TRAINING SCHEDULE FOR CHI KUNG AND KUNGFU
Shaolin Kungfu
Question
We practice daily at 5 am on the beach for 1-2 hours. We are not particularly interested in the art of fighting as we are in the mastery of our energy/chi.
— Ben, UK
Answer
Someone who wakes up at 5 am and practice for 1-2 hours everyday is certainly dedicated.
But dedicated training may not necessarily bring the desirable results you want. Many martial artists who routinely hurt themselves, and therefore not healthy, are very dedicated. Many chi kung practitioners who still take medication on a routine basis are also very dedicated.
Besides being dedicated, you must also train smart. It may be difficult for many people to believe, but it is true that our typical students get more benefit in 15 minutes of training than what other people get in one hour. So if you use our methods, you just train for half an hour a day, instead of 2 hours, presuming that you get similar benefits in 2 hours what our typical students get in half an hour.
But you don't get similar benefits as our typical students. How do I know if I haven't seen you train? There are two good ways for me to find out.
One, the very fact that you have written to me for help, which by itself is a good thing, shows that you are not getting the results you want. If you are getting good results, you won't write to me for help.
Two, from what you have written, I know you are not getting good results. For example, you mentioned that you spent 40 minutes on stance training. If you have good results from your stance training, you need not practice for 40 minutes. I really do not mean to belittle you but just to show you the effectiveness of practicing smartly. I believe our typical students get more internal force and more mental clarity, which are the two results of stance training, in 5 minutes than you get in 40 minutes.
What are the desirable results from chi kung training and from kungfu training? In other words, why do we practice chi kung, or practice kungfu? It is important to know the answers so that our daily practice is purposeful. Many practitioners have wasted a lot of time, in terms of many years, because they do not appreciate these answers.
Briefly the benefits of chi kung training can be summarized into three levels:
- To overcome illness, and to have good health, vitality and longevity.
- To attain peak performance.
- To attain spiritual cultivation, like being peaceful and happy at a lower level, and to have a glimpse of Cosmic Reality, often called God in Western culture, at a higher level.
Hence, someone who has practiced chi kung for a year or two and know a lot of chi kung exercises, and can even perform these exercises beautifully, but is weak and sickly and have no zest for life, has wasted his time.
Similarly the results of kungfu training can be summarized into three levels:
- To be able to use kungfu for combat
- To have good health, vitality, and longevity, and to attain peak performance.
- To attain spiritual cultivation, like being peaceful and happy at a lower level, and to have a glimpse of Cosmic Reality, often called God in Western culture, at a higher level.
Hence, someone who cannot use his kungfu for combat, though he may not win, and is often angry or stressful, has not accomplished his purpose of learning a martial art.
You may be surprised that while other practitioners may try to get the best from their training, our students are earnestly advised to aim at only 30% of what they can get at a course with me or with their instructors. More than 30% may lead to over-training.
The above is taken from Question 8 February 2017 Part 1 of the Selection of Questions and Answers.
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