Paul Mills
American Kenpo Karate International
AKKI logo courtesy of Paul Mills and the Association.
The Journey Continues
"The best way to predict the future, is to create it."

This biography will ultimately be a little different, due to the fact that I, being the only editor on this editorial, have actually had the privilege of meeting Master of the Arts Paul Mills.  Although I did train in Ed Parker's American Kenpo institution for most of our education, the training took place within Mr. Mills' family group.  In fact, most of the longest lasting and important lessons from Mr. Mills' seminars and others he had trained, I learned well before the AKKI was an official organization.  Even with the new material being produced from the AKKI, the lessons learned some time ago are just as important now as they were then.  And those lessons are just as memorable as if they had been covered only yesterday.         Now, as you may have noticed from the other pages on these sites, we don't really deal in opinions or what we feel to be true.  We deal in testimonials of fact.  It is not that the opinions are not there, we just choose not to write them on this site.  Just as with the IKKA and Senior Grandmaster Ed Parker's biography page, this page will have a couple of links to find information from others about Master of the Arts Paul Mills and the AKKI. Here are some sites where this information can be found: American Kenpo Karate International Website Texas Kenpo.Com Utah Kenpo         Now, neither Mr. Parker's nor Mr. Mills' biography section illustrate that we are experts on either subject.  On the contrary, we wouldn't want to be.  They are simply illustrations of what we have seen.  Now, with that said, here is what I have seen while training and learning under the Paul Mills Family Group, or the AKKI.  There are people involved in the groups represented on these websites who have trained under different methods and ideals.  However, few could argue that Mr. Mills and all in the AKKI are trying with everything they have at their disposal to keep the Art of Kenpo moving forward into the future.  Keeping the wheel of Kenpo moving forward is one of the founding reasons for the creation of the AKKI.  On the other hand, there is almost always more to a story than what can be seen on the outside to the world at large.         From the moment you meet a real member of the AKKI, you will find that all of the systems alumni are engineers of motion first.  Always striving to find a better way to train, to execute techniques, to make the art of Kenpo more effective.  This idea is something Mr. Mills takes very seriously.  Everything from the changes in techniques, newly created techniques, form changes;  to the addition of actual grappling techniques and a great deal of additional weapons material for knives and clubs.  All brought about from one pioneering standpoint (from my viewpoint that is):  where haven't we gone yet?         More important then that, Mr. Mills has a sincere respect for not only the art of Kenpo, but for all that practice within the system.  His work within the system should illustrate this better then anything said or written.  He has truly created a system for everyone, with the concept of sophisticated simplicity always at the helm.  The initial training has been kept fairly easy to grasp to aid in retention.  Yet when truly examined with the proper concepts and principles, the training becomes more sophisticated and even ongoing due to the escalating curriculum.  The training material is based on your ability in the Art of Kenpo, and elevates in different concepts and principles as your level increases.  All with one constant, to ensure every practitioner within the AKKI has the ability to defend themselves to the best of their ability (perhaps even a little better).         Even the choice of weapons as a part of the curriculum shows a great deal of thought and consideration towards what would be best for the student.  The rope on the nunchuku was cut, the blade on the knife was shortened.  Now the Club and Knife training implemented by Mr. Mills and the Board of Directors in the AKKI is some of the best material available.  These two types of weapons, in regards to training, are two of the most common and effective types of man-made tools to work with.  This factor increases the students self-defense ability and effectiveness more than other types of weapons in the martial arts community.   More importantly, these concepts were designed under the Universal Weapons System to transfer over to non-traditional weapons, which is a crucial part of it's effectiveness.  Instead of "forcing" the student to carry a man-made weapon with them at all times, this training involves using whatever object is lying around and utilize the same motion principles.  The weapons training is also based on ability and are taught in three levels growing more sophisticated with each level.         There is a lot more we could go into on this biography, but this is a pretty good place to start.  Please keep in mind that everything that is written on these biographies could be argued by anyone inside or out of the American Kenpo community.  The fact remains that this is what we have seen and what we believe.  The best thing for anyone reading this who are not involved in Kenpo would be to find out for yourself.  As it was said by Mr. Parker in the Zen of Kenpo, "To see is to be deceived, to hear is to doubt, to feel is to believe."  We hope you have enjoyed and learned something from this biography.