Just Do It: How To Become A Disciple Of The Bodhidharma

The Bodhidharma Is Your Teacher

 I've been studying martial arts for more than twenty years and I've been a teacher for more than ten years. I make my DVDs, and write these posts because I want to pass my experience and love of martial arts to people, like myself, who also love martial arts. I am a Shaolin Master living in the West, and I am saddened to see so much myth and magic surrounding the Shaolin Temple. My aim is to clear away the myth so that you can get to the heart of the practice. Whatever your view of The Shaolin Temple, this is not important. It's the teachings that are important. The teachings originate from the founder of Zen, Bodhidharma. 

The Buddha said, do not rely on the teacher, rely on the teachings. When we take up the teachings, we owe a debt to our ancestors, and we must respect them for passing such great teachings to us. In many ways, I see the Bodhidharma as my teacher more than the Buddha because he showed me how to use martial arts as a meditation. Each person who learns from me, either in person or with my DVDs or book is also a student of the Bodhidharma. I see myself as a conduit, passing down what my master taught me. I'm always a beginner, always learning, always grateful for these teachings.

 Does The Shaolin Temple Have A Gym?

 The question I get asked the most about my own training is, do I lift weights? The Shaolin Temple doesn't have a gym. My muscles are purely from my martial arts training. What Shaolin does is make our training intelligent.  When I train in Kung Fu I use my own body weight, and when I train in Qigong, I do specific Qigong exercises to strengthen my muscles and give them power and Qi.  This is using the intelligence of the teaching. This is a very holistic approach. We don't just train for one reason, we train for many. In my latest DVDs, I demonstrate how to build muscles through kung fu and how to transform the shape of the muscle and give it energy through Qigong.

 The Toughest Workout Ever

 The movements in Shaolin Bootcamp may look deceptively easy but this is possibly the toughest workout ever taught on a DVD. As you move through the Bootcamp workout you train intelligently. When a martial artist does a push up, she also needs to punch. A strong arm does not mean a powerful punch. As martial artists we need to tune into the intelligence of our bodies and finely tune our training so that we are getting the optimal results for the goals we have set for ourselves. The Bootcamp is designed to keep us moving; push up, stretching, punch, shadow and speed training. It's designed this way for a reason: this kind of training is guaranteed to get us fighting fit; melting the fat and toning the body. It's giving our body new challenges while increasing its speed, coordination and power. 

It's important to vary our workouts because the body is always trying to find ways that it can be lazy. Maybe it finds a comfortable way of doing push ups, so change the angle and make it difficult again. There are no surprises in weight lifting. You do a set and you don't move around so even though you are building your muscles, you’re not increasing your stamina. Shaolin Bootcamp builds your stamina, speed and muscles in one fully integrated movement.

Yoga Can Be Bad For You

I'm not saying that weight lifting is good or bad. I'm saying, what is your goal? If your goal is to build muscle then great. But if you're a martial artist, then your body has a whole set of goals and building muscle is just one of them. People who do yoga are very flexible in one way but if they wanted to kick or punch there would be no power so in some ways they have no flexibility at all. Martial Artists not only stretch but they also do the five kicks to extend and give their stretch power and movement. If you love yoga and you're not interested in self-defence, there's nothing wrong with this type of training. But if you're a martial artist then too much yoga can be bad for you!

Increase Your Peace And Your Punch

Another misperception is that some older people believe that all they have to practice is some gentle Qigong or Tai Qi exercise. But this isn't true because as we get older, not only do our organs shrink but also our tendons, muscles and bones. In Qigong For Upper Body and Qigong For Lower Body I address these concerns by teaching a Qigong form that links hard Qigong with soft Qigong. This is the first time I've taught hard and soft Qigong on a DVD. For fighters or young people who find it difficult to concentrate, these forms are more challenging so easier to focus on, they will increase the power of your punch while increasing your peace. Strengthen your Mabu and your meditation.  Strengthen the internal organs while strengthening the external muscles. This is a tough Qigong because it uses your muscles in a new static way that is different from a push up. It gives your muscle Qi, energy, power. This is the Zen way to train intelligently.

Take Action Now

Now that I'm 38, and having trained for so long, I know that it's increasingly important that we practice these Qigong's. Doesn't matter what martial art's we do, Qigong can help us and prolong our martial art's life.

In the West we tend to get wrapped up in our minds and over complicate things. My master never allowed me to do this. Coming from a Zen Temple meant I wasn't allowed to ask my master many questions because if he gave me answers then they would be his answers and this would cloud my direct experience. The Nike slogan is nicked from the Zen philosophy:  Just Do It. What does this mean? Stop thinking, stop making such a big deal, stop procrastinating. Make your health a priority. If you start thinking too much when you practice - where is the Qi? What am I feeling? Should I focus on my Dan Tian? - Just stop. 

In Shaolin the focus is not on our Dan Tian. Shaolin is a holistic way of working with our body. Our body is made up of not just a Dan Tian. This is why the focus is on the breath and the movement. Simple. Always keep it simple. Just Do it. Combine internal with external, Qigong with Kung Fu. Practice movement and breath, breath and movement, train intelligently, don't over complicate. Just do it. This means you a disciple of the Bodhidharma. This means you are training in Zen.

 If you like my post, then sign up to my mailing list and get access to archived newsletters as well as a monthly newsletter packed full of training tips to keep you motivated

The Future Of Exercise

Powerful strategies for optimzing your body and mind

I believe that practicing martial arts or going through your life without practicing Qigong is like driving a car and never topping up the air in the tyres. The air is our Qi, it gets us places. Take the air out of the tyre and the car will go nowhere, take the air out of our bodies and we die. It is as simple as that. On a basic level Qi is breath, it flows where the blood flows, but on a deeper level it is the energy matrix of the body and when we do Shaolin Training we optimize it on daily basis to get the most out of ourselves.

This is what the Shaolin Temple mean when they emphasise the importance of internal and external. The external is the kung fu, the things we can see, the internal is what is going on inside of us, and to optimize our energy we mix internal and external together.

Shaolin Steel Jacket

A good example of this is Shaolin Steel Jacket. In order for me to be able to do this, I have to have good stamina but I also I need to practice Qigong. It is the Qi that protects my body. I direct my Qi to my ribs or my back and I deflect the pain away so it acts like a mirror, when a person kicks me, their power is deflected and turned back on themselves so it hurts them instead of me. That is the amazing power of Qi.

The Competitive Edge

The majority of people use Qi to unblock the channels and optimize the efficiency of the body. In China, top-level businessmen and women practice Qigong so that they can focus and have full energy for the day ahead. They believe it gives them a competitive edge. Martial artists use it to make their bodies into weapons or simply to give them a stronger and longer martial art's life.

The balance of yin and yang

When I first went to the Shaolin Temple to begin my training, I was fourteen years old and 90% of my training was kung fu – external - training and only 10% was Qigong – internal - training. To be honest, I used to find internal training boring and I wasn’t convinced that there was such a thing as Qi. But I wanted to learn Shaolin Steel Jacket and in order to do this I had no choice. It was only when I saw the effectiveness of the Qigong movements that I became interested in Qi.

As I get older I don't need to practice 90% kung fu, and if I did I would quickly burn myself out. The reason boxers and footballers usually retire in their thirties is not only because their stamina is not as strong but also because their body feels weaker, and this is one of the ways in which martial arts differs from sport. As martial artists, our thirties are the time when we have the maturity and experience to go deeper into the internal techniques. We change the yin and yang of our training so that we may do 60% kung fu and 40% Qi Gong but as I get older this may become as much as 90% Qi Gong and 10% kung fu.

The key to staying young isn't to work out until our endorphins make us happy but to be clever and learn how to balance our external training with our internal training.

How far can you go?

If we have a car, every now and again we check the air pressure, especially if we are about to go on a long journey. We need to do the same thing with our body. What is it telling you? How much can you do today? How much can you push yourself?

This is something, which is difficult for a martial artist to judge because we know we have to push ourselves to improve. Martial arts are about taking us beyond our limits. The training challenges us and this is one of the reasons why we love martial arts so much. It takes us away from the smallness of our self and connects us with a tradition that is thousands of years old and it also gives us unity with our fellow martial artists. There is something exhilarating about our body being able to do something that we never thought possible.

But no matter what martial arts you do, or even if you don’t do martial arts, if you want to sustain your martial art's life then you need to do internal training. If it's not part of your tradition then take it from another tradition.

Right Now

The history of the Shaolin Temple was built on monks going out to different provinces and taking the good things then bringing them back and finely tuning them. It's important that we don't stay stuck but we keep evolving. Remember the lesson of impermanence. Nothing is fixed and solid. Just as our bodies are impermanent and constantly changing so should our training change and adapt to where our bodies are right now in the present moment.

Less is more

My advice is at the end of your martial art's or workout session, finish with some Qigong. In the beginning, you may – like I did – feel bored. But if this happens remind yourself that Qigong has been around for thousands of years. If it were rubbish then it wouldn't be practiced anymore. It is a time-tested technique of putting energy back into your body but it yields nothing to an impatient bored mind. The practice needs to have quality so it's best to start off with doing less, just five minutes a day.

The Eight Treasures Qigong

The Eight Treasures Qigong is possibly the most popular Qi Gong form in China. I teach it in my book Instant Health and also my DVD The Way Of Qigong. It consists of eight sections so it's easy to break them down. Take one section from The Eight Treasures Qi Gong and practice this movement, and then build up a little bit more each day until you are working through a whole form. Try to get into a daily routine. We don't think about brushing our teeth because it's a habit. Try to make a habit of doing Qigong.

It's important to have patience. Our minds are like puppies, we know when we bring a puppy into the house it's naughty and we have to train it. This is the same with our mind. We have to give it direction and leadership and soon our body will start to enjoy the increase in energy and we will want to do Qigong.

Beginner's mind

Shaolin Qigong comes from a Ch'an or Zen tradition so we don't think about where the energy is going. The important aspect of this is to have a no thinking beginner's type mind. Practice with a heart and mind placed firmly on the practice and from this your own experience will grow. You will become aware of energy naturally; your body will direct you. Don't complicate things. The secret to a successful Qigong practice is to make sure your breathing is one with your movement. Don’t add anything more. Keep it simple.

The Shaolin Energy Massage

Just as top-level Olympic athletes have regular massages, we also finish our Qigong practice with a self-massage. And we use The Instant Health Massage Brush to do this. I use a metal one because I practice Shaolin Steel Jacket but The Instant Health Massage Brush that my students use is made from bamboo and consists of 108 bamboo rods. It is designed for a person seeking health, and for martial artists it is also the first step to body conditioning.

Not only does it relieve tight muscles but it also assists in unblocking the acupuncture channels, and helps the body to detox through the stimulation of the lymphatic system. This is a natural battery charger for the body. We do this massage when we have finished our Qi Gong training and it takes about five or ten minutes.

The future of exercise

The future of exercise is changing, just as yoga has become more mainstream, I believe Qigong will follow. New research is proving its effectiveness and I hope to see not only martial artists use it but boxers and athletes and runners and footballers.

Life is about energy. When we love something or feel passionate about something then we have a lot of energy. Our love for martial arts gives us the mental energy to keep training. The Qi in our bodies gives us the physical energy to keep training.

I like to think that even when I'm in my sixties I'll still be kicking and punching bags and running up mountains. I'll still be discovering more and more about martial arts because martial arts is like the ocean, it's never ending and I am a beginner who is always learning. It is only through the Qi that I can continue to do this.

Go for it!

If I explain to you the taste of an apple, it's not the same as you actually taking a bite from an apple. It's the same with Qigong. I believe it will help you to run faster or punch quicker and it will give you more energy not only for your martial art's training but your day-to-day life. But I ask you not to take my word for it but go and try it out for yourself.

Unlock the secret of Shaolin Stamina

Extraordinary techniques for unleashing the power of the body and mind

When we practice martial arts it’s vitally important that we train our minds as much as we train our bodies. We believe we are the boss of our minds but when our mind says it wants chocolate, even though we know we shouldn’t, the next thing we know we are eating a bar of chocolate. So who is in charge? We can’t blame it on the bar of chocolate can we?

More than two thousand five hundred years ago, The Lord Buddha said, “It is our mind which makes the world.”        

A positive mind has a positive impact on ourselves and in turn our family and friends and this trickles out to the world at large. I don’t know if there was chocolate in the Buddha’s time but I can guarantee that our mind was the same then as it is now.

At the Shaolin Temple we use powerful techniques that have been passed to us directly from the Buddha to aid us in our martial art’s training. This doesn’t mean that in order to practice Shaolin we need to be Buddhists but using some of these mind techniques can help us to approach our training with fresh eyes.

Mind and Body Stamina

When I studied at the Shaolin Temple, we started every morning with a grueling run up the Songshan Mountain to the Bodhidharma cave then back down the hill, where we would begin our martial art’s training. There were many mornings when I felt lazy and the last thing I wanted to do was run up the mountain but our master would be chasing behind us with a stick and we would be beaten if we were too slow. Over the years, one of the things I began to realise was that sometimes it wasn’t my body that was feeling tired but my mind. Our master was there with the stick not just to give our bodies stamina but more importantly our minds.

In our martial arts training it is vitally important that we build two types of stamina – mind and body. A martial artist’s mind is very important for every aspect of their performance. We need to be as flexible in our mind as we are in our bodies.

Super Human

Looking back over my training, I realise it was my mind which held me back rather than my body. Shaolin Steel Jacket is a good example of that. When I began this training, I doubted whether it was really possible to hit myself with a brick and feel no pain. Of course, it is impossible without special instruction and techniques. It would be like trying to find a street in a strange town without a map or someone to guide us. But with the correct training, our body can surpass what our mind thinks is possible. People call Shaolin monks “super human” but we are human, it’s just we know how to train our flesh and blood and the most important thing: our mind.

A fusion of body and mind

I feel this is what all martial arts are, an extraordinary fusion of mind and body. And the first thing Shaolin monks do with their body is take it for a run. I don’t believe that any martial artist can have good stamina if they don’t run.

Body Stamina

Running

When we run and we get tired, sometimes it is our muscle and other times it is our breathing. We need to build the power of our muscle and breathing together. We don’t need to count how many steps we take but we need to get into a rhythm so our steps are in tune with our inhale and exhale. The other important aspect is to vary our speeds so that sometimes we are doing aerobic exercise and other times anaerobic. For example we can do five minutes to warm up then two minutes sprint then one minutes slow then another five minutes normal jogging speed.

Long Distance

We also need to do at least one long distance run a week. But if we can run eight or ten miles, this doesn’t mean we have good stamina for martial arts. The only way to build this is to continue our training after we have run. This is the reason why all Shaolin Temple trainees start their day with a run up the mountain and then don’t stop but continue.

Temple Training

The running is just a warm up, a preliminary. Our body is warm and now we begin our real martial art’s training. It’s vitally important that we stretch thoroughly. Running, especially hill running makes our leg muscles tight so we need to do a lot of kicks to loosen the tightness of our muscles.  We start off by doing relaxed kicks and punches building up to using power and practicing our forms. We also can do some jumping to strengthen our legs.

At the Shaolin Temple we have no choice. We are never allowed to lie in bed. But here in the West, we have many choices. We may start off with a lot of enthusiasm but maybe one day it’s raining or we feel tired or there’s an interesting film on at the cinema or we don’t have enough time. This is when it’s time to employ Mind Stamina.

Mind Stamina

Meditation

When we are in the temple, we practice meditation. Many people think that meditation is sitting on the floor in a cross-legged position and trying to empty our minds of all thoughts but this is not meditation; this is like being a dead person! There are many types of meditation, I think people give themselves a hard time, they say ok, now I will be peaceful but when they shut their eyes the thoughts seem louder and they don’t feel peaceful at all so they stop meditating all together.

Thoughts are thoughts. It’s what we do with the thought that is the important thing. It’s how we react. There are many different ways to meditate but one way is to meditate with positive thoughts. This will give energy to our mind.

Running Meditation

We don’t have to sit to do this but we can do it when we run. When we feel tired, we can dedicate our run. For example, we can say; I want to run ten minutes for peace or ten minutes for my grandfather who is ill, or ten minutes for my friend who was feeling depressed today. We can dedicate whatever we do for the betterment of others, and this takes the focus off the smallness of us and makes our running a part of the whole world.

Horse Stance

The other thing we can do to help with the stamina of our mind is practice different stances. For example we can practice horse stance. We stay as low as we can and we quickly get tired so then our mind fights with our body. Our mind says, “Keep going!” but our legs say, “You are killing me!”  It’s the same as the chocolate bar. Which one will we choose?

This is one of the reasons in the old kung fu films we see the kung fu master’s practice horse stance. It is great for building mind and body at the same time. 

You already are what you want to become

Another mind technique we can apply to our martial arts training is

aimlessness. This is one of four Dharma seals in Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism. 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 or to be an exceptional martial artist – you already have.

Bringing this energy into our practice, enriches everything we do - running, kung fu, qigong, meditation, and also our work and family life. It helps us to stop putting our life on hold or wait for the future when we think we will have more time or be less stressed.

There is only now

There is no future time there is only now. And now is the most important

time we have. Now is the building block for the future. Instead of drifting

into the future of “if” and “when”, we focus on the single point of now.

Kung Fu Ch’an

In my DVD Kung fu Ch’an, through Shaolin Kung fu, I demonstrate how the mind and body work together to become one so that Shaolin training becomes a direct gateway into the teachings of Ch’an Buddhism.

Shaolin Martial Arts helps us to reach the potential in ourselves that we only dreamt of before. I believe with the correct approach and the right motivation, we can use our martial arts to bring to our life the wholeness, health and inner satisfaction that we seek.