A father bull and son were on top of a hill looking down at a herd of cows.
The son turns to the Dad and says “Dad, how about we run down this hill and make luv one of those cows.”
His Dad turns and looks at him with a smile and says, “Son, why don’t we walk down there and make luv to them all.”
Hang with me…there is a moral to the story and yes, it does have to do with martial arts.
The moral of the story is the Father Bull was very wise; why run down and expel all your energy on one cow when you can take your time, walk down and have enough energy for all of the cows.
It’s about expelling energy. In the Shaolin Secrets Volume I: Shaolin Feats of Martial Arts there is a passage on “The Principles of Practicing the Gong”. In that passage it list the three essentials, five taboos and seven possible injuries of practicing.
The Third Taboo of practicing – “Do not rush in your practices.”
A great example of this s a nice young man I was working with up until yesterday. He was young, athletic and very strong.
He came from a successful family; his father was a successful type A personality and seemed to be very demanding on the son.
This made the son a super go-getter; he wanted to learn everything N-O-W. If he could, he try to learn everything from white to Black Belt in a day. He had physical talent and skills, too.
He was moving along very quickly in talent and ability, yet it wasn’t going fast enough – for him. He wanted to be double promoted, skip tests for certain levels and fight constantly.
While I am a big believer in promoting and supporting talent, there also has to be a maturity and responsibility that goes along with the rank and talent – and that’s where this young man needed development.
I knew this because like the Yong Bull in the story, he didn’t understand about pacing himself.
Every time this kid would get into train, he wanted to fight. The problem was that when I let him fight, he practically tried to kill whomever he was sparring with and it usually ended up with somebody injured – usually him.
His training partners eventually understood that if they didn’t knock the bejeezus out of him, he was going to hurt them.
Well, that led to beat downs, frustrations and injury. This kid had popped his own knee out twice and was really abusing his body.
I tried to talk to him several times and explain to slow down a bit. Work on drills constantly to hone his timing and skills and fight once in awhile for a progress check.
I even told him about how I had neck surgery in 2004 after years of abuse, car accidents, full-contact training and other sport-related wear and tear. It could have been avoided if I hadn’t gone so hard on myself.
Well, it didn’t work. He left yesterday to train elsewhere so he can get more fighting and “hard-core” training.
I don’t blame him. I didn’t listen when I was his age either – unless it was my U.S. Marine Senior Drill Instructor at Parris Island. They have a way of activating your listening skills.
I wished him well and hope that someday someone will be able to convince that Young Bull to walk down the hill instead of run. He’ll get more enjoyment out of life that way.
That section I mentioned about the “principles of practicing” is just a sliver of the information taught in the Shaolin Secrets Volume I: Shaolin Feats of Martial Arts, available at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com.
Go check it out for yourself today – and learn why you walk down the hill.
Best,
William Huff
Bruce Lee is arguably the most famous martial artist ever.
Even after his death, he is still revered in martial arts circles. Many people consider him the original Mixed Martial Artist.
His power and speed were legendary. For a man small in stature, he packed quite a punch.
Many people wonder what his secrets were that allowed him to be so powerful, so strong…so fast.
The martial art that started Bruce Lee on his journey was Wing Chun Gung Fu, a style that has origins in – and was heavily influenced by - the Shaolin Arts.
A clue as to where Bruce Lee may have learned the secrets of hitting with so much force and speed can be found in this passage taken directly from the Shaolin Secrets Volume I: Shaolin Feats of Martial Arts:
“Saddle Gong is a hard gong, outer strong with the strength of Yang and strong. The training is similar to Strong and Gentle Law but the results are different. At the completion of the training, the fist will be able to pierce through a rock like an iron wedge. It will inflict serious injuries to the human body and cause death immediately even if it does not pierce through it. The signature of mastering this Gong Fu is the flatness of the face of the joints between palm and fingers when making the fist. They don't show the normal uneven shape of the joints. Because of the power of this Gong Fu, it will destroy the object and injure people with one attack.”
This is just a glimpse of the kind of information that is contained in the Shaolin Secrets Ancient Training Manuscripts.
Bruce Lee went on to incorporate many different styles and teachings into his training, but he got his start in the Chinese and Shaolin Arts.
If it was good enough to get Bruce Lee started, it must be good.
Get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com, check out how the Ancient Manuscripts were released from the Shaolin Temple – and start to train with the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple.
Best,
William Huff
P.S. – Mucho new content, photographs and proof on the Shaolin Secrets have been posted to the site. Get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and check it out.
Meeting the Head Abbot of the Shaolin Temple is lot like meeting the Pope. One’s a German with a five hundred dollar hat and seems to be in charge of all of God’s money. The other is a little guy in a plain gold robe, surrounded by a bunch of other little guys in plain robes, and they all look like they go to the same barber.
One represents the Catholic Church, has millions of followers and people who practice and study every day; the other represents the Shaolin Temple and the Shaolin Arts, also has millions of followers who also practice everyday.
Two very powerful and influential men. While I haven’t met the Pope, just watching the man on television, you can almost see the energy radiating from the guy. The Head Abbot of the Shaolin Temple has that same vibe.
I’ll never forget the first time I was in the presence of the Head Abbot of the Shaolin Temple.
It’s like having a flashback to one of your earliest memories – when you’re about four or five – and you meet one of your superheroes from television, or that famous uncle of yours that always drives a sports car and shows up only at Thanksgiving.
Your eyes go wide; your breathing gets shallow because your chest is tight, your hands get sweaty and you hope that the person doesn’t ask you a question - you’re afraid you might barf on him instead of answer.
I first saw him in 2001 at the dinner where the Head Abbot presented the Professor with the Shaolin Secrets – the Ten Ancient Training Manuscripts from the Shaolin Temple. I met him again in 2006 when I was part of a group that trained at the Shaolin Temple.
And two weeks ago, I was able to meet him personally and present him with a gift. After the exchange, the Head Abbot was kind enough to pose for a picture with myself, the Professor and Grandmaster DeMasco.
It was an honor for me; a once-in-a-lifetime event where I was able to spend time with someone that could be considered a Head of State or Dignitary. In the case of the Head Abbot, you could say that he, along with the Shaolin Temple, is one of the most influential people in the martial arts – ever.
That is something that I hope you get the chance to do someday. To meet someone that you admire and look up to.
Maybe you’re the type of person who likes to read and your heroes are historical figures that have influenced the world through their actions.
Lincoln, Churchill, Rommel, Gandhi, King…any one of them can be someone you admire and study.
If your hero isn’t alive, there’s only one way to study and learn from them, and that’s through the writings and teachings they left behind, or studies that others have done of them.
Maybe you want to learn more about the Head Abbot of the Shaolin Temple and the Shaolin Arts. If you can’t leave your job and go to China, there is another alternative.
Go to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and get the Shaolin Secrets Volume I: Shaolin Feats of Martial Arts, or Shaolin Secrets Volume II: Shaolin Fist Law.
These are the first two of the ten volumes from the ancient training manuscripts from the Shaolin Temple of China. The very same training manuscripts used by the Shaolin Temple to train the legendary Warrior Monks for over fifteen hundred years.
You may never get a chance to meet the Head Abbot. It might not work out that you get to travel to China and train at the Shaolin Temple.
By going to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com you can do the next best thing. Go there today.
Best,
William Huff
His kick hit me square in the lips and stopped me in my tracks.
Because he was my very good friend, he pulled the kick so it didn’t split me lips wide open – which would have made it very hard to eat the spicy foods I love so much.
I have to admit…I was pretty pissed off. We were working on a drill where I was attacking with hands only and he was defending with legs only – each one knew what the other was trying to do and both of us had been training for over fifteen years – so you know it wasn’t easy to score on each other.
But I was pissed anyway.
After it happened, I turned in to Public Enemy Number One – against myself.
All this negative B.S. started running in my head; the guy I call the “Angry Little Man” really started to let me have it.
“How could you get hit with that kick – you suk.” “He wouldn’t have hit you with that if you were training more often.” “You’re not worthy of your rank in the arts.” “Where’s all that knowledge that you have been studying and practicing”…on and on.
Steam started coming out of my ears. I was good and hot under the collar and thank the stars – the workout was over.
That was good because I had someone’s azz to kick – that Angry Little Man talking all that trash in my head.
He wasn’t helping; he was making things worse. The more he tried to get me to be down on myself, the worse I felt – which made me try harder and force things – which led me to make more mistakes – which led to more yelling from the Angry Little Man.
So – I mentally took him in my arms, spun him around so that I was behind him – and choked him out. Cold. Off to sleep. Silenced.
Feeling much better, I then reviewed in my head what had happened during the training. What I had done well and what I had done when I got hit or made a mistake.
Without the negative crapola going on in my head, it was easy to see what I did well, where improvement could be made and how I could further develop so that next time I was a wee bit better.
That got me to thinking, “I see this all the time with students and other martial artists. When they are fighting or training, they aren’t just fighting against their opponent, but they are fighting with that Angry Little Man in their head.”
Choke that little bastard out. Squash him. Flick him away with your finger. Shut him up.
Clear your mind and focus on what you want, where you are and where you want to go.
If you are working on an attacking combination, don’t focus on the three out of ten that weren’t good; focus on the seven that were great and see what you can learn from the three that weren’t so hot.
Don’t listen to the Angry Little Man.
Best,
William Huff
P.S. – When I wasn’t listening to the Angry Little Man, I was trying to apply some of the principles contained in the Shaolin Secrets Volume I: Shaolin Feats of the Martial Arts, available at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com, and the Shaolin Fighting Secrets DVD Course, available at http://www.shaolinfightingsecrets.com. Go see for yourself how the information from the Shaolin Temple can take your game to the next level – and shut up that Angry Little Man.
Whenever guys get together, it never fails that at some point – size is going to come up.
We’re men; we can’t help it. Our egos, self-image and self-esteem are tied largely to whose is bigger and better…and sometimes that argument can go public.
No – I’m not talking about certain appendages or parts of the anatomy (although we talk about that when we’ve had a few too many adult beverages) – I’m talking about martial arts styles and instructors.
Just last week a story broke worldwide on the Internet that proves my point.
The gist of the story was that the Shaolin Temple of China (whose Head Abbot and Warrior Monks were just here in Southern California, performing to a sold-out house of over three thousand spectators and training a select group privately, including yours truly) issued a demand for an apology.
The demand also included a threat of a lawsuit. Someone had posted on the Internet (anonymously, of course) that someone with only a few months of training in a Japanese style had gone to the Shaolin Temple and whupped one of the Monks, obviously proving without a shadow of a doubt that the Japanese arts are far superior to the Chinese and the Shaolin Monks basically suk.
Here’s my response to all the e-mails I received asking for my opinion on this:
"Who the Hell Cares?”
I mean, really; what are we… twelve?
I read this story and had visions of me and Billy Witt, age eleven, covered in dirt and snot, fists clenched, glaring at each other after a vicious sandlot fight where were both fighting for our Fathers’ honor – since it was obvious to both of us that My Dad Could Beat Up Your Dad.
This is the kind of Horsepucky and meaningless B.S. that keeps the martial arts world from the kind of legitimacy that so many people and organizations are trying to bring to it.
And it’s the same attitude that prevents a ton of people out there from experiencing the almost magical wisdom and information contained in the Shaolin Secrets, http://www.shaolinsecrets.com.
Only in the martial arts world can some idiot who trains in his basement with an alleged Master (who believes that he is a reincarnation of an ancient warrior), volunteer to moderate a forum and then be considered and “expert” and therefore influential on all things martial arts – particularly things he is closed-minded about or know nothing.
I have never claimed to be an expert on the Shaolin Temple. Never said I was a Monk. Never said I was the Be All, End All Great Panjandrum of Anything.
I’m just the guy who, along with Professor Mattera, helped unleash the Shaolin Secrets to the world.
This name-calling, you-suk-I’m-the-greatest B.S. is for small-minded losers. The Shaolin Secrets, which you can get at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com, is for all martial artists – regardless of style.
Principles of combat, physics of combat, training exercises, techniques… all of this and more – all contained in the Ten Volumes from the Shaolin Temple.
Go see for yourself why the Shaolin Secrets can help you – and any other martial artist who studies them – take their knowledge and skills in the Shaolin Arts to a whole new level.
Best,
William Huff
P.S. – Got all the Shaolin Monks back on the plane safe and sound. No defections, no problems. The really great news is that I’ve got some surprises up me sleeve for products and some awesome improvements to the website. Stay tuned.
The Shaolin Secrets are NOT for MMA types who think that the UFC is the best thing since peanut butter and sliced bread.
Or so I thought.
Check out what two different MMA Instructors said about the Shaolin Secrets. One is from Ireland, the other right here in the Good Ole U.S. of A.:
“These volumes have such worldly thinking that is rarely used but most
urgently needed within this world. This is a true gift you are
receiving when getting this book.
The Shaolin monks are a special breed and Shaolin Fighting Secrets
gives a unique insight into a higher mental and physical power that
can be achieved through careful study of its contents.
Straight away when I opened the package I could see it was something
different. It really is that most rare of animals, an Authentic manuscript and
instructional manual of the real Shaolin Fighting Principles.”
MMA Instructors
Catherine Costigan and Dermot McGrath
“DAMN!!! That’s what I said when I got Shaolin Secrets in the mail.
It's well put together and I was happy to see such great quality and in-depth knowledge that teaches How To Knock The Sh!# Out Of Your Attacker.
Page 80 say's " At the completion of the training, the FIST will be able to pierce through a rock like an iron wedge. It will inflict serious injuries to the human body and cause death immediately even if it does not pierce through it.
This is the way Kung-Fu was meant to be but is rarely taught in this day and age...it's fast, furious and highly effective. “
Jeremiah Moses Perez
Wow. When it came to the Shaolin Secrets, at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com, I was committing the sin of “Assuming” that certain sections of the martial arts market wouldn’t like or believe in the Shaolin Secrets.
I’m glad to see I was wrong.
To see what it was the Dermot was talking about, go get the Shaolin Fighting Secrets DVD course at http://www.shaolinfightingsecrets.com.
This course was created as a supplement to the Shaolin Secrets Volume I: Shaolin Feats of Martial Arts. There’s over two hours of instruction on principles of combat that are contained in the Shaolin Secrets.
Get over there today and get yours – and see why these MMA guys are all fired up about the Shaolin Secrets.
Best,
William Huff
P.S. – With the weather as warm as it’s been, now’s a good time to be working on your flexibility with the Shaolin Stretching Secrets DVD. They’re hot off the presses and already people are raving about it. Get over to http://www.shaolinstretchingsecrets.com and check it out.
I have written to you in the past about the doubters, naysayers, nitpickers and Kool-Aid drinkers that pepper me daily with nasty-grams, bad wishes and other assorted naughty words.
This morning I ran across a passage in a book from the Order of Shaolin Ch’an that I think not only is one of the best attitudes/philosophies about success that one could have, but it’s also something many of my great Coaches, Mentors and Instructors have tried to teach me.
It also speaks directly to everyone out there that falls into the “Doubting Thomas” category.
I’m going to get to it in a minute, but before I do – let me ask you this; when reading it, please do two things:
First, please keep an open mind and leave religion out of it. This passage is about the message, not the messenger in the story, who is Buddha.
Second, please notice how the person asking the questions sounds just like you or I do when we are facing problems or challenges.
Here we go:
“The Buddha was instructing a young nobleman, who had asked how he could know that the Buddha was teaching the truth. The Buddha explained that what he taught was a way to discover truth for yourself. Still, the young man wanted to know if following this path would lead to a happy afterlife.
“If you had been shot in the arm with an arrow,” the Buddha said, “would you have plucked it out quickly? Or instead, would you inquire from whence the arrow came? Was it from an enemy archer or one of your own men? Would you then inquire if the archer was an untouchable, of military class, or a noble? Would you then require a list of his ancestors and parentage? Would you seek to know the materials that made up the bow and arrow? Would you only then, after gathering all these facts, pluck the arrow from your arm?”
“No, Master,” replied the young man. “But I do not understand your meaning.”
“My meaning is clear,” spoke the Enlightened One. “Life does not give us time to prepare all things before taking action. WE must take action as best we can, as we need to, and learn all else we need while we are ourselves in action. Don’t put off doing what you can and what you know that is important just because you don’t know the unknowable.”
Wow. If the Buddha was alive today, he may have put that in more modern terms that I have represented in four letters: GOYA.
Get Off Your Azz.
Get going. Move it. Attack-attack-attack. Most of what you need to learn you can pick up on the way but you have to be moving to pick it up.
Hey – Doubting Thomas – yeah, you. You can sit out there and wait for guarantees, rock-solid proof, enough photos to make a yearbook, the Head Abbot to show up at your door with me at his side as he explains through an interpreter that yes, he gave these ancient manuscripts to the Professor… or wait for Jesus to materialize in your living room, look you in the eye and say, “Dude, it’s okay. I did a background check on this Shaolin Secrets stuff and even my Dad wants a copy.”
Or you can GOYA – and get your hands on the Shaolin Secrets Volume I: Shaolin Feats of Martial Arts at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and see for yourself just how powerful – and outright cool-as-hell – these manuscripts really are.
Do like Buddha says and get going.
Best,
William Huff
Oh, I almost forgot – it’s not just Volume I and Volume II. There’s also Shaolin Fighting Secrets, at http://www.shaolinfightingsecrets.com, which is based on the fighting principles contained in Shaolin Secrets Volume I: Shaolin Feats of Martial Arts, and Shaolin Stretching Secrets, available at http://www.shaolinstretchingsecrets.com, which is a course based on stretching and flexibility drills taken directly from the Shaolin Temple and the ancient training manuscripts.
If you look online for the 7 Wonders of the World, you’ll find that there is a new movement underway to “vote” for the new list of the 7 Wonders of the World.
I guess that means if someone thinks “Bubba’s Bar-B-Q and Beer Joint” is the most wonderful thing they’ve ever had, it might get a vote or two and get on the list.
While I won’t debate over what the “new” 7 Wonders should be, I will throw a vote out for adding an “8th Wonder of the World”…
The Legendary Shaolin Temple and the Warrior Monks of China.
The Head Abbot of the Shaolin Temple and his delegation of Warrior Monks were here last week through this weekend and it was my honor – and pleasure – to work out with them, watch them as they performed their “Shaolin Monks of China” performance, and for one afternoon…be their personal tour guide.
I’ll tell you some of the cool experiences as the tour guide in a later e-mail. Right now, I gotta tell you – when you train with these guys, you really get to see the physical performance of what some of the principles and techniques contained in the Shaolin Secrets Volume I: Shaolin Feats of Martial Arts teach.
Friday morning I watched as one of the seniors Shaolin Monks grabbed several martial artists, started to train them – and demonstrated the principle of hitting with your entire body in such a way that if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes – I wouldn’t have believed it.
This Monk – who might weigh in at 135, maybe 140 pounds, lines up and in a blinding burst of speed, goes through a five movement sequence. He went so fast that I could barely follow, much less the guys who were trying to learn and follow what the Monk had just done.
He showed them again and they began to follow along. After a couple of reps, the Monk noticed the confused look on a couple of faces. I guess he thought that maybe the students didn’t understand what it was they were doing.
The Monk walked up to one of the martial artists – who at 6’1” and about 220 lbs dwarfed the Monk – and in one, fluid motion, blasted him with the same five move sequence.
Only this time it wasn’t a five move sequence, it was a series of deflections, grabs, elbows and strikes that literally broke the bigger guy’s balance, lifted him up onto his toes and knocked him three feet backwards.
All in about two or three seconds. I couldn’t follow how many times he had hit the guy, but I saw an elbow into the jaw and some kind of strike to the groin – he went so fast it was hard to follow.
Amazing doesn’t begin to describe it. To physically see what the principles and techniques from Shaolin Secrets Volume I: Shaolin Feats of Martial Arts looks like when it’s applied on somebody is pure gold.
None of what I saw – or the Shaolin Secrets – would have been possible without the Shaolin Temple of China, which has been training and spreading the martial arts for over fifteen hundred years.
Some people think that ancient buildings or designs ought to be one of the “7 Wonders of the World.”
I think the Shaolin Temple of China – and the Shaolin Secrets, which were recorded and assembled by the Shaolin Temple – should be the “8th Wonder of the World.”
That gets my vote. How about you go and see for yourself and vote by picking up your own copy of the Shaolin Secrets Volume I: Shaolin Feats of Martial Arts at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com.
Best,
William Huff
P.S. – Having the Shaolin Monks visit and get the opportunity to be their guide for an afternoon was a rare gift. I’ve got some great photos and funny stories about that day. Stay tuned for those.
Remember when you were a kid and you’d get the new box of cereal just for the fact that you knew it had a surprise in it?
Not the chocolatey goodness, not the creamy marshmallows, not the silly rabbit; no – it was about the prize.
That excitement that you felt – your eyes open wide, your breathing all sped up. The cereal making gravely, crunching sounds as you feverishly dug your hand deeper into the Lucky Charms searching for the elusive prize.
That’s how I felt when I was looking for the answer to, “Hey – what’s in the Ten Volumes of the Shaolin Secrets?”
No one had asked me before. Sure, I was getting all kinds of questions on what’s in Volume I, how much information, is this real, blah-blah-blah…
When someone asked the contents of all ten – that was a great question.
The Ten Volumes are in there original form and language, which is Chinese. There are currently three volumes translated to English and I have seen all three. Until recently, I had no idea what is in Volumes Four through Ten.
Until now.
I’ve been working and meeting with Dr. Shin Min Li, the man responsible for translating the Shaolin Secrets to English and I brought up the fact that I didn’t know what was in the other Volumes.
He looked at me with his always present smile and said, “Mista Wirriam, the contents of all Ten Volumes are listed in the notes I translated from the pages that were contained in the wooden box before the very first volume. Find those and you’ll have the answer.”
Oh yeah – prize in the box of cereal time.
I rushed home and started digging. Took me awhile but guess what? He was right.
I’d had the Table of Contents for all Ten Volumes on my bookshelf since I started the project. They just weren’t “Americanized” and labeled properly.
I can’t reveal them to you now – but I can tell you this…
This – is some F-A-R out shtuff.
Shaolin Secrets Volume I: Shaolin Feats of Martial Arts is the official title of Volume I according to the list that was in the sacred wooden box.
For those of you who already own Volume I, you know of all the internal and external techniques, principles and information contained in it.
It’s nothing compared to the rest of the Volumes.
Everything is here. How to train the internal arts; Deep breathing secrets, how to use weapons, grappling and throwing, joint breaking, acupuncture and medical Qi gong, medicinal recipes, tons of illustrations and much more.
This blows me away. It makes me even more excited to train with the Shaolin Monks, which starts tomorrow and goes through this Sunday.
I’m hoping to get an audience with the Professor and the Head Abbot together for a bit and talk shop.
I’ll let you know how that goes.
In the meantime, if you don’t have the Shaolin Secrets Volume I or II yet, get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and get yours right away.
When the other Volumes start to be released, you’ll be lost without the first two and the information they contain.
Best,
William Huff
P.S. – Many more photos, interviews and “proof” for all the doubters out there that the Shaolin Secrets are the real deal are coming to the site very soon. I’ve also got some surprises in store and a new way for you to get a piece of the Shaolin Secrets delivered to your house – every single month. Stay tuned.
I’m pretty pumped right now because this week – all the way from China - the Head Abbot of the Shaolin Temple and his finest Warrior Monks are visiting.
Whenever they come to visit – like they did a couple of years ago – they always get “the treatment”. The nicest hotels, the nicest restaurants, sightseeing, the whole enchilada…
Only problem is the restaurants; we always have to find ones that offer vegetarian dishes.
Their visit is going to culminate with a performance of their Martial Arts show to a sold-out crowd at the Long Beach Convention Center on Sunday afternoon. If you’ve never seen one, what these guys do literally takes your breath away.
As the week goes on, I get more and more excited because I know that Thursday through Satruday is the huge payoff: training with the Monks.
Training with the Shaolin Monks is special for a bunch of different reasons; seeing their athleticism in person is really something to see. They aren’t very big guys, but their frames are All Man – lean and sinewy with muscles so tight they look like cable under their skin.
Their power – forget about it. OF all the people and styles I have trained with, these guys really “get it” when it comes to hitting with 100% of their bodies. When they demonstrate “Body Law” as it’s taught and explained in the Shaolin Secrets (http://www.shaolinsecrets.com) – they hit like a Mack truck.
They’re fast. Smooth. I once heard an Instructor teaching a technique and he was stressing to the students, “Smooth is fast.” I didn’t really understand what he meant until I trained with the Shaolin Monks.
They don’t look fast, yet when they teach and demonstrate something on you, it’s like you’re in slow motion as they just whip around you – or whip you around – like the wind.
But that isn’t the best part of training with the Monks. The best part is in the discoveries.
They don’t speak English much, if at all. They always have translators with them – except when they are training you. Then, it’s follow the leader.
For many people this is a frustrating experience, especially us Americans.
We’re used to getting every scrap of information served up to us on the plate – with complete step-by-step instructions on how to do every piece of it, along with a Coach, Therapist, Nutritionist and Manager to answer any questions along the way, make sure we’re hydrated…
Not when you train with these guys.
It’s Old School. Shut Up – Pay Attention – Follow Along – and You’ll Figure It Out as You Do It.
It’s awesome for one reason. You learn along the way because you discover the little things in the techniques as you perform them – the Monks can’t tell you everything.
If you make gigantic errors, have your feet backwards or you’re facing the wrong way, they’ll square that away, but the principles and hidden gems – those you discover for yourself on the way.
After seventeen years of training with many different martial artists and Masters, I can say that without a doubt, the lessons I learned while training – and watching the Masters c-l-o-s-e-l-y - I discovered many things that they weren’t even focused on teaching.
And – because I discovered it on my own – it stuck in my head much better than things I had been “told”.
This is why the material and lessons in the Shaolin Secrets is presented like it is.
The Shaolin Secrets were created and written by the Shaolin Temple over fifteen hundred years. They wrote and recorded everything just as they teach it.
When we had Dr. Shin Min Li translate the manuscripts from Chinese to English, we asked him to keep the context and wording exactly as it was in the Chinese versions. We wanted to make sure that these works were as close to the originals as we could make it.
He did a magnificent job. There isn’t a more accurate translation of the ancient manuscripts from the Shaolin Temple anywhere – except at the Shaolin Temple itself.
Maybe you can’t go to the Shaolin Temple to train. There probably isn’t a Shaolin Monk living in your town that you can go train with and it’s a little bit of short notice to get on a plane and get out to see me here in Southern California to train with the Monks through this weekend.
But you can get your hands on the training manuscripts of the Shaolin Temple and start “discovering” what it is that makes the Shaolin Monks some of the finest martial artists on the planet.
Go to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and get the Shaolin Secrets Volume I & II – and start your Path to Discovery.
I’ll keep you posted on the adventures with the Monks. Check back soon for photos.
Best,
William Huff
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