SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
SEPTEMBER 2014 PART 3
Horse-Riding Stance
Question 1
I have a very peculiar breathing problem. From childhood I have always lived in fear. My father was always afraid. I never did much work. My father never allowed my mom to command me. So now whenever I do any work, I push my abdomen or stomach inside and say "hmmm" with my mouth open and closed a few times. I keep doing this as long as I do the work. I’m not sure why I do this, but I think it somehow gives me energy.
— Bala, India
Answer
Yours is indeed a strange problem. But the good news is that you can overcome it if you practice our high-level chi kung. Please note that there are two aspects here.
It must be genuine chi kung and not gentle physical exercise. The main difference is that genuine chi kung works on chi, whereas gentle phyical works on the physical body. If one does not experience chi or does not know what chi is, he only practices general physical exercise though the patterns are chi kung forms.
Not only it must be genuine chi kung, it must also be high-level. If it is low-level, the benefits are not strong enough to overcome your problems. The main difference between high-level genuine chi kung and low-level genuine chi kung is that the former gives a ot of benefits in a short time, whereas the latter gives a little benefit over a long time.
I would recommend that you attend my Intensive Chi Kung Course. There is no need for any prior chi kung experience. The course ranges from the basic to masters' levels.
You may also attend my Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course, but for this course you require to have some prior kungfu or other martial art experience. The chi kung or internal training in the Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course is more powerful than that in the Intensive Chi Kung Course, but the Intensive Chi Kung Course is more cost-effective for overcoming your problem.
All Intensive Chi Kung Courses and Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Courses have been conducted this year. You have to wait for next year to attend. Please check my website for available dates.
Question 2
Also, whenever I have lack of fear, I feel very weird and uneasy. Its okay, manageable but still it’s weird. Do you or other people feel this way? Do you feel uneasy when all is well? I have been doing this for 7 years. Actually I did variations of this in the past. At one time I used to blast air out of my nose to feel good.
Answer
No, I don't feel weird and uneasy when I have no fear, but some people do.
I and all members of our Shaolin Wahnam Family, i.e. those who have learnt and practiced our Shaolin arts, fell well, happy and grateful when we are well. But some people, including some of our students before they learned from us, for some odd reasons, feel uneasy when they are well.
The story of Julia (Sifu Julia Volunskaya of Russia) is interesting. After attending my Intensive Chi Kung Course in Penang, she was happy and smiling much of the time at home. Her friends, who were sincerely concerned, asked whether there was anything wrong with her!
Being stressful and fearful has become habitual to some people that they feel odd when everything is well. Actually being well and happy is the norm. But if one has become sick, fearful or anxious, practicing high-level chi kung will overcome the problem.
An Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course in Sabah
Question 3
I'm a little bit afraid of high-level chi kung and obtaining vast benefits in a short time. Will I be able to handle it?
Answer
Yes, you will be able to handle high-level chi kung if you learn from a competent teacher and follow his instruction. Low-level chi kung is not powerful enough to overcome your health problems.
Practicing high-level chi kung taught by a master is a rare opportunity. It is very safe. Of course, the student has to follow the master's instruction. If he tries to be smarter than the master and practices according to what he likes instead of following the master's instructions, he asks for trouble.
For example, the master asks him to practice for 15 minutes, but if he practices for an hour, he will have adverse effects from over-training.
Question 4
A few months ago, I practiced the horse stance for about five minutes without sitting too low and using a clock. I timed myself to do 15 second breathing cycles. I did this for 5 minutes and when I stood up from this, I felt extremely light and so happy.
I couldn't stop laughing for about half an hour. I would take extremely long breaths in and feel very happy and my laugh is my exhalation! My father even thought I went mad. I did this only once. It was very satisfying but it took around 45 minutes for me to return to normal.
Answer
Judging from what you wrote, it appears that you did well but too much. The Horse-Riding Stance is a powerful exercise, and you should progress gradually, increasing by about 10 or 20 seconds every few days.
If you over-trained once a while your body can still take the extra energy. But if you over-trained consistently, it would be dangerous. It was good that you stopped despite having good results.
You laughed because the chi generated from your Horse-Riding Stance opened your heart. You felt light because you set your spirit free.
Just standing upright and be totally relaxed is simple and profound
Question 5
Isn't this chi kung? Is this low level or high level?
Answer
Yes, Horse-Riding Stance is chi kung, though many people practice it wrongly as endurance exercise. It is high-level chi kung and one should learn it from a competent teacher. After having practiced it correctly for some time with the teacher's supervision, the student can practice on his own.
It is easy to make mistakes in stance training , and when students make mistakes in high-level chi kung, the adverse effects are powerful. You practiced correctly, but that does not mean that you may not practice wrongly in future.
Question 6
I will try to attend your Intensive Shaolin Kung Fu course. I have attended kung fu classes in my locality in Bangalore for about a year.
Answer
As I have more courses than time to conduct them, I may not offer the Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Course in 2014. You may have to wait till 2015 to attend one. Nevertheless I shall offer the Intensive Chi Kung Course in 2014. Please check up my website for available dates.
Tantui, while being an effective martial art for adults, is excellent for children while growing up
Question 7
As of now, I'm taking time off everyday from 6 to 7 pm just to sit and do nothing but breathe and allow all my thoughts to come to me.
Answer
What you are doing is not cost-effective. It may also be harmful if it is performed wrongly. Even if you perform it correctly, you may make your mind dull.
This is one of many reasons why some students who attended my Intensive Chi Kung Course said that they would pay ten times the fees they paid for the course, whereas those who have not attended the course and therefore do not know what is in store for them may say my fees are expensive.
Suppose you need to spend only one-tenth the time of your practice but gain 10 times the benefits which you can use for the rest of your life, would you pay 10,000 euros to learn it? Many people say that time is golden. If you can save 55 minutes a day for 10 years, you can have a lot of extra time.
You need not pay 10,000 euros to learn the skill because I am going to explain it to you for free. However the benefits may not be 10 times more than what you would get had you continued with your own planned exercise. It may be 2 or 3 times more, but your mind will not be dull and you will not have adverse effects if you follow my instructions.
Every morning before 8 am stand upright and be totally relaxed for about 5 minutes. Do not think of anything. If thoughts come to you, gently put them away without fuss and without question.
That is all you have to do. If you practice this simple yet profound exercise everyday for three months, you and your friends will notice good results.
Question 8
I shall start teaching Kung Fu to kids. I am mostly aiming to have kids from the age of 9/10 onwards since they might be at the right age to start out.
Can you give me some general guidance on this?
Even though my target is to start with kids aged 10 and older there might be 2 or more kids around the age of 5 attending since some parents are the same parents of the older kids and wish to bring even the younger ones to the sessions. Can you give me some guidance on how to go about teaching this very young age group?
— Sifu Claudien Scicluna, Shaolin Wahnam Malta
Answer
Initially I was not keen to teach kungfu to kids as a group, though some children might join our kungfu classes consisting mainly adults. I maintained that kungfu was a serious matter, though there was also a lot of fun, and that we should let kids enjoy their growing up.
But I changed my perspective later on. This change was first brought about when I saw two beautiful children of my student sparring. The two girls were about the age of five and seven. Without exaggeration, they just kicked each other. They just kicked each other continuously for about five minutes, and they called it an art of self-defence.
There was totally no self defence at all. There was not even an attempt to avoid the kicks. This was the norm.
It is also the norm in most martial art classes today. You can readily verify the statement by seeing videos of free sparring practice and free sparring competitions. There was no regard for self-defence and no regard for personal safety.
I told my student to take his two lovely daughters out of their martial art class. Why submit your children to being routinely kicked and punched by their friends and to routinely kick and punch their friends?
LINKS
Selected Reading
- Purifying Body, Intellect and Soul
- A Gentle Touch of Dim Mark
- The Chameleon
- Shaolin 16 combat Sequences
- Taijiquan 12 Combat Sequences