Authentic Karate Training since 1987
Mountain Karate is the home of the powerful, beautiful style known as Yamabayashi Ryu – Mountain Forest style. Classes for kids and adults, from novice to professional level, in Western NC since 2017.
ABOUT US
Training at Mountain Karate
Our instructors love to teach. They have taught karate to thousands of students, trained with outstanding teachers in Okinawa and the US, and bring real-world experience – a genuine source for teaching personal defense, assuring the best experience to every student at Mountain Karate.
WHAT WE PRACTICE
Our Style
Our style traditional Okinawan Shorin Ryu karate – a practical and powerful martial art native to the island of Okinawa, in southern Japan, near China. Our non-commercial approach gives us the freedom to dig deep and get great results.
WHAT WE OFFER
Karate Classes
People love our classes. Adults get a challenge. Kids have a great time. Everyone gets stronger and more skillful every time they train. The atmosphere is welcoming, positive, and professional, with personal attention for everyone.
Martial Arts Intelligence
Jeff Brooks on technique, training, insights and inspiration.
Some have misunderstood why we do mind training. It is not to mellow out. It is not to graft a foreign spiritual dimension onto martial arts.
Now’s the time.
We should not miss this as we train. We should observe this and understand it. This is the insight of the three marks...
We human beings have an urgent need for training. Untrained minds are dangerous. Untrained bodies feel unwell.
...the need to distinguish nourishment from poison is critical.
Without physical training our body will not work well. Without mind training, our mind wanders like it’s lost. Always looking for something...
In light of the harmony of nature and the disintegration of culture we need a way to make sense of the world and our role in it. We use our training to do this.
Over time, continual training pervades all experience. It becomes natural. Not as an act of will but as a way of life.
You can see all the leaves coming down around the dojo tonight. Each one is on time. They don’t rush. They don’t hesitate. When the time is right, they change color and let go.
“Everybody has plans until they get hit for the first time" - Mike Tyson, 1987
Every time we are facing the unknown a flood of information is coming our way.
To anticipate the opponent’s intentions and predict gaps in his defense before they appear are part of the lore of budo. How do we train it?
Resources
Classes, Video, Books, Events, Links & Art
Classes at Mountain Karate
Classes in western NC since 2017. Challenging and enjoyable. Serious and fun. For kids and adults.
Mountain Karate Videos
Mountain Karate forms, applications, and instruction. For more go to our YouTube channel @mountainkarate
Books by Jeffrey Brooks
Jeff Brooks' influential books fuse technique, inner training, and practical skills - for novice to master practitioners.
Links
Karate resources: linked dojos, new insights, interesting stuff for members and other students, and an archive of articles by Jeffrey Brooks.
Dojo Art
Dojo Art by Tarleton Brooks: Original scrolls, paintings and prints, inspiring viewers and collectors worldwide.
Mountain Karate Events
Anouncing Seminars, Mountain workouts, Professional training, School programs, Personal safety workshops, and more.
Curious about martial arts classes? Looking for a great workout? Interested in building fitness, focus, flexibility, and real self-defense skill? Mountain Karate’s professional instructors are available to answer your questions.
My husband and I have been members of Mountain Karate since 2022 (our child has been a member even longer) and it has been an amazing experience for our family. The atmosphere in the dojo is welcoming and judgment free. The instructors, sensei Jeff and sensei Tarleton, are highly qualified martial arts instructors with decades of training. I believe what sets this dojo apart is the sense of community and belonging. I am extremely happy with our decision to join Mountain Karate and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in karate, fitness, and self-defense.
Our middle daughter was very interested in karate. We decided to enroll her to help teach her some valuable lessons and skills that she could use within her young life however, we’ve quickly become a karate family with all five of us now attending! Not only are we healthier, we are happier and stronger!
This is an exceptional martial arts training environment with classes for kids and adults. I have been practicing martial arts for years and now regularly train here and love every minute of it. They have classes for kids and adults and both are exceptional.
The atmosphere is welcoming, positive, and professional, with personal attention for everyone in the class.