Blog
History & tradition
Short pieces on Kung Fu, Qi Gong and meditation - what we practise, why we practise it that way, and what you take home with you.
A history of Kung Fu: from the Shaolin monastery to today’s training halls
How monastic practice, military skill and folk tradition merged into what we now call Kung Fu - and what of it we train in Ljubljana. Read →What Shaolin is and why everyone invokes it
The monastery that gave its name to a whole family of martial arts - and what of that tradition actually reaches a training hall in Ljubljana. Read →
A history of Qi Gong: four millennia of cultivating life energy
From shamanic dances and silk scrolls to a practice hospitals now prescribe. How Qi Gong evolved and what of it we train in Ljubljana. Read →
Bodhidharma and the beginnings of the Shaolin tradition
The Indian monk said to have brought meditation and physical training to Shaolin. What we know, what is legend - and why the legend still matters. Read →
Chan meditation: how the tradition we know as zen travelled from India through China
Dhyana, Chan, zen - three names for one practice on its journey across Asia. The history of the meditation we sit in Ljubljana. Read →
The five animals of Shaolin Kung Fu: the history and meaning of the animal styles
Tiger, crane, leopard, snake and mantis - where the animals in Kung Fu came from, what each one teaches, and why they are a method, not… Read →The Shaolin monastery through the centuries: fires, bans and revivals
Fifteen centuries of one institution: imperial favour, destruction, decades of silence and each time a return. The history of the place all Kung Fu invokes. Read →
Internal and external arts: how the divide between hard and soft styles arose
Shaolin versus Wudang, hard versus soft, external versus internal. Where the famous division of the Chinese arts comes from - what holds and what is myth. Read →
The first step is the hardest.
Take it with us.
or write to us at andrej@bodymindljubljana.si