2009 Retreat in Mexico!

Those three days went by so fast I don't know how to summarize them.

Actually I do...

More Chi! Train Harder!

The first evening we got to the monastery we were greeted and shown our simple but clean and comfortable rooms. The weather was nice and cool. A couple of hours later, it was time for dinner in a large dining hall. We were served a lot of fresh tortillas and delicious spicy food, buffet style, cooked by monks in the monastery.

The next morning, we were woken up at 5:30 with a loud gong to start training at 5:45. Because there were so many attendants (110 people!), we were divided into 3 groups: Qi Gong, beginner Kungfu, and not beginner Kungfu. I went with the Qi Gong group to wake up my bones.

We had breakfast at 7:30.

For two hours after nine, we trained Qi Gong and Tai Chi (in a beautiful grass lawn under a brilliant sun!).

Then lunch.

Then I passed out.

At 4:30, we trained Kungfu for 3 hours. I repeat 3 hours of Kungfu!!! I must say I was impressed with all the chi. Even after those exhausting 3 hours, a lot of people kept practicing and stretching! Me? I was done.

After Kungfu, we sat in a circle around Shifu and he told us stories and philosophies.

That night's dinner was the most delicious meal ever...

Day 2: Scroll up the the 3rd paragraph and repeat.

Day 3: Scroll up again, shuffle the paragraphs and read.

We finished up day 3 with Shifu giving all the attendants certificates and us taking group pictures - this was where we busted out our best moves posing.

Through out the whole retreat, we were very warmly welcomed. We were given gifts, taken out to towns, and treated with very special water. All of us even got a ride back to Mexico City. Our brothers over there are super nice and awesome!

Here's one of the things we learned:


I still can't completely decode my own drawing so maybe you can help me...

P.S. If you are curious to see what we did in Mexico before and after the retreat, see pictures here.

Retreat!!

It would be impossible to do justice to the entire awesomeness, and all the fun shenanigans from this weekend's retreat, so I will try to sum up my top ten moments.

10. Yummy thai food. Congee for breakfast is the bomb.

9. Learning the second posture for the chi gong form, Yi jin jing. Starting the day's training with chi gong was very beautiful and remarkably invigorating. The five postures we learned were all fun and definitely challenging, but my favorite was the second: opening your chest and standing, legs apart, arms and fingers outstretched, face to the sky. It made me feel tall, strong, open, and totally connected with the day and the people around me.

8. Diving into the ocean after our final kung fu class. Freezing cold, and kinda rocky, but totally fun and refreshing. When you're near the ocean, you gotta jump in. Thanks for leading the pack, Mo!

7. Learning more DHQ. Self-explanatory.

6. Being the first person in the shower on Saturday night. After a day training in the sun, there's nothing more satisfying than beating the masses back to the monastery. Important high-point. :)

5. Spending evenings around the fire talking to my Shaolin brothers and making new friends. Whether talking to an old friend and learning more about them, or chatting with someone newly introduced to temple, it was a wonderful opportunity bonding with everyone, laughing non-stop, and trying unsuccessfully to find a song to which everyone knew the lyrics.

4. Chocolate chili cookies. Sucheela is a genius. Totally great (spicy!) cookie and a super way to make new friends.

3. Getting to see the stars at night walking through the woods. The country girl in me felt at home. It felt amazing to be out of this city, smelling the woods and seeing the stars.

2. Our Shaolin brother John Sid sleeping outside at the fire with a brick as a pillow. HARDCORE!

1. Knowing that even though this one is over, I will get to come back again.

How about everyone else?

Packing for the Retreat?

Now that we are counting down to this weekend-long training away from home, I start to worry about what to bring. From Ji's post last year, she said her 3 uniforms and 10 t-shirts were not enough!

We will only be there for 2 days and 2 nights....

I thought I would just bring 2 uniforms (including the dirty one from Friday night's class), a few t-shirts/tank tops, a pair sleeping pants, a few pair of socks and a pair of running shoes.

Oh and a flashlight and sunscreen and lots of cookies for the road.

What are you going to pack? What else should I pack (other than the suggested 17 t-shirts)?

Shaolin Retreat, No. 2

This went up on the Temple's MySpace yesterday:

Ji had a great time at the first one. Whaddya think?

Heng Ji's Post Shaolin Retreat Wrap-up

Amituofo! Heng Ji has so graciously decided to share her experiences this past weekend at the retreat with us via a guest entry!

I sit here smiling, trying to stretch out my left hip, my right shoulder blade, my shins, wrist and neck, all of which are aching in response to the first of what I hope will be many Shaolin weekend retreats. Already, I am happily mentally preparing my bags for the next one.

The ten t-shirts and three uniforms I felt would be more than plenty proved to be woefully insufficient by mid-day Sunday when I was already down to two t-shirts and had lunch, another kung fu class, a Buddhism class and a certificate ceremony to go. For lunch I ended up wearing my bikini top under my night shirt, and for the rest of the day, a tank top under my sweaty uniform top.

For the next trip, I will add sixteen tops, six pairs of socks and two different types of training shoes. I will require alcohol swabs, Aleve, band-aids and a flashlight. I will leave the alarm clock, books, iPod and cell phone at home.

As everyone experiences things differently and lessons are learned as they are needed, I will share some I have discovered/rediscovered this weekend:

Lessons Learned:

(1) Shaolin Time is not subject to 9,192,631,770 oscillations of cesium atom's resonant frequency (thank you, Shifu).

(2) Shaolin Time should not be limited to only Shaolin experiences.

(3) Honor the gifts which Shifu offers us by reviewing and living those daily (thank you, Shifu).

(4) Practicing five chi kung movements for five minutes in the morning is roughly equivalent to ten minutes of weight training.

(5) Stopping for cupcakes should be part of the outing (thank you, Heng De).

(6) Creating personal challenges while training helps you experience it in a different way (thank you, Heng Han)...

(7) ...as does focusing on keeping a foot grounded while holding stances during forms (thank you, Heng Wei).

(8) GPS systems rock (thank you, Richu).

(9) Talking to your friends are beautiful meditations and can guide you to answer questions you didn’t realize you had (thank you, Heng Jian, Heng Shang, Heng Li, Heng Fa and Janice).

Goals:

(1) To work on my strength by practicing five Chi kung movements twice a day.

(2) To be able to take a few steps on my hands by the end of year.

(3) To work toward getting at least 6 hours of sleep per night.