Interview with Budokon Founder Kancho Cameron Shayne

An inspiring interview with an incredible human being, by our girl, Tara Grando. 

We are so honored, fortunate, grateful and excited to have this opportunity to host Kancho Cameron Shayne! This kind of opportunity will not come around every day! Cameron teaches all over the world and will be at Revolution Yoga next week Tuesday 9/13 @7:15p for One Night Only. Do. not. miss. this!!  REGISTER HERE

T: What got you into yoga?

C:  I was first introduced to yoga many years ago when a girlfriend of mine was taking a Yoga Teacher Training.  I was already a Martial Artist at the time [a black belt in various different styles].  Honestly, I had some pre-conceived notions about yoga.  I thought that it would be too easy for me.  I didn’t think it would be challenging enough.  I was happily surprised when I found the class to be physically very demanding.  I was fascinated with the efforts (both physical and mental) needed to succeed.  These are some of the things that got me hooked initially, but more than that it was the spiritual component of the yoga practice that inspired me the most.

 From my very first class I had an immediate sense of mind, body, spirit connection and was inspired by the Message and Community.  Although spirituality had always been a part of my practice in Martial Arts, I appreciated how the philosophies intertwined with the yogic way of life.  Spirituality in the context of Martial Arts practice had always had Buddhist leanings and I appreciated the way yogis incorporated spirituality without deference to a particular religion. In general I found that there was more of an emphasis on self-reflection in yoga.

Later, I began to gravitate toward the philosophical works and texts of great yogi masters.  I read the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads and the Yoga Sutras and began to look for common threads in each of the different systems.   It was these common threads that eventually lead me to develop Budokon.

T:  What does Yoga mean to you now?

C: First of all, I think of yoga as meaning what it literally translates to which is “to yoke” or “join”, “the union [of things]” and for me it is the union of the mind, body and spirit.   That’s my intention for my yoga practice.

 Ultimately though, yoga is what you bring to it and this whole concept becomes much broader.  Yoga can be like a gateway into the self or into self-awakening, self-reflection and self-awareness.  Yoga is like a vehicle which if used and operated correctly (just like any other vehicle or tool) can take you to amazing places or allow you to build beautiful things. 

On the other hand, I do not believe that a practitioner will automatically gain an ability to bring all the parts of their self (i.e. the mind, body, and spirit) into harmony simply by doing asana (physical yoga poses).  The Intrinsic quality of yoga is what the practitioner brings to it (the intention). An unconscious person [someone who has not set any intentions or is not actively bringing awareness to their practice] doing asana will have an unconscious experience and not gain much.

T: How did this mixture of yoga and martial arts occur to you? How does it fit?

C: When I began to study Yoga more deeply I started noticing that it was almost identical to Martial Arts in many ways.  This is especially true in terms of the physical elements of each.  As for the spiritual elements, I began to see common threads and to look more and more deeply for what I’ve come to think of as universal truths.  The spirituality of yoga is like a missing component to the existing martial arts system, yet they share an almost identical physical expression.  It just made complete sense to me to put the two systems together.  They are inherently complementary to each other.

T:  What is Budokon?  How does Budokon transform people?

 The literal Japanese translation of the word Budokon is “the warrior spirit” or “the warrior spirit’s way” it perfectly captures what I’ve aimed to do with this hybrid Yoga and Marital Arts system.   Budokon, like yoga is precisely what the practitioner brings to it. As the founder of the system I have set ideals and ultimate intentions in place but the actualizing of these ideals is within the complete control of the student.  There is just potentiality, an idea, a floating possibility, an intention, and energy - everything is a reflection of a human being, a reflection of the practitioner.

The ultimate intention of Budokon is the harmonizing of the 3 bodies in which we exist i.e. the mind, physical body and spiritual body.  I believe this is probably the aim of most forms of art.  I believe that even painters and sculptors have all three experiences when they’re creating masterpieces through their work.  Budokon is all about igniting the spiritual, intellectual and physical selves simultaneously and synergistically.

Budokon aims to develop what is already there and facilitate the process of realizing one’s true self without simultaneously suppressing one’s individual genius and authenticity.  It reminds me of an Einstein quote: “Genius is always met with mediocrity”.  Too frequently when a person attempts to fully express her true individual genius and authenticity she is met with a kind of resistance and backlash from mediocre minds.  It takes a lot of effort and a lot mental work to actualize your full possible potential. Finding the strength to actualize your full potential and prevail against this backlash is one of the aims of Budokon.

If you follow the Budokon system and come to the practice ready to be the student and the receiver of what your teacher is trying to give you there can be many measureable benefits.   A student who wants to improve has to come to practice thinking “I am open to and willing and ready to be transformed to what is already inside me.  I am open to the potential of a pre-existing enlightenment and I am READY TO BE A STUDENT.”  Some of the measurable results from Budokon include physical skills in terms of agility, balance, strength, coordination, and integrated movement.  Budokon can help you realize your own potential as a dynamic athlete.  The system is has its own intrinsic value different from and complementary to already existing systems in Yoga and Martial Arts alone.

Who have you worked with in the past, we've heard about some celebrities, what do you attribute to your success to?   What grew you to such a large platform?

Before I became a trainer I was very interested in the film industry.  I moved to Los Angeles to work and was working on the production side of film including doing site scene production for the movie Rush Hour.  Eventually I started doing body guard work and was a body guard for Charlie Sheen at one point.  Later, almost by default I began training many of the people around me in Martial Arts and Yoga.  This is when I created Budokon and when I began training people like Meg Ryan, Rene Russo, Jennifer Anniston and Courtney Cox.  Both Rene and Courtney were really supportive of Budokon and each of them enthusiastically endorsed me during that time.  This helped bring me national exposure in magazines and publications around the country. 

However, I eventually became quite disillusioned with the Hollywood scene.  I decided to leave Los Angeles when I realized that I was in the wrong place doing the wrong work. I refused to compromise my morals and I ended up leaving the “ladder climbing” of L.A. to explore the things I really loved.  I concentrated my efforts towards developing Budokon.   At one point, sometime later, I stopped talking about training with celebrities altogether.  For years I refused to even use any celebrity’s name because I never wanted Budokon to be seen as some product of Hollywood or fad fitness program. 

For the past six years all I’ve done is travel the world teaching Budokon as a system and as an art.

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