- Turn Everywhere Into The Shaolin Temple
When I first came to London, I could only understand 4 words in English: yes, no, okay and hello. My brother, a monk from the Shaolin Temple, would take me on the underground and we would always take the stairs. I thought it strange that a modern city didn’t have lifts! It wasn’t until later that I realised the underground had lifts and escalators. Don’t think that you only train when you do your workout. Walk, run, take the stairs and stretch throughout the day as much as you can.
- Be Here Now
When you eat, cook, wash dishes, drink tea or coffee focus on your breath. Thoughts will come up. Think of them like guests in the house of the mind. We don’t need to talk to them or push them away, just don’t give them any energy. Keep going back to your breath and eventually your thoughts will lessen.
- Have Faith In Yourself
You have to be in the fight to win the fight. You also have to fall short of your target time and time again. At the temple I was slow to learn forms. But once I learnt them, I really mastered them. John Wooden said, Champions behave like champions before they’re champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners. You’re not in the process of becoming a martial artist. You already are. With the correct attitude you can master anything.
- Make Training Your Habit
It’s great to train in the mountains of China. There’s space, the warm weather means my muscles are warm. It’s harder to train in a small living room in London or go for a run in the rain. But this is my habit so I do it. Willpower runs out like petrol. You need willpower to start your training but after a few months training needs to become your habit or you won’t stick it. It needs to be a part of your life. Training needs to be the same as brushing your teeth and getting dressed in the morning.
- Be Flexible
The beauty of Shaolin is that you can adapt it to last 5 minutes - 5 hours. The video below is a workout that takes about 2 minutes. Work around lack of time and space by adapting to your space and seeing what you can do with it.
- Keep No Energy Left In Reserve
Mind-Heart-Now means we are totally committed to what we do. If we train with 90% of ourselves but 10% is still at the office or then we water the power of our training down. A Shaolin Monk trains as if this is their last session. There is no future time. Apply this philosophy to everything you do and watch how your performance sores. That 10% makes a big difference.
- Shatter Your Comfort Zone
Mastery requires endless re-mastery. Whatever you find difficult, challenging or don’t like then focus on this. A Shaolin Monk’s training has to challenge his whole being. Doing the same workout week after week means the body adjusts and gets used to it. Keep changing your workout. If you run, alter the pace and the distance. If you’re training with my programs, move from Shaolin Workout to Bootcamp to Circuit Training to Burn
.Shaolin Isn't Removed From Your Daily Life. It's There To Help You Every Step Of The Way.
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