Body.Mind Ljubljana is a traditional martial arts training centre at Ziherlova 44. This piece is for anyone who would like to know who we are before turning up.
What we train
Kung Fu - traditional forms and Sanshou: strikes, kicks, wrestling, self-defence.
Qi Gong - meditation in movement. Coordinated breath, movement and posture, with low joint load.
Chan meditation - seated practice, woven into the Qi Gong classes rather than run as a separate slot.
We do not treat these as three programs but as three aspects of one practice. Which is why Qi Gong and Kung Fu sit back to back on the schedule.
Where we come from
Both teachers - Andrej Zupančič and Urban Logar - spent years as students and instructors at the Shaolin Temple Slovenia.
That is not an appeal to a distant tradition but to a specific school and specific teachers they trained under for years. What we brought from there is the shape of a session and the insistence on gradual progression; what we left outside are competitions as a measure and belts as a sales argument.
Who this hall is for
- Complete beginners. Most of our students had never trained a martial art before joining.
- People with desk jobs. Back and shoulder pain is the most common reason people arrive.
- Late starters. Our afternoon groups span from twenty to seventy.
- Children up to 16. Two age groups, twice a week.
- People with injuries and restrictions. Classes are group classes; corrections are individual.
What we deliberately do not do
No competitions. Not because they are bad, but because they move the measure outward. Anyone who wants to compete we will prepare; we do not build the program around it.
No fast-track belts. Progression exists, but it is not tied to surcharges or attendance counts.
No promises of self-defence in six weeks. It cannot be done, and anyone promising it is selling a feeling.
No contracts and no joining fee. You pay for a month or three. If you stop, you stop.
No compulsory uniform. You can train in your own sportswear a year in.
Gong Fu 功夫 means any skill acquired through dedication and steady practice.
What a session looks like
A warm-up through the joints (15 minutes), basics and technique (30 minutes), a form or Qi Gong sequence (20 minutes), winding down and breath (10 minutes). The split shifts; the structure does not.
The groups are small. Not for exclusivity, but because with twenty people individual corrections are impossible - and corrections are the reason group training is worth anything at all.
Where we are
Ziherlova 44, Ljubljana - lower hall, entrance on the right. In Trnovo, ten minutes from the centre, with parking in front of the building.
Classes run in the morning (Mon, Tue, Thu at 6:00) and the afternoon (Mon-Thu, Qi Gong at 17:30, Kung Fu at 18:30). The children’s group meets in the afternoon at 15:30 and 16:30.
How to start
Sign up for a first class - a single visit or a ten-visit card is enough, and there is no contract. Afterwards you will know more than any article can tell you - including this one.
