Ostensibly a tourist trip, we went with Shifu and his Spanish student, Javi and family around the Henan Province. We visited many lovely places but on one day we revisited the Shaolin Temple and here I felt a huge leap forwards in my Qi.

Inside each courtyard in the temple as you ascend are a series of carved lotus stones. As the others looked around at the buildings I did the lotus walk as a meditation (I had seen the courtyards before). I walked each step slowly and deliberately pausing on each stone before taking the next step. As I walked I felt the qi in my chest rotating forwards. As you practice more the 3 dantien balls in your body wake up and the chest is the second of these. This has recently happened for me and I have been feeling sensations across my chest when I do the Taiji or qi gong moves. This feeling got stronger and stronger with each step that I took. This was a wonderfully strong sensation that has stayed with me.

I heard later that many monks don’t bother to do the walk and think that it is just a story for the tourists. Shifu told me that he too has done the walk and felt strong sensations. Sometimes the people who are closest take things for granted. Shame.

The temple itself was as amazing as last time. Here are some of the pictures that we took.

Shaolin is the home of Kung Fu and there are over 1000 Kung Fu academies in the surrounding area. Here are some of the kids doing their morning training. Temperatures were below freezing.

Kung Fu is all about strength and balance. They practice their moves on these poles. Shifu has lots of strength and balance.

After lunch we went up the cable car to the Shao mountain behind the temple. Last time we did this hike I was extremely nervous and not keen on the heights but now after practicing Taiji my vertigo is greatly improved. I walked twice as far and in icy conditions. I wasn’t as scared and didn’t feel the need to hug the mountain. lol I even went close to the stomach churning steep drops.

The others went on ahead of us up a steep bit and just made it back in time to catch the very last cable car back down. Phew! There is a path down but it was covered in snow and ice and with no lights at all whatsoever it would have been a tricky descent to say the least. I was SO relieved that they made it back in time (Shifu had our tickets!)

Shaolin is the birthplace of Kung Fu so I just had to do this pose

But my favourite picture of all is this one. Shifu with his two Tu di (me and Javi) in front of the Temple gate.