Meet Hamid Assian of Kung Fu Moves

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hamid Assian. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Kung Fu Moves all started in 2014 by Savannah Schoenecker and Hamid Assian. Savannah had been teaching at an amazing Wing Chun Kung Fu school called California Academy of Martial Arts (no longer in operation). Hamid had been teaching music, math and science since 1999. From Savannah’s experience in martial arts, we developed a curriculum for young children to bring the skills of martial arts to extracurricular programs in schools across Los Angeles. We developed fitness and life skills, anti-bullying, street smarts and a mindfulness curriculum. The mission was, and still is, to help young children develop social, emotional and physical intelligence to gain confidence, well-being and strength through, what we call, Compassionate Leadership. Through the years, we have taught at over ten schools.

Then COVID happened and our In-Person classes had to end. To continue serving our student body, Hamid took video and music editing skills to work and learned how to computer animate, thus creating our 10-Week Mindful Martial Arts ONLINE Series. This series of videos guides children on fun cartoon adventures with Teacher Savannah and Teacher Hamid as they learn about their feelings and preschool friend ways to self-regulate. It’s like Blue’s Clues, Mr. Rogers, and a Kung Fu school fused together!

Now that schools are opening back up, our programs are being offered city-wide again. And with the success of our Mindful Online Series, we are expanding our internet programming to reach more kids who can benefit from these essential life skills and practices.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Until the COVID pandemic, it was pretty smooth growth. When COVID hit, we could not teach in person anymore, so we got creative and designed the Mindful Martial Arts Online Series.

Since mid-2021, though, we have slowly gotten back into previous schools and already have new schools interested in bringing our program to their students.

Sometimes the biggest obstacles and challenges can help you grow in unseen ways. If not for the pandemic, we might not have developed our online curriculum, which gives us the ability to reach families worldwide looking to increase their children’s social, emotional and physical intelligence! We have also offered our online program to non-profit organizations to help those in financial need.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Kung Fu Moves?
Kung Fu Moves is an education and media company focused on social, emotional and physical learning for children. Our fitness classes focus on different life skills, such as control, coordination, leadership, teamwork and discipline. Our anti-bullying class is called Compassionate Leaders and helps kids start to learn how to communicate with their peers and caregivers with compassion and confidence. Our Street Smarts class emphasizes public safety and awareness while talking to kids about “emergency” situations in an age-appropriate manner. Our Mindful Martial Arts curriculum helps kids learn about and process BIG emotions, meditate, find stillness, as well as connect to nature and to their breath.

What we offer is unlike any other “extracurricular activity” out there now. Not only do we teach young ones physical exercise, like so many amazing programs, but we also curate activities that emphasize social and emotional intelligence. This helps kick-start empathy, confidence and leadership in our young students as they develop.

And we make learning fun! Whether we are putting on our Imagination Caps to get transported to a far-off planet OR growling while doing Tiger Pushups, the Kung Fu adventures are always entertaining for little ones!

We are certainly proud to help parents develop these skills in little ones so our future generations are more compassionate, tolerate differences, work cooperatively and keep each other safe in our communities.

But we are so excited when we hear stories about students who stand up for themselves AND their peers in a compassionate way by saying, “Please stop that.” We are also grateful when a student checks in first with their parent/guardian before speaking to a stranger. And we are proud when little ones complete a two-minute meditation with their eyes closed the whole time!

We want families to be as passionate as we are about social and emotional learning and how it positively impacts their children and community. Connect with our online content and the community we are developing to help kids and, in turn, parents. It takes a village, and we want to help build a very big village!

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Teacher Hamid has been using the Athletic Truth Group (ATG) app, focused on “bulletproofing” ankles, knees, hips and shoulders. He has really seen improvement in knee and ankle mobility through this app, which is great for martial arts.

Pricing:

• Most of our curriculum is $150 for a 10 Week Session, whether In-Person or Virtual

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kungfumoves.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kungfumoves/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kungfumoves/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kungfumoves/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kungfumoves
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kung-fu-moves-san-fernando-valley-3