Shaolin Martial Arts in Tufnel Park, London
Today, I had the pleasure of visiting the Shaolin Temple in Tufnel Park, London, to watch demonstrations of the various forms and arts they teach.
I’d be lying if I said I could remember everything they showed (there was a lot) and, to be honest, I’d probably get it wrong if I tried to explain. Suffice to say, everything they demonstrated was staggeringly impressive and utterly beautiful; from the regimented execution of perfect forms and staged combat, to the unbelievable two-finger handstand, countless flips and dazzling weapon displays.
To be honest, however, that wasn’t a surprise. Before I even arrived, I had an inkling that these people were going to be pretty special. What did come as a surprise, was the general atmosphere of the temple.
To outsiders, martial arts – especially the most traditional – can seem quite intimidating, humourless and austere. The mind leaps to cold-eyed masters dishing out stringent authoritarian regimes of exercise and punishment. I think we can blame Hollywood for this…
In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Despite their obvious dedication to their arts and the thousands of hours that have clearly gone into perfecting their movements, the overall atmosphere of the temple was fun, relaxed, happy and entirely liberal. They really couldn’t have made it any more inviting and welcoming an experience and, for that, I was very grateful.
As a final point, the leader of the temple (I don’t know his name or official title) made a great point about the martial arts. He was far more learned and eloquent that I, but he said something along these lines: as the name suggests, the martial arts are art-forms, movements and exercises based on combat. Although many of them are entirely functional as fighting styles (or complementary to them), that is not necessarily their purpose.
The movements are simply inspired by combat and, when executed properly, can help to practise and promote dedicated combat movements; learning to shift your body weight fluidly, for example. I think this is an important difference to bear in mind when considering martial arts, which most people think of as fighting styles to be compared and contrasted.
Anyway, enough of my nonsense – here is the good part. The pictures!
