Last Tuesday Arubio and Joanne from Casa do Jardim came to our hotel to give us a Capoeira lesson. Capoeira is a Brazilian Martial Art style, which looks like a mix of dancing and hip-hop and needs a lot of control over the body. The style Arubio showed us has very slow movements, which makes it even harder to do them, especially the first time. Doing a head flip fast – no problem. Doing that in slow motion – uuuuuu, that is really hard!

So we all tried our best to keep up with him during the basics, which where followed by 1-on-1 “fights” where the rest of the group plays music and sings in a circle around the two in the middle.

Overall I was very impressed by the slow movements, by the body control and the integration with the instruments and the singing… Thanks to Arubio and Joanne for their time and thanks to the #ibmcsc brazil team for the fun night!

Der Kurier war zu Gast in unserem wunderschönen Shaolin Tempel, dabei ist dieses sehenswerte Video entstanden:

Lernen Sie Kung Fu im Wiener Shaolin Tempel

Tai Chi, Chi Gong, Kung Fu und Meditation: Das wird in Österreichs einzigem Shaolin-Tempel in Wien gelehrt. Doch neben diesen Disziplinen gehört für Shaolin-Meister Wolfgang Gall auch ein gutes Tempel-Bier zum glücklichen Leben.

Eine sehr gute Reportage darüber was wir im Shaolin Tempel Austria so machen. Zu sehen auf ServusTV.

Der Shaolin Kalender 2011 ist ab jetzt erhältlich (bis spätestens 15. 1. 2011 bestellen!)

Bei Interesse bitte entweder in der Liste im Tempel eintragen oder eine verbindliche Mail (Name, Telefonnummer, Anzahl) an mich.

Kosten: nur EUR 20,-!

Format: A3, Spiralbindung.

Abholung im Tempel leider erst Ende Jänner, aber das Warten zahlt sich definitiv aus!

An dieser Stelle auch vielen herzlichen Dank an unseren Fotografen Markus, Romana und Wei für die Gestaltung des Kalenders sowie an die Models aus dem Shaolin Tempel Austria!

Unser Shifu:

Extra im Advent zum Stehlen angereist, geriet eine Verbrecher-Bande im Starbucks-Café an der Wiener Invalidengasse an den Falschen: Auf frischer Tat von Kriminalisten entdeckt, wollten die Profi-Diebe flüchten – doch der Kung-Fu-Kampfsportler Wolfgang Gall (41) half sofort der Kripo und überwältigte die Rumänen.

Die ganze Geschichte auf heute.at

Christmas is almost here…

In most families, even the holidays are more about present exchange than the selfless act of actually giving a gift. (Seth Godin)

So, what is it really about?

A hint:

Every moment is a precious gift, whether bitter, spicy, sour, or sweet. Fully express your beautiful life 8 days a week, 366 days a year! (Shi Yan Ming)

Kung Fu…
Hard work over time to accomplish skill.
A painter can have kung fu.
Or the butcher, who cuts meat everyday with such a skill that his knife never touches the board.

Learn the form, seek the formless.
Hear the soundless.
Learn it all, and forget it all.
Learn the way, and then find your own way.
The musician can have kung fu, or the poet, who paints pictures with words and makes emperors weep. This too is kung fu.
But do not name it, my friend. For it is like water.
Nothing is softer than water, yet it can overcome rock.
It does not fight, it flows along the opponent.
Formless, nameless. A true master dwells within.
Only you can free him.

Little duo-monologue from Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

When talking to friends about Shaolin Kung Fu lots of people actually don’t understand that we do not fight against each other at the Shaolin Temple. We develop speed and power and learn forms (that’s why it is called Martial ARTS).

Let me quote Shi Yan Ming who explains it very well:

Forms are forms, and fighting is fighting. In a real fight, there are no stances and no routines – just the single goal of knocking out the other person as quickly as possible. In the ring or on the street, your opponent will not oblige you by getting into the position or stance you learned to deal with in class.

That is not to say that forms practice is a waste of time. Forms help you develop your speed, power, harmony and reaction, for those are the attributes that will best serve you in a real fight.

So while our moves are fighting moves (a punch will always be a punch) but we do not have any physical contact with others during the training. To me that explains why we have so much Yin at the temple.

But in the end – you have to try it on your own!

(Image (c) HengZan Shi, Quote from shaolinwolf)

Unfortunately just an excerpt, but nevertheless highly recommended… a documentation about our Shi-Gong:

More information on usashaolintemple.org.