The magic of Gulun Kung Fu

How Can Shaolin Gulun Kung Fu Complement Your Practice If You Are Already a Shaolin Practitioner?

Guest post by two standout students: Ale & Oriol

The traditional methods of Shaolin Gulun Kung Fu include static practices (qigong), drills (jibengong), and forms (taolu). Performed slowly and with control, these techniques will improve your awareness, proprioception and body control, strengthen your body (muscles, tendons, and fascia), and increase your flexibility throughout your Kua range of motion (which encompasses activity in the adductors, hips, pelvis, groin, and glutes to generate power in movements). This will result in more efficient mental and physical performance of your kung fu.

Why?

Gulun Kung Fu methods are internal practices, so in addition to the need to build a strong body, you will learn to support and combine that body with better breathing, a deeper development of your Dantian and Kua, a better mind-body connection, better coordination of the body as a unit, and stronger and lighter energy (Qi) — at the same time improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and depth of your Shaolin Kung Fu practice.

Traditional Shaolin combines internal and external skills (Yin+Yang, Chan+Wu), so practising these methods will result in a more complete development of your Shaolin Kung Fu.

How?

During our sessions, we focus on specialising in a smaller number of exercises and skills than in typical Shaolin Kung Fu sessions, using a Chan approach (meditative/introspective, both stationary and dynamic) to develop our attention, to consciously connect with our entire body, to work on our focus, and to mature our willpower.

In this way, when you participate in Shaolin Kung Fu sessions with a more Wu approach (physically/martially demanding), you will have already awakened and built a deeper and more solid mind-body structure upon which you can more intensely and rapidly develop and express other Shaolin Kung Fu skills that may be more physically or mentally explosive or demanding, taking your Kung Fu to a higher level.

The Essence of the Shaolin ChanWuYi Lifestyle

Nowadays, when we begin practising northern Shaolin Kung Fu, we often seek strength, spectacularity, physical skills, acrobatics — to feel that we are truly practising the kung fu of the movies. But, deep down, there is also a mystical-romantic idea inherited from ancient kung fu legends: Chan (Zen) or Taoist teachings, almost magical, daily internal practices within our everyday lives that, over time, will help us improve and perfect certain qualities.

That inner calling is still present.

And although most practitioners only seek to feel strong, have a powerful physique, develop physical capabilities, and accumulate forms, shying away from inner practice, meditation, and qigong, perhaps there are still some people who feel this calling.

If we were Shaolin monks like those of legend, we would ask ourselves how presence, body awareness, and depth would help us develop strength and skills. We would consider how to improve the expression of the techniques, the efficiency of movement, energy control, and the embodiment of Chan (not just as a theory or philosophy, but as something practical).

All of this would lead to a more powerful, effective, harmonious, and beautiful practice; a practice that is not exhausting, but nourishing.

From the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine, on life's journey, we will increasingly need that depth, those subtleties, and that spirituality, where every small gesture and every movement fully manifests the qualities of Chan (Zen) along with Wu (martiality) to develop a medicinal practice (Yi, within Shaolin ChanWuYi). Humanity harmonising its practice with Life.

The goal is to build a practice where every effort contributes to develop a balanced and healthy body and mind, improving not only our skills but also our quality of life.

After all, we can't be Yang forever: there comes a time when it's necessary to begin cultivating the Yin qualities characteristic of the second phase of life, to find balance in the present and consciously prepare for the future, where "less is more."

Anyone who aspires to grow old practising Kung Fu urgently needs to turn their practice inwards.