THE AIM OF SHAOLIN WAHNAM

Shaolin Flower Set

Grandmaster Wong and Sifu Markus Kahila demonstrating a combat application of the Flower Set

Sifu Markus Kahila

Certified Instructor, Shaolin Wahnam Finland

16th Janaury 2011

Continuing the topic of aims and objectives, let's take a look at some general aims for practicing the Shaolin arts, and how they can be reached in the most direct and efficent way:

Let's say a student in Shaolin Wahnam wants to achieve radiant health , vitality and longevity . What does he really need to practice?

Chi Flow

Perhaps one exercise to induce it, and then just constant, conscientious practice. Like Sifu has stated on numerous occasions - which can also be confirmed from our students' direct experience - this is all you really need.

We can include internal force and spiritual cultivation to the list of aims. This, and much more, can be readily achieved by practicing just one exercise from Sinew Metamorphosis in the way it is taught in Shaolin Wahnam.

In other words, the reality is that our methodology is so advanced that we only need one or two exercises - for example Lifting the Sky and Flicking Fingers - to cover all the benefits in all five categories of chi kung.

So ask yourself : Why do we learn ten chi kung exercises even in our basic beginners' course, and there are altogether several dozens in our chi kung syllabus?

We can use the same perspective on the benefits of Shaolin Kungfu, which can be categorized as:


No Mind

Spiritual cultivation is an import part of Shaolin Wahnam training


Would we really need 16 combat sequences and several different force training methods to achieve these benefits?

Hardly. Our syllabus could be simplified to include just one set, a few sequences, some fundamental force training and meditation, and it would easily cover all these benefits. In practical training, even just Black Tiger / Single Tiger would be enough for most people.

So why does even our syllabus include over 16 sequences, classical sets, many different weapons, various force training methods, and much more?

The answer to these questions is simple enough to find, if we stop to consider some of the aims of our school:

Understanding and learning the richness of these arts provide us with not only the great honor to preserve their essence for future generations of practitioners, and the perspective to understand the scope of our training, but it also deepens the basics.

This brings us to a common misconception regarding selective courses of different kungfu arts that have recently become available to us: Many seem to think that in daily kungfu training, we can choose only to either widen the scope or deepen the skill.

This is not the case . As everyone who has attended the selective courses can tell, having access to many methods does not mean you have to scatter your attention at the expense of developing skills, but actually helps us achieve great depth and broad understanding simultaneously, at an accelerated rate.

I'll provide a personal example: A year ago, I had the privilege of learning the Iron Wire set from Sifu. This multiplied my progress in kungfu application and force training many times over, including the basics. Last week, Sifu taught the Shaolin Flower Set in Finland, along with its formidable application of soft, flowing force. Now I've noticed that in application, I can switch between the hard force developed from Iron Wire, and the flowing force of Flower Set at will. This is something I previously thought I could attain only after decades of training.

From the perspective of modern kungfu training, this is quite unbelievable.

From the perspective of high-level heart-to-heart transmission, this is the expected result.

Best wishes,
Markus Kahila
Shaolin Wahnam Finland
http://www.shaolin-wahnam.fi


Eagle Claw Kungfu

Grandmaster Wong demonstrating an application of Eagle Claw Kungfu


The above discussion is reproduced from the thread “ The Future of Special Intensive Kungfu Courses ” in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.

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