Hi, and welcome to my site. My name is Joel Levy, and I have a message for you. Your adversities and challenges in life are really blessings in disguise. Without them, you would very likely never know your true character and potential. In fact, without them, you might never find out who you really are.

All my life, I have been a martial arts enthusiast. I started learning basic combat from my father at home, since I was old enough to walk. Later, I joined a formal martial arts school as a form of exercise that would be consistent all year round.

When I was 10, I was finally diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes. I say finally because I can remember suffering with classic diabetic symptoms since I was at least 6. Why I wasn’t diagnosed sooner is another story.

While I played other sports, my passion was always martial arts and anything related to the martial arts. I especially loved boxing. I remember watching Muhamad Ali vs. George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle with my father from our apartment balcony, on a drive in movie theater screen which was just opposite where we lived in East Brunswick, New Jersey.

Growing up, I imagined one day being the lightweight champion of the world in something related to the martial arts. What I didn’t count on was how difficult it would be to compete while managing my diabetes, as tight blood sugar control was hard to achieve at the time, and optimum performance was not usually the case.

By the time I was 27, my vision had become impaired, and a number of other things went wrong as well. I ended up having 18 laser surgeries, three vitrectomies for a very stubborn detached retina, a cataract surgery, two polyps removed from my vocal chords, being hospitalized, and almost losing my kidney, all within three years.

At the end of it all, I was completely blind in my left eye, got my voice back (but still won’t be winning American Idol), kept my kidney, and was… get this… completely optimistic about the future!

What made it bearable, and helped me get through it all, was two things. The first was my girlfriend, Yvonne, who was literally like the Celine Dion song lyrics say, “my eyes when I couldn’t see, my voice when I couldn’t speak…” She was also my constant companion and bedside nurse. I don’t remember a lot of the details, because I was so heavily medicated through much of it, but I know she was always there. Now she is my wife.

The other thing that got me through was my faith that things would work out for the best and that when it was all over, my life would be beautiful. I had accepted my miserable reality, while holding in my mind what I really wanted my life to be.

During the years just preceding all of this, I was completing my masters degree in education at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

In between medical situations, I was employed full time as a school teacher, and so was Yvonne – although not in the same district.

By age 30, I was a tenured teacher, had a baby girl with Yvonne, and opened our martial arts school.

I also discovered my true calling in life. I knew my background of a lifetime spent training in my discipline, and my natural inclination and love for teaching were the perfect backdrop for turning all of my efforts and energies towards becoming the greatest instructor and personal coach I could be.

When doctors said contact sports weren’t for me anymore, I thought I would die. And I did in a way, because that part of my life was over. But, I was also reborn as an enthusiastic and passionate coach.

I discovered that no matter what subject I taught, or what format (martial arts school, public school, or adult education), what I was really passionate about was teaching people how to achieve their maximum potential. I found that life skills were far more juicy than math or English, both of which I taught in school. I also found that as the head of my own martial arts school, what I had really developed was a personal development center.

One night I woke suddenly from my sleep with a name pounding in my head. The name was “The Professor of Personal Empowerment.” I knew immediately this name described exactly what my life would be about.

I began to do many things with that concept. It is at the core of everything I do.

• Through the martial arts I empower my students to become more fit, more confident, more disciplined, and able to protect themselves. They become empowered by the self-esteem that results from this, and are able to be far more effective in their daily lives as students, parents and professionals.
• Through my child safety courses, I empower children to live more safely, and parents to breathe a little easier, knowing their children will know what to do “just in case.”
• Through personal coaching, I empower people to take their life to the next level, and get them beyond where they would be without the aid of a mentor.
• Through private and group self-defense training, I empower people of all ages to be able to walk down the street without fear.
• Through my public speaking I empower people to turn their adversity into victory, and to be capable of improving their own lives.

I stand firm in the notion that had my personal health and life’s circumstances not changed radically, I would not have been in the position to discover my life’s work. I am here as living proof to tell you that what you see as a challenge may really be a blessing. All you have to do is find a more empowering meaning.

I would love the opportunity to help you do that!