Students of all levels are welcome at the NYC Shaolin Center, and beginning classes will give you all the basic skills necessary to enjoy a life-long Kung Fu practice.
Classes begin and end with seated breathing and meditation. This will energize your body and focus your mind in preparation for the Shaolin training to come.
Strengthening exercises in the warm up develop a resilient, tenacious power that is organized and connected to the core of your body.
Other external exercises in the warm up will help develop your endurance, explosiveness, and speed.
Stretching exercises in class emphasize the proper use of breathing to maximize your flexibility and will steadily increase your range of movement as you continue your training.
Partnered training will help develop your understanding of distance, timing, and the applications behind the movements in your material.
In the Tai Chi class you will learn a wide range of Chi Kung training, practice the 24 posture combined Tai Chi Ch'uan form and, in the advanced levels, have an opportunity to engage in push hands sparring.
The more advanced internal training at the NYC Shaolin Center includes Pa Kua Chang, Hsing I Ch'uan, pressure point fighting, 2 person sets, and internal weapons forms.
Sparring in class, while one of the most challenging exercises, can also be one of the most rewarding. Sparring at the Shaolin Center emphasizes control, strategy and technique in a non-competitive environment.
Instruction at the Shaolin Center is patient, welcoming and detail-oriented. The traditional material that you learn in class has been composed and refined by generations of Shaolin practitioners into an amazing system of physical, mental and spiritual development.
Chin Na self defense techniques will teach you universally effective methods for defending against an unarmed attacker. Practicing your Chin Na will help you develop rooting, distance, timing, control and calm in the face of aggression.
Over the course of your training you will learn forms and applications for all of the classical Chinese weapons. The weapons training greatly increases your strength and coordination, as well as your understanding of the rich culture and history behind Shaolin Kung Fu.
All students train and test under Head Instructor Thad Wong, so that from the day you start training you have experienced eyes following your development in the Shaolin art.