Sensei-James Fortner:  

Sensei-James is from Pineville, Kentucky. Sensei-James's schools include Powell Valley High School. Sensei-James works(ed) at Instructor/cbo Yin Yang Kung Fu. Music Sensei-James likes includes Erica Baker Overbay Music, Most Types. Books Sensei-James likes include The Book of Five Rings, The Art of War, Zen in the Martial Arts. Movies Sensei-James likes include samurai & ninja movies, Kung fu movies, Martial arts movies. TV shows Sensei-James likes include The Borgias, Magic City, Sons of Anarchy. One of Sensei-James's favorite quotes is:"To me, ultimately, martial arts means honestly expressing yourself. Now, it is very difficult to do. It has always been very easy for me to put on a show and be cocky, and be flooded with a cocky feeling and feel pretty cool and all that. I can make all kinds of phoney things. Blinded by it. Or I can show some really fancy movement. But to experience oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly, now that is very hard to do. -Bruce Lee I am not going to SHOW you my art. I am going to SHARE it with you. If I SHOW it to you, it becomes an exhibition, and in time it will be pushed so far into the back of your mind that it will be lost. But by SHARING it with you, you will not only retain it forever, but I, too, will improve. -Ed Parker Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend. -Bruce Lee". More about Sensei-James:"About me: James (Jim) Allen Fortner was born in Middlesboro, Kentucky on Friday November 12, 1971. Jim began his path in martial arts in September of 1982 at the age of ten. His first classes were in Yin Yang Kung Fu under Instructors Jan Robinson, Mark Collins, and then Active Grand Master Ray Reynolds on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. Jim’s brother, Todd, now a part-time black belt in Yin Yang Kung Fu, was the one who got Jim into start taking classes. While under the tutelage of Instructors Robinson & Collins, he picked up a wide variety of styles, including Karate, Judo, Hapkido, Tai Chi, Kung Fu and Ninjutsu. The Ninjutsu came from Sensei Collins, who was also training Jim’s brother Todd, and continued this training for close to 5 years during and after his time under Sensei Robinson. Jim went as far as blue belt under Sensei Robinson until she decided to change styles of the class from Yin Yang Kung Fu to Shinto Ryu. The class soon dissolved after that and Jim and his brother then went under the tutelage of now Grand Master John Clifford Graves in Middlesboro, Kentucky in the summer of 1984. Jim endured some of the most intense and toughest training he ever endured, being almost fourteen years old and fighting full contact with grown men and seniors and recent graduates of high school. He followed Grand Master Graves to the YMCA and the Cumberland Gap National Park during the early 1990’s. During this time he reached as far as his 3rd Kyu Brown Belt. All the while, still continuing is Ninjutsu training. Jim took a nine year “hiatus” from martial arts to further his education and start a family. He received his Bachelors Degree from Lincoln Memorial University in 1994, and his MBA in 1999 also from LMU. While he was there he played college baseball and was involved in a fraternity Alpha Lambda Zeta that is a brother to a national fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon. Jim currently as a trade is involved his family business in the lumber and wood industry, BJ Fortner Hardwoods. He works in sales, management, export, and quality control. He has also worked in sales for two Fortune 50 companies. He worked in pharmaceutical sales at GlaxoSmithKline from 1999-2002, and Aramark Uniform Services from 2004-2007. In 1996, Jim married the former Sharon Elizabeth Asher Shelby from Pineville, Kentucky, and they have a daughter, Rebecca Elayne, who is also a 2nd Kyu Brown Belt in Yin Yang Kung Fu. She is on track to be the youngest Black Belt in school history. Even though he was on a “hiatus’, he did dabble a little in martial arts for about 2 years. Jim briefly studied Isshinryu Karate in Tazewell, Tennessee under Sensei Debbie Lay. Sensei Lay was a direct student under Master Harold Long of Knoxville, Tennessee. He studied during the summer between semesters and any free time he had. He received the rank of orange belt. In 1998, Jim assists Grand Master Graves in starting a new dojo at the National Guard Armory in Middlesboro, Kentucky. On February 3, 2002, Jim received his 1st Degree Black Belt in Yin Yang Kung Fu, all the while continuing his training while aiding Grand Master Graves as a junior instructor. Jim also aided in instruction when the class moved to Lincoln Memorial University to teach students for college credit and to the public, the dojo in Harrogate, Tennessee , and part time at the dojo in Tazewell, Tennessee, as well as the dojo’s return home to the National Guard Armory in Middlesboro, Kentucky. On May 18, 2010, Jim received his 5th Degree Black Belt and is not only continuing his training under Grand Master Graves, but he is also the instructor of a class of Yin Yang Kung Fu in Pineville, Kentucky. Jim also acts as Chief Business Officer for Grand Master Graves and the System. His responsibilities include, but not restricted to promotion, public relations, franchising, and overall day to day bu...Expand for more