People often ask us what our training was like.
Well, it was rough.
Mas Nate and I began our training in September of 1999 under Dr. Heru Hendarto. He was a Special Forces trainer for the Indonesian Kopassus for about seven years and he was best friends with the 11th generation heir to the Merpati Putih martial arts knowledge Mas Budi.
When Dr. Heru was asked directly by Mas Budi to train me and my brother, he didn’t want to. Actually, he was very opposed to it, as all Indonesians were because we were the very first outsiders. But Mas Budi insisted, “Please, as my friend, I want you to train these guys. But don’t make it easy on them. They’ve got to be worthy.”
Over in Indonesia, the military is huge. Two years of mandatory service when you come of age. That’s just the way that it is, otherwise, you go to jail. They have so many people. And the island of Java is the most densely populated place on earth. They don’t really care about you. There are no human rights. As long as they don’t kill you, they don’t really care. They can do whatever they want to you.
As long as you don’t die, they’re not going to get in trouble for it.
Per Mas Budi’s request, Dr. Heru was very, very strict with us. We went through an accelerated program where he pushed us as the Special Forces would, and what would normally take two years in just one year. We had a very condensed practice. He lived about 40 miles away, so we would drive down to him twice a week, and then practice every day on our own.
Dr. Heru was also curt. His teaching style was traditional for Indonesian martial arts. There was no inspiration. We never heard a single “Good job!” out of him. He was quiet and he would say things like, “If you don’t do ____, I’m leaving.” And ____ could be tasks like holding your breath and lifting weights and doing really strenuous, challenges that truly make you face yourself and develop this electricity inside yourself. The program we were put through was much larger and more difficult than the Vibravision® program alone. But we had to start there because that’s the traditional way. In the tradition, you always start with martial arts and after you get to Level Five or Six, you can then start with the Vibravision® program, and he did not make it easy on us.
And through such strict training, I was struggling and suffering and thinking to myself, “Oh! this is terrible. Why did I sign up for this?”
Yet there in the back of my mind, I could see again the videos of little older Indonesian ladies sitting there doing these same challenges, and then going out and smashing things like ice and concrete and steel with big, sweet smiles on their faces. As a black belt fighter, it really was an ego blow. I had thought of myself as a tough guy that could face anything, yet I was sitting there, crying on the inside. But in the back of my mind, I told myself, “Well, if those little older Indonesian ladies can do it, what’s wrong with me? I need to do this.”
What I actually discovered during the training is that the older that the folks were, the more they seemed to know how to push themselves. You could have a 16-year-old right next to a 60-year-old, and the 16-year-old was only going half as hard as the 60-year-old. The reason why that happens is that your strength is based on your internal energy, your mind, your body, and your spirit, not just physical youth.
In any case, it was a very challenging training experience, and it took a long time to actually feel acceptance from Dr. Heru. But once we did, he became my very best friend. I’d trust him with my life, with your life, with anybody’s life.
I just want to say, “Thank you, Dr. Heru.”
https://youtu.be/n1XwIJgfYq8