Growing up I got kinda into martial arts, there was a studio down the road from my parents house in an industrial complex that I attended for about 2 years. I got out of doing karate and ju jitsu in favor of getting a job at the shoe store. But before I left the dojo I had a chance to take some kung fu classes. It would be your typical old man taining you, his sense of humor strangly funny lead the class. I really got into kung fu more that I had with karate and ju jitsu and quickly found myself only attending the kung fu classes and skipping the karate. I always found it to be more enjoyable of a class, my body felt better doing the motions and forms of kung fu.
For years I’ve always meant to get back into it, but since my first experience was so enjoyable I didn’t want to try another dojo, part of the appeal was that it was right down the street withing easy walking distance. Now that I’m no longer at home I cant see myself driving to take a class. But yesterday while in Chapters I saw a familiar face, it was that of Sifu Shi Yan Ming. A 34th generation shaolin monk. I had seen him on TV on TLC or discovery and was always intrigued by his studio in NYC and the story of his life. So I picked up his book. I started reading last night, I can honestly say the book has already put great thoughts into my head and I look forward to taking on kung fu again. Even tho alot of the training will be solo I’m pretty confident that I’ll remember much of what I had learned before and that I can get my body polished as they say in the book and regain my energy and self confidence. I’m stoked on this.