By Mikel Steenrod Martial Arts

“In Only Five Minutes, Open the Door to the Ancient Secrets of Asia on Greased Hinges!”

…For Free, In the Comfort of Your Own Home.

I orginally came to Flagstaff (from New York) for grad school back in 1993. While in grad school, I started teaching kung fu and qi gong. I did it mostly to keep in shape and to make sure I had training partners. I had started training when I was 11 1/2 (that half was really important), and had (by 1993) by chance trained with some of the best martial artists in the world. So, teaching wasn’t some whim on my part where I was just going to explore what I wanted to do.

At that time I had no thought of staying in the area.

Well, seven years passed. I was in still in Flagstaff. So, I decided to open a more formal school on Cedar avenue.

It was a small place. The floor was concrete, duct tape and linoleum. Most of what I offered was too new and had little name recognition in the Flagstaff area. (As a resident since 1993, I can say it is a great area, but we all know it is a bit behind the times and slowwww to change.)

Needless to say, Water Mountain was a fish out of water. Like any fish out of water, it was struggling for breath.

Pulling Up by the Bootstraps

Well, I knew it was time to go back to the drawing board or watch the fish die. I was not reaching the people I wanted to reach and not providing the training I wanted to provide. So, I sat down with my head instructors. We tested and rebuilt the school. Loads of money was put into the redesign.

By the end of the second year, the school outgrows the cedar street place and we went to a spot 4 times as large on 4th street! That’s good stuff!

Time Flies

In 2014, the school turned 14. I turned 46 , and I had 36 years in martial arts, qi gong, and weapons training and over 25 coaching.

I realized that I had built up quite a reservoir of stories, funny, informative, and a few inspiring that really revealed what a remarkable journey the martial path can be.