I only recently learned of the death of Charles Blodgett, D.C., a Mo Duk Pai kung fu instructor under Fred King who was also a Modern Arnis instructor.
I had the opportunity to train with Dr. Blodgett nearly ten years ago in California, studying kung fu under him and also practicing arnis with him in his weekly Modern Arnis class. He was a great martial artist from whom I picked up many training tips and tricks that I still use. Kelly Worden has posted a nice tribute to his martial ability in this thread in his message posted 15 March 2002 at 8:48 PM. (Mr. Worden mentions that Dr. Blodgett rarely struck with his closed hand, which is my recollection as well; I recall that he encouraged me to do so however because of what he saw as my power.) As Mr. Worden states, Dr. Blodgett was a nice guy who was tough, physically and mentally. He was perhaps the most focused martial artist I have ever met, as I learned when we spent some weeks preparing for an arnis demo (which we never actually gave, as it turned out). He was soft-spoken, caring, and kind.
One of my favorite memories of him is one time during class when he said to us "Get an equal distance from your partner" then, realizing the redundancy of that instruction (could you be an unequal distance from your partner?), just laughed and laughed at himself whole-heartedly and without being the least bit self-conscious about it.
There is one thing I took away from him more than any physical technique or training method. Dr. Blodgett strongly emphasized ethical issues in his teaching and one comment he made very often at the end of class has really stuck with me: You need to be able to see the infinite capacity for joy (or for good) and the infinite capacity for sadness (or for bad) in every person. He would insist that it was very important that we see the whole person in every person. It is perhaps an obvious yin-yang thing--he also taught Tai Chi--but it really stuck with me, and I apply that philosophy and all that it entails in my interpersonal dealings on at least a weekly basis, hence much more often than I apply any of my physical martial arts skills. It has truly had an effect on me or at least on how I deal with people I encounter.
I'm saddened to hear of Dr. Blodgett's death. My life was certainly enriched by his teaching and example.
I had the opportunity to train with Dr. Blodgett nearly ten years ago in California, studying kung fu under him and also practicing arnis with him in his weekly Modern Arnis class. He was a great martial artist from whom I picked up many training tips and tricks that I still use. Kelly Worden has posted a nice tribute to his martial ability in this thread in his message posted 15 March 2002 at 8:48 PM. (Mr. Worden mentions that Dr. Blodgett rarely struck with his closed hand, which is my recollection as well; I recall that he encouraged me to do so however because of what he saw as my power.) As Mr. Worden states, Dr. Blodgett was a nice guy who was tough, physically and mentally. He was perhaps the most focused martial artist I have ever met, as I learned when we spent some weeks preparing for an arnis demo (which we never actually gave, as it turned out). He was soft-spoken, caring, and kind.
One of my favorite memories of him is one time during class when he said to us "Get an equal distance from your partner" then, realizing the redundancy of that instruction (could you be an unequal distance from your partner?), just laughed and laughed at himself whole-heartedly and without being the least bit self-conscious about it.
There is one thing I took away from him more than any physical technique or training method. Dr. Blodgett strongly emphasized ethical issues in his teaching and one comment he made very often at the end of class has really stuck with me: You need to be able to see the infinite capacity for joy (or for good) and the infinite capacity for sadness (or for bad) in every person. He would insist that it was very important that we see the whole person in every person. It is perhaps an obvious yin-yang thing--he also taught Tai Chi--but it really stuck with me, and I apply that philosophy and all that it entails in my interpersonal dealings on at least a weekly basis, hence much more often than I apply any of my physical martial arts skills. It has truly had an effect on me or at least on how I deal with people I encounter.
I'm saddened to hear of Dr. Blodgett's death. My life was certainly enriched by his teaching and example.
