2009 Advanced Combined Shaolin-Taijiquan course

[Andrea]

Wishing you all a fantastic course!

Andrea

[Molly]

Likewise!

[Jamie Robson]

Dear Shaolin Family,

Having completed the Advanced Combined Course, alongside my Shaolin Brothers, I am lost for words. Put simply, this event was incredible; it brought to life and enhanced the profound and valuable principles of - Humility, Diligence and Perseverance.

I cannot thank Sigung enough for his priceless teachings, I am eternally grateful.

Many thanks and deepest respect to my Brothers who participated, we all made a memorable and enjoyable group during our stay in Penang. I look forward to seeing everyone again soon.

Best Wishes,

Jamie

[Robin]

Hello Brothers and Sisters!

As Jamie mentioned it is very hard to comprehend the depth and scope of the course that we have just had the honour of completing.

As Brother Tim mentioned on the first day of training, it was like three days of training squeezed into one, and that was the first day!

For me, our beloved Sifu's level has been raised (if it was possible) even further into the heavens, as he handled 'well trained' multiple attackers as if they were children!

Also, the the group of instructors and students on this course made the course totally unforgetable.

There were many amazing events through the course but a few of the fun ones that sprung to mind for me were..

• Multiple 'van damme' kicks by the 'Tug-boat' against multiple opponents
  
• The huge heart demonstrated by a 'Drunken Boxer' when faced with three attackers wielding a Spear, a Gwan Dao, and a Sabre!
  
• The 15 Minute sword battle worthy of an ending scene in a Kung Fu flick ..Si-Heng Chun Nga VS Tim Franklin (a rematch would surely make Pay Per View)

Truly amazing!


Robin

[Luo Lang]

Hello all,
I am glad you have had a fantastic course!

Looking forward to see some inspirational material

[Damian Kissey]

Great Course .

Thank You very much Sifu .

[Zhang Wuji]

Thank you Sifu, for the wonderful course. It was simply fantastic to spend so much time with Sifu, Wei Foong, Chun Nga and meet up with tong men.

I have just settled in at work (but with lots of back-log to clear). Still, I think many people (especially other instructors) are dying to know what we learnt at the course. Having been in that unenviable position of wanting to attend a course but not being able to, I found 10 minutes today to write about the details.

Day 1

We began the course not with some fancy kungfu moves but with the most important and often the most neglected skill – entering Zen. I cannot think of a single course in which this was not the case, even in the highly specialised Qinna course.

Sifu led us into a qigong state of mind and the resulting qi flow, followed by standing meditation. Every Shaolin Wahnam student, even those who do not practice the martial aspects of our art, does (or should) this before any training, including the ubiquitous Lifting the Sky.

In response to a query, Sifu explained that one’s qi flow can and should be maintained throughout the day. Initially, it may seem odd to be in a qigong state all the time, but it should become habitual. In this way, whether we are working at the PC or moving around, our minds are not stressed and muscles not tensed. The qi flow continues also when we are still, and not only when we are in motion – another manifestation of what the masters described as “externally still, inwardly flowing”.

We then went over the stances in Shaolinquan and Taijiquan. Even though we have practised the stances for years everyday, there was still much to improve. Sifu shared yet another secret (in addition to the now-famous open secret of “relax, relax and relax”). When settling into the stance, you will find that when you are completely relaxed, there is only one optimal position. In any other position, you will fall forward or backwards. I found feeling my way into this position allows the structure support the whole body, and lets the qi hold the body up, while letting the muscles do the least possible work. This way, the qi is allowed to flow when using the muscles at the same time.

Also, Sifu showed us an improvement in his methodology – rather than sink right into the stance, we can adjust our hands and knees position to check our physical and qi alignment first.

We then moved on to footwork, that is, moving in stances. Any participant of the intensive Shaolin or Taiji courses will know the principles. Sifu again stressed the importance of systematic progression. Of course, we do not move in the same exaggerated motions as when we first learn how to move in stances. But without working on the big movements and multiple steps in the beginning, the foundation will not be firm. It is only later that we reduce the steps and the size of the movements. If we take the effort to practice as taught, we will effortlessly manifest the essence at an advanced level or when using actually footwork in combat – be it movement from the waist, starting from the back leg, moving forward in a spiral manner, stepping with caution, or being rooted. (incidentally, Sifu told us later that Sifu distilled these principles into succinct concepts only after teaching Taijiquan).

Sifu also revised the basic aspects of footwork:

a) change of direction
b) change of leg mode
c) clockwise or anti-clockwise turn
d) the yin, yang or centre approach
e) reference points

Shaolin Wahnam students, don’t worry if you have forgotten or have not learnt these points – your instructors will cover them (again). We all go back to basics at some point.

Right, that ends my post for the day – incidentally, covering all that ground took only half the morning session. You can probably understand why it seemed like 3 days of training crammed in one day.

[Martin Do]

Dear brothers and uncles from the course,

Thank you for sharing with us your experiences from this wonderful course. I have very much enjoyed reading your comments and am very happy for everyone.

Sifu Zhang Wuji, thank you for taking the time to share with us the details from the course. There are so much we can learn and be reminded off from your post above. I look forward to reading more whenever you get another ten minutes. I particularly look forward to reading about the weapons training from the course.

Thank you again and best wishes

Martin

[Josh]

Heartfelt greetings to all my Brothers and Sisters,

Wow, what can I say. "Amazing" doesn't do justice to this course. Thank you sooo much, Sifu, for giving me the chance to be part of this. And thank you, too, to all my brothers at the course. It was truly an honor and a joy to train with such a skilled, dedicated and all-around wonderful group.

Sifu wasn't kidding when he descibed this as "a very ambitious course." Not only were the more advanced teachings high-level, the basics were high-level! I've had the experience before of going over the basics with Sifu and gaining new insight, but this time was particularly outstanding. Just the first 2 days alone would have made the course worthwhile...the subtleties and detail and skills imparted in things I already "knew" was mind-blowing. Even the things I was focusing on in my practice before the course and felt I'd been making good progress on have been massively up-graded! And of course, there was all the "advanced" material. By the end of the course, Sifu had us doing things I wouldn't have dreamed possible, and demonstrating them to us at a level so far beyond my imagination. As Robin Sihing said, Sifu did more than "wow" us...he was absolutely stunning! Ah, the heights we have to aspire to!

I couldn't begin to give a rundown of even the highlights of the course. My head is still swimming and time doesn't make sense any more! In fact, after the final dinner a few of us were trying to list everything we covered on the last day and when Robin brought up the Cross Roads set, I couldn't believe it...I was sure that was at least a day or 2 ago! So I'll let Wuji continue his much appreciated narration and I'll try to chime in when I have a meaningful (or humorous) comment. I'm still on vacation for the next week or so, so it might be a few days. But again, thank you, Sifu. And to all my brothers who spent a week kicking, punching, gripping, felling, chasing and stabbing at me, I'd just like to remind you...."You're all fantastic."

My joyful best to all,
Josh

[Luo Lang]

Hello,
First off, a Big thank you from the Heart Wuji for highligthing the material you have covered! It's very open hearted and compassioned by you indeed! Looking forward to read more.

Of course a Big thank you to all participants! From my experience I tend to say nice people create nice courses!

All in all even those who couldn't make it, we all benefit greatly in a certain way.

So instead of beeing sad to have missed another great course, which is indeed a great waste of time. I am happy thankful for those who could and hopefully spread the spirit within the family

All the best for all,

Roland