REALLY EXPERIENCING COMBAT APPLICATION, INTERNAL FORCE AND SPIRITUAL JOY AT INTENSIVE COURSE
Combat application is an essential part of our intensive kungfu courses. The picture above shows Mohamed throwing Calvin in an Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course during a sparring practice.
If people do not believe in what I claim, that is their right. If they find my fees exorbitant, that is their opinion. But if they want to call me a liar behind my back, they should check the facts first. -- Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit
Question
I understand that Qigong can be improved with self-practice, but I would have thought that Shaolin and Taiji fighting need more instruction. I read the Q&A that in the past students (such as your venerable self) had to move from set to set over a period of time and might also spar to apply what they learnt. A student in the intensive course would not have these training regimes. Kaiwan, Singapore
Answer 3
It is understandable that many people would angrily accuse me of boasting or talking nonsense when I say that students in my intensive courses learn more in a week than what others may not learn in many years. But it is unreasonable for them not to check the facts before making accusations and slanderous attacks.Let us look at the facts. How many chi kung practitioners do you know who can tap energy from the cosmos, generate an internal energy flow, and direct chi to various parts of their body after having learnt chi kung for 5 years, 10 years or 20 years? Very few or none.
How many Shaolin practitioners do you know who can develop internal force, apply Shaolin techniques and tactics effectively for combat, and experience tremendous joy and freedom or even have a glimpse of their Original Face? How many Taijiquan practitioners can generate an internal energy flow as a result of performing their forms, can be gentle and graceful yet forceful and fast in combat, and experience happiness and inner peace or even a glimpse of Tao?
Unbelievable it may be to many people, every student who attended my Intensive Chi Kung Course, Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course and Intensive Taijiquan Course accomplished the above results during the course itself. It is not for no reason that the fee is US$1000 or US$1500 with a satisfaction guarantee.If people do not believe in what I claim, that is their right. If they find my fees exorbitant, that is their opinion. But if they want to call me a liar behind my back, they should check the facts first.
Many of those who have attended my courses have thanked me gratefully. I have received more appreciation letters than I can post in my “Comments” section at https://www.shaolin.org/comments/comments.html.
Developing internal force is another essential aspect of our intensive courses. Here participants at an Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course practice “One-Finger Shooting Zen” to develop internal force.
While answering this question, I receive an appreciation letter from Robin Gamble (his real name), who has spent many years studying in China. Here is a short quotation: “Firstly please let me thank you for the superb Taijiquan course. It fulfilled all of my expectations and much more. In fact it took several days after the course for much of the content to sink in. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to further Taijiquan training with you and Wahnam.”
What I teach in my Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course and Intensive Taijiquan Course is vastly different from what is usually taught in regular classes. Students do not learn kungfu sets (in the usual way) — they already know them before they attend my course. What they learn in the course is what is not taught in most other schools but what we in Shaolin Wahnam believe is fundamental in kungfu training, like attaining a one-pointed mind, generating energy flow, developing internal force, using typical kungfu forms for combat, and applying tactics and principles.
One may need a paradigm shift in kungfu training before he can really understand what we are talking about here. For example, when we say we use our kungfu forms for combat, we mean exactly what we say. But most kungfu practitioners today are so used to fighting without any kungfu forms that they would interpret what we say differently. They may bounce about, punch and kick like Kickboxers do, yet they may still think they use kungfu forms for combat, and think we do the same. Similarly, when we say we feel joy and peace after our training session, most kungfu practitioners are so used to being exhausted and agitated after their training that they either do not believe what we say or have a very different concept of our meaning.
There is a lot of Shaolin and Taijiquan fighting instruction in my course. Students probably learn more combat principles and tactics, and engage more in kungfu combat during the five-day course than all the years before. Before the course they could not effectively apply their Shaolin or Taijiquan forms for combat, even though they might have practiced the arts for many years or were good fighters using freestyle fighting, but after the course they could. Before the course they merely heard about internal force but did not really know what it was, but after the course they could effectively develop and experience internal force.
But the most rewarding aspect of the course is the spiritual aspect. Many of my students came looking for something missing in their arts — though they could not define what exactly was missing. And they found it during the course itself. They found tremendous peace and joy. They found from their direct experience that genuine Shaolin and Taijiquan training was a process of spiritual cultivation. Before that they merely read about it in books. A few have told me that the course was a life-changing experience for them.
Participants of different religious background experiencing spiritual joy during Standing Meditation at an Intensive Chi Kung Course
Reproduced from Question 3 in Selection of Questions and Answers — April 2004 Part 1.
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