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Every Sunday morning, from 9:00 to 11:00, we practice Shaolin Kung Fu & Shaolin Qigong in Rembrandtpark.

The focus, for now, goes on Shaolin Ba Duan Jin Qigong (The Eight Treasures), which is one of the most famous and basic Qigong forms from Shaolin. There are many variations of this form, but I practice the variation that I have learned from Shaolin Warrior Monk Shifu Yan Lei.

This Qigong form will help calm down your nervous system while boosting your immune system. It will also have a recovery & conditioning effect on your joints, muscles, tendons & ligaments.

Shaolin Martial Arts require both soft/internal training and hard/external training in order to maximize health, strength, flexibility and give a relaxed mind to the practitioners. If we only train hard - we burn out. If we only train soft - we will not have enough power.

It is recommended that beginners start with the soft/internal training (Qigong), before they can safely practice hard/external training (Kung Fu). But, in order to learn Shaolin Ba Duan Jin Qigong, you must first learn some of the basics of Shaolin Kung Fu - like the 5 basic kicks and the 5 basic stances.

Shaolin Martial Arts start with building a strong physical and mental foundation which will enable you to learn more advanced skills and make you ready to fight disease, stress or an opponent.

Also, it would be helpful to keep in mind that Shaolin Martial Arts are linked with Zen Teachings, so each time we train we focus all of our attention on doing one single thing at a time: when we kick - we kick, when we punch - we punch, when we run - we run. This way, the mind can have a rest from its ordinary thinking and over-thinking cycles.

So, the training will take about 2 hours and it will go as it follows:

30 min

Warm Up

Running

Lizard Walking

30min

ShadowBoxing

5 Basic Kicks

5 Basic Stances

5 Basic Shaolin Kung Fu Drills 5 Step Boxing Form (Wu Bu Quan - the very first Shaolin form you would learn in any Shaolin Gym) Kung Fu Conditioning & Calisthenics (occasionally)

30min

Shaolin Stretching (Full Body Stretch)

30min

Shaolin Ba Duan Jin Qigong (The Eight Treasures)

Make sure you wear as comfortable clothing as possible. Light shoes with flat soles are the best for this kind of training. But, any sport shoes will do.

Bring a water bottle and some fruits for your after-training recovery!

Costs: 5 euro

Who can participate:

Anybody willing to sweat and learn Shaolin!

No Martial Arts experience required.

This training can be suitable both for complete beginners and long time practitioners. It can be suitable for kids up to 5 year old as well as for old people in their 70s.

How can this training help you:

-calms down your nervous system and fights stress

-boosts your immune system and vitality

-burns fat & toxins

-builds up your stamina

-builds up strength & flexibility

-helps with your coordination and balance

-shows you how to kick & punch

-shows you how to defend yourself

-shows you how to run

-shows you how to train yourself, by yourself, according to your own rythm and body specifications

-helps you discover and surpass your physical limitations

-it can significantly alleviate back pain and improve posture

-helps your mind and your body relax

About me:

My name is Shao. I am 28 years old now and I started practicing different Traditional Martial Arts at age 14, being highly motivated by the need to defend myself.

Since 3 years ago, I have dedicated myself to practicing Shaolin. My motivation shifted a bit from learning fighting skills to learning how to take care of my body and myself, in general.

I find Shaolin to be a very complex Martial Art that trains every single part of your body. I also love the fact that it is linked with Zen Buddhism, as I noticed that meditation and mindfulness have a positive effect on dealing with stress and traumas.

I have only started training more seriously 3 years ago, so I still have a lot of training ahead of me, but the way I see martial arts - training never stops. Everything I know I can show to others and then they can go as far as they want with this training. I am just transmitting some skills. How far you will go is entirely up to you! Nobody will do the push ups for you!

I would love to train with the Shaolin Monks in China sometime - that would be a nice dream, but I can't afford such dreams right now. What I can afford is not miss any chance to participate at the workshops that Shaolin Monks give when they visit Europe. I try to stay in touch with other Shaolin practitioners and teachers and continue to learn from them. And I always keep an eye on any other martial art, as long as it looks efficient to me in terms of self-defense or medicine.

I hope I will make this training as enjoyable as possible for you!

About the group:

This training group only started a few months ago, in the spring of this year (2016). At the moment, there are around 4 people who participate regularly and some new people join us every now and then to try the training for themselves. Sometimes they continue, sometimes they don't.

But you can rest assured that I will be there, training, regardless of how many people participate.

My motivation, when I started this group, was to share what I learn from Shaolin with as many people as possible. I have seen this training work on my own body, I have seen it improving my own health and my life, in general. I would be very happy if I would know that at least one more person has benefited from learning this and training this way! It would mean a lot to me, knowing that I can be of some help to somebody.

Also, by teaching I can help myself with organizing the training better and perfect my basics too. This way I can learn more and I can share more.

I believe that knowing how to train yourself is one of the best gifts you could give to yourself! So, you can take this training as a gift that you give to yourself or give it as a gift to someone you love or care about.

My facebook: Shao TheTao

My e-mail: zarathustra_mch@yahoo.com

Shaolin Cat Boxing on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shaolincatboxing