Announcement

**Trainwreck** · 04-09-2006, 01:25 PM

I feel for you buddy I live in northern indiana and theres no luck...I heard there's a "shaolin temple" by detroit...but I question them...they seem like a cult to me haha...but anyways...have you done kung fu before?

**tetsumaru** · 04-09-2006, 06:20 PM

yeah I practice now...where is Detroit's "Shaolin Temple"?...i have to see that...a cult you say? please inform me more

**Trainwreck** · 04-11-2006, 03:46 PM

ok I was slightly wrong...it not in detriot...I'm not really sure where it is...Westland, MI? where ever that is... their website is shaolintemplemi.org ......I dont know...they maybe great...who knows...I used to do kung fu before I moved to indiana and since I've been living here I've thought alot about just going away for weekends to do kung fu...cause why is there no shaolin kung fu in this area?! honestly?! whats up with that?!...I thought about goin to chicago to learn wushu...but I'm not to keen on the whole flipping crazy splits thing...so I figure someday I'll go and train with Sifu Shi Yan Ming in NY... so where are you doin kung fu? and how long?

**tetsumaru** · 04-11-2006, 05:48 PM

That place you mentioned is not a shaolin temple nor does it have anything to do with shaolin...the description on the website is very nice but it doesn't mention the fact that it's right next to a Lowe's (hardware store like Home Depot) and across the street from Meijer (like a wal-mart but better)...It located right off a busy street...the martial arts they teach there is actually Japanese...It's a hybrid Karate created in the late 20th century (1960s or 1970s) by a Japanese man named Onishii. Onishii travelled to China and learned some martial arts and created a Japanese version of them. How do I know so much about this place you ask? This was actually my first adventure into the world of martial arts. I trained as much as possible there being naive and thinking I was learning shaolin gong fu. I was never really swayed away from that idea when i asked about the origins of the style. Anyway after about 2 yrs of training there I had a Brown belt to help keep the pants of my GI up...got that...shaolin gong fu...gi....brown belt! Anyway I can only knock the fact that they were deceptive about what they taught but the teacher was a very nice hippy (oh btw the school was actually a dojo he built on to his house). Everyone that trained there except for a very select few were a little spacey! ...I could say more but I hope that tidbit helps you in some way.

Travelling to chicago...well there actually are a bunch of gong fu schools around the chicago area...which ones are good and which are bad...I don't know...

Wushu? It's not all Splits and flying kicks usually if you find an older wushu teacher you'll have a chance of learning something good...apps or forms whichever you are after....besides its good for you health!

Shi Yan Ming? I trained with him...It's not cheap to train with him ($125 a month for just kung fu classes in 2002...don't forget you have to live somewhere in Manhattan which ain't cheap either!) I took a summer class or two at NYU which provided me not only with some credits for school but also a nice dorm to live in between class and kung fu...so you could go that way if you want. So I took his kung fu class and his chi kung class ($250 a month for both)...The chi kung class was awesome because there was only 2 of us in it. So we got all of SYM's attention...what i learned...**** if i know...He explains the movements very well but i was never able to talk to him about what it was i was doing. As for the Kung fu class prepared to get your ass beat! very intense but very high energy...definately something to witness or participate in once. The students are your average run of the mill MA students (some cocky some humble some just plain weird..and a few hot MA women) except for the fact that they think they are the shit because they study under SYM. Read the forums about him and his adventures in the U.S. I studied there for 2 months almost every day sometimes twice a day...and finally in my last two classes i was there i began to learn a form. All the previous time was spent learning movements (kicks, punchs, horse stance, and lots of stretching!) Try it for a day if you ever get around that way...or you can always check out goulin's school...or there's tons of good teachers in the NYC area that teach shaolin. Check the forums for more info...I don't know all of them...

Where do I do kung fu?...where DO i do kung fu?...everywhere and nowhere...I train where ever i find an empty space and some free time...But my current teacher resides about 30min away from me near Ann Arbor, MI. If you want more info about it send me a PM. I've been training with him for about 3 or so years.

There are "shaolin" teachers in the mid-west but they don't teach for profit...at least the real ones don't so it'll be hard to find them...no flashy TV ads or One pagers in the Yellow pages...I'd check your local MA store and check out the flyers there or just ask the store clerk about shaolin teachers in the area.

------------------
LONGEST POST EVER!

**onesp1ng** · 04-11-2006, 07:13 PM

...shaolin gong fu...gi....brown belt

so you got a brown belt to hold up your shaolin gi, right? Yeah, I got it....

btw, good post!!!

-----------

**Trainwreck** · 05-14-2006, 04:48 PM

sorry it took so long for me to get back...that place sounded stupid...doesnt suprise me that its some other martial arts either...
one of my good friends just went to NYC to train with SYM for a day...they were emailing back and forth and talked on the phone quite abit before he went. I would love to meet SYM because I think hes amazing...
trying to find a shaolin kung fu place is crazy hard...I cant even find a kung fu place...its all tea kwon do...alot of the places I ask never even heard of shaolin (?!?!?!)...its sad really its all franchises...you know ATA and all that jazz...
well thanks buddy
good luck with your training
maybe we'll run into each other looking for shaolin kung fu in the midwest haha

**tetsumaru** · 05-14-2006, 08:30 PM

Check the local colleges in your area that's always a good place to look... I dont know how close you live to Purdue but i think they had some Shaolin-esque MA class.

Yeah I would keep away from the Franchise Strip Mall "schools"

...Yeah good luck with your search keep checking back I might find some info for you.

**Mas Aaron** · 05-17-2006, 06:01 PM

I had the belief that Shi Yan Ming only charges so much becuase he's trying to save to build the world's 3rd largest shaolin temple. He's also possibly doing some movies in the future 2. The temple location would be upper New York according to the article I read a while back at his website.