# Shaolinquan Qigong for Health and Fitness



## Oily Dragon (Dec 19, 2021)

I want to share with you one of the best documentaries I have ever witnessed, because it ties together a lot of different themes that should appeal to everyone here.

This is a real Shaolin fighting monk's training, captured on film a couple years ago.   What I take away from watching this amazing montage of combat training (that would school most people on earth), is that he's still young, but has old eyes.   I'm old, too.  I'll never be able to do some of this stuff he shows here, and some other stuff only for a while longer (20 years?).  Who cares, really.

Some of the best stuff is what he says, what he's _really _learned. "If I stop training, I stop learning".

The best part is this guy has already learned martial arts material that will carry him into old age gracefully.  The first time I saw this I thought of Gordon Liu, and how I never pitied the man after his stroke.  HE practiced his whole life to live it fully until the end.  That's the spirit of this man here.

""Don't let your weakness win. Staying negative is easy, Staying positive is difficult"   - Shifu YanLei"


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## Oily Dragon (Dec 19, 2021)

All credit for this thread belongs to Jow Ga Wolf and his recent comments about smiling in THE REAL kung fu videos.


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## clfsean (Dec 20, 2021)

*nudge* Gordon Liu is still with us ...


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## Oily Dragon (Dec 21, 2021)

clfsean said:


> *nudge* Gordon Liu is still with us ...


Yes but he can't train the same anymore.  No more Tiger Crane Paired Fist, Fifth Brother Eight Trigrams, or Shaolin Iron Wire.

And whatever he does now on a daily basis is beyond everyone here.  If we ever get to his position, how well trained will we be for that?


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## clfsean (Dec 21, 2021)

Oily Dragon said:


> Yes but he can't train the same anymore.  No more Tiger Crane Paired Fist, Fifth Brother Eight Trigrams, or Shaolin Iron Wire.
> 
> And whatever he does now on a daily basis is beyond everyone here.  If we ever get to his position, how well trained will we be for that?


This is true but "not with us anymore" lends a different connotation to most folks. 

As to the rest ... we'll have to wait & see


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## Oily Dragon (Dec 21, 2021)

clfsean said:


> This is true but "not with us anymore" lends a different connotation to most folks.
> 
> As to the rest ... we'll have to wait & see


Did I imply he was dead?  Didn't think I did.
 🤔

He's walking now with assistance from what I understand.

And Amy Fan is still watching his back.  Lucky guy.






I'm considering entering a tournament next year to do a classic Gordon form.  Everything about the man screams skill from hard work.  He is actually the guy who got me started in kung Fu years ago.

But this man in the OP Yan Lei...wow he totally accelerated my training these last couple of years of COVID.

Always grateful for the ability to keep training...in my mind as work out waiting for stitches to come out.  Then it's on.


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## Dirty Dog (Dec 21, 2021)

Oily Dragon said:


> Did I imply he was dead?  Didn't think I did.
> 🤔


That IS the implication when someone "is no longer with us".


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## Xue Sheng (Dec 21, 2021)

Oily Dragon said:


> I thought of Gordon Liu, and how I never pitied the man after his stroke.  HE practiced his whole life to live it fully until the end.  That's the spirit of this man here.



"lived it fully until the end" can be taken as he is dead


and Shifu Yan Lei


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## Oily Dragon (Dec 21, 2021)

Dirty Dog said:


> That IS the implication when someone "is no longer with us".


I don't think I said that, did I?  I did say "HE practiced his whole life to live it fully until the end."

I get it now, you think I meant he _died_.  "practiced" was my intent.  He's well practiced enough to finish.

Gordon's alive!?


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## Oily Dragon (Dec 21, 2021)

When watching kung fu videos, I often imagine myself as the bag.  This video was no different, but it was also something special.


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## Dirty Dog (Dec 22, 2021)

Oily Dragon said:


> I don't think I said that, did I?  I did say "HE practiced his whole life to live it fully until the end."
> 
> I get it now, you think I meant he _died_.  "practiced" was my intent.  He's well practiced enough to finish.
> 
> Gordon's alive!?


That also typically means someone is dead.


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## Oily Dragon (Dec 22, 2021)

I have disgraced the Shaolin Temple.  Here's a really good Qigong video to make amends.

The Eight Brocades are a very common Shaolin qigong set, usually practiced standing.  This particular video is a bit special to me, because the instructor here suffered years of disease before seeking this training out.

While you watch keep in mind this is a person who was relatively stricken with ill health in his early life.  For me, this video is a bit painful to watch, because I still have flexibility and strength that Ted here does not.  I can still do these exercises more or less to the Shaolin letter, he's unable but still trying.  That's what really matters.

@bill miller, these exercises are perfect for people with neuropathy who have trouble standing.  Take a look.


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