Luohan Qigong
is the Tai Chi of Shaolin Kung Fu
Seniors Get More Qigong
Who knows how to breathe?
Hardly anyone.
In two decades of teaching Qigong, I have discovered that only one in four people (at best) know how to breathe.
Sure the other 3-out-of-4 people were alive. They were breathing. But they were doing a terrible job of it.
As Buddhism teaches, people are born as Buddhas -- then they learn how to do everything wrong.
I checked my two children closely when they were first born, and bottle fed both of them over the next year of their life. Sure enough, they knew how to breathe when they were born.
Then life happens. Fear, stress, frustration, anger, sadness, and regret cause people to breathe wrong, think wrong, and finally do things wrong. There's a formula here: "Breathe Wrong + Think Wrong = Do Wrong." You can quote me on that.
Even by the time I get my 6-year-olds in my Tai Chi Kids classes, they are all messed up.
So by the time we get to be seniors, it seems impossible to breathe correctly.
I make a point of teaching Qigong breathing exercises to kids, however, they're already on step two of my formula: "Think Wrong." This means they don't want to breathe correctly. It doesn't fit into their 'desire system.'
That's why for twenty years I've heard Tai Chi Masters, and Kung Fu Shifu claim, "You can't teach kids Taijiquan!"
I have proved them wrong, but they are right about it being very difficult.
Seniors have had decades of training to be obedient, so they will at least 'pretend to comply' with my breathing instructions. This is one of my biggest complaints about seniors: they only do it when I'm looking. Hold it. That's one of my complaints about the kids. Kids breathe wrong, seniors breathe wrong... Well, if people can't even breathe correctly what are they doing correctly?
Fat People Can't Walk
Ironically, their incorrect walking, since childhood, made them fat.
Another formula: "Walk Wrong + Breathe Wrong = Get Fat."
You can quote me on that too!
When I started in Kung Fu in 1980 I noticed hundreds of students come and go at the Tai Mantis Federation school in Torrance, California. I analyze reality constantly. It's my nature.
I noticed that almost every obese person that came to Tai Mantis lost weight from the exercise, but not much and it all kept coming right back the next day. Why? They were probably breathing wrong too, but I noticed that every one of them walked wrong: their toes pointed outward as they walked instead of straight ahead.
The solution: Aim your feet straight ahead as if they were attached to snow skis or water skis. Unlike wearing skis, lift your toes with each step so you step on your heels first. Walk silently. The more noise your feet make the more you are punching them into the concrete. Ouch!
Proper skiing = proper walking.
You can quote me on that too!
Be A Happy Buddha
1,400 years ago, a bearded Monk from India retired at the Shaolin Temple in northern China. He created breathing and moving exercises (maybe someone taught them to him) and taught these movements to the Monks. These first breathing and moving exercises were known as the "18 Hands of Luohan."
The Luohan are the guardian angels of Buddha or extraordinary people who help and guide other people to better living.
These "18 Hands of Luohan," required proper breathing and proper moving. Over the next 400 years these Shaolin Monks evolved into the famous warrior monks we now enjoy in movies and actually did perform heroic deeds that all of China idolized.
In short: If you can breathe properly, move properly, and with the help of Buddhist Dharma, think properly -- you can be stress free.
I know. Every day, something bad happens. Every day, something or someone, will "stress you out." That's why every day you should practice some Luohan Qigong (breathing exercises) so that you can go back to being the person you really are, or should be, or could be.
It's up to you. There is no miracle cure or special needle poking or massaging or drug that is going to cure you. It's up to you to cure you and it's free.
All you have to do is be happy.
Zhen Shen-Lang
Patriarch, Shaolin Chi Mantis
