Sansei Goju-Ryu Karate-Do, as formulated by its founder, Grandmaster Manny Saavedra, is an organizational approach to Goju-Ryu Karate which seeks to attract people who are willing, through their training, to become roll models to humanity by exemplifying loyalty, the work ethic, strong family ties, and community service.

Sansei Goju-Ryu Karate is about ideals, principals, and ethics; these qualities have an essential function in the lives of every human being. Each culture emphasizes certain behaviors, values, and a better way of being (some way to bring out the highest and best qualities). Most people do not consciously think about the effect culture and language have on behavior. Learning to be aware of these influences and their effect on a society as well as oneself is part of the study of the martial arts and part of knowing oneself. Sansei Goju-Ryu literally means " third generation hard and soft system." The World Sansei Goju-Ryu Karate Organization was founded to support this learning process. It is composed of "modern traditional lists" seeking to become better human beings through the study of the Sansei system.

The Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cultures have long dominated and influenced the values taught to students of the martial arts; however, modern traditional lists have not always been able to support such an unstructured blend of cultural influences. Without structure and martial arts System, the variety of cultural influences complicates one’s ability to maintain a strong sense of values. To frequently people value materialism and seldom do they value principals they hold to be their ideals. While every culture has certain differences which influence the choices and individual makes in his or her lifestyle, all people share some of the same ideals. At a heart of the shared values are the concepts of loyalty, work, and family. These are also the concepts on which Sansei Goju-Ryu is founded. As fundamental concepts, loyalty and honesty are directed first towards the self.

According to Sansei principal, being loyal and honest with one’s self often requires taking an unpopular position or sacrificing some basic comforts. Everyone has some qualities they would prefer not to except and others they would like to possess. Maintaining clarity when applying the Sansei principals to one’s self is not easy. It becomes more complex and one extends the application to families, friends, community, and country. Through the extension, one returns to the more difficult interpretation of self-values. The Sansei Goju-Ryu Karate Organization directs its support and teaching to the individual level.