Head Instructor
Born in Toronto, Ontario as a first generation Canadian, Sensei Bassels brings to the study of the martial arts a comprehensive skill set from which he draws upon his life experience to provide. As a director of a CMAC school his instruction complements a western lifestyle with the classical eastern philosophies of martial arts that come to Canada from China, Japan, India and the Philippines, and it is as a proud Canadian that he teaches and furthers his training and studies.
He has trained extensively in GoJuRyu Karate-Do, Aikijutsu, Taichi-Chuan, BaGua, QiGong, GoJu Kobudo and various other styles and systems, yet much of his knowledge about self-defense and ethics stem from trial and error during his youth growing up in a low-income area of Toronto. It is from both a classical and practical background that he brings to the study of the martial arts a wisdom that is both effective and comprehensive.
He was formally introduced to the martial arts at the age of ten, receiving instruction in Judo at a local Y.M.C.A. through the assistance of a charity organization that reaches out to young boys. Though he enjoyed this martial art very much, it was short lived due to available volunteers and funding. Throughout his childhood and teens he received various types of instruction in karate, boxing, and wrestling, mostly through various youth and mentor programs.
(It is in large part due to the kindness and investment of caring people in his youth, and the future example of his teacher today, Hanshi W.M.Platt, and the head organizational coordinator of Classical Martial Arts Canada, Senpai S. Duft, that he not only teaches martial arts but is also an advocate for many charity and social groups that reach out domestically and internationally for causes that include environmental, ecological, animal and human rights, social assistance, and youth reach groups.)
At age twenty he turned down an opportunity to study at the Ontario College of Art, for one to drive a tractor-trailer and explore North America. By his mid-twenties he had amassed nearly 1 million miles of driving between Canada and Mexico and about as many stories to complement, many of which have become a wisdom he draws from today. It was at 23 that he began training in GoJu Ryu Karate-do under the instruction of Sensei W.M.Platt. In 2003 he opened his first school in St. Catharines, Ontario, and in 2005 he opened his Mississauga school where he still teaches today.
Sensei Bassles presently holds a 3rd degree black belt in Karate, a 3rd dan in GoJu Kobudo, and a 3rd level in the internal energy arts (Niei Qi). He has also received instruction from many teachers of varying styles that embody martial arts - from BaGua at the Purple Cloud temple in Wudang, the Southern Shaolin in Xiamen, the Northern Shaolin of Songshan in Henan China, and the White Crane system in Fuzhou, among others.
Complementing the instruction he has received is a growing list of research trips to various energy spots and historically relevant locations outside of the traditional Orient and within, destinations that have broadened and deepened his understanding of the many facets that make up martial arts, and its mysterious and pragmatic history--Arequipa and Machu Picchu, Peru; Chichen Itza, Mexico; Athens, Greece; Sedona, Arizona; Trout Lake, Washington; and Homestead, Florida; as well as various cities throughout China and Japan. It is from his travels and subsequent experiences that his understanding of the martial arts has been enriched.
Sensei Bassels has competed at various tournaments in Canada and the U.S. but puts very little emphasis on his wins and losses. In his words, "as a great practitioner of the martial arts, Sensei W.M. Platt, once said, 'a martial artist is an artist of life; what you put in is what comes out in times of trouble.'"
"Fighting is not a game; you don't play life in the same way you play a sport. Martial arts is an education that compliments life. The most important lessons are the ones we realize without applause."
He has been involved in many demonstrations and seminars on the martial arts, both domestically and internationally, and is always planning and preparing for the next event. Presently he is organizing a trip to China and Japan for November of 2011 for those who seek to broaden their training and understanding of the rich roots and history martial arts stems from.
"The way is in training"
Sensei's Message
The path of karate has been a difficult but rewarding one. Training has and continues to test my limits, and for that I am grateful: for when I look back from where I started, it stands out that when I have overcome the hardest of times, the injuries, and the difficult choices, was when I improved the most. Karate can be best summed as the impeccable ability of falling down one hundred times and getting back up one hundred and one. It is finding a way through rather than a way out. I learned that my parents and mentors could not chew and swallow my food for me in the same way they could not give me my success. Success of any goal comes no different from one person to another: it begins as the example you are shown, and in the end is limited only by the dimensions you choose to recognize it, and then give to yourself.
--Sensei Jason RP Bassels
