Health and Fitness

1) One small step "When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur... Don't look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time." John Wooden - successful basketball coach Taking one small step makes our training manageable. If you can keep your skill over the winter months and not lose your stamina or technique this means you are improving. If you've stopped training, then take two movements from The Eight Treasures Qigong form and practice them for a few minutes every morning. It will make you feel better and give you the motivation to keep going. 2) Integrate the training into your life Everything we do can be an expression of our Shaolin training. When we stand in a queue we can spend that time to go over in our mind the form we are practicing. When we walk to the supermarket we can walk quickly to help our fitness. If you have kids, go to the park and play football or tag. Teach your kids how to do the Five F...

I recently had a student who was a chess player. He came to study Shaolin with me for two weeks. He asked me if he needed stamina when he played chess, I said, yes, it would help him,  because when you play chess, you need to be steps ahead, working out your moves and your opponent's moves. This is the same as fighting but every teacher or coach knows that if their student don't have stamina then it doesn't matter how good they are, they can't use their skills.  This means, you have build your stamina. Through building your stamina you build the strength of your mind. When you're tired, you can't show your weakness, you have to pretend that you still have stamina. If your opponent finds out then this is your weakness and he can beat you. Sometimes you have to learn how to hide your feelings, it's the same when you have an injury, you have to hide your injury. This is the same as a chess player who makes a bad move, he can't show it or give up, he has to ...

People always say health is the most important thing but how many people live by this belief?  We need to start today.  In order to help us stay on the path to health I have translated an extract from one of the Shaolin Classics. Written by a monk who was a great martial artist and scholar, here he gives advice to lay people as to how to stay young and healthy.   Ten Tips From A Shaolin Monk On How To Stay Young  1)  Don't think too much. Thinking takes energy. Thinking can make you look old. 2)  Don't talk too much. Most people either talk or do. Better to do. 3) When you work, work for 40 minutes then stop for 10 minutes. When you look at something all the time, it can damage your eyes and also your internal organs and peace. 4) When you are happy, you need to control your happiness, if you lose control then you damage your lung energy. 5) Don't worry too much or get angry because this damages your liver and your intestines. 6) When you eat food ...

  For this blog post you will need a pen and paper.   What small step can you take to improve your health and fitness?  Or, if you're a martial artist or fighter, what small step can you take to make your skill better? Write it down   - writing something down increases the likelihood that you will do it.   Don't make it ambitious - The  Tao Te Ching says: "With expectation, One will always perceive the boundary"  Make sure it's simple and doable . If it isn't then think again. Schedule this small step into your diary for the whole month. Make a note of where you are now so that you will be able to see the improvement you've made. Keep acting on this small step. (This one step is something you're going to build on later on and I'll explain how in next month's blog post. ) The famous basketball coach, John Wooden says, "When you improve a little every day, eventually big things occur. Don't look for the big quick improvement. Seek...

The Bodhidharma Is Your Teacher   I've been studying martial arts for more than twenty years and I've been a teacher for more than ten years. I make my DVDs, and write these posts because I want to pass my experience and love of martial arts to people, like myself, who also love martial arts. I am a Shaolin Master living in the West, and I am saddened to see so much myth and magic surrounding the Shaolin Temple. My aim is to clear away the myth so that you can get to the heart of the practice. Whatever your view of The Shaolin Temple, this is not important. It's the teachings that are important. The teachings originate from the founder of Zen, Bodhidharma.  The Buddha said, do not rely on the teacher, rely on the teachings. When we take up the teachings, we owe a debt to our ancestors, and we must respect them for passing such great teachings to us. In many ways, I see the Bodhidharma as my teacher more than the Buddha because he showed me how to use martial arts as a med...

How to train with ill-health or injury Q: A doctor told me that my shoulder injury is fully healed but I still have pain and stiffness, what would you recommend I do? A: Injuries usually take about 100 days to recover but this doesn't mean you don't do anything for 100 days. Stretching and practicing the Qigong from my "The Way Of Qigong Volume 1, 2 or 3" will help your body to recover properly. The only Qigong that wouldn't be suitable is Qigong for Lower or Upper Body as this would be too hard for your injuries. As the stiffness starts to ease, you can start to slowly factor in doing some push-ups and squats. But you need to be careful and listen to your body. Don't be too impatient to start training again. If your joints feel pain then this means you are doing something incorrectly and you should stop. Q: Is it okay to go straight into Qigong without a warm up? A: Maybe you don't need to do a body warm up but you need to do a mind warm up because ...

I am passionate about Shaolin not only as a martial art but also as a powerful tool to help people live longer, be happier, fitter, healthier. I am always looking for ways to help people master the Shaolin Arts and get closer so they can experience the real Shaolin. My aim is to take away any obstacles that may get in the way. This is why I make  books and DVDs. I hope that wherever you are in the world, you feel as if you are training in the temple alongside me.   When I first came to study at the Shaolin Temple I was confused by the different forms and training. I studied a myriad of different forms before I found the true jewels of the training. My training and experience means your time is not wasted. When you train with me you are being handed my twenty-five years of experience. I only teach what is relevant. Time is precious. I don't want to waste your time in learning something that isn't. This would be a waste of my time too. In accordance with the Temple of Zen, I aim...

The world of Western traditional physical exercise is beginning to catch up with what  martial artists have known for thousands of years. Fitness is not just about burning calories and sweating. It’s about being healthy from the inside out and using breath and movement as a way to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves.  Research is revealing that this mind-body fitness not only keeps us healthy but also greatly helps to banish stress and is aids longevity. Planting the seed As martial artists, we trust that our final goal of conquering ourselves will be reached effortlessly. The goal is the seed. Through being in the moment and turning up for our martial art’s training sessions we carefully nurture that seed. When we are ready this seed becomes the goal we planted all of those years ago without us having to tinker with it or turn our thoughts to it. It’s almost like something we put away in a drawer and forgot about.  But training is not possible without some basic lev...

Powerful strategies for optimzing your body and mind I believe that practicing martial arts or going through your life without practicing Qigong is like driving a car and never topping up the air in the tyres. The air is our Qi, it gets us places. Take the air out of the tyre and the car will go nowhere, take the air out of our bodies and we die. It is as simple as that. On a basic level Qi is breath, it flows where the blood flows, but on a deeper level it is the energy matrix of the body and when we do Shaolin Training we optimize it on daily basis to get the most out of ourselves. This is what the Shaolin Temple mean when they emphasise the importance of internal and external. The external is the kung fu , the things we can see, the internal is what is going on inside of us, and to optimize our energy we mix internal and external together. Shaolin Steel Jacket A good example of this is Shaolin Steel Jacket. In order for me to be able to do this, I have to have good stamina but I al...

The most famous Qigong forms that come from the Shaolin Temple in China are called Xi Sui Jing and Ee Jin Gong. Ee Jin purifies the muscles and tendons and Xi Sui purifies the bone marrow. Shaolin monks have trained in these two forms for thousands of years and they continue to train in these forms because they know that this Qigong enables them to be their best at kung fu. Two wings of a bird I am always emphasising how important it is to train in both Qigong and kung fu. Or internal and external. Even if you are not a martial artist, for good health and longevity you should train in Qigong. It is like the two wings of a bird. Qigong helps you to stretch better, kick better and punch better. Not only does it increase your speed, power, and stamina but it also increases your concentration and balances your mind and body. It gives you the strength and foundation to practice intense physical training without the fear of burn out. Qigong insures our internal organs work properly, only whe...

Extraordinary techniques for unleashing the power of the body and mind When we practice martial arts it’s vitally important that we train our minds as much as we train our bodies. We believe we are the boss of our minds but when our mind says it wants chocolate, even though we know we shouldn’t, the next thing we know we are eating a bar of chocolate. So who is in charge? We can’t blame it on the bar of chocolate can we? More than two thousand five hundred years ago, The Lord Buddha said, “It is our mind which makes the world.”         A positive mind has a positive impact on ourselves and in turn our family and friends and this trickles out to the world at large. I don’t know if there was chocolate in the Buddha’s time but I can guarantee that our mind was the same then as it is now. At the Shaolin Temple we use powerful techniques that have been passed to us directly from the Buddha to aid us in our martial art’s training. This doesn’t mean that...