Southern Shaolin Five Animals Lohan

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Southern Shaolin Five Animals Lohan

Postby Sorcerer » Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:59 am

Hi everyone,

Im new here. I started studying Southern Shaolin Five Animals here in my city when I was about 18. I stopped when I was 21. Now Im 27 and am really keen on starting again and this time sticking with a regular practice! I currently have a green sash.

The foundation set of my style is something called Lohan. I know scholars dispute those people who trace back the origin of Kung Fu to the myth of Boddhidharma / Tamo. But, this Lohan set is said to come from Tao as well. He developed it to help Chan monks become strong enough to practice meditation.

I must say, there is something unique and incredibly about this Lohan exercise regimen which I want to discuss here. Ive only recently started working my way Through Yangs The Root of QiGong and my Qigong background is fairly limited but I suspect this "spirituality" of Lohan has something to do with Qi.

Lohan consists of 18 postures in which one stands for about 9-10 breath counts. Most of these stances are the foundations for martial applications, such as Mabo? (horse stance), lunge stance, girls stance, cat stance. further, many of these postures also involve stretching out onces hands. But there is also a strong internal element to this training.

Often when one imitates a type of punch whilst for instance in a lunge stance during Luhan, one pulls ones fingers back, whilst holding ones palms open (as though one were pushing someone). This, along with the general way lohan is executed makes one aware of the fact that there is energy in ones body and the more I do this set the more I beign to focus internally whilst practicing it.

I cant really put my finger on what it is, but there is, as I said something unique of this form. When I do it regularly I feel deeply at peace, mentally. I can feel qi in my dantien an am just so open minded about all the beauty there is in the world. It makes me feel more compassionate to people when I speak with stranger and I just generally feel so normal, freed from the usual suffering that defines some many lives.

Have people on this forum similar experiences? I used to do aQi Gong form every morning for about 6 months, but the "benefits" of proper soft Qigong were different. I cant really describe it.

It makes me wonder about what people like Shifu Nagaboshi Tomio have written in The Bodhisattva Warriors: The Origin, Inner Philosophy, History and Symbolism of the Buddhist Martial Art Within India and China, as well as Master Yang talking about the relationship between QiGong and religion (Taoism and Buddhism). It also makes me kind of sad that so many people enow a days think that martial arts is about what you see at UFC on TV.

I would very much appreciate peoples views on this topic.

Sorcerer
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Postby John the Monkey mind » Sat Apr 16, 2011 4:50 am

Lohan is actually more of a proto Shaolin kung fu as it is older than most other forms. I think it is a very deep and advanced skill set if done with internal training but very basic if purely external. I know what you mean about the inner peace, standing postures tend to do this if held with breathing controlled.

Try working up a sweat after you have done the postures with some form work or shadow boxing and then do some seated zen meditation after a warm down. This will amplify the effect big time.
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Postby Josh Young » Tue May 03, 2011 10:40 am

if you look you can find 2-3K year old statues with many of the postures, these statues are from india and are linked to Kalari, which is linked to Bodhidharma and does contain animal forms.

In Tao (IKT) it is said that Lao-Tzu went from China to India, and taught Siddhartha, passing Tao to him. It is known that Lao-Tzu practiced martial arts, so did Siddhartha and Buddhism was linked to martial arts until Hui-Neng when the robe and bowl were passed along without the martial side.

It must be kept in mind that Buddhism is from India, the martial arts associated with it are also from India in transmission although there is reason to suspect they did not originate in India. But then what we call China is a creation of politics and conquest, so it might be argued that Lao Tzu is not Chinese in the sense that we know. The main point is that China is multicultural and is not a single culture, so it is misleading to think of things as Chinese, because it lacks specificity.

The relationship of martial arts to buddhism and temple dance is clear and undeniable in many cultures, Thai, Laos, Java, Burma, China, India, Nepal, etc.
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Postby Sorcerer » Thu May 05, 2011 8:06 pm

Has there been any research into the way Lohan fits into QiGong theory, or is this something one can make educated guesses at if one is familiar with QiGong?

Also, why exactly does this Lohan set have such a poerful spiritual and peaceful effect on me? Ive done plenty of other "sport" and havent felt any of that...

What is the relationship between Lohan and QiGong?

I just finished reading Yang's The Root of QiGong, which I found an excellent! book, but I still dont have answers to these questions.
"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy" FW Nietzsche
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Postby Sorcerer » Thu May 12, 2011 5:37 pm

"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy" FW Nietzsche
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Postby Josh Young » Fri May 13, 2011 9:05 am

the resemblance of those to ancient yoga from india is uncanny
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Postby Sorcerer » Fri May 13, 2011 9:57 am

I used to do Bikram Yoga fairly intensively for a bout 2 months, and I did Kundalini Yoga once: HOwever, I got more spiritual "results" from lohan. I still havent come across a yoga instructor who can give me an as sophisticated description of Prana as the Chinese do with Qi....
"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy" FW Nietzsche
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Postby Josh Young » Thu May 19, 2011 7:36 pm

have you met a yoga teacher who teaches Marmam?

Generally only those will be able to explain prana properly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varma_ati
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Postby Sorcerer » Fri May 20, 2011 4:10 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmzGtvCrv-k

slightly different from the form I know.
"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy" FW Nietzsche
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A Spiritual Theory of the 18 Lohan Hands

Postby Sorcerer » Thu May 26, 2011 4:09 pm

Alright, by all means, please heavily criticize this theory attempt since I expect some of you know a lot more about this than I. However, Ive been doing some research into Dr Yangs writings (which are excellent!) and want to apply them to what Ive experienced with doing Lohan. References:

The Root of Chinese QiGong,
QiGong Meditation: Embryonic Breathing

Lohan activates the Qi flow in the body. It does this (I believe) by having the practitioner direct their Yi to the various parts of the body they are focusing on whilst doing the form. This means that where your yi goes as well as where your body is strained i a certain way, chie is generated by both coming together. This means that lohan is not only designed so that you drill your body to remember certain martially useful stances, but also so that your breathing, your Yi as well as your body interact ina way that works internally.

This has the net effect of chi being produced. When you do lohan regularly for a while you can sense the energy in your lower Dan Tien. One the Dan Tien becomes full to a certain extent, it begins to overlow and the chi meridians lead qi to other ares such as the Shen. Further, htere has to be some sort of Water Qi involved in this, since the calming effect of Lohan seems to come from what people similarly describe as Water Qi stilling Fire Qi for the Wisdom Mind to set in. [?]

All this simply described Internal Working (Nei Kung) results in those who regularly practicing lohan to become sensitive not only to the Qi in their body, but to the Qi in the earth and the Qi in heaven.
"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy" FW Nietzsche
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Postby yeniseri » Fri May 27, 2011 12:02 am

There are many Lohan systems (as in choreography) out there so there will be different interpretations. The concepts should not differ. As long as you are satisfied with your goals, all is good.
The 18 Lohan that I learnt was from Huang sifu (Yucheng) and it had 18 postures with a 2 man section! It was supposedly from Guangdong Provine area.
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Postby Sorcerer » Mon May 30, 2011 9:19 am

Anyone have any ideas on the Qi Gong and Nei Kung theory surrounding the 18 Lohan Hands?
"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy" FW Nietzsche
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