| The following is an excerpt from the book The Shaolin | | | | given them the proper tools to adapt Buddhism to |
| Workout | | | | Chinese life. Why do we meditate? To cleanse our |
| | | | minds and open our hearts. But if we burden our |
| Published by Rodale; May 2006;$29.95US/$39.95CAN; | | | | bodies with tension and pain, our minds and hearts |
| 1-59486-400-4 | | | | can't be cleansed. Your mind and your heart and your |
| Copyright © 2006 Sifu Shi Yan Ming | | | | body are inseparable. |
| It's most important to stay loose and relaxed in mind | | | | Kung fu is action meditation. The goal of kung fu is to |
| and body. To enjoy your life, you must be relaxed. | | | | relax your body and your mind, to extend your body |
| When we were children, our bodies were loose, | | | | and your mind, to cleanse your body and your mind. |
| relaxed, and flexible. We could do splits, flips, jumps, | | | | To be relaxed in your body, and relaxed in your life, is |
| and twists without thinking about it. We were pure | | | | how you live fully in the present, experiencing this |
| mind in babies' bodies. | | | | moment, here and now. |
| But you're never too old -- we just get too tense, too | | | | In our modern world, there's another benefit to action |
| stiff. We think too much. One of the most important | | | | meditation. We all have lives, jobs, families. We have |
| lessons you can learn doing the Shaolin Workout is | | | | wonderful things coming into our lives every day. Who |
| how to get back that childlike relaxation and flexibility -- | | | | among us has the time to sit and meditate for hours a |
| to be at home in your body again. It makes no | | | | day, like monks in a monastery? As you'll find out, a |
| difference if you are in your twenties, fifties, or eighties. | | | | half-hour of action meditation can be as liberating, for |
| Relax. Never feel old. Tell yourself you're not getting | | | | your body and your mind and your heart, as several |
| older every year -- you're getting younger! | | | | hours of no-action meditation. |
| Sifu explains that there are two kinds of meditation: | | | | Kung fu and martial arts represent a refined form of |
| action meditation and no-action meditation. In the West, | | | | action meditation. But any exercise program can be a |
| we're most familiar with the no-action kind. We can all | | | | form of action meditation -- running, swimming, playing |
| form images of Buddhist monks sitting with their legs | | | | tennis, riding a bike. In the West, we speak of that point |
| crossed and their eyes closed, still and silent, for hours | | | | in an exercise routine where we "get in the zone," |
| and hours, as they strive to achieve enlightenment. | | | | where we "release endorphins," where we achieve |
| The only problem is that too much no-action meditation | | | | "the runner's high." Those are all Western ways of |
| can be as bad for your joints, your back, your neck, as | | | | approaching the same concept: action meditation. A |
| sitting at a computer all day. This is what Da Mo saw | | | | relaxed mind in a relaxed body. |
| happening to the monks at Shaolin. They spent so | | | | As you go through your day today, relax. Stay loose. |
| much time sitting in meditation that their bodies were | | | | Be flexible in your body and in your mind. Enjoy your |
| as stiff as wooden dolls. He saw that Ba Tuo had not | | | | beautiful life every minute of the day. |