Our Approach
Our school culture is based on The Ohana Way. Ohana means family. As an acronym, OHANA stands for Oasis, Harmony, Assertiveness, Nobility, and Aloha!
Our martial art is a classic style with a full curriculum. By black belt, all students have been exposed to all the material to develop a broad base of skill in the art being studied.
We focus on training safe to be safe (Safe2bSafe). The Guardian Masters developed a way to train safely that has been proven effective in 30 altercations over the past 30 years. After all, self-defense is one of the main reasons people do martial arts, and no one wants to get beaten up or hurt to learn how to not get beaten up and not hurt!
Our Story
The founder of the Guardian Martial Arts started training in 1971 and founded the Guardian Arts in 1990. In that time, the physical self-defense skills have been needed 30 times, and all 30 times the student successfully defended herself or himself. Many students have won medals and trophies at competition, too. What we're most proud of, though, is our Ohana. We love the personal growth and philosophy of love, joy, and peace that we practice with power, resilience, and initiative.
Meet the Team
Senior Chief Sensei Andrea Loya and Senior Chief Sensei Joshua Loya are the top leaders here to serve you at the Guardian Quest Martial Arts Dojo.
Andrea Loya
Head Instructor
The Guardian Quest Martial Arts Dojo is under the leadership of Andrea Loya. She's a 3rd Degree Black Belt with the elevated station of Senior Chief Sensei in Guardian Karate, Guardian Jujutsu, and Guardian Kobujutsu. She has earned her 2nd Degree Black Belt in Guardian Kempo. She had experience in half-a-dozen additional styles.
Andrea has been featured in the book The Princess In a Knight. While she still considers herself naturally quiet, introverted, and even shy, these are just her natural tendencies. She's learned the skills to use her most natural tendencies as a launching pad for being as loud as might be called for, as social as she might need to be, and step out whenever it would be best to do so.
As a result, she's lived an epic life. She's visited backstage with big-show headliners, attended post-show parties, and hung out with a top fashion designer. She's jumped off a perfectly good building, delivered speeches in front of audiences, and performed on stage... all while still be the same quiet, introverted, shy woman that is her most natural state. Obviously it does not limit her even one tiny bit.
Joshua Loya
Co-Head Instructor
Joshua Loya is married to Andrea. He's blind. Even so, he earned the highest ranks available in Guardian Karate, Guardian Jujutsu, and Guardian Kobujutsu while being required to perform every single skill expected of a sighted student.
Martial Arts Ranks include 3rd Degree Black Belt in all three Guardian Martial Arts, and a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Guardian Kempo. He has additional experience in half a dozen other arts.
In 2018, Joshua defeated the long-time champion to become the new Visually Impair Surf Champion and earned a place on the USA National Team.
He's also a professional speaker, NLP-trained life coach, and known for his leadership in an adventuring lifestyle and adventure-mind thinking.
