Discover The Ancient Art Of Shaolin Kung Fu

The first time I saw Shaolin Kung fu techniques was whilewatching a martial arts movie. I loved the style of martialarts so much, that I watched the second movie and fell totallyin love. There was something so riveting about watching thepunches, kicks and jumps. Even though it was Hong KongHollywood, it looked so much more real than most martial artsyou see. Ive watched a lot of martial arts movies in my day.In fact, theyre actually my favorite type of movie. Recently Isaw Jet Li in Fearless. Though his style in that movie was wingchun.Why is kung fu my favorite form of martial art? Probablybecause of the exotic origin. Its a style practiced by monks.You wouldnt think monks would know a fighting style,especially when they stand for peace and nonviolence but theydo practice it every day, for the entirety of their lives. Itslike their way of finding enlightenment and its a viable combatart. Most kung fu you see in movies or during shows, orexhibitions are stylized sport martial arts. But not theshaolin. There are historical references of it being used indefensive battle as far back as 728 B.C. Normally, when you seea martial artist, its usually big muscles, lots of noise, ashow, right? Not this one. This art trains practitioners withthe purpose of nature. Im sure youve heard references to itin the movies, where someone engaged in kung fu took a tigerstance or that of the crane.Each one of these has a purpose behind it attached to themeanings of the animals, not to mention that the types ofShaolin have really cool names like 'Jiao long nu kong', whichmeans the /coiling dragon growls in wrath', or 'Qian jintui'the 'leg weighing one thousand jins'. compare that to boxing.Jab. Cross. How dull!You cant help but admire the training and dedication, thegrace, and fluidity of movement that accompanies this martialart. Out of all of the ones Ive read, seen or done researchon, I keep coming back to this one. Warrior monks even wonbattles and were honored using these techniques. It boggles mymind when I think of it. Weapon use, boxing, spins, kicks - allof it at lightening fast speeds and almost inhuman precision. Ifind myself sitting on the edge of my seat waiting eagerly forthe next bad guy to come along or the next move in theexhibition.Its amazing how they can do all those moves - flying throughvarious forms, blocks, kicks, jumps, punches - and then stopgive their bow and not even be breathing hard. They dont justuse any weapon, either. A popular one is the long spear. Iveheld one before. They arent light and theyre long. To use onetakes a lot of skill, and they make it seem so easy.It doesnt matter what form or practice of Shaolin Kung futechniques are being used, I love it!About The Author: Yoshi I. Kundagawa is a freelance journalist.He covers the mixed martial arts industry. For a free report onhttp://www.martialarts3000.com/shaolinkungfu.html visit hisblog.