Health and Fitness

Martial Artists are no different from other athletes and if you're not careful you can easily hit a plateau. Plateaus must be avoided because it means your martial arts skill and fitness levels aren't improving. Here's The Shaolin Temple's Five Steps to avoid hitting a plateau. 1) Change Your Martial Arts Routine Our bodies are efficient machines which adapt to whatever we throw at it including our workout. When you first start to train you'll make gains in your training but after a few months these gains will level off because your body has learnt to adapt. To avoid hitting a plateau you need to change your martial arts workout every couple of weeks.   Combining   my Workout, Bootcamp and newly released Circuit Training DVDs will give your body the constant change  it needs so it never reaches a plateau. 2) Do High Intensity Circuit Training If you're fit and you can run 5k without any problem then you're ready to do circuit training . Thou...

Martial Arts is a way of being in life. It's very difficult in the beginning to make your practice into a habit and even when you've been doing it for many years, there can still be a struggle. But this is good because it shows your practice is constantly challenging you. The key to rising to the challenge is to make a strong commitment to your martial arts practice from the very beginning. This commitment automatically makes you practice, and any thoughts that go against your practice can be more easily dismissed. In order to gain something you have to give up something. For example, you can't eat chocolate cake every day and lose weight. It's true that a martial artist does not have as much "freedom" as a non-martial artist because so much of your time is taken up with the practice. But what exactly is freedom? Martial Arts helps us to be. If you can just be then you don't have so much desire for external things. If you can be, the Buddha says, all of yo...

EVOLUTION OF FIGHTING TECHNIQUES   The Shaolin Temple in Henan province, China, was founded by a humble Indian Buddhist monk called Batuo around 495 BC. In 517 BC the Bodhidharma travelled from India to the Shaolin Temple, where he founded Ch’an Buddhism or what is more commonly known as Zen. The legend is that when he arrived at the temple, he discovered the monks were weak from practicing sitting meditation all day, so he conceived and taught them a series of internal and external exercises to increase their health, strength, and vitality. These later developed into what we now call Shaolin Kung Fu and Shaolin Qi (Chi) Gong. Throughout the history of the temple, there has been a steady stream of monks bringing the best skills from the Asian world, combining them with ancient Shaolin skills, and then refining these modified skills for optimal effectiveness. The Shaolin Temple Fighting techniques are not pages from a history book but are something that are as alive and relevant tod...

Rou Quan is a favourite form of mine because it mixes internal and external together. It may look gentle but that's because the strength is hidden inside the movement. It can make you quickly tired because you need to stay in the stances for a longer time. Sometimes the movement is soft and at other times you need to use power but this power is not the same as when you use power in a kung fu form, it is a special combination of mixing internal and external. Rou Quan is a famous Shaolin form, which is independent from all the other forms. One of the reasons for this is because it has some famous traditional techniques hidden in the movement. If they are not pointed out then a person may practice the form and be totally unaware of this. At the Shaolin Temple, Qigong practioners practise it, as do kung fu practioners because it perfectly complements both internal training and external training. It needs more space than Qi Gong so try and go outside or to a park and run throug...

As most of you know, The Shaolin Temple is considered the birthplace of martial arts and Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism. This doesn’t mean that in order to practice Shaolin we need to be Buddhists but the Ch’an philosophy can help us to see our world with fresh eyes. This was the Bodhidharma's ambition when he came to China, he wanted to get away from the books and learning and enter the pure raw experience. One of the Ch’an teachings that we can apply to our training is aimlessness. This means: You already are what you want to become. Does a tree have to do something? The purpose of a tree is to be itself, and your purpose is to be yourself. We have everything. There is no need to put anything in front of us and run after it. So, whatever it is that you believe you want – good health, more energy, an increased sense of wellbeing or to be an exceptional martial artist – you already have. Bring this energy into your practice and you will find that it will enrich whatever you are doing – runni...

With the exception of Rou Quan, all of my DVDs can be practiced in a space the size of a yoga mat. What can't be taught in a DVD I don't teach. I'm not interested in wasting my time or my student's time. Morihei Ueshiba was correct when he said, " Progress comes to those who train." But training incorrectly and without direction is like not training at all. My DVDs and books take you step by step through exactly what is taught in the Shaolin Temple with a focus on health and combat. These are the two aspects I'm passionate about. I give you the key to unlock the gate of the Shaolin Temple , but it's only your sweat and training which will open the gate and let you in. Transformation My DVDs are designed to transform your mind and body into a martial artist's mind and body. This means you become fighting fit, flexible, have strong will-power, inner confidence, sharp reflexes, peaceful sleep, an abundance of energy, look younger than your years, and ...

1) Stretch am and pm In the morning you will find that your muscles are stiff so it's important not to push too much but take the time to tune into your body. Breathe into your stretch. Stretching in the morning is harder than in the evening but its one of the best ways to increase flexibility. 2) Know the difference between a warm up and stretching My early morning sessions at the Shaolin Temple always began with a quick warm up before we went for our mountain run. Although some stretching was involved it was not the intensive stretching that we did later on but more of a quick check to make sure our joints were working properly. 3) Always stretch after your workout For martial artists this is the optimum time to increase your flexibility. Your joints and muscles are warm, which means you can go further with your stretch and it also helps to decrease the build up of lactic acid in your muscles. Not stretching out after a workout can lead to a feeling of stiffness the next day. 4) ...

Instant Health and Fitness is about using what we do as a pathway to wholeness and inner peace. It's about understanding that the inner health of our body is just as important as the outer health. When I was a boy at the Shaolin Temple my master taught me that when I practiced kung fu I did kung fu meditation, when I ran I did running meditation and fighting meditation and eating meditation... This act of meditation helps us to stay calm, free and anchored to the only place of power which is the now. My name is Shifu Yan Lei, I’m from China and I came to the UK in 2000 to help my brother open an authentic Shaolin school in London. I found that the Shaolin class not only increased my student’s health and fitness levels but also their confidence and sense of happiness. This is why I started to make Qigong and Kung Fu DVDs and books . My mission is to share with as many people as possible authentic Shaolin. Though sometimes I prefer not to call what I do Shaolin or martial arts becau...