Cross Training with YOGA

[The Willow Sword]

So do any of you here Take Yoga in addition to your martial training? If so have you seen an improvement in your overall flexability and health?

I have been doing the Bikram Yoga for a little while now and am starting to feel much stronger and more flexable. Oh and Bikram Yoga is a 26 posture system that is done in a heated room a few degrees above body temperature(105).

Peace,TWS

[bustr]

Yes. I've seen more improvement in strength from yoga training in my late 30s than I did with weightlifting in my 20s.

[Sifu Darkfist]

Originally Posted by The Willow Sword

Oh and Bikram Yoga is a 26 posture system that is done in a heated room a few degrees above body temperature(105).

Peace,TWS

Is that what they tell you to prevent paying the Texas Air conditioning bill?

Just kidding I do practice Yoga in the heat as well and i find it incredible it is truly a difficult art as well as exercise

[humbleman]

that real kung fu is actually a yoga. Once I heard a man who studied the Vedic sciences refer to a style of kung-fu as a "famous yoga". N.B.

[The Willow Sword]

that real kung fu is actually a yoga. Once I heard a man who studied the Vedic sciences refer to a style of kung-fu as a "famous yoga". N.B.

Well it is interesting that you state that. i was under that impression myself,however, i have seen very few schools that have a really intensive stretching yoga'esque program. i mean you have a class warm up of about 5/10 minutes. but is that really enough to get things all loosened up? after doing the bikram classes i have to say "NO".

The muscle tendon changing excersises are yoga in nature but i rarely see those excerisises being done anywhere or correctly for that matter.

you would think that more TCMA schools would have a regimen of yoga like excersises. i mean i dont discount what stretching regimens go on at the kwoons, but i would think it is a necessity to have something intensive so that you could really do the "kung fu" well and above all correctly.
TWS.

i dont reveal too much about what i am doing now after sd. but i think its time i try to share some things that reveal what progress i have made since my exodus from where i was before.

[bodhitree]

I use yoga poses to streatch out after lifting and on off days to recover. It helps me stay loose and relaxed (a little, I think) I believe when I am considerably older Yoga will be something I carry into my old age (while fighting and heavy lifting may not be).

[ricardocameron]

Remember your Shao-lin history? Bodhidharma was an Indian Buddhist scholar(monk, teacher,whatever). He apparently taught the Chan sect of Buddhism, and some form of "Yoga", etc. (18 Lohan Hands)to the monks at Shao-lin. I do practice some, occasionally. I like Yoga Journal's videos by Rodney Yee(from the library), and Yoga Journal mag. But,I get hot and cold about things, it's not a daily practice...

From: www.shaolin-wahnam-center.org/qigong/lohan.htm

SHAOLIN 18 LOHAN HANDS

Many readers have asked me about the famous Shaolin Eighteen Lohan Hands. They were taught by the great Bodhidharma in 527 BCE to monks at the Shaolin Monastery in China when this First Patriarch of the Shaolin arts found the monks weak and often sleepy during meditaion, which is the essental path towards enlightenment.

The Shaolin Eighteen Lohan Hands are fundamental chi kung exercises that can bring tremendous benefits if they are practised as chi kung.....

...At the Shaolin Monastery, these Eighteen Lohan Hands evolved into a kungfu set called Eighteen Lohan Fist, which forms the prototype of Shaolin Kungfu today. Nevertheless, the Eighteen Lohan Hands continued to be practised as chi kung exercise.

Because of its long history, there are many versions of the Eighteen Lohan Hands being taught today. Shown below are the Eighteen Lohan Hands taught in my Shaolin Wahnam School. The illustrations are reproduced from a manual used more than 10 years ago by my chi kung students.

Shaolin-do also teaches something similar.

[Mr Punch]

I love yoga and I go to classes/seminars whenever I have time but I haven't learned enough to be confident enough in integrating it into my everyday workout routine yet. I've no doubt of it's benefit to any martial artsist and anybody interested in staying healthy. It makes me feel strong, flexible and very connected. And it makes my butt ache!

Although I'm aware of the legendary origins of chi kung and the 18 lo-han exercises, I'm not much convinced by the similarity between modern yoga and chi kung.

The chi kung I've learned have focussed on five energy centres in a straight line down the centre of the body as opposed to seven chakra including off-centre ones like the heart chakra. The meditational rotations of energy through the spine and their breathing patterns are quite different.

[Faruq]

Yeah, and the Shaolin monks supposedly did a couple of hours of that yoga Ta Mo taught them religiously as part of their daily gong fu routine, which like someone said a few posts up, I've never witnessed any modern day gong fu schools or practitioners do.

[yenhoi]

Pieces of my daily morning practice are yoga, but mostly tai chi and chi kung related exercises (movement drills, stretching, breathing.) I have basically used the first version of the sun prayer that I learned as my basic begginning warmup for the rest of my stretching/chi kung each morning.

I 'specially enjoy standing Yoga Mudra at any time of the day, and in the morning when I finish the bridge posture. My initial yoga exp was a two semester hatha yoga class at the University some 6 years ago, and some private lessons and swaps of info with other instructors since then. There is some Brikam guy in town getting bigger every year 'round here, but I havent made the time to check him out yet.

[rubthebuddha]

i've always done it occasionally, but it's becoming more frequent lately as i'm spending more time with heavier dls and squats. depending on how my back feels, i'll do it either before or after weights. before if i'm tight, after if i'm feeling fine. either way, it helps, and i'm slowly replacing the less important lifts with yoga.

but i'll never give up the basic powerlifts. ever. i'll be 90 and still deadlifting. it'll only be the bar, but i'll still be doing it.

[Vash]

Originally Posted by rubthebuddha

but i'll never give up the basic powerlifts. ever. i'll be 90 and still deadlifting. it'll only be the bar, but i'll still be doing it.

If I were the type, this is the point where I would insert a "woot woot."

[ricardocameron]

Originally Posted by yenhoi

Pieces of my daily morning practice are yoga, but mostly tai chi and chi kung related exercises (movement drills, stretching, breathing.) I have basically used the first version of the sun prayer that I learned as my basic begginning warmup for the rest of my stretching/chi kung each morning.

me too, the sun salutation for a warm up.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

i am jealous.

i want to learn teh y0g4

[Faruq]

Is chi gong not just the Mandarin word for yoga? I've always heard it explained as Taoist yoga or Buddhist yoga. I'd like to say also that in five years of Cheng Man Ch'ing Yang style Tai Chi Ch'uan classes, I never felt the sensations I felt in 6 months of hei/qi/chi gong practice. I therefore regard Tai Chi Ch'uan form practice without 2 to 3 hours of chi gong practice a day, as nothing different from any other gong fu form practice. I therefore see no similarity between Tai Chi Ch'uan, and hei gong, other than the speed at which they are commonly practiced. The benefits or results of practicing the two daily are very different in my personal experience.

Originally Posted by Mr Punch

I love yoga and I go to classes/seminars whenever I have time but I haven't learned enough to be confident enough in integrating it into my everyday workout routine yet. I've no doubt of it's benefit to any martial artsist and anybody interested in staying healthy. It makes me feel strong, flexible and very connected. And it makes my butt ache!

Although I'm aware of the legendary origins of chi kung and the 18 lo-han exercises, I'm not much convinced by the similarity between modern yoga and chi kung.

The chi kung I've learned have focussed on five energy centres in a straight line down the centre of the body as opposed to seven chakra including off-centre ones like the heart chakra. The meditational rotations of energy through the spine and their breathing patterns are quite different.