Kung Fu Lessens M.D.’s Stress Levels in E.R.
I’m a 36 year old mother, wife, and emergency medicine physician. Prior to beginning, I was stressed out, irritable, and overweight, and I was terribly out of shape. I would pull muscles doing silly things like reaching over to get something out of the back seat. I had a resting heart rate in the upper nineties. I couldn’t do 3 push ups. It was pathetic.
I had studied many types of martial arts prior to finding the White Crane system in 2000. I was tired of the macho, aggressive, combat arts. I was looking for something with more grace and balance.
Within a few months of starting, I began to notice some improvements. My patience was improving. I no longer pulled muscles when bending at awkward angles. After about a year one of my co-workers commented that I seemed like a different person. I used to be easily irritated and frustrated, but now I was relaxed and happy even when things seemed to be out of control. After about five years I noticed that my resting heart rate had improved from the nineties to the sixties. Friends, family members and co-workers were also all commenting that I was looking younger!
I’m a skeptic at heart and probably wouldn’t have believed it without experiencing it for myself. I now have the tools to handle the stresses of the emergency room gracefully. I’m able to put my team at ease instead of adding to their anxiety by getting angry or upset. I also have no doubt this will positively impact on my longevity. I’m looking younger and feeling younger. I’m healthier and happier.
Since I have made time for kung fu in my life, I actually have more energy and am much more efficient in my time management. In addition, I’ve learned a lot about how to relax (stretching, meditation, patience, etc). This skill helps me in everything I do and it makes me happier. The concept of peace in my life seemed like a ridiculous notion a few years ago, but now I’m gaining on it.I started studying kung fu because it was an interesting and useful method of exercising. I continue to study kung fu because every day I do I feel better (stronger, more balanced, more toned, and more peaceful).
Heather
Kung Fu Minds Develop Great Careers in Homeland Security!
“I am less than five feet tall and have never weighed more than one hundred five pounds. When I started Kung Fu, I was looking for friends. Coming from a third world Buddhist country in Southeast Asia, I did not study English in school. High School was a struggle, and I found learning to be something everyone else did, and they always did it better than me. I was a waitress at most every fast food restaurant in town. Since I am Asian everyone thought I knew martial arts, but I never saw it practiced until I came to the White Crane Studio. I was weak, rigid and embarrassed by my movement, but after two years, I found I could compete in form competition. I won! I had friends. Our teacher thought I should go to college and take remedial English. I did and achieved a college degree. I have become a citizen. I’m supple and no longer stiff or weak. I speak three languages and have been specially trained by the US Gov as a Federal Police officer specializing in homeland security. I now enjoy teaching kung fu to children and going to tournaments as a judge. Everyone thinks I’m twenty but I’m in my forty’s.”
Amanda
Balanced Focus Brings Success and Change!
“My Name is Joseph. At 27 I smoked cigarettes and waited tables for a living. I had settled for daydreams about cultivating a richer lifestyle. I moved a lot, was in and out of relationships, and on the whole, felt irresponsible, yet misunderstood. In this condition I moved to Louisiana in 1999 aimlessly hoping to begin anew. One of the first things I did after I found a place to live was look up Kung Fu schools in the phone book. After a brief telephone conversation I made up my mind to focus my energy on the White Crane Kung Fu Studio. Since then my life has undergone tremendous change. The first year was frustrating- my lifestyle didn’t lend itself to cultivating much, but fortunately i was able to stick around. My instructor suggested that I go back to school. I had taken a couple semesters of Community College after I got out of the service, but without a major, much less ambition. I had always wanted to be an artist and so I applied to an art college and began summer classes. The relationships that I study in both Art and Kung Fu have grown together. I have focus. I realize what I enjoy and why, and most important I have the energy and vision, patience and energy, to achieve my goals. Four summers later and I am attending school in Prague, Czech Republic on scholarship. I will finish my degree in the fall with honors and intend to begin graduate school the following year. I have definitely witnessed a change in myself, in both my focus and drive. It is directly related to the meditative and physical cultivation that I experience studying Kung Fu. Kung Fu is certainly for me.”
Joseph
In a Kung Fu Mind Set No Challenge is Too Great!
“My name is Charles and I have been studying at the White Crane Kung Fu Studio since 2002. I am 25 years old, with a bachelor’s degree in music, on my way back to school to pursue a master’s degree. The study of martial arts had been an interest of mine since my earlier youth, but I never felt that I had the time to give it serious attention. A year after completing my degree I felt I needed a change in my lifestyle, so I talked to a friend who had been a student of the studio for a few years and he suggested I come observe a class. At the time I began to participate in the classes at the studio, I had become quite tender and weak, having done almost no physical activity since my early high school days. The first few months were quite rigorous and gave me new and personal outlook on the term exhaustion. However, within a mere 6 months, I began to notice drastic changes in both my physical appearance and my general level of energy. Co-workers and friends began to supply unsolicited comments regarding a more energetic and pleasant Charles. Even in the brief time I have attended the classes, I continue to feel better and more positive about the nature and direction of the life that I am living. I do not remember ever being happier than I am now and I hope only to continue to increase my capacity to enjoy myself and the world around me , through the exhausting yet fascinating education I have begun to receive.”
Charles
White Crane provides discipline for success!
When I was twenty years old, I worked construction jobs, lay on the couch and had no direction. I had heard about the White Crane Studio, it has been in Baton Rouge for longer than just about any other martial arts school, but I never made the effort to go. One afternoon, after a particularly bad day at work, I made the call that changed my life. I didn’t know the impact White Crane would have on me, I was in what I considered good shape, wasn’t interested in fighting (I thought I was a tough guy) I just needed something to do. Sixteen years later, the kung fu journey took me from construction worker, to Management Consultant with a Master’s Degree from LSU. The physical curriculum of Sifu Illar’s school gave me so much more than I ever could have imagined. The self-discipline that kung fu practice provided changed my life, my worldview and my physical appearance. But more than that, I learned to work and interact with different types of people, from various backgrounds and cultures and that have helped me in life and in business. You can’t buy these experiences, but you sure can experience them if you make that call like I did.
Nick