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  • Do You Practice Other Internal Arts?

    My dear Shaolin Wahnam Family,

    Do you practice other internal arts outside of the scope or tradition of Shaolin Wahnam? If so, is this practice regular and is there a special reason for pursuing something else?

    Many may know that Andrew Sipak has developed his own system of healing, the Quantum Energy Alignment, which is quite an accomplishment in my opinion.

    I would suspect that some of our seniors have made gentle forays into other traditions such as various Theravada and Vajrayana Buddhist practices that may include meditation and energy cultivation. It wouldn't surprise me though if they dropped these other styles after getting good at them.

    Currently I'm learning lucid dreaming, which is quite silly and harmless internal art (probably somewhat comparable to Shaolin Eight Eye Exercises in power), though it could be very useful for advanced stuff later on. Just now I'm focused on experiencing flying in my dreams and gentle fun like that. If I could use my dreams to become a better mathematician or train my physical skills or mundane hobbies, it would be a tremenduous bonus.

    Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung is very comprehensive and more than enough for most purposes. Nevertheless, I'm eager to explore other arts in depth (one at a time ) once I've mastered our school's basics in few years. My motives would be gaining some supplementary skills such as bigu and seeing what kind effects different types of exotic concentration meditations might bring: I have heard that some are very conductive for developing supernatural abilities, which I would like to confirm myself. Having a traditional Vipassana meditation retreat in Theravada style and getting more familiar with Tibet's rich internal arts could also be very rewarding as everything counts towards becoming more skilled.

    It would be very surprising if I found something else to be as good as our Chi Kung, Kungfu, and Zen. Even if I found something worthwhile, I suspect that it would eventually become a sporadic spice than a vital part of my regular practice.

    With sincere respect,
    Olli
    11
    No, I never had the need
    27.27%
    3
    No, but I have experience with other schools or traditions
    45.45%
    5
    Yes, seldom
    9.09%
    1
    Yes, regularly
    18.18%
    2
    Last edited by understanding; 26 October 2016, 04:27 PM.

  • #2
    Originally posted by understanding View Post
    Do you practice other internal arts outside of the scope or tradition of Shaolin Wahnam?
    Does digestion count ?
    Sifu Andrew Barnett
    Shaolin Wahnam Switzerland - www.shaolin-wahnam.ch

    Flowing Health GmbH www.flowing-health.ch (Facebook: www.facebook.com/sifuandrew)
    Healing Sessions with Sifu Andrew Barnett - in Switzerland and internationally
    Heilbehandlungen mit Sifu Andrew Barnett - in der Schweiz und International

    Comment


    • #3
      Hi Andrew Sipak,

      Originally posted by Andrew View Post
      Does digestion count?
      Are you telling us that you have practiced digesting pieces of metal and glass like Michel Lotito? You are so cool!

      With sincere respect,
      Olli

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by understanding View Post
        Are you telling us that you have practiced digesting pieces of metal and glass
        Not intentionally
        Sifu Andrew Barnett
        Shaolin Wahnam Switzerland - www.shaolin-wahnam.ch

        Flowing Health GmbH www.flowing-health.ch (Facebook: www.facebook.com/sifuandrew)
        Healing Sessions with Sifu Andrew Barnett - in Switzerland and internationally
        Heilbehandlungen mit Sifu Andrew Barnett - in der Schweiz und International

        Comment


        • #5
          Great Question!

          While I don't practice other internal arts, I have had the opportunity to take a couple of yoga classes, since learning our Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung, and I discovered that when I followed the directions carefully, I was able to practice those arts, internally, at a very high level.

          Enjoy!

          Charles
          Charles David Chalmers
          Brunei Darussalam

          Comment


          • #6
            Safety first

            While I don't practice other internal arts, I have had the opportunity to take a couple of yoga classes, since learning our Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung, and I discovered that when I followed the directions carefully, I was able to practice those arts, internally, at a very high level.
            - Charles is very experienced so this may be ok for him, but it should be said that this is definitely not always good. I've had students go to yoga classes or classes of other chi kung schools, and create problems due to unintentionally practicing at a too high level. Adverse effects have varied from continuing serious discomfort to pain to actually passing out there at the class.

            Nowadays I make a point to teach my students the skill of lowering their level, and knowing when and where to actually apply their chi kung skills, or when not to. A problem arises when our chi kung skills become second nature. If you go f.ex. to a yoga class that teaches a high-level method but is tailored to a low skill level, it is likely for an unexperienced student to run into trouble.


            Always performing at the peak of your abilities is not always a good thing.


            Best wishes,
            Markus Kahila
            Shaolin Nordic Finland

            www.shaolin-nordic.com

            Comment


            • #7
              Chi kung skills and yoga

              I actually had an interesting experience with yoga over ten years ago. I had practiced Shaolin Chi Kung for 2-3 years then and decided to go to a Astanga yoga course. They had the breathing done with the mouth closed and during the first yoga class I felt really uncomfortable and decided to just keep my mouth open in any case, since I could feel the chi rising to my head.
              After the second yoga class I started to run a fever, though I knew I was not sick with the flu.
              After the third class I felt extremely uncomfortable and feverish and understood that unintentionally I transfered the chi kung skills in to the yoga practice, and decided to leave the yoga practice.

              The yoga they taught was completely on physical level, but do to our chi kung training, we often use the skills even when we don't mean to.
              Especially breathing with your mouth closed feeled forced.

              We get so many benefits from our Shaolin training, that there really is no need for other training. Except for the sole reason of enjoying doing it.



              Best wishes,

              Nessa
              Nessa Kahila
              Shaolin Nordic Finland
              Instructor
              nessa@shaolin-nordic.com

              www.shaolin-nordic.com

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Markus Kahila View Post
                - Charles is very experienced so this may be ok for him, but it should be said that this is definitely not always good. I've had students go to yoga classes or classes of other chi kung schools, and create problems due to unintentionally practicing at a too high level...

                Always performing at the peak of your abilities is not always a good thing.
                Very good points, Siheng. Thanks for your observations and warnings.

                Now that I reflect in the situations, the results probably were not all good, and the level I practiced at was most likely too high. Those several classes were quite a few years ago.

                More recently, I attended a yoga class, with my wife who invited me, and the yoga was mostly external, and thus the level was much lower, and I don't recall any dramatic results other than typical strenuous physical exertion.

                Needless to say, I have no need to go and practice other internal arts...

                Yours and Yours,

                Charles
                Charles David Chalmers
                Brunei Darussalam

                Comment


                • #9
                  I do. My first ever post on the forum explained that at a course with Sifu, I mentioned to him about my Taiji/Xingyi master. Sifu enjoyed what I said about him and asked if I would like to post it on the forum. He has always encouraged me to practise and try to preserve that style from my other Master.

                  When I went into a crazy chi flow with my arms flailing wildly at great speed, on an early Chi Kung course with Sifu (I didn't actually practise Taiji or Shaolin with Sifu at the time, only Chi Kung) I remember Sifu saying "Very good! You can use this speed in your Taijiquan! Or your boxing!"

                  Sifu also took some time on a Cross Roads at Four Gates course years ago at UK Summer Camp to get me to demonstrate some moves from that style and show me how to use them. He had very warm words for me and my other Master saying "That is a beautiful pattern!" And to the other students: "He and his Master are smart. They are not smart alecs. Their art can handle any situations. The Masters have thought of everything for them. They don't add anything to it or take anything away, they just practise what their Masters taught them."

                  I've also attended other seminars etc over the years with different instructors, when I didn't have any Wahnam members nearby to practise with, and I practise some of the stuff I have picked up here and there, though most of it I don't.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Hi Paul Sisook!

                    Nice catch there. I hadn't actually considered other Kungfu schools when creating this thread, but if an internal aspect is clearly evident, then it's an internal art alright.

                    Hopefully others can also share about internal training experiences in other Kungfu schools, since they are very interesting.

                    With sincere respect,
                    Olli

                    Comment

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