UK Summer Camp 2016

[Tim]

UK Summer Camp 4th June - 12th June
Venue: Surrey Sports Centre, Guildford

This post is to give you the heads up on dates and venue for this year's Summer Camp. As usual there will be a mixture of Chi Kung and Kung Fu courses. The focus this year will be on fundamentals (i.e. the important stuff) and making practical, direct use of them in everyday life and martial application.

It's going to be old school hardcore . This is not a reason to be frightened, but an opportunity to be excited and learn something useful. Almost a return to the way Sifu used to teach in the old days - with the benefit of 20 years more wisdom.

As you may already know, Guildford hotels and B&B's get booked up early. So, if you are thinking of coming this year it is probably best to get your room booked as early as you can. Last year some people left it a bit too late, which resulted in them having to get a hotel further away. Just so you know, Sifu is staying at the Holiday Inn.

We have been in discussion with Sifu over the last few months about the courses at this year's Summer Camp. Based on those discussions here is one of Sifu's comments:

You suggested that [based on my last 20 years of teaching] I devise .................. I have done that and shall post them on my website soon for participants to choose from.

Can anyone guess what it is? Answers can be posted here.

Sifu always says that the Summer Camp is one of his favourite courses each year. This is based on both sentimental reasons and that it gives him an opportunity to innovate (which he is doing again this year - distilling/refining - deeper rather than wider - no new sets to learn).We always love having him here - for the courses, the company, the community meals, the question times and the fact that the weather is ALWAYS great when Sifu is here.

Here is a video from last year's Summer Camp of Sifu sharing his enthusiasm (it's difficult to watch this without smiling and being uplifted - watch 0:18 - 0:24 and try and stop your heart opening ):

We will be posting more course, pricing and booking details over the next couple of weeks.

[Tim]

Summer Camp 2016

sifu stare 1.jpg

Intro
The Shaolin Wahnam Summer Camp is an annual, international event that allows people to learn high-level Shaolin Arts directly from a lineage holder, Shaolin Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit (Sifu).

The Focus
The focus this year for both the Chi Kung and Kung Fu courses is to develop, realize and apply the fundamental skills in all circumstances, whatever the situation, everywhere – something we can all benefit from remembering, regardless of the level we think we are at.

In a recent email exchange with Sifu about this years Summer Camp we talked about the aims being to ensure students and teachers not only developed these skills but also realized them as well. As Sifu said,

some students chase after novelties, like tingling sensations at their finger tips in Chi Kung, winning trophies in Shaolin competitions and learning exotic sets in Kung Fu. They have forgotten the aims of practicing their arts.

As he has said before

A Shaolin disciple is trained to be courteous and considerate, brave and righteous, assess problems and situations with calmness and clarity, and attend to duties with zest and loyalty. While the philosophy of many martial arts mainly focuses on how to be stoic and hurt the opponent, Shaolin philosophy teaches gentleness and a love for life. The twin pillars of Shaolin philosophy are compassion and wisdom

When and Where
For 2016 it will be held in Guildford, Surrey, UK from 4th June to 12th June inclusive. (Hotels in the area get booked up very quickly. In previous years participants have left it too late and end up in a hotel further from the venue. So, DON'T LEAVE IT TOO LATE THIS YEAR!)

To book your place email tim@fullyalive.co

Here's looking forward to another excellent UK Summer Camp.

Dates and pricing

Chi Kung Courses
(Applying the foundations of Chi Kung at the highest levels)

Developing and deepening the fundamentals of Chi Kung - 4th June - £325

Realizing and manifesting the fundamentals of Chi Kung - 5th June - £400

Applying the fundamentals of Chi Kung, everywhere - 6th June - £400

Advanced Chi Kung skills in everyday life - 12th June - £400

(details to be announced)

Kung Fu (Shaolin and Tai Chi Chuan) Course

Developing, applying and excelling in the Fundamental skills - 7th to 11th June

of great Kung Fu, everywhere ☺ £790

Discounts:
▪ Book before 31st March 2016 - £ 50 off each course
▪ Book 2 courses - £100 off total
▪ Book 3 courses - £200 off total
▪ Book 4 courses - £300 off total
▪ Book 5 courses - £400 off total

£50 discount on each of the Chi Kung courses if you have taken any Chi Kung course before with Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit.

100% Money back guarantee if you are not completely satisfied, following completion of your chosen courses.

Venue
The venue for this year’s Summer Camp, for both the Chi Kung and Fundamentals of Kung Fu, is Surrey Sports Park (attached to the University of Surrey). http://www.surreysportspark.co.uk/gu...n/howtofindus/

[Tim]

Advanced Chi Kung skills in everyday life

Chi Kung Courses
(Applying the foundations of Chi Kung at the highest levels,
in whatever you do)

everyday sifu montage.jpg

“A Shaolin disciple is trained to be courteous and considerate, brave and righteous, assess problems and situations with calmness and clarity, and attend to duties with zest and loyalty. While the philosophy of many martial arts mainly focuses on how to be stoic and hurt the opponent, Shaolin philosophy teaches gentleness and a love for life. The twin pillars of Shaolin philosophy are compassion and wisdom” Sifu

Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung is the variety of skills that lead to the health, vitality, mental clarity and freshness, and open-hearted enjoyment necessary to live such a life.

“Some students chase after novelties, like tingling sensations at their finger tips in Chi Kung, winning trophies in Shaolin competitions and learning exotic sets in Kung Fu. They have forgotten the aims of practicing their arts.” Sifu

Displaying the fundamental skills in all circumstances, whatever the situation, everywhere, everytime is ideally the real aim of practicing and one of the highest attainments of these arts.

During the UK Summer Camp 2016 Sifu will be teaching how to develop, realize and apply the fundamental skills of Chi Kung and Kung Fu, in all circumstances, whatever the situation, everywhere, everytime.

Each of the Chi Kung courses this year could be taken as a standalone course. They have also been designed to collectively form a path for deepening the practice and development of Chi Kung and Kung Fu, while avoiding the pitfalls of deviation.

“Anyone taking the Chi Kung courses in this year’s UK Summer Camp, regardless of his/her current level, will be better able to apply a smooth flow of energy in combat during the Kung Fu course that follows, as well as in everyday life. …

… The aims of the 2016 UK Summer Camp are to ensure students/teachers not only develop these skills but also realize them as well, for if they don’t they would have missed a wonderful opportunity to experience life as a meaningful flow of energy …

… Being relaxed in difficult situations is not the highest level of chi kung training. In fact it is at a basic level. All Chi Kung students, if they practice genuine chi kung, should be able to do this, although in reality many cannot …

… The foundations can be taken and used at any level. Shaolin Wahnam students, and newcomers, coming to these courses can aspire to the highest levels, if they realize that’s what they can aim for.” Sifu

There are two articles Sifu has recently written that you will find useful in aiming at these highest levels:

Skills and techniques in Kung Fu and Chi Kung

Over training and how to deal with it

Developing and deepening the fundamentals of Chi Kung – 4th June

Realizing and manifesting the fundamentals of Chi Kung - 5th June

Applying the fundamentals of Chi Kung, everywhere, everytime – 6th June

Advanced application for the highest aims of Chi Kung -12th June

[Tim]

Developing and deepening the fundamentals of Chi Kung.

Happy Sifu 1.jpg
Developing and deepening the fundamentals of Chi Kung 4th June 2016

There are many techniques and systems of Chi Kung [e.g. Zi Fa Dong Gong, Wu Xing Si, Dao Yin, Sap Pat Lor Hon Kung, Ba Duan Jin, Cosmic Shower, Small Universe]. Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit has been practicing and teaching many of them for over 50 years. Rather than focus on techniques, this course, and the others at the summer camp, will focus on ensuring you develop and deepen the fundamental skills on which all Chi Kung is based.

Why is that important?
Because they ARE the fundamental skills of ALL Chi Kung. For instance, all great tennis players have great footwork. All great gymnasts have great balance and physical co-ordination. They achieve the outcome they do by developing other skills on top of these fundamentals – not basic or simplistic but FUNDAMENTALS. The same is true for achieving the best outcome from Chi Kung – developing wonderful fundamental skills as the basis.

What is possible…
The great masters of Chi Kung throughout the ages have promised the following outcomes through the practice of Chi Kung:

Being able to clear any illness
Maintaining good health
Increasing energy and vitality
Having mental clarity
Improving performance in any, and every, aspect of life
Living at ease in an open-hearted way

They were able to achieve this by understanding the fundamental skills and practicing in a way that ensured they improved in these areas.

That is what this course is about.
Being very specific about what the fundamental skills of Chi Kung are and how to practice in a way that makes sure they develop reliably and consistently. That will have an effect on your everyday life, ensure you achieve the promised outcomes of Chi Kung and, if you want, prepare you to get the benefits of more advanced Chi Kung techniques or approaches.

From beginner to master
This course is obviously useful for beginners or those who have never practiced Chi Kung before – it sets them on the right road.

If you are an already skillful Chi Kung practitioner this then becomes a Masterclass. A chance to learn from a Grandmaster to refine or tweak your practice and skills to increase your ability to get the benefits of the most advanced Chi Kung practice as well as: maintain a Chi Kung state of mind, generate a smooth flow of energy and be able to maintain and apply a smooth flow of energy to any and every aspect of daily life, whatever the external circumstances.

“The fundamentals can be taken and used at any level. People who take this course can aspire to the highest levels, if they understand, practice and realise that’s what they can aim for”. Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

[Tim]

Combat Sequence Videos

Sparring Videos
Sifu Sparring Sequence.jpg

As part of the Kung Fu course taking place this year in Guildford, on 7th-11th June, Sifu has put together 4 combat sequences to practice as part of your preparation. As mentioned before choose 1 of these sequences and practice at least 30 times a day.

You can now find all 4 videos at the Shaolin-Training website in the Kung Fu section. There is also a link from the front page. Here is the link to the Kung Fu Course page.

It would be good for you to post in the discussion section on how you are getting on with these sequences.

[Tim]

Reaching the heart and achieving the benefits of Chi Kung

Realizing and Manifesting the Fundamental Skill of Chi Kung
Reaching the heart and achieving the benefits of Chi Kung

Claude and Vero.jpg

“This years Summer camp highlights the Shaolin journey in modern day life; How to circulate and build energy and how to apply this smooth flow of energy in Chi Kung, Kung Fu and everyday life - regardless of the pressures and stresses faced”. Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

Progressing from the fundamentals
At the most basic level a Chi Kung practitioner should have the skill to get their energy flowing at will. This is the essential level of skill required from a beginner to a master. The skills are not the point though. The point is the outcome or the benefits you get from having developed the skills.

So, what is next?
At the most basic the fundamental skills ensure you don’t get in the way of achieving the highest benefits of chi kung – in one way you might look at this as not causing ‘harm’.

The next level of development is to use those skills to consciously achieve the benefits – either generally or where you are focused on a particular benefit. Another way of looking at this would be that you create positives, or ‘good’ for yourself and - in the Shaolin tradition - this kind of ‘good’ spreads out to others.

This course teaches you the skills required to do just that.
This course will help you to understand the practical detail of how to use the fundamental skills. It will show you specific ways to practice to achieve each of the promised benefits of Chi Kung. So you can choose when and how to practice holistically or to focus on one of the specific benefits that might be important to you at a particular time:

Clearing any illness or symptoms
Maintaining good health
Increasing energy and vitality
Having mental clarity
Improving performance in an aspect of life

Why is reaching the heart and achieving the benefits important?
Developing skills is essential. Being able to consciously use those skills in the way you want is the next level of development. Everyone’s lives and aims are different. We make different decisions about what is important to us. Also, as discussed in the Advanced Chi Kung skills in everyday life course page,
modern science (Epigenetics, Neuro Feedback) recognizes that an individuals environment shapes who they are, as does their response to that environment. This course allows YOU to decide how to use the fundamental skills of Chi Kung to meet the challenges of your environment and how to achieve the characteristics of the life you want.

What does realizing and manifesting the benefits of Chi Kung look like?
People who practice these arts stay well – physically, emotionally and mentally. Our experience is that the niggly little physical problems like colds, stomach bugs and headaches just don’t stick. Also, we know that emotional stress leads to tension in the body and prolonged stress can lead to a depleted immune system, poor health and low moods. Difficult thoughts, images, memories, even old traumas can also feed these difficulties. This course helps break that unhelpful spiral, releasing the things that lead back into illness or stop people moving forwards. In simple terms, people maintain and improve their health and happiness.

We all know we are happier when we feel energized and bother ourselves less about things. It also means we are more resistant to stress and illness. Western science is catching up with these simple facts that people have always known about themselves.

So what’s next?
Once you have done this course you will have learnt how to realize and manifest the fundamentals skills reliably to meet your own requirements. You can then progress where your skills begin to naturally ensure the right things happen … and then onto the next course - Applying the fundamentals of Chi Kung, everywhere, in whatever you do.

[Tim]

The true test: Using Chi Kung skills in everything you do.

Applying smooth energy in whatever you do.jpg

Applying the fundamentals of Chi Kung, everywhere.

6th June 2016 - Guildford, Surrey

“Many chi kung and kungfu practitioners have missed the wonderful opportunity to experience life as a meaningful flow of energy. Indeed, many of them may not really understand what the expression means although they know the dictionary meaning of all the words used. Having this understanding contributes to a rare feature of our school… students are relaxed and happy, have a good philosophy of life, are kind and considerate to others, experience chi flow to promote good health, vitality and longevity, and have better mental clarity and more internal force for daily work and play. It sounds too good to be true, but it is true.” Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit

Progressing beyond development and achieving the outcomes of Chi Kung skills.
A competent Chi Kung practitioner should be healthy, happy and have lots of energy. This means they have developed the skills and achieved the correct outcomes. However, the real skill is in bringing the benefits to everything you do. Just as in much meditation practice, it is not enough to “leave it on the cushion”.

So, what is next?
Just a reminder, at the most basic the fundamental skills ensure you don’t get in the way of achieving the highest benefits of chi kung – in one way you might look at this as not causing ‘harm’.

The next level of development is to use those skills to consciously achieve the benefits – either generally or where you are focused on a particular benefit. Another way of looking at this would be that you create positives, or ‘good’ for yourself and - in the Shaolin tradition - this kind of ‘good’ spreads out to others.

The next level is to use these skills in everything you do. That might initially require a conscious decision or process, which eventually leads to effortless competence. You might think of this as being where the right thing just seems to happen – marvelous ☺.

This course teaches you the skills required to effortlessly use them in everything you do. And realize/remember/appreciate that you were always ok.

Why is using Chi Kung skills in everything you do important?
If you have already got this far you probably will by now realize the answer. If you haven’t learnt Chi Kung yet then being able to be happy, healthy and have lots of energy, have a clear and incisive mind and be able to perform well at anything you do, anywhere might to anyone be considered as an obviously useful set of skills.

So what does using Chi Kung skills in everything you do look like.

smiling baby.jpg

So what’s next?
Once you have done this course you will have learnt how to use your Chi Kung skills in everything you do. Obviously you’ll then go from this course and get better at just doing it. This set of skills also gives you the complete platform to go on and practice or develop any advanced Chi Kung skill.

[Tim]

How to develop energy skills all the way to mastery

How to develop energy skills all the way to mastery

Advanced skills, essential practices and how to avoid the pitfalls

Special 1 Day Advanced Chi Kung Skills for Everyday Life 12th June - Guildford

Slide1 copy.jpg

Progression towards mastery…

A skillful Chi Kung practitioner will be healthy, happy, have lots of energy and be able to handle everyday life well - even challenging situations when they occur. Ideally, if they have been practicing correctly for some time, this will be effortless. This developmental stage gives a wonderful foundation for learning advanced skills and achieving all that Chi Kung can offer.

However, it doesn’t always go smoothly. There are clear reasons why people are unsuccessful in maintaining their development and achieving the full potential of these arts – learnt painfully by many people over many centuries. Knowing that this can happen to the most intelligent, diligent or “moral” student can be a great source of comfort – because then you learn from 1500 years of collective experience and do something about it ☺.

As a reminder, by this stage of development in your Chi Kung practice, you will have realized you were always ok. Nothing intrinsically will stand in the way of you connecting joyfully with the world around you, as it happens.


So, what is next?

The next level of development is to move towards achieving the full potential of these arts. As individuals we might choose different aims for our practice. In Shaolin Wahnam these highest aims are described as:

To live a meaningful life now

To go to heaven after this worldly life

To attain the highest achievement any being can attain (described variously as Enlightenment, return to God the Holy Spirit, merging with the Great Void, or Union with the Supreme)

Whichever of these you personally choose it requires continuing development of skills and mastery of those skills.

The how of mastery….

So, how do you choose which additional skills to learn? How do you progress and develop mastery of all of your Chi Kung skills? What can you do to make achieving your aims more likely? What are the things you could do every day to make your progress more reliable? How can you minimise the chances of things happening that will slow down your progress. How you can you spot if that is happening and know what to do about it?

If you are an instructor you have other precious human lives/spirits looking to you for help with their own progress. How can you operate with understanding, care and integrity to help and guide your students safely and effectively?

Those are the questions this course will answer.


On this course…
Sifu will pass on the collective experience and learning of 1500 years of Shaolin practice and his personal insights from practicing for 60 years and teaching over 60,000 people around the world.

He will teach what he considers to be the most useful advanced Chi Kung skills, pass on the daily practices and attitudes that make success more likely, explain any warning signs – in yourself or others – and how to helpfully respond.


The benefits of time with a Shaolin Grandmaster…

Even though you may not want to aim at “Enlightenment”, who doesn’t want to live a meaningful life. To be able to imagine, and realize, looking back over their life with satisfaction and appreciation.

Over the years Sifu has pointed to, and explicitly stated, things to avoid and things to do to get the full potential from your Chi Kung practice. This course brings all of this wisdom together in a distilled format.

So, for students of these arts, what you get is a simple explanation of how to achieve the highest potential in your Chi Kung practice. It will help you to plan, organize and continue your development, progress and benefits, with minimum disruption or discomfort. And, importantly, avoid the pitfalls.

For instructors of these arts you will get all of the benefits of a student. You will also be given the understanding and tools to be a wonderful and helpful teacher to all of your students.