Holiday in China

Sifu Simon is currently enjoying the kung fu retreat in Switzerland. 6-8 hours a day of Shaolin kung fu, chi kung and meditation, as taught by Taisipak Kai of Germany might not seem any kind of holiday! This is just one of many special courses offered to continuing students of Shaolin Wahnam.

While he is away, here are some photos from a trip to China in 2002, the village and temple of Shaolin and Wudang, places of kung fu, tai chi history and legend.

Pictured is the Shaolin temple, the wooden friezes and weapons to be found within and the gateway to the wudang mountains in Hubei province. Finally, there is a glimpse of children practising at a wushu school where Simon stayed in the Shaolin village. Without fail, they were to be found going over their forms from the early hours until dusk. A great example. Keep up the good work!

Canterbury Tales

Another successful Summer Camp has drawn to an end. At various points over the past two weeks students from England, Scotland, Wales, The Netherlands, Switzerland, America, Cyprus and Spain gathered to learn Chi Kung, Kung Fu and Classical Weapons directly from Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit as he made his annual visit to the UK.

The aim of such courses is always to push your own limits, physically, mentally and emotionally. This is not really surprising when you consider that each student is taught about two years material within the space of three or four days!

The challenge now that we have all returned home is to practise. There is a saying in Shaolin Wahnam that learning is 5%, practice is 95%. This is an important lesson to help us progress in our art and in our lives in general. Make sure there's a book inside the cover!

For most of us this need to practise means having to choose. Some of those who took the Classical Weapons course already had their favourites and remain unchanged in their views. Others are now thrown into a dilemma with each of the Butterfly Knives, Spear and Straight Sword showed their beauty and their own charm.