Shaolin Testimonial

[Eric5]

SHAOLIN TESTIMONIAL

I started Shaolin Kung Fu in November 2006 in Ireland. Sifu Jamie Robson was my instructor in the beginning, Sifu Jamie was kind enough to come over from Scotland to teach us once a month. My Sisook Mark Hartnett recommended Shaolin Kung Fu to me as I was previously a keen martial artist but had not practiced for a while. (I had previously practiced Tae Kwon Do for eight years). Mark explained to me a bit more about the combat aspects of Shaolin Kung Fu and that punching, kicking, felling and gripping were all part of it. He also explained to me about Chi Kung and all its benefits and I was intrigued so I joined up.

After my first training session of Shaolin Kung Fu I realised how superior it was to any other martial arts I had practiced or seen. I thoroughly enjoyed the stances, the training methods and the Chi Kung. As I previously mentioned I had practiced Tae Kwon Do for eight years and we used to practice in two ways. Firstly we practiced tradional sets and patterns but these were only for practice and gradings, we also used to use sparring to kick and punch each other senseless every night. We were told that the traditional style was not practical and would not work out in the street in a fight. I achieved my black belt and thought myself to be well able to defend my self. After my first training session in Shaolin Kung Fu I discovered that my cousin Greg Hartnett who had been practicing under a year in Shaolin Kung Fu was beating me easily. Before the class started he said to me to come at him with some Tae Kwon Do techniques just to see the contrast in styles. When I went to kick him he just moved out of the way with his stances and I found he was pressing me quite easily without even striking me. I could’nt even get near him and it was all from footwork. When I tried to kick high he would just sink down and stop his strike a bit too close for comfort. I was intrigued and fascinated and wanted to learn more.

The Chi Kung was the hardest part for me at the start as I was quite sceptical about how doing the simple exercises could benefit me and that everybody else seemed to be moving or falling around and that could seem to let my “chi” flow. I started regular Chi Kung classes with my Siguma Joan Browne soon after beginning Shaolin Kung Fu as I felt it would all be beneficial to my training. A year had passed and I was just about to lose hope that I would never have a chi flow when something strange happened to me. After doing lifting the sky with Siguma Joan and going into Chi Flow I felt a surge of energy from my left temple all the way out to my left small finger. It was as if I was attached to a car battery and the energy was surging through me yet it didn’t hurt. I then started to fall around any started to have happy europhoric feelings. It was the strangest and one of the best feelings I had ever experienced in my life. After we slowed down and I had time to reflect on it all I felt a clarity in my mind which I had never experienced. I now practice it everyday and after a hard days work I find it fantastic to clear my mind.

I also used to do a very physical job I was a plasterer for ten years and I found that I used to get a lot of aches or pains from it. I started to practice Chi Kung every morning on my first break at 10 am every morning I then found that the aches and pains were gone by simply practicing Chi Kung every day.
I am also a chronic hayfever sufferer and from early May to August my eyes would water and my nose would run constantly. I was taking tablets twice a day and a nasal spray three times a day every summer all my life. I have found since I have been practicing Chi Kung and Kung Fu that my hayfever symptoms have not been as severe eventhough the pollen count has never been as high as it has been in previous summers. I also noticed that last summer my hayfever only seemed to last for the month of June and I only used ten tablets for the whole summer . Every year it is affecting me less and less. I am hopeful that I might finally cure myself of hayfever just from Chi Kung.

I would definitely recommend the Shaolin Arts for anyone who is looking for something different, something to benefit your health and vitality as I believe it has only made my life better as a result. And from the martial arts perspective Shaolin Kung Fu covers so many aspects from the punching, kicking, felling and gripping. And it is also so practical as with other martial arts you could spend all night kicking bags where as with Kung Fu we spar with each other barehanded but with compassion. As with anything you need good fundamentals or basics, so when you have this in Shaolin Kung Fu that is when you can progress and learn more advanced techniques.

Eric Shannon Shaolin Wahnam Ireland 18/05/2009

[Martin Do]

Thank you

Dear Eric,

Thank you for taking the time to share with us how from direct experience, the shaolin arts have effected you. I really enjoyed reading your post and am very happy to see how your practiced have helped to enrich your life.

May you continue to discover more joy and happiness through your practice as I have with mine .

Thank you and kindest regards

Martin

[Andrew]

Thank you for sharing your experiences with us, Eric. And congratulations !

[Mark CH]

Eric thank you for sharing this with us all. It is wonderful to read this.

Best wishes
Mark

[Joan]

Dear Eric,

Thank you so much for posting your wonderful experiences of Shaolin Chi Kung and Shaolin Kungfu on the forum.

It is very obvious that your words are written from the heart

May your practice bring you even more good health, happiness, clarity of mind and profound joy.

Smile from the Heart,
Joan

[joko]

Thanks, Eric, for sharing your experience.
And congratulation on your wedding.

Joko

[Andrea]

Dear Eric thank you for sharing your experience.
Continuous joy, happiness and good health in your life and practice!

Andrea

[Robert]

Shaolin Testimonial

Hi Eric,
It was generous of you to share your experience of the Shaolin arts, and I wanted to say thanks, since such accounts are inspiring and helpful for the rest of us.
I was particularly interested in your experience of other martial arts and of how such a background informed your perceptions of Shaolin Wahnam. For my part, apart from some mainly non-martial tai chi, I'd no experience of the fighting arts and, in that circumstance, one tends to spend the initial period wondering if one has chosen the right discipline. The internet is replete with fairly ghastly forums of keyboard warriors viciously decrying each other 's arts and sounding more like street thugs, with an overweening interest in violence, than martial artists incorporating an essential spiritual side into their practice. All the same, one wants always initially to be reassured that one's chosen martial art will "work" and isn't just some intellectual jiggery-pokery with the practical martial stuff added on like a Post-it note.
I had three positive pointers: 1. The martial ability of my sifu, Jamie Robson, left my jaw dangling in awe. I was - metaphorically speaking! - knocked out by it. 2. The insistence in Sifu Wong's books that there was little point in perfecting forms without applying them in sparring. 3. The fact that we sparred systematically and weren't just bunged in at the deep end to flail at each other while some chap with a black belt, beer belly and dragon tattoo on his forehead looked on and tittered.
I turned 52 yesterday and have been practising Shaolin Kung Fu for four months. It has to be the one martial art to which I dedicate the rest of my life. In making my choice, I was tempted by others: principally aikido and karate, and would never decry these in general. But - without, I hope, indulging in the vicious and disrespectful decrying alluded to above - I genuinely and honestly did find elements in particular lacking (strikes in the former and a slight sense that they expected a violent aggressor to say, "Are you looking at my girl/pint/skull-and-crossbones eyepatch? Right, I'm going to grab you by the wrist!"; and, in the latter, a spiritual side, though I accept that is an unfair generalisation since there is a deep philosophical element to much karate, just that I couldn't detect it in the schools in my area; I recommend an excellent book, incidentally, The Way of Sanchin Kata, by Kris Wilder; Sanchin Kata, as Sifu Wong explains elsewhere, is a form derived from Five Ancestors Kung Fu and looks like a worthwhile practice).
As for chi kung, I have felt physically and mentally improved by it and, as a fairly sceptical person at times, cannot deny that something is happening. Whether you call it merely physical, mystical or even extra-terrestrial doesn't much concern me. The proof of the pudding is in the flowing. Even for anyone getting little sense of fabulousness from it at first, at the very least it provides: 1. Gentle, physical stretches. 2. Co-ordination of breath and movement. 3. If you're lucky enough to have such access, a motivation to get out into the garden or park to practice in the fresh air (if you haven't a garden or a nearby park, open a window!). Practised correctly, the least you can say is that each of these things will do you some good regardless. And at most one will start to feel fundamental beneficial changes - if you stick with it.
I also actually ENJOY standing meditation and Golden Bridge, feeling that somehow they are right for me and more suitable than other practices I have tried – must be the wee warrior in me!
That's my story so far. Good luck with the rest of your journey, Eric, and thanks again for sharing the experience.
Robert

[Ray]

Congratulations, Eric.

[Anthony S]

Eric, thank you for taking the time to share your very interesting story.

[Jamie Robson]

Dear Eric & Robert,

Thank you for sharing your wonderful experiences through the diligent practice of our Arts.
It is clear you are living examples of what correct and consistent training can achieve.

Best Wishes,

Sifu

[parrapiti]

Dear Brothers!

Thank you for your inspirational and thought-provoking testimonials. Hopefully more practitioners from all over the world will read your entries and share theirs!

Piti