Art of 50,000 Steps(!)

[Andy]

Dear Family,

I thought Id start a thread to log some of the thoughts and experiences on the truly life changing Sabah Intensive Kung Fu Course 2010.

I hope the other participants will share too, and of course anyone else who has something relevant (or funny ) to add...

Beginning in reverse order; the story of myself and my esteemed brother Omar discovering a new form of Cosmos Chi Kung on Mount Kinabalu (4095m) the day following the course:

After climbing 2.6km horizontally and about 1km vertically over large boulders and uneven terrain we sat down to have dinner at 'base camp' below the final route to the peak.

Standing up after dinner we both noticed no muscle fatigue, no soreness, no tendon or ligment tightening...no lack of energy!

Our legs were as relaxed and happy as if we had been sitting down watching TV for an hour and hadnt just walked up the side of the highest mountain in SE Asia!

Unfortunately inclement weather meant that we couldnt tackle the peak so next day we had to descend...another few hours of walking over tough terrain followed by a two hour walk back to the hotel.

- guess what?

No pain, no lack of energy, even the day after all of this exertion!

These arts are truly special and we are more than indebted to Sifu for passing them on.

With thanks to Sifu and the Kissey family for a marvellous course,

Andy

[Damian Kissey]

Dear Andy

Congratulations for conquering The Spirit Mountain
and for graduating from the Intensive Kungfu Course.

Thank you for the great times with all of you brothers and sisters and of not the least , Sifu , who made everything possible.

Contact me at my mobile phone 019-8623295 , if you are still in Kota Kinabalu ....maybe we go for dinner after my clinic hours ?

Shaolin salutation ,

.

[joko]

Thanks, Andy, for sharing this wonderful experience.
Greeting to Dr. Damian Siheng, too.

Joko

[AlexBaranosky]

I've got more kungfu work to do, because those 50,000 steps did not strike me as being that easy to walk!

[Omar]

I believe it was 50012 steps, to be accurate.

I still find it hard to believe, our hearts were beating twice the normal rate up there due to the thin air, but not once did we pant or feel out of breath.

The complete lack of muscle fatigue during and after climbing, combined with no shortness of breath despite walking and climbing for hours carrying backpacks is just plain weird if viewed from my sports education point of view.

From the Shaolin perspective, it makes sense though.

Although we felt our bodies doing the work of ascending and descending the mountain, the breathing always stayed at a "stroll in the garden and smell the flowers" rate.

Thank you Sifu for passing on the arts and deeming us deserving, and thanks to all the great people who came together in Sabah these weeks.

You are too many to name but too good to forget.

[RobJim]

Well done guys, tho it's a shame you weren't able to get to the top. You'll just have to come back again for another intensive eh

Interesting thought tho... training for a mountain ascent solely with Shaolin Kung Fu training techniques. Something I may think about in future.

Art of a Thousand Steps and Horse Stance with a big backpack anyone?