shaolin kung fu
Secrets Of Traditional Kung Fu Revealed: Chinese Medicine & Wushu Basic Form Training For Beginners To Advanced At The Shaolin Temple, China
Everyone has enjoyed a movie that has had a hefty focus on martial arts at one point or another. Martial artists move in a way that is both elegant and powerful. Martial arts can be visually seen as a mastery of grace and strength that takes many, many years to successfully achieve. Perhaps such movies have instilled a passion in you to become as physically fit as the martial artist you admire, or maybe you have always had a burning interest in martial arts that you have yet to properly explore and satiate. Martial arts as a whole is very intriguing, but media often downplays the full extent of what martial arts actually is.
Martial arts is more than just physical training and is far from centered solely on strength and power. It is also mental training. Through proper training, you can become fit in both mind and body when studying martial arts. Perhaps one of the most popular styles of martial arts is that of Shaolin Kung Fu, which originated in the Shaolin Temple in Yunnan, China. If ever you wanted to embrace the opportunity to learn authentic Shaolin Kung Fu, then you will likely leap at this opportunity to live in Shaolin Temple and train with Shaolin monks. Even if you simply enjoy traveling and embedding yourself in as many aspects of different cultures and countries as you possibly can, this month long stay in Shaolin Temple will suit your purposes and desires extraordinarily well and leave you with a plethora of irreplaceable memories.
Immerse Yourself In The World Of The Shaolin Temple
Taking the opportunity to live with monks in Shaolin Temple will open more doors to you than just the ones pertaining to martial arts. You will, in essence, become a Shaolin monk over the course of your one month stay in the temple as you train. As you live like a monk, you will find that there is more to your immersion than just to train traditional shaolin kung fu.
While you study Shaolin Kung Fu within the temple, you will also be taking in lessons in Buddhism, Chinese Traditional Medicine, Chinese Mandarin, Calligraphy and many other aspects of traditional Chinese Culture. Taking this opportunity to live with monks will do more than further your understanding of Kung Fu. You will also come to better understand yourself and the world around you. While you live in Shaolin Temple, you will learn authentic Shaolin Kung Fu techniques in external, internal, and medicinal form.
What Is Shaolin Exactly?
Popular sayings in Chinese folklore state that not only were all the martial arts under heaven descended from Shaolin Kung Fu, but also that Shaolin is the best under heaven. Shaolin combines the Ch'an philosophy with martial arts , and has garnered a lasting influence on martial arts throughout China and the rest of the world.
However, Shaolin can be boiled down into two main legacies: The Ch'an philosophy, which is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and Quan, which is the martial arts portion and the more widely known one. These are not separate disciplines within Shaolin, but instead they are one and the same. Shaolin monks pursue the unification of the Chan and the Quan, and Quan is often considered to be a deeper part of the Chan. Ultimately, Shaolin does not exist focused on only one of its two halves.
The Quan side is further divided into three main sectors: basic skills, power skills, and combat skills. Basic skills are everything that helps improve the body when doing martial maneuvers, such as stamina, balance, and flexibility. Balance and flexibility in particular are referred to as childish skills in Shaolin and have been classified into eighteen postures. Power skills include Qigong meditation and the seventy-two arts. The seventy-two arts are thirty-six soft exercises and thirty-two hard exercises that are known as soft and hard qigong. Qigong meditation is also broken down further into two main parts: internal, which focuses on stationary meditation, and external, which has a stronger focus on dynamic meditation methods such as four-part exercise, eight-section brocade, Shaolin muscle-changing scripture, and other similar techniques. Combat skills are perhaps the most straightforward, and deal with fighting techniques the explore barehanded, weapon, barehanded vs. weapon routines, and their combat methods.
Shaolin, like many other martial arts around the world, is commonly taught through the use of forms. These forms come together to form sub-styles, which ultimately come together to ultimately form the styles that are often viewed as Kung Fu. There are many different styles that exist within Shaolin, and the following are among the most famous:
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Arhat's 18 hands, which is known as the oldest style
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Flood style, which is made up of the small form known as the son of the styles and the big form known as the mother of the styles
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Explosive style, which is known as the king of the styles
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Penetrating-Arms style
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7-star and Long Guard the Heart and Mind Gate style
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Plum Blossom style
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Facing and Bright Sun style
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Arhat style, which is known as the most representative style
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Vajrapani style
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Emperor's Long-range style, which is known as the most graceful style
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6-Match style
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Soft style
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Mind style
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Imitative styles, which is best represented in the Dragon, Tiger, Leopard, Eagle, Monkey, Mantis, and other forms you hear of in mass media
- Drunken style
Shaolin has hundreds of extant styles, and actually reaches into thousands of extant styles when considering historical documentation. Each lineage of Shaolin monks have always chosen their own styles, which means that not only is Shaolin the largest school of martial arts in the world, but that it is also constantly expanding and changing. Shaolin monks master a vast number of styles and weapons over the course of their studies in order to learn a complete system. Shaolin is made of many parts, with none being more important than the rest.
What Are The Highlights Of The 1, 3 and 6 Month Long Study?
Embarking on a journey to study at the Shaolin Temple is something that is accessable to every single person, no matter where they are or how they wish to implement the core teachings of the lessons they seek to learn into their lives. Perhaps the most important lesson is that martial arts is not a mastery over others, but a mastery over the self. If one can embrace that lesson, than a month long stay in the Shaolin Temple will certainly leave them with many, many more benefits. An even longer stay and you may even be considered a master of the Shaolin way of life.
On your journey to become a Shaolin monk, you will find that there is much more to learn than just self-defense lessons in multiple styles of Kung Fu. While you train with Shaolin monks, you will not just receive traditional Shaolin warrior training, but experience total immersion in the life of a Shaolin Monk. Here is a brief taste of what you will experience when you live like a monk and train traditional Shaolin Kung Fu:
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Self -Defense
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Buddhist Ceremony daily
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Shaolin Traditional Warrior Training for all levels
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Kung Fu styles: Shaolin, Sanda, Wing Chun, Taiji Quan, Meditation, Qigong, Meihua Quan,
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Theory Classes on Mandarin, Chinese Culture, Chinese Traditional Medicine
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29 nights, 90 nights or 182 nights of Authentic monks accommodation shared or single
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3 Meals per day together with the monks in the Monk Hall
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Meditation inside the Mahayana Hall or Temple grounds
- Total immersion in the Shaolin Monks lifestyle
Immersing yourself in the world of a Shaolin Warrior is an experience that will likely take root in your core and bloom through your entire life, showing itself both mentally and physically. Studying under the esteemed tutelage of the Shaolin Temple is a step in the right direct whether you seek to improve your physical health or your mental health. This learning experience is also great for those that just want the opportunity to step into a different life and learn all that they possibly can about the Shaolin way of life.
Sign Up For Your Experience!
The Shaolin Temple is open year round and offers a multitude of activities and opportunities that you can use to shape your own experience at the Shaolin Temple in Yunnan, China. It is an excellent chance to immerse yourself not only in the culture of the Shaolin Temple, but in Chinese tradition and culture.
If your travels or interests take you to China, then you absolutely should take the opportunity to live as if you were a monk for a single month of your life, or for even longer if it appeals to you. There are many options available at the temple that will only help you to better yourself. This is truly an opportunity that will return its benefits to you tenfold.