Two Minute Health Tricks From The Shaolin Temple Of Zen

Training in Shaolin Martial Arts is a lifestyle that involves eating well, working out at least an hour five times a week as well as practicing Qigong. But if you're finding that you're busier than usual and can't fit in your regular training, one of these quick practices can still keep you on the Shaolin path.

 Green Tea

Green tea is the best food source of a group called catechins. In test tubes, catechins are more powerful than vitamins C and E in halting oxidative damage to cells and appear to have other disease-fighting properties. Want to find out more about the health properties of drinking green tea? click here 

Qigong Workout Press Ups

Just doing ten Qigong press ups from my Qigong Workout every day will increase your upper body strength, and increase the flexibility of your back. A strong back is the foundation of a fit and healthy body. These press ups work the triceps hard so when you do regular press ups you'll find them easier.

Instant Health Massage

Don't have time to do Qigong? Five minutes of the Instant Health Massage after you've stepped out of the shower will increases circulation, stimulate the lymphatic system, open the meridian lines and act as a natural battery charger. To find out more click here:

 Five minute Form

Speed up a Qigong form or slow down a Kung Fu form. Moving through these ancient Shaolin forms helps us to tap into our inner flow and access a peace that can easily be lost in the midst of our busy life. 

Eating Meditation

Don't have time to meditate? Have time to eat? Turn that into your meditation. Tune into your breath and the awareness of the food you're eating. Being aware of the food you're eating, automatically slows down your eating, aids digestion and helps reduce stress. By the end of your meal you'll feel calm and connected. You can also do a tea meditation. 

What's In A Shaolin Monk's Refrigerator?

Food is Medicine

Shaolin Monks alongside the majority of Chinese people see food as medicine and eat in accordance with traditional Chinese Medicine. Foods have Yin and Yang qualities and we alter what we eat in accordance with how our health is that day. For example, if we have a cold then we'll make chicken soup with dried red plums,  Goji berries and ginger, an excellent tonic soup.

Inside the Shaolin Temple we eat vegetarian food but outside the temple, the fighting monks are allowed to eat meat. In this article I'm not going to go into the pros and cons of being a vegetarian but I'm going to give you an insight into our daily diet.

Shaolin Monk's focus on eating foods in their natural state. We don't eat energy bars or cereal, we don't drink coca cola,  protein shakes,  alcohol, or water with ice. We eat a diet which is rich in fruit, vegetables, and good quality protein. For carbohydrate we eat white rice, steamed buns or noodles. We drink water at room temperature, and lots of green tea. For snacks we eat nuts and fruits.

Carbohydrate - The Difference Between East & West

Before I came to the West I'd never seen brown rice before. I, along with the majority of Chinese people don't like the taste of it so it's not something we eat. There seems to be a backlash against refined carbohydrates or even carbohydrates in general in the West. But anyone who trains hard needs to eat carbohydrates. ( I eat about three times the amount of carbohydrate the average person eats because I train so much.)White rice is a source of dietary fiber, which is important for a healthy digestive system, it contains vitamin B1 and is low in fat.

Our daily food is stir fried vegetables and protein with carbohydrate, the most common protein being lamb, chicken, pork or tofu (now that I'm in the West I eat turkey and Quorn , which is a good source of lean protein).  Lamb is usually grass fed which is better than grain fed, it's Yang and is good to eat if people are low in energy. We rarely eat beef. We eat protein with every meal because it helps us to sustain energy during our training.  For our evening meal we don't eat any carbohydrate unless we're going to train that evening.

Timing Is Important

Shaolin Monks believe that the time they eat is as important as what they eat. We eat our heaviest food at breakfast because we need this energy for training, a slightly lighter lunch then less food in the evening. Studies have shown that eating breakfast aids weight loss. Eating within an hour of exercise burns a little more fat and helps to promote leanness. Eating before exercise enhances performance and increases the amount of calories burnt.

Chinese food  - excluding Chinese food in Western restaurants which is usually not authentic Chinese - combines food in such a way that not only is it  packed with nutrition but it's also an immune booster.

5 Vegetable Immune Booster 

 A good example of this and a dish to eat in the evening is  five vegetable stir fry with ginger. Take five vegetables, preferably five different colours, cut them thinly then stir fry them with ginger, garlic and chili. I suggest that one of your vegetables is red pepper which has a high vitamin C content,  and shitake mushroom which enhances immunity . Ginger aids digestion, chili contains capsicum which has anti-bacterial qualities and garlic is one of the most powerful healing foods that you can include in your daily diet to boost immunity. This simple dish not only tastes great but helps to prevent cancer, the common cold,  gives you your five a day, and cannot make you fat.

Although our diet is Chinese,  you don't need to start eating Chinese food to change your diet to healthy, you just need to make sure that you're eating fresh fruit and vegetables with good quality protein and carbohydrate. Food in its natural state has all the nutritional benefits you need.  Avoid processed food. Live simply and keep your diet simple. That way your mind and body will be in balance. 

Shifu Yan Lei teaches a graded path to health and fitness, for more information click here. 

How To Avoid Hitting A Martial Arts Plateau

Martial Artists are no different from other athletes and if you're not careful you can easily hit a plateau. Plateaus must be avoided because it means your martial arts skill and fitness levels aren't improving. Here's The Shaolin Temple's Five Steps to avoid hitting a plateau.

1) Change Your Martial Arts Routine

Our bodies are efficient machines which adapt to whatever we throw at it including our workout. When you first start to train you'll make gains in your training but after a few months these gains will level off because your body has learnt to adapt. To avoid hitting a plateau you need to change your martial arts workout every couple of weeks.  Combining  my Workout, Bootcamp and newly released Circuit Training DVDs will give your body the constant change  it needs so it never reaches a plateau.

2) Do High Intensity Circuit Training

If you're fit and you can run 5k without any problem then you're ready to do circuit training. Though not suitable for everyone, this is the best way to torch fat, build lean muscle and boost your metabolism. Fighting Fit is a saying which we all know means optimal fitness. Fighters need to combine circuit training with cardio runs and if you're serious about your martial arts, alongside training with my DVDs you also need to run.

3) Mind Body Connection

Shaolin is all about the mind body connection. It's the way that Shaolin Monks understand Zen. You may have no desire to understand Zen but do you have desire to be more focused? Centered? At peace with yourself? If you're following Shaolin correctly then this is what you'll gain.

4) Make A Plan

It's not enough to put the time in, you need  a plan and a destination. After you've done your martial art's workout , take a pen and write down how you did. Tracking your progress can help  keep you motivated. Plan ahead as to what DVDs  you'll be working out to on what days. Give your training the respect it deserves.

5) Train the Yin as well as the Yang

Rest is an important factor in our martial arts so you don't burn out. As well as taking one or two days of a week from your training, you also need to do Qigong to regenerate your body from the inside out. And it's important to get a good nights sleep. Research is showing just how important sleep is for the body to regenerate itself.  If you find it hard to sleep then do some of the movement from Qigong Volume 2 before you go to bed at night.

The beauty of Shaolin is that we can shape it around our fitness level, energy levels and lifestyle by constantly adapting the workouts. Listen to your body and work with it.

For more information on Shifu's DVDs please click here. 

My journey with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)

My journey with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a long way. When I was a teenager, about 14 or 15, I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). This is not something that made me change my habits and my lifestyle at the time. Finally, I was still a teenager. I was more interested in boys than in the days of my health care.

Of course, my bad days, when I just felt sluggish, my body ached, and I was very moody. I just wrote it to the "girl" and as much sleep as I could. I still did everything as usual ... in high school, talked with friends, and talk on the phone constantly (which drove my parents crazy).

But, I realized that I was older (and had more children), I was always tired, I'm always in pain, and my "bad day" is far from the number of my "good day." However, I did not do anything, except to catch off guard with my child if I could go, so let their children go to bed early when I wake up, and as late as possible, hoping for missed "catching up" to sleep and rest well . I thought I was completely amazed and overwhelmed because I have three children under the age of three years, I've worked, and I went to school full time.

Then, about 6 months after my last daughter I have with dizziness, and was later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and then about 6 months after that I was cancer of the uterus (only a year after I was diagnosed with cervical cancer) diagnosis. It was time. It was time to start to really take care of myself. If someone has CFS them much more susceptible to other infections and diseases because their immune system is not working quite right, it is harder for your body to fight with everything that happens in it, and open the door for other diseases and illnesses in which they want to anchor.

I decided to lose weight, start eating healthy and give me some time, "I" (if I could get to the bathroom or bedroom and back again young children behind me and knocked on the door to get my attention.) My "I" started later and later into the evening, leaving less time for sleep. But I'm working more, and I did eat healthy, so I started to feel a little better. I threw a ton of weight in a few months, and I was very pleased with the results that I've seen.

Since there is no cure for CFS, doctors decided my mask on drugs, just about my symptoms. They put me on Antivert for my vertigo. I think it may have taken two doses before I threw the bottle. I can not work on this drug, so I'll take it. I will fight with vertigo. Then they sent me to a neurologist for MS, where they rode 24CC drain cerebrospinal fluid from the spinal column, and then immediately sent me home. I had a spinal migraine for at least a week - and that's no joke! Then they wanted to take me to the boat for my medication MS. Thanks, but no thanks. If I can not work, then I do not take it. They made me a round of something-or-other to cancer. It was a once in-a-lifetime thing.

I worked on a regular basis (as regularly as the mother of five children, but can I have it sometimes), eating healthy (I have no red meat is almost 8 years old), with my vitamins and (TRY) less busy (it's not too well disguised). But, I have a commitment that I was a healthy person in general. More services and charitable activities. Stuff like that. Prayer had a lot to do with my recovery process as well.

Since then I have tested without cancer and my MS symptoms are rare these days. But CFS remains at the forefront of everything I do. I know that if I have a "big" day (that is, all day long meeting at work or if I move or make a big project in my house) I need at least a "down time" in the day to plan, where I do nothing but relax and fall asleep. If I do not, I will be absolutely useless to everyone, including me, the next day. I really need to listen to your body to make sure I do not overdo my activities. Some days I feel absolutely great, energetic and motivated to do anything, motivated, stay for another 30 minutes in the gym. On other days, and usually for no apparent reason, I'm just exhausted, unmotivated, and it takes everything I've just started the day with a bed. For me, I have to keep a positive attitude and remember that I am doing everything to go to work, clothes for my children. It really helps me every day.

Once I was with all the complaints I made a vow to myself that the best diagnosis quality of life for their children to do anything. That's why I get up every day and decides to push me through the "good" until the next day to come.

Never Give Up - The 3 Stages Of Zen

It's not necessary to be a Buddhist to practice Shaolin. But it is necessary to understand why you practice. Martial Arts is not a sport but an art, and like all art, it changes your internal makeup. If it's not working the mind as hard as the body then your training need to be adjusted.

Martial Arts is not for the feint hearted because it's not an easy skill to master. I started studying when I was thirteen years old and I'm still a beginner. But one thing I understand is that our training goes through three vital stages. They are similar to traffic lights: red, amber, green. But the green is when we are stationery and can sit peacefully with ourselves because we know ourself.

The Three Stages Of Zen Training In Martial Arts

1st Stage: Jian Chi - Never Give Up

You need willpower, belief and knowledge of your goal so you don't give up. Having a goal means we know which direction our training is going and we have something to work towards. This helps us to Never Give up.

2nd Stage: Dong Jing - Balance

This is a special word for martial arts which is difficult to translate. Dong means to move, Jing means to be still. When your martial arts comes to the second stage, it's very important that you don't lose your balance. It is like the two wings of a bird. You need to do Qi Gong and Kung Fu but not only that, when you do Kung Fu you need to have stillness in your movement.

3rd Stage: Ch'an / Zen

The Chinese writing says “Ch’an”, which is the highest of the martial arts. Martial Arts training is there to help you understand yourself, the result is to know yourself and be yourself. This is the final stage of your training. Sometimes it can be tough to accept who you are but in order to find peace with yourself you need to do this.

I designed these T-shirts which I've trailed for myself for three months before making them available on my website. Made from bamboo cotton, they are exceptionally soft and perfect to train. I hope they will inspire you and act as a daily reminder, helping you to train with the correct attitude of mind as well as body.  For more info or to buy click here.

formed abdominal muscles quickly

Sixpack Abdominal does not come just like that. But that does not mean you have to do hundreds of crunches every day that you get a sixpack stomach immediately. Not enough with regular practice, you also need to implement the lifestyle and habits that will support the creation of your sixpack stomach. 

4 The following habits are good habits that will help you have a sixpack stomach craving more quickly.
 Start Your Morning With Water. Drink water after you wake up at least 2 glasses of water. A recent study found that drinking water after waking up can increase your metabolism by 24% for the next 90 minutes. Moreover, muscle cells grow faster when they are well hydrated. Consumption of water every day is recommended to help shape your sixpack stomach.
 
Combining Protein and Carbs Although carbohydrates can be stored so fat that can cover your abdominal muscles, your body needs carbohydrates remain as an energy source. When combined with protein, carbohydrates can help build muscle, especially if you combine both before and after exercise. More muscle the more fat is lost.

Healthy Lunch Avoid fast food and soft drinks. This food will only make you grow fat and inhibits the formation of your sixpack stomach. For a healthier menu you can try some of the following menu:

 

An apple and cheese for your morning snack.

Eat complex carbohydrates, such as whole wheat bread, wheat pasta, oatmeal, brown rice. These foods contain more fiber and may delay your hunger longer. And is equipped with high-protein foods such as chicken, tuna, beans or processed soybeans.
     

You can add a protein shake into your afternoon snack.Lunch with a healthy menu every day will make you much more full and satisfied. In addition, you also get the nutrients your body enough to move. 
Sleep Enough. Apply enough sleep habits to get your sixpack abdominal. The body needs 7-8 hours of sleep for the phase formation and muscle recovery. The study mentions, if you lack sleep for 3 days in a row can cause your muscle cells become resistant to the hormone insulin. This causes the accumulation of fat around your stomach with slow metabolism, increases appetite and decreases the amount of calories burned.With a slight change to healthier habits, you can get a sixpack abdominal more quickly and optimally. So, immediately apply a healthy lifestyle today!

True Freedom: You Already Have Everything You Need

Martial Arts is a way of being in life. It's very difficult in the beginning to make your practice into a habit and even when you've been doing it for many years, there can still be a struggle. But this is good because it shows your practice is constantly challenging you. The key to rising to the challenge is to make a strong commitment to your martial arts practice from the very beginning. This commitment automatically makes you practice, and any thoughts that go against your practice can be more easily dismissed.

In order to gain something you have to give up something. For example, you can't eat chocolate cake every day and lose weight. It's true that a martial artist does not have as much "freedom" as a non-martial artist because so much of your time is taken up with the practice. But what exactly is freedom?

Martial Arts helps us to be. If you can just be then you don't have so much desire for external things. If you can be, the Buddha says, all of your good qualities are already there. You don't need to try to do something to make yourself happy because your happiness will manifest by itself. This to me, is true freedom.

Shifu Yan Lei is a 34th generation fighting disciple form The Shaolin Temple in China, he offers a graded path in Qigong and Kung Fu:
http://www.shifuyanlei.co.uk/dvd_latest_release.html

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