Training at Wudang

[viper]

Your a lucky man wish i had a bird who loved kung fu like me. Enough to go to a place of such importance to practice it. Also who did you organise youre trip through for your shaolin journey?

[Blacktiger]

Yeah its great we share the same love I am very lucky.

We are at the same level and help each other along the road which is cool she is probably more pumped to go for the 6 months than I am

As for the trip to Shaolin our master always puts that together and we just tag along....He has good connections and the school goes every year to Shoalin and then to a few other spots to catch up with his peers for a training bonanza

[fiercest tiger]

There is one little form from the wudang i would like to learn and its the one where he is stretching everywhere and using dragon body like movements that is some great flexibility i would like.

Shaolin is a great trip ive been many times, next trip like to visit Hua Shan, Omie, Wutai shan and many others Kun Lun etc.

Good luck with the trip mate!

FT

[Blacktiger]

There is one little form from the wudang i would like to learn and its the one where he is stretching everywhere and using dragon body like movements that is some great flexibility i would like.

Shaolin is a great trip ive been many times, next trip like to visit Hua Shan, Omie, Wutai shan and many others Kun Lun etc.

Good luck with the trip mate!

FT

Thanks Gary we just want to get out of OZ and lock down for a few months with no distractions. We have some Wudang in our system so it should work well.

[Little Tiger]

Hi

Me and a friend are looking to train in China next year at Wudang and were after a bit of advice. We have never trained in China and there seems to be a few schools, can anyone advise were's best to train, we are after the most traditional school?

What school to train at?
What to watch out for?
Time of year to go?
Is it possible to train in the Wudang temple or are the schools situated outside?

Any advice would be much appreciated

Little Tiger

[bawang]

hi, kung fu schools in china teach the same things as kung fu schools in western world.
the difference is they train harder, but is that worth paying thousands of dollars for
just stay where you are and train hard and have your sifu beat you with a stick, then its just like training in china
if you have that much monehs to waste send it to me

most kung fu schools have "special treatment" for westerners so youre not gonna be doing what the chinese do anyways.

[Lucas]

hi, kung fu schools in china teach the same things as kung fu schools in western world.
the difference is they train harder, but is that worth paying thousands of dollars for
just stay where you are and train hard and have your sifu beat you with a stick, then its just like training in china
if you have that much monehs to waste send it to me

if i give you all my monies how do i know you will actually beat me with a stick?

[bawang]

if i give you all my monies how do i know you will actually beat me with a stick?

why would i want to beat you? i just need monehs. im poor.

[GeneChing]

A foreigner at Wudang. He seems to have had a good time.

Dutch Taoist on good life
By Zhang Qian | 2009-10-20

WEARING his long hair in a topknot, like ancient Chinese, the man in white performs perfect yun shou (moving hands in the "clouds" style in tai chi) like kung fu masters. But his Roman nose and deep-set eyes identify him as a Westerner.

Rene Goris is a 46-year-old Dutchman who has been practicing tai chi for about 35 years. He has undergone both mental and physical training with Chinese Taoist masters, studied Oriental medicine, and in the Netherlands studied health sciences.

In 2000, he traveled to Wudang Mountain, Hubei Province, site of many Taoist monasteries, to further pursue martial arts, including qigong and Taoist medicine.

Goris lectures in Europe on Taoism and health maintenance, and recently delivered a similar talk in Shanghai for Double Dragon Alliance, an association for cross-cultural communication.

"Taoism does not simply involve martial arts as most Westerners think; it also involves Chinese philosophy and culture," says Goris. "If you know nothing about it, all you can gain are movements without essence."

Tai chi practice also involves study of Taoism as Taoists say that one should never practice anything uninformed. Physical practice is also mental practice and one needs to study the concepts of yin-yang and wu xing, the five elements.

Letting go

Thus Goris believed there's no better place to study the way than in China where Taoism originated.

Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi says that Tao is in everything and thus everything is related to each other one way or another, with a result that reality can be understood by living in the moment.

According to the "I Ching" ("Book of Changes"), if one resists Tao, the outcome will be disaster in a short time.

Goris says understanding and following Tao involves understanding how things happen and letting them happen as they are supposed to.

Keeping hair uncut is a tradition in Taoism. There is a story about an emperor ordering a Taoist to cut his hair to demonstrate his loyalty. The Taoist refused, saying that next time the emperor would ask for something bigger, maybe a finger, an arm or even head if he did so. If the emperor trusted him, he didn't need to prove himself by cutting his hair, and if emperor did not, then giving up his hair wouldn't create trust.

"That's a typical example of Taoist logic and how it sees the world," says Goris. "When things are exaggerated to the extreme (as in hair cutting), Tao is usually much easier to see."

Goris encountered Taoism when he was an 11-year-old boy with a kidney ailment that sapped his energy. After surgery to remove a kidney, doctors told he could never do intense physical exercise and probably would not grow taller than 150 centimeters.

"I happened to be reading books about Oriental sports, including yoga and tai chi at the time, and started practicing those gentle physical exercises on my own," says Goris.

He fell in love with the exercises, his health was greatly improved and he was keen on training with Taoist masters.

Health maintenance is also an important part of Taoist practice, says Goris, and is usualy called yang sheng, the cultivation of life. Taoism holds that life span is not predetermined: it can be prolonged with proper care and healthy living.

"Modern medicine usually focuses on finding the cause of ailments and fixing it with medication, but in Taoist medicine, the aim is to restore people with health rather than curing disease," says Goris.

Like traditional Chinese medicine, Taoist medicine also involves herbal medicine, tui na (vigorous push-pull massage), acupuncture and moxibustion, but it also attaches great importance to living life in the "right" way.

Taoism believes that everything is naturally organized by Tao, resulting in qi (energy) or life force. If life is not organized according to Tao, there is no qi or the qi is blocked.

Therefore, living in a way you are supposed to live is the key to health in Taoism. Otherwise, ailments may occur.

The fundamental text of Chinese traditional medicine and Taoist medicine, "Huangdi Niejing" ("Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor"), says that at one time people could live "almost forever" by living the right way.

This meant living in harmony with heaven and earth, staying in touch with the process inside and outside themselves, observing similarities and choosing the best time to perform best action to achieve the best result.

Many people nowadays don't do things the way they are supposed to, and that causes health problem, says Goris.

Take sitting for example. We are supposed to sit with our backs straight back and knees bent so that qi can flow fluidly inside our bodies. But many people sit "like a loose bag of potatoes with a hunched back, resulting in blocked qi and health problems."

"To find the way to gain health, or yang sheng (health cultivation), we have to practice," says Goris. It does not necessarily involve martial arts like tai chi, he says. There are various easy ways of practicing mentally.

Keeping fully aware of all your actions and movements, both awake and asleep (if possible) is crucial. In this way you can conserve conserve jing (essence), qi (energy) and shen (spirit) in whatever you do.

Even if you are just sitting and drinking tea, as long as you are fully aware of sitting straight, reaching out for the cup, lifting the cup to your lips and sipping, you are practicing yang sheng (health cultivation).

"As long as you do one thing with full concentration, even if only for half an hour, the practice can help you gain health," says Goris.



For more information about Double Dragon Alliance, check

www.doubledragonalliance.com

Steps to a good and long life Yang sheng, or health cultivation, involves both moral practice and physical maintenance. Moral practice - living a moral life - is considered superior in its effects to the physical practice of eating and drinking what is appropriate and supporting oneself with herbal medicines.

In Chinese legends, some immortals offer potions of eternal life to mortals, but they do not provide them freely. They are only bestowed on those who show moral rectitude and the ability to manage life and health.

The basic rules of yang sheng can be summarized:

Develop the five Confucian qualities of ren (humanness), yi (honesty), zhong (loyalty), shu (altruism) and li (respect for ritual).

Be well informed, prudent and discreet.

Be calm at heart and active physically to lead a long, full and enjoyable life.

Be broad-minded and generous.

Avoid damaging the body by losing touch with the environment. Enjoy life in all its manifestations as to concentrate the will on a single objective.

Do not seek entertainment and comfort but take things as they come.

Do morally acceptable work.

Reduce the 12 overabundances - all things in moderation:

1. Too much pondering and serious thoughts damage shen (spirit, awareness).

2. Too much wishful thinking diminishes will power.

3. Too many desires ruin wisdom.

4. Too much sex wears out the body.

5. Too much talking generates conflict between qi (energy), shen (spirit) and jing (essence).

6. Too much laughing hurts the wuzang liufu (organs).

7. Too much worrying startles the heart.

8. Too much merriment makes the shen and jing flighty.

9. Too much joy causes forgetfulness, confusion and mistakes.

10. Too much anger causes instability of the jing, luo, mai (energy channels) and destabilizes ying qi (nutritive energy).

11. Too much fondness infatuates a person beyond cure.

12. Too much disliking makes life tough and unpleasant.

Read more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article...#ixzz0UcKrAOQ4

[sanjuro_ronin]

Hi

Me and a friend are looking to train in China next year at Wudang and were after a bit of advice. We have never trained in China and there seems to be a few schools, can anyone advise were's best to train, we are after the most traditional school?

What school to train at?
What to watch out for?
Time of year to go?
Is it possible to train in the Wudang temple or are the schools situated outside?

Any advice would be much appreciated

Little Tiger

Why do you want to train at wudang? and what ?

[Little Tiger]

I have quite a bit of Kung Fu and martial arts training.
I would like to go and train in China to go to the source of where it all came from.

I am going for the experience and to learn some more skills/forms.

I chose Wudang as I prefer there style and Shaolin seems so commercialized now and it looks like they only teach modern wushu.

As I said in the original post I am after some advice.

[bawang]

if you join a school catering to rich chinese and foreigners then its all an illusion. you get told what you want to hear, see wat you want to see.

if u join a real traditional school most westerners cant stomach the living conditions
most westerners cant even survive the "commerical" shaolin schools

I chose Wudang as I prefer there style and Shaolin seems so commercialized now and it looks like they only teach modern wushu.

As I said in the original post I am after some advice.

wudang is not gonna show you their top training and qigong unless you pay them a lot of money.

if traditional shaolin training intimidates and scares you, dont think wudang will different

[GeneChing]

If you want to go to China, GO! You'll learn so much just from the experience of traveling. And Wudang is gorgeous. I'd go there just to be a tourist, just to enjoy hiking those holy mountains. Training in kung fu is icing. I've trained a lot in China and it's a great experience. It's not expensive if you're street smart. Sure, there will be people that try to rip you off, but you'll find that at any tourist spot anywhere in the world. And there are plenty of fake masters, just like here. But if you're smart and play your cards right, you can get some great training.

I was only in Wudang in '99, so I can't speak to what it's like now. I've been told that it's gotten more commercial, but I've also training a lot at Shaolin and they say that about there too. Commercialism in communist China isn't really the right term, but there are people that will try to rip you off. Just be smart and that won't happen.

I'd advise you to look up this thread to my earlier post about the Women in Wudang article. The author, David Wei, has studied a lot at Wudang and may be able to advise you. You can probably reach him through his website, which is at the end of the article.

[Blacktiger]

If you want to go to China, GO! You'll learn so much just from the experience of traveling. And Wudang is gorgeous. I'd go there just to be a tourist, just to enjoy hiking those holy mountains. Training in kung fu is icing. I've trained a lot in China and it's a great experience. It's not expensive if you're street smart. Sure, there will be people that try to rip you off, but you'll find that at any tourist spot anywhere in the world. And there are plenty of fake masters, just like here. But if you're smart and play your cards right, you can get some great training.

I was only in Wudang in '99, so I can't speak to what it's like now. I've been told that it's gotten more commercial, but I've also training a lot at Shaolin and they say that about there too. Commercialism in communist China isn't really the right term, but there are people that will try to rip you off. Just be smart and that won't happen.

I'd advise you to look up this thread to my earlier post about the Women in Wudang article. The author, David Wei, has studied a lot at Wudang and may be able to advise you. You can probably reach him through his website, which is at the end of the article.

Exactly - just go you will have a great time!!!!

[Syn7]

it says taiji quan was created at wudang? i thought it was created in chen villiage??? is chen villiage in wudang? or do i just have it wrong???