Becoming a master

Martial arts might be a male-dominated sport, but Huntington Beach resident Elizabeth Filleti-Landau is showing the world it doesn’t have to be.

Filleti-Landau, 43, is a sixth-degree black belt in Pa-Kua martial arts and the highest ranked female master in the Pa-Kua International League. She owns the Pa-Kua Huntington Beach studio at 4952 Warner Ave.

Pa-Kua is a form of ancient Chinese martial arts, that incorporates self defense, ancient weapons training and different healing aspects. Pa-Kua training is disseminated through the ranks from the grand master, and unlike other martial arts forms, participants don’t compete in tournaments, said Jason Landau, her husband and a master at the studio.

Filleti-Landau recently returned from a trip to her hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina, for a gathering of the International League. Buenos Aires was where Filleti-Landau went to her first class, and nearly 30 years later, she went back to teach about 200 students over two weeks.

“It was really emotional,” she said of being back in her hometown.

Filleti-Landau started practicing Pa-Kua in the 1970s, when almost all the masters were male and men dominated the sport.

Some of her friends involved invited her brother to go to a Pa-Kua class, and she decided to try it, too.

“It seemed really fun, but I was really shy,” she said.

It took her a month to work up the courage to go back, but once she did, she never left. Filleti-Landau said she grew strong and was always waiting for the next class, waiting to push her limits.

“Every class was different, and there were so many things to learn,” she said.

She developed a passion for it but had a difficult time partnering with men, who treated her like she was going to break or were harder on her to show their masculinity.

A petite women, Filleti-Landau said she started to feel more aware of her surroundings and more secure in her personal safety just knowing how to properly close her fist into a punch.

When she progressed to a gray belt, her master encouraged her to become a teacher and she began coaching her first student — a little girl in her neighborhood.

“[My master] believed that when you teach, you empty out your knowledge and then you can learn more,” she said.

She now teaches countless students, has opened three studios in Orange County and has gone from the shy girl in Buenos Aires to teaching people around the world.

Being the highest-ranking woman internationally has also given her the opportunity to inspire young women, one part she really enjoys, she said.