The Scholar Warrior Ideal
Shaolin Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit is an inspiration to all of his students as a Scholar Warrior.
In our school, we do not
merely teach Chi kung, Shaolin Kungfu or Wahnam Taijiquan; we teach a way of life that is meaningful and rewarding for ourselves and to other people.
We are quite clear about our aims and objectives. For most of us, we choose the scholar-warrior ideal. For those of us who are more advanced in our training, we aspire to be warrior-monks. We do not really go to war to be warriors or shave our heads to be monks. We aspire to these ideals, such as the clarity of thought and intellectual depth of a scholar, the courage and righteousness of a warrior, and the compassion and cosmic wisdom of a monk.
Actually all of us are warriors. If you compete in sport, work
in a profession, or engage in business, you are a warrior. But we do not want to be a crude warrior, like one who is proud of a scar received from a football match, stabs his colleagues in their back, or drives his competitors to bankruptcy. We want to be a scholar-warrior or a warrior-monk, someone who not only excels in his profession or business, but also is a wonderful husband, father and friend, someone who is successful in life as well as compassionate and wise.
And we are no day-dreamers. We set our vision, and we find direction to our destination. We know the journey involves hard work, but we are confident we can accomplish our task. We know our chi kung, Shaolin Kungfu or Wahnam Taijiquan training will give us the mental clarity and internal force besides courage and determination needed for our journey, and we use our Ten Shaolin Laws to guide us in our daily conduct.
Our training is systematic, disciplined and very good fun. Laughter
is a common sound in the training room.
BEGINNERS LEVEL 1. Three weekends
over 3 months Level One
includes:Form, Force, Combat application and Philosophy. Please Taijiquan syllabus for full
details, included are stance training, moving in stances, flexible legs,
Grasping Sparrow's tail, Lifting Water, Generating Energy Flow through form,
breathing and mind focus and some combat application.
Please note that in Wahnam Tai Chi Chuan the emphasis is not on form only. The
emphasis is on energy flow, shen training, internal force, combat application
and Spiritual cultivation as well as good health, vitality and a zest for life
and the ideal of the scholar-warrior -monk. Students work hard but have good
fun in the process! Please see the Wahnam Tai Chi Chuan syllabus under the
Shaolin Arts section.Wahnam Tai Chi Chuan is a beautiful martial art we train
systematically in a safe and nurturing environment. It is suitable for all age
groups
SPECIAL PUSHING/STRIKING HANDS WEEKENDS
& SOME COMMENTS FROM STUDENTS.
Learn how to generate real energy flow,
basic stance training and footwork, flexible legs, how to gain sensitivity
through 'hearing force', Deepen the skill of leading and following, Build
internal force, Deepen the skill of awareness of another's intentions.sensing
your partners emotions and intentions. Using the principles of
Pushing/Striking hands in daily life and business. Pushing hands deepens
skills, Striking hands allows the students to learn techniques of
not just striking but is comprehensive including - kicking,
felling and chin na.This is a personal development course......enhancing each
individual physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually Both are wonderful
fun to learn and laughter is a common sound in class
Dear Sije Joan
1) 3 things I’ve learned or should I
say still learning from the pushing hands course are: to relax, have fun and
just enjoy the moment.
2) My favourite part of the course was the
free sparring I really enjoyed that part of the course and also the chi flows
they were very strong but really enjoyable. Probably the most surprising thing
for me was being able to sense when someone was about to strike me
and being able to do this on the first day. I have tried pushing
hands with a friend of mine since I’ve been back home. They also have some
experience in pushing hands. Before the course, when we did pushing hands
they always referred to my arm as being like a concrete block but after the
course they couldn’t get over how relaxed I was and now it was me who was
telling them that there arm was so tense it was like a concrete block. How the
roles have reversed in just two days!
3) I really enjoyed the atmosphere on the
course the lads were constantly joking and just having a good time. That helped
me to relax being the new guy on the course.
4) The biggest thing I’ve learned
personally on the course is that I tend to keep people at a distance I
hadn’t realised that before. That was a bit of a shock and an eye opener
something that I have to work on.
5) I went on the course to learn pushing
hands which I did, but I’ve learned a lot more on a personal level then I ever
could have expected. That’s the great thing about these courses be it Tai Chi
Chuan or Chi Kung I always expect to get some sort of a result from them and I
always get so much more for that I am always grateful and can’t wait until the
next pushing hands course.
6) The most important thing I’m going to keep in
mind is my training is the six harmonies hands, body ,footwork and
jing(essence) chi (energy )shen(mind)
Thanks Sije for an excellent weekend and to every one on the course for making
it so enjoyable.
Brendan Galway -May 2009
Dear Sifu,
For me pushing hands
/ striking hands creates a safe and fun way to
examine and experiment with our own behaviour/responses to every day
life situations, without the repercussions! - it provides a 'pressure
cooker' almost laboratory like condition, to allow us to feel and
discover things about ourselves, situations and reactions to them along
with those of our training partners. On the surface it appears to be a
simple, physical activity - but I felt the effects go deep, beyond
mental comprehension and are they still on going, weeks after the
course.
One of the key lessons I got from the weekend was the appreciation of
balance in any relationship or interaction. If we consider a
relationship as a 50/50 , this is the outcome of the balance shifting,
for what ever reason, good or bad; primarily this raised awareness of my
own behaviour and reactions and was a real eye opener, giving much
food for thought and self examination and a long list for self
improvement !
It is strange Sifu, I got such a lot out of the course, but its hard to
get the understanding onto the paper !
I don't find writing difficult, I have to do it for work every day, it
just seems like words are not enough.
Mark- Dublin- May 2009
