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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 al...

“Bodhidharma travelled to the East to teach these two Yi Jin and Xi Sui classics. A bird like the crane is able to live long, an animal like the fox can be immortal, a human who cannot learn from these classics is worse than the birds and animals.” The Mind and Body of a Buddha Ee Jin Jing makes your muscles and tendons strong, flexible, fast and powerful while building up the health of your internal organs. Xi means wash and Sui means bone marrow.  Xi Sui  means clean your bone marrow. The aim of Xi Sui Gong is to detoxify the body and cleanse the unhealthy aspects of the mind. The highest aim is to help us reach enlightenment and give us the mind and body of a Buddha. But even if we can’t gain enlightenment in this lifetime, the least this Qi Gong can do is give us a long, healthy, and peaceful life. Connecting With Our True Nature  It is vitally important that we use our heart to train, not just our body. We can train as regularly and as hard as we like but if our hear...

The most famous Qigong forms that come from the Shaolin Temple in China are called Xi Sui Jing and Ee Jin Gong. Ee Jin purifies the muscles and tendons and Xi Sui purifies the bone marrow. Shaolin monks have trained in these two forms for thousands of years and they continue to train in these forms because they know that this Qigong enables them to be their best at kung fu. Two wings of a bird I am always emphasising how important it is to train in both Qigong and kung fu. Or internal and external. Even if you are not a martial artist, for good health and longevity you should train in Qigong. It is like the two wings of a bird. Qigong helps you to stretch better, kick better and punch better. Not only does it increase your speed, power, and stamina but it also increases your concentration and balances your mind and body. It gives you the strength and foundation to practice intense physical training without the fear of burn out. Qigong insures our internal organs work properly, only whe...

The Shaolin Temple have thirty-six internal techniques and thirty-six external techniques making a total of seventy-two different styles. When we talk about internal we don’t mean 100% internal, but a combination of internal and external with the focus more on the internal. It’s the same with the external techniques, the focus is more on external but internal still has its part to play. In this article I focus on Iron Leg.   This article is for information only and must not be used as a substitute for being taught by a qualified master. All of the Shaolin body conditioning techniques can damage a person’s body, they can not be learnt from a book or a DVD, and they must be approached with wisdom and caution. The Paradoxical Qualities of Iron Leg Iron Leg is one of the thirty-six external styles. Iron Leg needs to have flexibility, speed, power, and it also needs to be hard as well as soft. But how can a leg be soft and hard at the same time? This paradox is at the heart of every sin...

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...

The Five Fundamental Stances are the key to unlocking the Shaolin forms. If you can master these five stances then it will make it much easier for you to master any Shaolin Qigong and Kung Fu form. This month I focus on Mabu or Horse Stance as it is known in the West. Ma Bu - Horse Stance It could be argued that Mabu is the most important Shaolin stance. This stance is used in nearly every single Shaolin form. The only DVD of mine that it doesn't appear in is The Way of Qigong Volume 2 , and that's because the form is a sitting one. Benefits Acts as a gateway between internal and external forms. Invigorates the body. Strengthens the legs. Strengthens the spine. Is the key to unlocking the Shaolin forms. Increases willpower. Centers and grounds the mind and body. Step by Step 1) Step your left leg out to the side so your feet are wider than your shoulders and slowly squat into Ma Bu. 2) Grab the floor with your feet and place your hands in front of your chest in prayer posit...

Metabolism tends to slow down as we get older but there are many health and wellness factors we can control to keep it well tuned so that we can continue to maintain a healthy weight and have optimal energy through every stage of our life. These are my five top tips from the Shaolin Temple as to how to keep your metabolism running smoothly. 1) Do Qigong Qigong regulates the bodies energy. If a person's metabolism is too fast, it will slow down, if it's too slow, the body will shift accordingly. If you're not sure whether you believe in Qi, then take a look at the research some scientists did on my Qigong . If you're still not convinced then think that you're oxygenating your inner organs. Getting fresh oxygen into the body can't be a bad thing. After going through The Eight Treasures form you'll feel relaxed and have more energy. Relaxation alone helps  balance the metabolism. A happy mind makes a happy body. 2) Do Shaolin Kung Fu Studies show that interv...