybody's watching that one. Steven Seagal I think he comes out with some good movies, he hasn't been around lately yes but and of course Chuck Norris, it's funny cause when he first started some of his movies are pretty silly but when he got to the Texas Rangers stuff he did that very very well so, do I like some bunch of martial arts movies, yes and no it depends. I don't watch too much TV anymore, I just stay away from it and I'm here in making canes or trying to teach it to a lot of users.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Or eating delicious food, or hiking.
Mark Shuey:
Oh, that too, you gotta eat 44:01 something delicious
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's right completely agree.
Mark Shuey:
Yeah, I might 44:08 as making canes and you know it's amazing how many different ways when you can make a cane work and so you know all the cane start out the same as like the human body everybody looking a little different, the same thing with canes and but I've also started 44:23 look my website you can design your own cane. So, I give you a whole bunch of different options and I would say probably 80% of the canes that I sell now are designed by the customer.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh cool.
Mark Shuey:
I help them design it of course and they now you don't have to walk around with a piece of aluminum crap that makes them look old they walk around with a nice custom wood cane that they've designed and that I have put together for them and that has really made my job a lot more fun because these people will get the ideas and they kinda design the cane that fits them perfectly and it's happened when most people have to use a cane they have to use it for the rest of their life. So why walk around with aluminum, thing that makes you look you know 45:05 anyway to a nice piece that a lot of people say it's a worked art. So, making the canes and then teaching people how to use them has really changed my life and then nothing but positiveness.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We've talked a lot about the cane, we've talked a lot about why it's important to you and even some outside validation for the cane. But as you look forward you know over the next however many years whether you're gonna choose to keep teaching people about the cane, what are your goals, is there you mentioned 15-20% of schools is there a number of schools you're trying to reach or a number of people you're trying to teach?
Mark Shuey:
Well the reason now I'm trying to get canes also in the hospitals. The most hospitals they hand that person the cane and say hey learn how to live, they don't even tell which side 46:00 cause that's hard to do cause every injury is a little bit different so you can't 46:04 like everybody has to carry a little bit different but I'd like to see especially seniors you know that 30% of seniors over the age of 70 that fall died fi they would've carried the cane they'd still be alive? 30% and another figure that is 46:22 of me is over 40 % of women in the United states are attacked. I was talking to a couple of FBI ladies last month out of when I was in New York and they say that 40% is probably a low number, they say it's close to the 50% of women who are attacked and the cane I just wanna get it out there and let people know that it's not a crutch it can save your life if you have a balance issue, I even have balancing exercises so I was teaching in the hospital one day and I just for some reason my brain said ask this question I said how many of you people are having balance issues, every single one of them raised their hand. So, my goal is to get the cane and get it exercised just in to the hospital so people understand the cane's not a crutch, it doesn't make them look older in fact it empowers them. So that's that then I'll probably doing until the day I drop. I can't talk I'm on the phone. Okay. So that's my goal is to get the cane in to the hospitals and of course into the martial arts studios to help them train people so I can't do it all myself. In fact, with my system I just gonna use my cane 47:44 is there's an umbrella and think that people can 47:49 their own way of teaching and use their own name and just use the umbrella other than the American cane system as long as they give me a little bit of credit for showing them how to swing a cane, that's all I ask for. Just get the cane out there and let people know it is not a crutch.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh
Mark Shuey:
Because we've got 10,000 people a day turning 65 for the next 14 years the cane's coming and we need to get people out there to teach them and going back to schools when you started teaching the cane to a senior, most seniors have kids and grandkids and they see what's going on in your dojo and they bring their grandkids over so it's a win win situation when you get into the cane but the cane isn't a fancy tool so a lot of schools just stay away from it and they shouldn't, they should be getting into it cause they start making the you know making a family fun night, exercising and doing cane work at your local dojos.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, I can certainly attest to seeing more and more people using the cane in the weapons divisions at the tournaments that we attend and exhibit at or I referee at. It's growing and not just in the older divisions.
Mark Shuey:
That's good to hear.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm seeing more children.
Mark Shuey:
Back in my day I was yeah there's very few doing the cane when I was out there back in the late 90s I think my 4 years and I competed probably 45 weekends a year.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Wow
Mark Shuey:
That maybe went up to about 3 or 4 different guys with the cane, very very little cane you saw 49:22 I haven't done too much tournaments 49:27 to my back it's I just haven't done 49:30 it's not like it used to be so I just kinda stay away from them.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And without getting into details we can talk offline if you prefer but I know that at least some of those folks that I see are using the cane because of you I know how it all tracks back and I know that it tracks back to you so you are having an impact I know that for certain.
Mark Shuey:
Well I'm glad I am I don't know for sure, I just know that I'm doing the everyday I'm just trying to get the cane out there to new people so they realize it's not a crutch and what's happening overseas especially when one of our presidents made it a giving rewards for kidnapping back into the play he needs to carry himself nowadays it's crazy out there and I wouldn't know anything here you can carry legally as the cane so I'm surprised that more people aren't doing it. But most people don't realize how nasty that cane can be.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right this is a great time to tell people more about your company cane masters and what you're offering and what people will find and where to find it and all that, commercial time we call it, so why don't you give us a bit of that.
Mark Shuey:
Oh well, a couple of things I just opened up a virtual dojo it's called cane master dojo and the address of that is canemasterdojo.com and my name website is canemasters.com and we've had this been up for over 20 years so it's pretty big and extensive and they move into the warrior cane project, if you know veterans, if you can get a group of 25 veterans we'll fly out there for free we'll teach all the veterans for free, we'll give them all a 200 dollar custom wood cane for free, nothing there's no charge for the veterans whatsoever so the warrior cane project I'm really proud of it then I have worked to help Tom Al in that project and that is so important and the virtual dojo, there are so few cane martial arts school teaching the cane that I decided to open this virtual dojo if you can get internet I can be in your living room teaching you so it's just opened up last week so obviously we're going through our beginning stage usually it's I've already got quite a few where you started a program I still open up 51:50 probably end of next month call them the cane masters founders pf the dojo and we're gonna get them into it as they can teach or watch us they can get take time than to our virtual dojo and teach themselves and get there what they do out there so I’m just trying to get the cane out there and get everybody to do it. In fact we started a new community in Facebook called the cane masters community and we have over 4300 people signed up from the last 4 weeks so the cane's getting out there, people are waking up and the community is great I mean they are getting so many story you wanna hear a bunch of stories of what's going out you go to the Facebook cane master community and it is amazing what's 52:36. So that's what's going on at the cane masters, like I said I wanna get 52:42 to the hospitals cause I have a complete exercise and rehabilitation system with the cane and it's just helping a lot of people. That's what I wanna do is help people and save a few lives, that's what that's my commercial.
Jeremy Lesniak:
This is all great stuff of course if somebody might be new to the show or you're driving in the car don't forget we're gonna have all these notes all the links and everything at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com you can check out the episode there with and find everything you need you don't have to scribble on the back of a gum wrapper while you're driving on the highway.
Mark Shuey:
Just figure cane masters and have everything got that, your phone number's 1-800-422 CANE which is 422 2263 so I have an easy phone number I got the 800 number and of course I got the local numbers but take canemasters.com you'd surprised what's on there and sign your own cane and we can make you carry a cane you're proud to carry it...
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's great.
Mark Shuey:
That's my commercial.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well sir I really appreciate you being here today thank you for your time and if I could trouble you with one more thing we always ask our guests to leave us with some parting words of wisdom, some advice if you will for all for everyone that's tuned in, what would your advice be to all of us?
Mark Shuey:
My advice would be exercise, stay in shape, learn how to do some yoga learn how to get you 54:05 flow and enjoy your life and when you're wanna do something set your mind to it and go for it, if you set your mind to do something you can do it. That's how it works you know the martial arts teaches you how to set your mind and go after stuff. I mean that's what happened to me I mean I didn't get my first grand championship till I was 52 years old so it's all the mindset. Set your mind to do something and go after it and the martial arts and yoga can help you do both of that
Jeremy Lesniak:
Honestly, I find the use of the cane absolutely ingenious. Grand Master Shuey, well he certainly wasn’t the first you know he turned something really inconspicuous, an object that is generally reserved as a tool for people who struggle to walk. He's embraced it as a tool of self-defense, as a tool for personal development as a martial arts weapon and I love that and I don’t know anything that’s really more martial arts than that. I feel like that fact alone can tell you so much about Grandmaster Shuey and his willingness to think outside the box and consider the world in a way that others just won’t or choose not to. thank you Grand Master Shuey for coming on the show, really enjoyed our time. If you want, you can check out the show notes, I hope you do at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com we have links to the thing Grand Master Shuey has going on. websites, social media, the other stuff that you may want to learn about in regards to the cane, there's a lot there. You can check out our social media at @whistlekick on Facebook, on twitter, on Instagram, YouTube. we're also dabbling in Pinterest, google plus, tumbler and a bunch of other stuff because we're trying to reach you where ever you are and bring you what you want. Don't forget to check out our sparring boots, the whistlekick original sparring boots, the best sparring boot available at whistlekick.com. if you operate a school and you want to bring some of those in, at a discounted price aka wholesale so you can share them with your students. we would love to have you as a wholesale customer. you can check out wholesale.whistlekick.com or just the link from whistlekick.com like I said, whistlekick.com right there, you get to everything that you need. Thanks again for tuning in today. I appreciate your time, this is Jeremy signing off and reminding you to train hard, smile and have a great day.