This is an account of my week of training in the art of Shaolin Kung Fu.
Spot the old dude of a Master. Unfortunately this photo was taken in 2010 and the man with the beard wasn't there.
Having travelled 23 hours from Shanghai, I arrived at the
camp in the heart of the Kunyu mountain in Shandong province. The more in the
middle of nowhere it sounds the better I thought.
Area surrounding the camp.
First impressions
Nancy who had
picked me up at the station showed me to my room. A three-bunk dormitory.
Glanced at the passport of the only other occupant in the room. Welsh. Bloody
hell not another one. Balding, beard. Could be crazy.
Ventured into the TV room to find a fellow English chap,
James, various mutual friends that we didn’t exhaust till the next day. Going
back to the room I was to find a man in red pants, a little pissed but hugely
enthusiastic about Kung Fu, this was Ian. He’d be my room-mate/mentor and all
round bloody hero for the rest of the week.
So inspired by Ian’s late night rant about how Kung Fu and
just about everything was ‘cool as fuck’. I got straight into the Kung Fu with
two 1 on1 sessions with a Master (Shi-Fu) on the Saturday. I really pushed
myself and in both of the one hour sessions I sweated through my T-Shirt. It
being the same T-Shirt it got a double soak through.
It was weird arriving on the week-end. Everyone was so
inactive and complaining of the pain in his or her body caused from the
notorious power stretching or mountain run. However all I saw on the Saturday
and Sunday were people lying about or playing basketball. So on Sunday I went
on my own up the mountain, exploring a little.
My group
Monday. Training began. I was in an eclectic team of Shaolin
trainee’s. We had James I'd met from the TV room, New College, Oxford graduate and
doing 3 months before he started work in February. Dean, an actual grand-dad
and retired from the army, was doing 4 months before he moved on to New
Zealand. There was a French girl who rarely spoke, Alex, an Aussie who because
of his time here was pushed the hardest, Eric, once a bartender in Utah, now a
roundhouse kicking kung fu king, unfortunately twisted his ankle during the
week and there was also another new guy joining with me, Daniel, who like me
left after the week but because he wanted to try other places. This news didn't go down well with the Masters.
Schedule
The schedule was intense but I loved it. The Masters allowed
you to miss a session if you were tired or sick, but I didn’t ask all
week.
You’d wake up at 5:50 am for an hour of Tai Chi and then QiGong. I began
to like Tai Chi as it was a relaxing way to bed your muscles in to another
extreme day of kicks and stretches. There was a 24 step move which was being
taught to all students, I was able to learn 5 steps of it by the end of the week. QiGong was a meditation
period and it was very much a ‘what you put in, you got out’ scenario. I stuck
with it but it was people who had stayed there for 4 weeks or so who
experienced the burning sensation that encapsulated and energized your body.
The Master who was high up in the art has been seen to be sweating whilst doing
QiGong in his shorts and T-Shirt outside in the cold at winter.
On Tuesday
there was a presentation and nominated students performed. Sam who was the most
experienced student in the camp amazingly broke 3 long pieces of metal on his
head and credited QiGong for him being able to do it.
After the early morning rise, we had breakfast, which was
the same everyday- bolied eggs, bread, rice and soya milk. I’d have on average
5 eggs for breakfast. Lunch and dinner varied but I’d usually have sizable
portions. After using my Chinese on the dinner ladies I’d also get generous
seconds as well.
There were 3 periods in the day. Two before lunch, one
lasting 90 minutes, one lasting 60 minutes, and then a 90 minute session after
the post-lunch siesta. There was also a chance for more TaiChi and QiGong which I often went
to before dinner and a basics Mandurin lesson in the evenings.
The lessons in the day were either basic skills or sanda.
We then throughout the week had QiGong at the Temple, Conditioning, Power
Stretching, Forms-which was weapon practice, Sparring session, Presentation, a
Taoism/Acupuncture lesson and to finish the week there was the infamous
Mountain Run. We’d also start the first and the third session with a 1 km run,
this got quite competitive.
Basic Skills: This
lesson was full of kicks. The week I was there the Masters were trying to drill
in the side on kick. So they had us hanging on to a railing like a ballerina
and on ‘Go’ we’d kick out with our leg. They’d expect us to get shoulder
height. It was knackering.
Sanda We’d be
sparring in this form and for this lesson we practiced throwing punches and
kicks usually in some kind of combo. I realised I had serious malco-ordination
problems and having to punch with the left whilst stepping back with the left ,
then to do a quick fire with the right, as well as keeping the right footwork,
punch techinique, back stance, it was a lot to handle. So the older of the two Masters would always take me aside and teach me some cool moves which he would then try on me!
QiGong at the Temple and then Conditioning One of my favourite lessons as we went up to the idyllic
temple. First bit involved this calming 7 minute stretch where we had to
control our breathing whilst stretching all parts of our body through arm and
legs movements. It was deeply energising and you felt part of the Earth you
were standing on. Then after that we did conditioning which basically involved
punching trees and other people. It would harden the skin and make us tougher
fighters!
Alex conditioning his skin by hitting a stick against his shins. Painful after a while
Forms There were presentations twice a month and in this lesson we’d practice
our kind of routine. For Alex this involved twirling this huge pike/spear
weapon around. Apparently one of his moves is meant to split a man in half. I
played with numchuks for the lesson. The Master taught me some moves.
The nearby temple where we did forms, QI Gong and the Mountain Run.
Power Stretching The lesson I feared most. After a rigorous workout of
sprinting, bunny hopping, fireman lifting etc up the slope, we got into
partners and would push each other into stretching further than we possibly
could or would. You’d experience seething pain. Like cry out loud pain, but at
the end of it you felt a new man!
Dean giving me a good stretch.
Acupuncture/Massage Class Acupuncture class was the most disappointing of the
week. It was all theory and deadly boring. Massage class was quite funny
though. There were only 3 of us and there was the on running joke that it was
like the ‘Homosexual’ club. Learnt some techniques and then gave and received a
massage so no complaints!
Sparring session It got to Friday and it being my last day I put my hand up to spar.
Surprisingly there weren’t many who wanted to test themselves in the ring
especially in their first week. I did though and got put up against James. He
was deadly close range so I decided to use the tactic of kicking. Unfortunately
my mind was so set on this course that James’ friendly, respect tap of the
gloves at the start of the bout received a high kick from me. It was an intense
affair. I took a few to the face when my guard wasn’t up, but I lasted the two
rounds and got a few kicks and punches away myself. Quite an experience!
My Master watched on as James and I went fist to fist.
Mountain Run The last lesson of the week and the most hyped up. The
whole camp of Mantai, WaiChun and Shaoling students got together to run up and
down this mountain six times. Obviously a lot of people walked, however there
were some mental ones who bear crawled on all fours down the mountain, I gently
jogged most of it but my body at this stage of the week was in disarray and I
had to resort to walking up the last few. Somehow I did all six though!
---
Legacy
So I’m immensely happy I was able to experience a week of the rigorous Kung Fu training. I’m a little upset I could not do it for
longer as there was a great group of lads at the camp who were on the
most part motivated, open minded and interesting.
The Masters had an aura around them similar to a Headmaster.
You respected them and they pushed you hard. Kung Fu makes you do- things you
didn’t think were possible or activities that you didn’t think the sane would
do.
If I went again I would stay at least 3 months to get a
proper stint as it was blooming awesome!
