What is it?

Around 1500 years ago, a group of Monks in Central China cam to believe that they needed to stay fit in order to survive. Using Indian Yoga and Martial Arts, they developed a series of exercises that today could have been called Pilates, although they called it "The 18 Exercises of Lohan". The temple they lived and worked in was destroyed and when they were able to reoccupy it they cam to the conclusion that they needed to be able to 'take care' of themselves. They also realized that only slight modification to their existing exercises were needed to make them good self defence techniques. About 500 years later, they recognized the need to have different variations of exercise and self defence for different personality styles. they identified 4 which they symbolised through 4 Animal metaphors; Tiger, Panther, Crane & Snake. Now a millennia later, the combination of Health Promoting Exercises and Self Defence has made Shaolin Kung Fu the most effective (not most brutal) and safe, Self Defence Exercise art in the world!

Never Trained Martial Art Before

If you have never training martial arts before, great, no habits to re-learn. With a background of 1500 years history, the Shaolin style is a bit different from most. It focuses on the beauty and detail of the technique not the brute force of big muscles. Because of this, we learn the techniques slowly and deliberately which suits new student really well. You are given the time to learn, try practice the each item. You are even assigned a buddy, a person who will help you when you want and otherwise will just help you to get to know the other students and generally assist you to find your way about. We have very good feedback from existing student about our Buddy System!

I don't want to be kicked & punched

Martial Arts is a contact sport but this is a choice with the Shaolin Academy. It is your choice when and even if you ever want to do contact martial arts. As a New Student, no one will touch you, or hit you or any such; we are very good that way. One of the Academy's main rules is that Gray Sash Students & New Members are untouchable unless with their expressed permission. We have a long history of respecting the rights of our students in this and many other ways that is foreign to many sport and martial arts.

How long before the morning muscle pains stop? Muscle pains after training is stupid for at least two specific reasons Pain is natures way of telling something is wrong; Injury is natures way of being displeased at you not having listened to the pain message Unless you are a Pain Junkie, pain has an additive effect on your subconscious until it rebels and you start to hate that which caused you pain (or you become a pain-junkie). There will not be any Morning-after-pain or problems. We do not want any of our students training in such a way that they cause themselves or others any pain. The Shaolin Academy has a full 30 minute warm-up at every beginner class. Based on the publication "Exercise Danger" and Master Robert Z's 45+ year experience as martial art teacher, coach and master. The essence of the warm-up exercises derive from elements of Chi Kung, Yoga, Feldenkrais, Tai Chi, Meditation, and just some plain old sport & wellness stretching. What this means is that with 13 classes a week, each with between 8 to 15 students, 50 weeks a year for over 17 years, we have had maybe 2 strained muscles Bruises come from hitting or being hit. This does not happen to beginners and later only if you wish to work on your touching and hardening. This is your choice though. Occasionally we have a clash of legs or some such but this is more likely to happen to the more experienced students who are pushing the limit. And if you do choose to work on your Toughening; Shaolin Iron Body, Iron Arm and other Iron exercises are gradual and often do not leave any marks. A combination of breathing, exercises and ointments following a 1000 year old way of training helps student get the most from this course and enjoy long term benefits which do not include pain and suffering!

But i am so unfit Well, that seems like a good reason to start training! With the Shaolin Academy, any student can stop at any time and take a break without any concerns. We have students with a variety of chronic health issues including Asthma, Shallow Breath even things such as MS, Autism even Narcolepsy that get through a beginners class most of the time. We also have several students over 40 that have never done a days of exercise before they came to us. No problems. We teach the skill of Shaolin Kung Fu first, then you work on the fitness and health, when you know what you are doing! Ring Ring No, we will not be calling you back weekly, fortnightly or even monthly or yearly just because you tried us out and chose not to stay. We know how annoying and awkward such calls are and frankly, we would not want to subject anyone to making these calls. But, never say never unless it is the past . . . so. Since the founding of the club in 1992, we have Never called students for marketing purposes. Finally, if you want, any information you have given us in any way will be fully and completely expunged I don't want to continue anymore That's too bad but no problem. You can start and stop anytime you want. You can either Freeze your membership or cancel it entirely. There are no penalties. Just talk to us or talk directly to the accounts and cancel it yourself. If you do not wish to continue your training; we will not stand in your way. As a matter of fact, if you change your mind a week, month, year or even 10 years later, you will be welcomed like an old friend!

I have a complaint!

Shit can happen. We at the club are very flexible and when in doubt decide your way. But, and it has not happened so far, you should want to go to a higher authority, you have two choices

1. Contact Sijo on his mobile 0458 742 654 that is 0458 SHAOLIN
2. Or contact the Martial Art Industry Association by e-mailing admin@maia.com.au or phoning the National President Walt Missingham on 02 8116 9822.

I am broke

Job loss, moving home, changing positions, special occasions, extended holidays, demise of a family member or just a bad time of the year. As mentioned above shit can happen. You have several options when this happens;

• Freeze your membership for as long as you like. This means, even if you are away for a few months or even years, when you resume, your training fee will not have increased. That is one of the Academy's guarantees. As long as you are an active of Freeze member, there will be NO PRICE INCREASES!
• Stop your membership and cancel it. We will not hold it against you no matter what the reason. You want to stop, we will help.
• Float your membership. This means that you continue training but we reduce or even halt any payments until you can catch up. Then when you are back on top, we decide together by how much you increase your normal payments to bring yourself up-to-date. We don't mind; even if it take a longer while. We would rather keep you as a student and friend.

Blood???

Shaolin Kung Fu CAN be a contact sport but not for beginners! When and if you chose to work on contact you will have a full set of protective gear. If there is blood spillage, well we are well prepared and trained. We follow the Victorian Government Blue Book "Procedure for managing spills of blood and body fluids/substances". This includes a full first aid kit, put together by Dagmar (Shaolin Academy co-founder and nurse of 35 years) which includes all the right materials. All said and done, the procedure is relatively simple and Shaolin Academy Instructors are fully Trained 1st Aid Officers.

Spot or Small Spills -Spots or drops of blood or other small spills (up to 10cms) can easily be managed by wiping the area immediately with paper towelling and then cleaning with warm water and detergent followed by rinsing and drying the area. Dry the area as wet areas attract contaminants. After wich we use a disinfectant to make sure!

If something does happen, we follow the 'National Code of Practice for Martial Arts Centers & Instructors'. As part of this we have your Emergency Contact information and if you are not able we will contact the person you nominated first, unless it is an emergency at which time we will call the Ambulance. We will tend to err on the side of caution!