The Mindfulness Retreat

As some of you may know, I am a disciple of Grandmaster Sam Chin and instructor of his beautiful art of Zhong Xin Dao Iliqchuan - the internal kung fu.

In this post I wanted to share something about what happened last month of great value for me and I have the privilege to organize - the UK Retreat. This is the main event of our Martial Art of Awareness during the annual visits of Grandmaster Sam Chin and his son - master Hsin Chin here in England which happened on the 4th occasion!

Photo Taken at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in South East England, from the Right: Grandmaster Sam Chin, Venerable Kongyan, Venerable Ajahn Amaro (the abbot of Amaravati Temple), Master Jiru, the Author.

This time the main theme of the retreat was Mindfulness. For that reason we had a special guest - Master Jiru and his assistant Ven. Kongyan. He is a childhood friend of GM Sam Chin. They used to train together the art of I Liq Chuan under the sight of its founder and GM Sam Chin father - Chin Lik Keong. Later as a Buddhist monk, he became an expert of meditation. Currently he is an abbot of MABA temple (which he also built brick by brick) in St Louis, US.

Master Jiru Instructing Students in the Morning Class

What does the Retreat Day look like?

7.30 am every day Master Jiru started the day with a morning Qi Gong session. It's an ancient Chinese energy cultivation practice which has huge benefits for health, longevity and body awareness. He taught us ‘Five-breathing exercise’ and Yi Jin Jing also known as Muscle/Tendon Change. The whole set of exercises is a part of his meditation curriculum.

Afternoon walking meditation with Master Jiru

Later we had two sets of 3 hours of training slots (morning and afternoon sessions) which were split in half between Master Jiru and Grandmaster Sam Chin. Master Jiru part consists of teaching us meditation techniques in ‘Mindfulness in Four Postures’ - Walking, Standing, Sitting and Laying Down.

Morning training session with GM Sam Chin