Shaolin Temple Academy
"In life, failure comes many times before success; it is the choice of man whether he fights for success or accepts defeat"
Shifu Shi Yan Kun
WELCOME
Welcome to the official website of Shaolin Temple Academy. We are a non profit organisation that is dedicated to the practise of Chinese Martial Arts and Chinese culture. We run a wide range of charitable projects throughout the UK, Europe and China that has benefited children, youths and our elder generation.
The Academy specialises in a range of Chinese Martial Arts that is beneficial to children and adults such as Shaolin Gong Fu, Tai Ji, Soft & Hard Qi Gong (Iron Body Conditioning), Qin Na (Joint Locking), Shaolin Weapons, Shaolin Acrobatics and San Da (Chinese Kick Boxing).
The Academy was formed in February 2009 and has been growing from strength to strength ever since. Please enjoy the experience of the site and we look forward to hearing from you.
OUR MISSION
As a full time academy we aim to teach Chinese Martial Arts, culture and martial morals to a high degree. We intend to be able to facilitate and coach a vast number of children and adults at a high standard and build their ambition towards big achievements and goals such as the Olympics.
We want to be able to help combat youth gang culture and street crime and give a better opportunity to socially and economically deprive children and their families. We are committed to helping families build stronger bonds, spend time together by participating in fun activities and become more engaged with their communities.
We want to help youths with problematic backgrounds such as anger problems and turn their negative energy into positive energy with the discipline of martial arts. We aim to teach the students to an Olympic standard and for the students to be able to reach the best of their potential.
NEWS UPDATE
The Grand Opening of the first and only full time Shaolin Martial Arts academy in South East London was hosted on Saturday 22nd May 2010. The opening was fantastic and had support from all our students, the community, our local Councillors, the Metropolitan Police and our local newspapers. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported us through this journey.
Many thanks,
EVENTS
INTERNATIONAL SHAOLIN WUSHU FESTIVAL CHINA TRIP:
We have been invited to the International Shaolin Wushu Festival for October 2010, to celebrate Shaolin martial arts culture and to compete in the international competition. This is a unique opportunity for all students as this event is held every 3 years and it is known to be the Olympics of Shaolin martial arts.
We will also be taking students to train at the famously known Shaolin Temple, the home of Chinese Martial Arts.
For more information, please contact us directly.
© All rights reserved Shaolin Temple Academy 2009 - 2010
SHAOLIN TEMPLE ACADEMY
The Academy was formed in the 2009 and within under a year we have opened a full time academy in order to teach our students to the highest standards. We are officially affiliated with the Shaolin Temple of China, and known to them as the UK Shaolin Temple Warrior Monks training base.
All classes are personally taught by Shifu Yan Kun in the traditional Shaolin way. Shifu Yan Kun’s aim is to bring Chinese Culture and the Chinese teaching of traditional Gong Fu to the UK and to train students to an Olympic standard. The Academy invests all efforts to each individual student and gives people full encouragement by teaching respect, martial morals and training to be the best. All members of the public are very welcome to come along to the Academy to watch the class or to participate.
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We are the first and only full time Shaolin Martial Arts Academy in South East London and offer 36 hours of training a week, open 6 days a week from Monday – Sunday (Friday's closed). We offer classes in Shaolin Gong Fu (Kung Fu), San Da (Chinese Kick Boxing), Tai Ji, Qi Gong, Shaolin Gymnastics, Shaolin Weapon forms and Qin Na (Joint locking). All members are welcome to use the facility for self practice.
We have been involved in many charitable projects relating to children and youths getting more involved with Chinese Martial Arts and will do more projects in the near future to promote anti-bullying projects, anti-social behaviour projects and health preservation projects for the older generation.
CHINA ACADEMY
Shaolin Temple Academy has united with the Shaolin Temple Warrior Monks Training Base (China). Both schools are very disciplined and aims to spread the culture of Shaolin. The China Academy is based in the Shaolin Temple, China, the home of Shaolin Martial Arts.
The China Academy has a great reputation in Chinese Martial Arts and has a total of 60 students who train diligently. The school is small, warm, welcoming and very humble. As the Academy is small it allows the Coaches to give their time and teaching knowledge to each student which allows the student to excel in Gong Fu (Kung Fu).
We want to raise awareness for the China Academy based in Shaolin Temple, for their lack of school equipment and furniture and we would like to help raise funds to send to China to help buy new study desks and chairs for the children as their old desks and chairs are in very poor conditions. For more information on donating to the China Academy please contact us directly.
SHAOLIN TEMPLE ACADEMY PERFORMANCE TEAM
Our Performance Team has had the pleasure touring all over the UK, Europe & China for events and performances. Shifu Shi Yan Kun received a Certificate of Excellence from the French officials in February 2009. The team were invited as V.I.P performers, attending the 125th anniversary Nice Carnival. The team were delighted to meet French officials and was invited again for the next year’s festival.
We are looking to expand our performance team and we will be taking applications for rehearsals to become a part of our worldwide performance team by the beginning of 2010. For those who are fortunate to become part of the team we will hold intensive performance team training on a weekly basis. Our performance team will unite with the Shaolin Temple Warrior Monks performance team in China and perform worldwide.
Our performance team is run by the Master of the Academy, Shifu Shi Yan Kun. His advanced and dedicated students have the privilege in performing world-wide with Shifu. The team are professional martial arts performers. The team’s busiest moments are during February, as they perform throughout the whole of the UK, for this Chinese New Year of the OX (2009).
This Chinese New Year they performed in Inverness (Scotland), Nottingham, Surrey, Hackney, Lambeth, Manchester, Hull, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Westminster, Leeds, Exeter, Lewisham and Wimbledon. The team has also travelled to Europe, Nice, Cannes, Monaco (France) and Milan (Italy) this year.
STUDY IN CHINA
Our students embarked on an amazing journey to China at the Shaolin Temple in October 2009. The students’ intensive training consists of running up steep mountains from 5am and training until 6pm for 6 days a week. The students trained in the Shaolin Temple grounds and were surrounded with the admirable Chinese students who have been training at an Olympic Standard.
Each student had one-to-one training with the Coaches and was privileged to have the 80 year old grand master guiding and watching upon them.
Every year we will bring our students to train in China for those who wish to experience this intense cultured training.
Students train within the fresh mountains of China (Song Mountain) with the other Chinese students. The students are taught discipline, respect and the traditional applications of Shaolin Gong Fu, Tai Ji and San Da.
If you are interested in having taste of the intense and cultured training in China, we welcome those to come with us on our yearly return to the Shaolin Temple in Henan, China. Please contact us directly for more information on the dates and training.
THE FOUNDATION
The Foundation is a non profit organisation; it was formed to teach children, youths, adults, families and seniors by teaching Chinese Martial Arts.
Children & Families
We believe that environment plays a huge role in children’s lifestyle and behaviour. Learning and experience determine the person that we become and we are what we learn. That is why we strongly believe that it is important to teach children at a young age morals, discipline, respect and motivating them towards high goals and ambitions.
Many lost youths replace their family loyalty with gang culture and look upon their peers as role models rather than their parents. A recent survey carried out by the youth charity The Prince’s Trust cited that 55% of youths claimed their friends and peers as their role models. 58% of the teenagers claimed that the main reason for joining a gang was in order to find a sense of identity.
Our aim is to help youth combat gang culture and street crime by encouraging youths at an early age to find ‘their gang’ and find a sense of identity in our Martial Arts Academy. We want to be able to help tackle child poverty and under-achievement and create a huge sporting legacy through Chinese Martial Arts.
We believe it is very important to show respect and love to our elderly. In Chinese culture, the older generation are shown much respect and love. The older Chinese generation practise Tai Ji in Beijing Parks every morning to start their day the positive way. We want to inspire our elders by teaching them ancient art of Tai Ji and Qi Gong. The benefits are amazing as it improves the body’s immune system with the soft and graceful martial movements.
We were recently involved in a project that aimed to improve the lifestyle of our older generation by encouraging healthy living and teaching health preservation to the over 50’s. We were also asked by the Stroke Association to teach Tai Ji and soft Qi Gong to the unfortunate people who have suffered from stroke.
About Us
MASTER
Shifu Shi Yan Kun has been practising martial arts for over 19 years; he is a 34th Generation Master training internationally from UK to the Shaolin Temple in China. He discovered his talent for Chinese martial arts at the young age of six and he is now the head Master of Shaolin Temple Academy.
Shi Yan Kun is honoured to have taken discipleship of the world-renowned Abbot Shi Yong Xin, the Abbot of the famous Shaolin Temple in China.
In June 2009, he was proudly awarded by the Shaolin Wushu Association of Henan, China to be the highest ranked non-Chinese in the world to achieve the Shaolin Wushu Duan Wei Level 6 (Dan 6). Shifu Shi Yan Kun has won many competition titles in the UK and in China. He has had the pleasure by being awarded many ‘Certificate of Excellence’ by Government Officials and also being featured in many newspaper articles and televised on national and international TV. Shifu Shi Yan Kun is also the head fight chorographer for an upcoming gangster Bollywood movie called “Seven” which will be released in late 2010.
"Teachers open the door but you must enter by yourself"
Shifu with his Master Shaolin Temple Abbot Shi Yong Xin
Shifu Shi Yan Kun in the hall of a thousand eyes
How it began
After six years of hard training in UK, he had decided to further his learning of Shaolin Gong Fu and left England for China. He decided to dedicate himself fully to Shaolin Gong Fu, training hard 6 days a week, 10 hours a day like the Shaolin Warrior Monks of the Shaolin Temple. Having lived and explored China for nearly 3 years, Shifu Shi Yan Kun gained the understanding of the culture and the language. By training Gong Fu six days a week religiously, Shifu Shi Yan Kun has become proficient in this art and gained great discipline and determination. Whilst living and training in the Shaolin Temple Warrior Monks training base, Shifu Yan Kun studied and excelled in 18 Shaolin weapons, Qi Gong (Soft and Hard), Shaolin forms, Qin Na (Joint locking), 72 internal and external styles in which he became a master of animal forms, hand and weapon forms, Tai Ji (Tai Chi), San Da; a form of free fighting that involves Chinese kicking and punching techniques, and the philosophy of Buddhism, which are the essential elements of Shaolin Culture.* He has now returned from China to teach and educate the people of London the skill and culture of Shaolin and is also currently teaching special educational needs children, with Autism and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
SHAOLIN GONG FU
Situated in the heart of China, in the province Henan, the Shaolin Monastery has survived for over 1500 years. The famous Shaolin Monastery was founded by the Indian Buddhist Monk, Batuo in 495AD, under the imperial patronage of Emperor Xiao Wen Di of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
In 527AD Bodhidharma, also known as Damo, an Indian Prince who renounced his luxurious life to become a Buddhist Monk arrive there to teach Buddhism. As he found the Monks were too weak to practice the long hours of meditation, which was the essential way to enlightenment, he taught them a series of external exercises known as the 18 Lohan Hands.
The Temple became famous during the Tang Dynasty when 13 of the monks saved the Emperor Li Shi Min from assassination. During the ancient times people had to fight everyday for survival while using tools to work and begun to hunt with flint, stone sword, stone and sickle. People looked for ways to improve their bodies and the effectiveness of their weapons; this laid the foundation of Gong Fu forms and Weapon forms technique. There are 708 forms and techniques in total for Shaolin Gong Fu (Kung Fu) which was created by the monks.
Shaolin Gong Fu is a generic term that refers to a number of different types of Kung Fu that all trace their origins back to the famed Shaolin Temple. The style is considered to have external characteristics which emphasize physical power, speed, agility and athleticism.
Shaolin Gong Fu also comprises of internal styles such as Ba Duan Jin (8 Brocade Qi Gong) and Yi Jin Jing (Muscle changing exercise), it also insisted a range of bare hand and weapon routines.
Shaolin Gong Fu is one of the main styles that are taught at the Academy.
We teach a full range of traditional fist forms, 18 Shaolin Weapons and imitation boxing (animal forms) which is based on the movement of animals such as eagle, tiger, and mantis are just a few to name.
TAI JI & QI GONG
This internal martial art is an excellent way to build up the body’s immune system and to cultivate the body’s vital energy, known as ‘Qi’ (Chi). The movements are smooth and graceful yet contain powerful hidden fighting applications. The soft martial techniques benefits health, longevity, blood, circulation, breathing and concentration. Devoted Tai Ji practitioners benefit from low stress levels and become more energetic in their daily lifestyle.
‘Chen’ style Tai Ji is practised at the Academy; it is one of the oldest documented methods of Tai Ji and originates from the Chen family village in Henan Province, China.
Qi Gong can be an internal and an external exercise, it is a prophylactic method which began to be developed in ancient China and is now a significant part of traditional Chinese medicine.
All forms of Qi Gong exercise are designed to regulate three things: Body, Breath and Mind.
The internal exercises can be compared to meditation with movement, which requires a high level of concentration and also relaxes the body and mind. The external exercises involve body conditioning, exercises to strengthen & to tone muscle and making the body immune to physical pain. Advanced practitioners can perform feats such as braking wooden staffs across various parts of the body, lye on beds of nails and have concrete blocks smashed over their heads. Dedication and discipline is strongly acquired. Shaolin Monks start their early mornings by practising the art of Qi Gong.
SAN DA & QIN NA
The word San Da translates to free fighting, it is a Chinese hand to hand combat, self defense system and combat sport.
The system was formed during the 1960’s in an attempt to standardized full contact fighting rules in China and to provide a forum in which martial artists from all styles could compete.
Kicks, punches, throws and grappling are regarded as legal techniques but chokes, arm locks and finishing holds are not allowed. Fighters can win by knock out or by a point’s decision with points awarded for the effectiveness of technique.
This is the main fighting system taught at the Academy, we teach for competition and for street self-defence.
Qin Na – is known as control or lock an opponent's joints or muscles/tendons so he/she cannot move, neutralizing the opponent's fighting ability. Styles such as the Eagle claw includes 108 different Qin Na techniques, also Praying Mantis, Tiger Claw and Shuai Jiao are also well known examples. Qin Na is also taught at the Academy by the Master, it is usually taught together in the San Da classes.
MODERN WUSHU
Modern Wushu is a contemporary version of traditional Shaolin Gong Fu. It is a modern day martial art sport rooted in the ancient martial and cultural arts of China. ‘Wu’ translates as war or military, ‘shu’ interprets as arts or skills and that is how the ‘Wushu’ word was derived.
Wushu is a full contact sport derived from traditional Chinese Martial Arts. Modern Wushu is composed of two disciplines; Forms (Taolu) and Sparring (San Da). The forms consist of gymnastics which involve martial art patterns and movements which competitors are judged and given points according to the rules.
The forms involve basic movements such as kicks, stances, punches, balances, jumps, sweeps and throws based on aggregate categories traditional Chinese martial art style and can be changed for competitions to highlight one's strengths.
MONDAY
10:00 - 11:00 Tai Chi over 50s
17:30 - 18:30 Shaolin Kids
18:30 - 19:30 Gymnastics (Mixed class)
19:30 - 20:45 Shaolin Adults
20:45 - 22:00 San Da Adults
Closed Thursday and Friday
SATURDAY
11:00 - 12:00 Kung Fu Panda’s (4 – 6 yrs)
12:00 - 13:00 Shaolin Kids
13:00 - 14:15 Shaolin Adults
14:15 - 15:30 San Da Adults
Shaolin Kids = Gong Fu 7 - 12 yrs
Shaolin Adults = Gong fu 13+ yrs
San Da = Chinese Kick Boxing
San Da Kids = 7 - 12 yrs
San Da Adults = 13 + yrs
Mixed Class = Kids & Adults
TUESDAY
16:30 - 17:30 Kung Fu Panda’s (4 – 6 yrs)
18:30 - 19:30 San Da Kids
19:30 - 20:45 San Da Adults
20:45 - 22:00 Shaolin Weapons Adults
SUNDAY
11:00 - 12:00 San Da Kids
WEDNESDAY
17:30 - 18:30 Kung Fu Panda’s (4 – 6 yrs)
18:30 - 19:30 Shaolin Kids
20:45 - 22:00 Tai Chi
GALLERY
Click Image to Enlarge
Competition: Kuo Shu Lei Tai Championships Competition
Date: Saturday 7th November 2009
Venue: Luton Regional Sports Centre, Luton
Fighting Style: Lei Tai Multi-styles
Fighter: Sam Roberts (from Shaolin Temple Academy)
Place: Won 1st place for under 65 kg male categories
Our student, Sam Roberts (19) was put forward for the professional Kuo Shu Lei Tai Championships competition this November 2009. Sam Roberts specialised in San Da (Chinese Kick Boxing) for the male Amateur division fight.
We are very proud to announce that Sam Roberts won 1st place for the male under 65kg category. He has been training for 5 months of Chinese Martial Arts and was trained intensively by Shifu Yan Kun. Sam Roberts is now qualified to train with the Kuo Shu British team and may have the chance to fight in the European Championships.
MORE INFO COMING SOON
STUDENTS
CONTACT FORM
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Address: Shaolin Temple Academy
30 Sandling Rise, New Eltham, London SE9 3AU
Telephone: 0208-851-6699 / 07535-145-768
Registered Non Profit Organisation no. 6813449
Members of the British Council For Chinese Martial Arts
*We are a non-denominational organisation and therefore do neither practice nor preach any form of religion.
