Children and Kung Fu

Kids and Kung Fu (Ages 7-12)

We believe that in today’s world there is no study more relevant than our children’s program. In current times many who teach children skills claim to develop physical strength, balance, coordination, endurance, as well as self-discipline but offer only one learning perspective. Our mission is to make health and well-being and Kung Fu enjoyable for children of all ages.

Long before others claimed to leave no child behind, we took pride in gathering kids that were left behind. Master Illar has led his young students into a world of Kung Fu that thrives from grounding all learning on one’s ability to adapt to all things. With a soft hand and adaptive instruction our Kung Fu classes have bettered the lives of kids stifled by Turrets Sychildren_setndrome, Spina Bifida, Asthma, Asperberger,  Cerebral Palsy, vision disorders and  Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which  is a chronic condition that affects millions of children and often continues into adulthood. ADHD includes a combination of persistent problems, such as difficulty sustaining attention, hyperactivity ,and impulsive behavior

Learning how to learn is the greatest gift that can be given. “Real Kung Fu can be very enjoyable, educational and supportive in their efforts in developing a self-competent health care mindfulness.  Children learn and understand the importance of focus as expressed in our instruction of every kung fu exercise from, empty hand forms to reaction and strengthening techniques. Our children do not practice violence but have the potential strength, quickness,  and intelligence to stop a conflict before it begins.

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Although we teach humility through example, we also demand behaviors that reflect it from our children. We ask that they be truthful about their martial art ability but to work equally hard to develop skills in making friendship. It is this effort that changes the lives of our students whether they be 7 years old or 60 years of age. We can create this change because we share the same American roots. We understand the challenges our students and we have a teaching staff that is able to offer them a realistic compass in finding their way intelligently through conflict. We have a staff that is the most educated of any in this state. We have 3 Ph.D.’s and a number of black sashes with Master’s degrees and law degrees. Master Illar has taught history and communication in 5 different Universities. He is an expert on Asia and rhetorical thought. He developed and taught the only accredited college class in Kung Fu ever offered in Louisiana. Please come by and meet our little family of “mini” Martial Artists. We have some very talented children here, and they are always happy to “show their stuff”.

Kung Fu Studies Make Personal Growth Possible

The ultimate in martial arts, Kung Fu develops the student both physically and mentally with forms and training techniques that have been handed down from teacher to student for thousands of years. The Shaolin Monks found, over 1,500 years ago, that Kung Fu training was much more than a fighting system for self-defense. Intense mind-body training can be developed to a Spiritual level with what appears to be super-human powers to concentrate in all that they do.children_flip

Kung Fu is one of our world’s most dynamic martial arts. Kung Fu is, for the serious student, a perspective in living well! For children, it provides more than a self-defense. It offers a compass to measure and develop self-control within all of a life’s challenges. The roots of this ingenious gift are deeply entwined in its history, as well as its unique teaching methods. Our school serves our community’s as a connection to an ancient art of living well. It is an art that engages the artist in self-discipline and the recreation of the “self”.

Our martial art training includes Northern Shaolin Kung Fu and Southern Kung Fu, as well as Lion Dancing, Martial Arts Drumming, and Martial Flag Forms. Our method offers a unique dichotomy of instruction in that we teach an extremely effective self-defense, balanced by a psychology for productively living within our ever changing modern family, community, and nation.

In that, this instruction presents time-honored exercises that originate 1,500 years ago and yet maintain extreme value. This is not a rigid study of static structure or thought but one of adaption, movement, and change. Kung Fu studies are the ultimate in martial arts! Our instruction offers each student the opportunity to open and read a letter from the past! It is an examination of self to better develop a mind, body in a functional usage of intelligence through daily growth.

The Gift of Focus and Courage

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The Shaolin Monks found the practice of both” static and dynamic” meditation was a simple functional approach to developing daily health and mindfulness. in all that a child does. Students who have begun this journey find it never ending.

Students who have begun this journey find it never ending. Many of our children have excelled academically and have grown into adults as successful professionals. Some of our adults have lost 100 hundred pounds in their first year of study, while others after 10 years of kung fu study have not only acquired incredible self-defense and weapon skills but  the mental focus to continue learning and are awarded Ph.D.’s from accredited universities.

Quality Instruction

Like monks of old, our school holds instructors that are not only fine martial artists but extremely effective communicators who work as professional educators on college campuses or government offices. Few note the doctors, lawyers, engineers, law enforcement, and health professionals that have developed because of our training and the fact that frequently our training instruction is assisted by these successful students who have grown into successful professionals.

Master Illar has taught history, communication and physical education in Universities not only across Louisiana but also throughout the US. His academic achievements as a cross-cultural communication expert and historian have offered him the ability to not only learn classical kung fu but to understand and reshape it to fit our modern cultural demands. This transformation begins with the student’s awareness of a unique learning process that begins by learning how we learn, develop and apply kung fu techniques. It is a process that is difficult to attain but offers a profitable development with every effort. He has taught students who have had a myriad of learning disabilities to focus on their need to adapt or to be mindful of counterbalancing their self-centered emotion with compassion for others. Video games, television, internet activities can steal a child’s compassion, sense of responsibility, and determination. We now must understand our techno kids. The techno age as wonderful as it seems at times offers too many diversions that steal away the basic harmony between mind and body. These distractions neglect mindful self-development or the personal development of determination. As a result, our children lack a sense of social capital, self-reliance, and self-competence. They complain about boredom. We believe that self-competence is perhaps the greatest gift a teacher can give to a student.

Traditionally, Master Illar gives students who have pursued a long study of kung fu a key to unlock our school’s entrance door. The act is symbolic not only to welcome othChild_with_Lioners to enter but it also points to the dichotomy of our relationship with those who enter. We open the door but each student must walk through the door alone. He alone must work to develop his focus. For those who unlock our school’s door, it is an important act of respect for those who desire personal improvement and martial art skills. The opening of our school door to others expresses compassion for those who opened our studio door before them. For those who walk through the door, it is a symbolic reminder of their responsibility to work with others to better their personal understanding of self-development. It is always a treat to watch the excitement and behavior of our kung fu kids as they enter our school. They smile and reflect various forms of expression to offer respect for the school and the door-keepers who serve it.

Kung Fu Children Lose Their Inhalers and Techno Toys

Once entered into our school’s learning program our children are regularly introduced to a study of kung fu that transforms our children away from their techno habits into a world that better supports their family, friends and themselves. The initial exercises challenge each child. Each exercise requires the development of patience, determination, and diligence. The child unlocks the door to learning when he realizes the profit in being patient, determined and diligent. There is no better gift to offer a child than kung fu lessons. Not only do our students learn to think well but they also learn to stay fit and healthy. As such eventually they learn our method of non-contact sparring, in short, they learn to fight without fighting. They learn to hit without hitting. The activity builds techniques that require controlled usage of quickness, accuracy, focus and reflex action to enhance their understanding of kung fu. More importantly, they learn to value their partner in sparring. Students who display violent tendencies are asked to leave our school.

Childrchildren-story-2004-weben and Teenager Development

Kung Fu was originally developed for self-defense and life preservation. Today’s children and teenagers learn self-defense skills, how to keep physically fit, relieve stress, and improve posture, flexibility, and coordination. Parents enroll their children to develop self-discipline, self-confidence, self-control, tolerance, acceptance and respect of others. Children and teenagers learn how to heighten the sensitivity of body and mind, develop a knowledge of energy cultivation through proper diet and meditative-respiratory exercise.