Tales From The Mat Golden Light Studios is honoured to announce its collaboration with WoMA, World of Martial Arts, on a joint production called ‘Tales from the Mat’. This TV series will be shown exclusively on the Golden Light Studios and WoMA websites, and is a great benefit of becoming a gold member. View clip of Tales from the Mat on GLS*tv Tales from the Mat is a mysterious and engaging series about the life of Pendekar Steven Benitez and his martial arts academy. The name Pendekar is a title given to those who have achieved the highest levels of mastery in the Indonesian Martial Art of Pencak Silat. In days of old, warriors who performed a feat of bravery and lived to tell the tale, would have the name bestowed upon them. Even if in these modern times we seldom if ever fight these kinds of battles, there sadly exist precious few who demonstrate the true Pendekar spirit. Men that can not only exhibit an almost mystical level of martial skill, but also demonstrate an ability to heal and show a true compassion for all humanity are worthy of this honour. One such man that has earned this accolade by 4 separate Silat lineage holders from Indonesia is Pendekar Steven Benitez. Before becoming a true warrior Steve faced many battles in his youth, from his harrowing background growing up on the mean streets of Stonebridge, to his underground Triad fights at only fifteen years of age. We follow his spiritual journey in this life changing series through the great tests of becoming a Pendekar, raising a family, running a martial arts academy, and filming Dark Eden the Epic Martial Arts Trilogy. A Brief History Steven may be unfamiliar to our Golden Light Studios visitors, but he is certainly no stranger in the world of Martial Arts. He was born in August 1969, in the city of London, England to Spanish parents. Growing up in Stonebridge, a rough district in the North West of London exposed him to a lot of violence and racial abuse, and it was these every day encounters that led him to take up martial arts at age eight. Steve began his martial arts journey training in the art of Wing Chun, partly because of the influence of Bruce Lee, but also because the Sifu, Martin Ruiz, was of Spanish descent. During the four-year period he was studying the Southern Chinese art, Steve also took up Judo and excelled in both disciplines. Being a boisterous and adventurous young man, one April Saturday afternoon he ventured into London’s Chinatown where he met and shortly after began training with Sifu Gerry Tann, of the Kuntao School of Martial Arts. Within this eight-year period, from the ages of thirteen to twenty-one, Steve’s martial arts skills rapidly progressed to a point where he was made an assistant instructor – a testament to both his honest workmanlike ethic and dedication to his training. It was during this time in Steve’s life that he was combining his martial arts with a professional football career, having played in both the English and Spanish leagues. His passion for both football and martial arts were inseparable, but due to a number of contractual difficulties and an almost mystical experience at a martial arts competition, the year of 1989 would be a turning point. Steven took part in and won his division in a national full contact martial arts tournament held in Birmingham, England. It was while on the mats he described his senses as ‘completely opening’ and it seemed everything had slowed down to a point where he was able to fully read and counter the every move of his opponent. This, along with cut-throat world of Soccer agents, convinced him to turn his back on pro football and pursue the martial arts on a full time basis. Upon discussing the experience with his teacher, he was told that he could not be taken any further in his training, but was given advice about a way in which a new teacher could be found. Sifu Gerry was from an Indonesian background and told Steven that he needed to do a special seven-day rice only fast. So, along with his best friend and training partner, Johnny Silmon, Steven completed the fasting and necessary meditations. Within a week of completion both Steven and Johnny were what could only be described as being divinely led to Rotterdam in Holland, where a great Silat teacher called Guru Ma Prem awaited them. As unbelievable as the story may seem it happened exactly as it is written. It is important for this foundation to be laid, as most of where Steve is today in his Silat evolution is all down to this remarkable 75 year old lady. Guru Ma taught Steven the more internal aspects of Pencak Silat, and passed on her family’s Walisongo system to him. His training during those early years with her was incredibly intense and took a lot of sacrifice and perseverance. This often meant working different jobs in order to finance and have the flexibility in travelling back and forth from London to Holland several times per year. In the summer of 1994, Steve met his now wife of ten years, Laarni, and within a space of five years his three children, Sarah 10, Nathaniel 8, and Daniel 5 were born. During this time he also made many trips to Indonesia, occasionally taking his young family. It was during these travels that he came to train with a number of different masters and associates of Guru Ma, namely Pak Rusli St Rajo Bunsu of Silat Angin (Wind), Guru Makmur of Silat Cimande, Guru Ed Paduko of Silek Tuo and Minangkabau Traditional Arts, and Pendekar Jumhi of Silat Wali Mahmud, the latter being on his last trip where he completed a incredibly tough forty day water only fast. As you can see Steve is no charlatan or fly by night having been steeped in the Indonesian Fighting arts traditions for well over twenty years. Such is his authority in the art of Silat that many martial artists from other styles have come to learn from him at one time or another. People such as Great Britain’s Bob Breen of JKD, Andy Norman and Justo Dieguez of Keysi Fighting Method, Guru Cliff Stewart of Silat Sera & W.A.R (Within Arms Reach), and the man voted ‘Martial Artist Of The Century’ the one and only Guru Dan Inosanto, who himself is a walking encyclopaedia and master of numerous martial arts, have all taken lessons with Steve and it would be fair to say all were blown away by his skills and in-depth knowledge. To quote Guru Dan “I have recently had the privilege to train with Steven Benitez in the Indonesian martial art of Pencak Silat. I highly recommend Steven as a skilled and dynamic instructor. For those who cannot personally train with Steven, you can take advantage of training at home through his excellent instructional DVDs.” The DVDs in question are the Ground and Advanced Combat titles available from Reel Combat Productions. Steve co-founded Reel Combat, a production company, with a mission to produce not only high quality martial arts instructional titles but to also showcase the often mysterious Indonesian culture to the public as a dedication and tribute to Guru Ma Prem. Reel Combat is currently in the process of completing a revolutionary series of DVDs called The WAY - Warrior Arts Yoga™. Reel Combat is currently in the early stages of filming the Epic martial arts Trilogy called Dark Eden™. The first episode in the ‘Dark Eden’ Trilogy builds the foundation of the story in an ‘Indiana Jones’ meets ‘Enter the Dragon’ style; which is set for release in May 2007. As you can imagine it has been an incredibly busy yet fulfilling time for Steve. A time that he has had to not only continue teaching Silat at his EastWest Studios martial arts academy in London, conduct seminars, choreograph fight scenes for all the upcoming productions, but also be a husband and father for his young family. Pendekar Steven is very excited about this newly formed partnership with WoMA. He is greatly looking forward to exposing and unravelling, through the medium of ‘Tales from the Mat’ further insights into the often wrongly portrayed art of Pencak Silat and his fascinating world. Enjoy the viewing.