CALGARY, Alberta — In the summer of 1986, Neil Ripski decided that he would take a step to defend himself against the schoolyard bullies. It was a simple decision that would change his life for the better.

As a kid, he was severely bullied for being the “Skinny kid with big ears.” All it took was one class for Neil Ripski to fall in love with martial arts. Starting at the early age of 11, he began training as a martial artist and hasn’t stopped yet.

Taking his passion to a whole new level, he’s created a career as a martial artist. After that first class, he found a passion for martial arts. This passion continued with Ripski as he trained and studied drunken style of the Chinese martial art of Wushu a decade later.

Drunken style, otherwise known as a drunken fist or drunken boxing, is a style based on speed, flexibility and unpredictability. The martial artist feigns being drunk for their opponent to underestimate them.

After two decades of studying drunken style, he’s developed a reputation throughout the world. Ripski wasn’t satisfied with simply studying drunken style or even training – he aimed for more. What started as a means to an end, soon became a new start.

Starting a franchise of martial arts schools throughout the world, he found a passion for teaching martial arts.

Ripski explains, “My purpose for teaching martial arts has always been to help other people. This new direction positions me to bring methods of calm, decisive, presence in the moment to their lives.”

Being well known in the martial arts community, he has taught countless workshops on internal martial arts power training, drunken style and so much more. These workshops have taken him to the United States, Canada, Israel, Italy, Thailand, and Mexico.

“My martial arts workshops are an intensive week or weekend training for instructors in other countries to experience my methods. I,” explains Ripski.

As a world-renown martial arts master, Ripski has quite a collection of literature he’s written on the topic. His extensive list of novels includes Bagua Training Journal (2019), Tai Chi Training Journal (2019), Secrets of Drunken Boxing: The Eight Immortals (2019), Gu Yu Cheung’s Iron Palm Method (2017), 36 Stratagems(2016), Secrets of Drunken Boxing: In the Eight Shadow Style Volume 2 (2011), and many more.

“Some of the articles are meant to bring to the forefront knowledge of traditions passed down through the arts I have studied that are in real danger of becoming lost entirely,” said Ripski, “Others are bits of advice some have found to be useful in their training and questioning. There is also a discussion into some of the more misunderstood aspects of training like Internal Alchemy, Qigong, Drunken Style and Nei Gong.”

Throughout his career as a martial artist, Ripski learned that it’s more than just physical training. It’s more than just the martial arts itself. This is about becoming better than you were yesterday.

“Martial arts are about studying yourself. When I started doing drunken style, I was being taught to break my own paradigms.”

Thinking back to that first class, Ripski shares advice that he’d give to his younger self.

“No matter how tempted you are. Because the temptations were very, very big. Just don’t give up.”

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