ZenArts

Happy to announce the official launch of the Healthy Mind, Healthy Body project for children age 9+.

If you are looking for a live class where your child can develop self-esteem, fitness, focus and overall health, in a safe and friendly environment, then these classes are for you.

The first class starts on January 5th 2022.

https://fully-alive.co.uk/healthy-mind-healthy-body-program/

Healthy Mind, Healthy Body Program • Fully Alive The Healthy Mind, Healthy Body Program The Fully Alive – Healthy Mind, Healthy Body Program offers the opportunity for children aged 9+ to explore physical, mental, emotional, energetic and spiritual health through Yoga, Qigong, Kung Fu and breathing. Book the Healthy Mind, Health Body Program Whe...

Are you looking for a Chinese New Year story to read or share? Here is a retelling of the classical mythological creature Nian, from the book The Guardian Lions.
Enjoy!

https://www.zenarts.co.uk/a-story-from-the-guardian-lions

Nian - A Chinese New Year Story Each Chinese New Year, a monster called Nian would ascend from the sea where he hid and attacked the villages. (From The Guardian Lions book)

Going Back to the Roots...

Taking time off from usual daily activities can provide valuable time for reflection and insight. August has done just that for me, and as a result, I reviewed many of my passions and practices.

As things ease a number of people have asked when I will be starting classes again. Well, good news...September the 7th is the date to put in your diary for new Shaolin Classes in Chichester and Online.

For more information check out the website.

Shaolin Arts - Shaolin Arts Shaolin Arts Training for Physical, Mental, Emotional, Energetic and Spiritual Development Benefit from 5000 years of collective wisdom In-Person, Face-Face & Live Online Training Join a Class Whether you have been inspired by the Kungfu movies, or feel a yearning for something missing, or looking t...

Looking for sharing Shaolin Cosmonaut Qigong again with Paul and you.

Hi Everyone,
I hope you are all well.
Here's some information about the next two Special Guests Sunday Classes.
Two wonderful unique styles.
I hope you'll be able to make it.

Paul Cohen has kindly organised another wonderful opportunity to work and connect with your mind, body, energy systems.
Looking forward to sharing some fundamental skills in energy flow through the practice of Shaolin Cosmos Qigong.

Here's another really cool thing we're offering. So looking forward to sharing a Zoom in Kindness Retreat Day with Tim Franklin, Kate Burford, Tarah Rocha, Haidee Stairmand and Jasmin Amrita Dingemans.
Looks like its going to be pretty cool.

Ready for Shaolin Kungfu Online Tonight...
The ZenArts studio received a new layout for live lessons and recording.

Help is available online to those looking for physical, mental, emotional, energetic and spiritual wellbeing.

Up until last week, the only way for people to train with me was via a one-to-one, a local class or a regional course/retreat. As a result of social distancing and lockdown, I had to look for an alternative way to continue supporting those in need.

Fortunately, technology is readily available for many to fill the gap. So, as from last week, I am available online for guided practise and therapy.

If you or someone you know is interested in improving or maintaining a positive state of health and wellbeing, then my online classes may be of interest.

Each of the classes I teach work independently and collectively and include the three essential components of triple cultivation training:

Body (Jing)
Energy (Chi)
Mind (Shen)

Monday 18.30-19.30
The A-Way Health & Wellbeing class is a therapeutic approach to mind, movement & wellbeing using health and healing methods from Qigong (Chi Kung), Yoga, Meditation and A-Way Therapy. Suitable for all levels of experience and fitness.

Monday 19.50-20.50
The Qigong (Chi Kung) class teaches you the art and skill of energy flow through movement, stillness, mind and breathing exercises. It can help you overcome illness and pain, boost your energy levels and develop a deep sense of inner calm and wellbeing. Suitable for all levels of experience and fitness.

Tuesday 19.15-20-15
The Art of Shaolin Kung Fu is a complete system of mind, body, energy and spiritual development.

As a self-defence system, it offers all the essential components of strikes, kicks, throws and grips.

As an energy art, it provides you with methods of significantly developing your inner strength.

The mind training gives you laser focus and mental clarity stamina.

And for those interested in spiritual development, Shaolin Kungfu provides a platform and direct methods for spiritual cultivation. Beginners are welcome, as are all levels of martial arts experience.

Joining a Class
You can drop in on any of the online classes or you can pay per 4 weeks, save money and come to as many classes as you like being offered by ZenArts.

While online classes are not a direct substitute for face-to-face classes, they do provide ongoing support for your health and wellbeing. Students are also able to successfully follow the instructions and gain benefits through the online sessions.

Please pass this on to those in need.

I look forward to hearing back from you if you are interested in training with me online. For more information on booking your place message or email me or visit the website www.zenarts.co.uk

With kindness

Sifu Tim Franklin

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So...training outdoors has come to this! 😉

Thank you all who joined me last night for the online lessons and your feedback so far. Look forward to seeing more of you next week...

Getting ready for online classes at 6.30pm.
If for any reason you miss tonight’s lessons and want to join in next week, then leave a comment.
Happy training 😊

As from Monday 23rd, March ZenArts classes will be available online for you to enjoy from the comfort of your home, instead of the dojo in Chichester.

There are three classes:
6.30pm-7.30pm: A-Way Health and Wellbeing
7.40pm-8.40pm: Qigong
8.45pm-9.45pm: Shaolin Kungfu

For more information about the classes visit the website www.zenarts.co.uk

If you are not yet a student of ZenArts then you can register through the website for access to the classes.

In the meantime, you can enjoy the trial run for the online lessons my student Shelley Windell kindly organised. It's a brief insight into the three classes over 1 hour.

Yoga, Qigong, Kungfu, Therapy in Bognor Regis and Westergate

There’s always a place and time for Kungfu practice 😁

It is heartwarming to know that a teacher always benefits from their students. I am blessed to have many wonderful students. Shelley Windell has today generously given her time and joy to help spread the goodness. Thank you 🙏

Yoga, Qigong, Kungfu, Therapy in Bognor Regis and Westergate Yoga, Qigong, KungFu and Therapy to help increase your energy, overcome illness, maintain calmness and apply to daily life. Bognor Regis & Westergate.

Today’s journey with a Taoist Master 😁
Uwe Jettkandt
Appleford

All great journeys start with a single step.
And it has taken many steps to be where I am now...

All the good times, the hard times, training, investment and challenges have been a positive learning curve.

After many years in the making it became clear what I was offering...

Health, Wellbeing & Self Mastery.

NEW CLASSES IN QIGONG, KUNGFU AND WELLBEING AT NEW PARK CENTRE CHICHESTER, FROM MARCH 2ND.

I am happy to share with you that from the 2nd March 2020 there will be 3 new classes being offered, focused on health, wellbeing, martial arts, self-mastery, and cultivation at the New Park Centre in Chichester.

As you may know, I have been working as a therapist for around 20 years and practiced martial artist for even longer.

During this time I have learned, developed and nurtured many techniques and skills to help people release held tension, pain, and traumas and develop physically, mentally, emotionally, energetically and spiritually.

I AIM TO HELP PEOPLE HELP THEMSELVES, AND BE ABLE TO APPLY MUCH OF WHAT THEY LEARN TO EVERYDAY LIFE.

I like the idea that we can all become our therapist, and better take care of our health and wellbeing. This does not mean we do not need to seek the help of others, as others are often able to see and help our blind spots and offer skills and understanding that we may be missing.

I believe that we are capable of self-healing, given the right environment for good health to emerge. I believe we can progress much more than we sometimes know. And the thing we need to help us is to wake up our inner wisdom.

Often, clients and students, following a piece of information or sharing of particular technique during a therapy session or class, will say 'oh yeah, I know how to do that. I learned it back…(fill in the gap)'.

In a majority of the cases, I am not sharing or teaching anything new to that person, that they don't already know. Rather, I am reminding them of the wisdom they already have acquired.

Sometimes, a simple tweak or adjustment in posture, breath, movement, thought or action is enough to spiral a spontaneous change.

Through working this way A-Way Therapy was created - A non-fixed approach to health and wellbeing.

Reflecting on my practices and my passion to share things that work I prepared a series of classes that work independently and collectively:

MONDAY 6.30-7.30PM
A-Way Health and Wellbeing Classes – A Therapeutic, Holistic and Restorative Approach to Self-Healing and Wellbeing
A-Way Health and Wellbeing Classes – A Therapeutic, Holistic and Restorative Approach to Self-Healing and Wellbeing

Through A-Way Therapy came A-Way Therapy Health and Wellbeing classes.

These classes are designed to help you overcome pain and illness, manage your energy levels and better deal with stress and anxiety.
And gives you tools you can go away and practice.

The gentle approach, suitable for all, helps wake up your natural healing systems.


MONDAY 7.30-8.30PM
Shaolin Cosmos Qigong (Chi Kung)
Shaolin Cosmos Qigong (Chi Kung)
All of what I practice and teach include the physical, mental, emotional, energetic and spiritual aspects. And one of the approaches to health, wellbeing, mental clarity, increased energy and a general feeling of being more connected I practice every day is Qigong, specifically Shaolin Cosmos Qigong.

Qigong is the skill of using energy. That means when you practice it you are developing skills to master your energy.

The practice includes breath, movement, visualization, and mind.

For many, they come to Qigong because it is easier and simpler to learn than Tai Chi, and gives you many health and wellbeing benefits. It is also suitable for anyone.

It can also be used to increase energy levels, quite easily, and cultivate the spirit. It can also be applied to anything you do.

As such a lot of people choose to incorporate it into their daily routines and practices.


MONDAY 8.30-9.30PM
Shaolin Kung Fu - The Art of Self-Defence, Self-Esteem, Self-Mastery
Shaolin Kung Fu - The Art of Self-Defence, Self-Esteem, Self-Mastery

My interest in martial arts goes back to when I was a child, watching Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and the TV series of Kung Fu and Monkey. I dreamt of meeting my own Mr. Miyagi (Karate Kid 1984), and finally, nearly 20 years ago it became a reality…

Enter the Shaolin Grandmaster! (Sifu Wong Kiew Kit)

After years of training, I began to teach classes, sharing my unwavering passion for Kung Fu.

As corny as it sounds, Shaolin Kung Fu has become more than a martial art for me, it became a way of being, built on the twin pillars of Shaolin – compassion, and wisdom.

Shaolin Kung Fu is a way of simple, direct and effective combat, improved self-esteem and self-mastery.


THE CLASSES ARE THREADED TOGETHER IN A SEAMLESS PATH OF SELF-DEVELOPMENT, HEALTH, AND WELLBEING

Individually the classes work in their own right. Together, they have been designed to help you develop physically, mentally, emotionally, energetically and spiritually.

You can drop into any of the classes, or book 4 weeks in advance to save money.

You can also save money by taking multiple classes.

See:
https://www.zenarts.co.uk/yoga-qigong-kungfu-class-times-fees

You will also see a SPECIAL OFFER available from now until the end of March.

If you have already booked your place for one or more of the classes, and know anyone who would benefit from coming, then please pass this on.

With kindness

Sifu Tim Franklin

TIME FOR CHANGE…

If you have been looking to train in martial arts for the first time, or are looking to change from your chosen style, then the following may help you.

For me, the change to Shaolin Kung Fu came after the feeling something was missing from the styles I was training in.

It seems obvious to me now, but it didn’t at the time.

After many years, in well-known and popular styles, I felt that learning how to perform more complex sets, punches and kicks was limiting.

This is not to say that my Sensei was not a good teacher, because he was. He also looked like a formidable fighter. Twenty years on I look back on my training then with gratitude.

From the outside my training appeared to be helping me through a difficult emotional time, and on some levels it was. The focus on repetitive movements and sparring seemed to help.

Well, so I thought!

It turns out, that whilst I was certainly getting fit, fast and pretty good at sparring, I was also developing something unhelpful…

Instead of dealing with the pent up aggression and the emotional disturbances, I suppressed them underneath a tough exterior. I had successfully developed invisible armour! Sound familiar?

Physically, I was fit. Unfortunately I couldn’t say the same for my mental and emotional fitness and resilience at that time.

Yes, I could talk a good game and respond fast with my fists and feet. I was tough on the outside, but weak on the inside…I just didn’t know it.

It wasn’t until I entered the world of business, that I realised that all the exterior punching and kicking, and performing sets with perfect form, hadn’t really helped develop any coping mechanisms or useable strategies when it came to dealing with daily challenges.

I simply had no tools that I could apply to help me with mental or emotional resilience. I needed something with more meaning, something I could use in the real world. That’s when I went in search of a teacher of Kung Fu.

Kung Fu, I heard, included methods for developing physically, mentally, emotionally, energetically and spiritually. And I needed that!

After travelling around the world in search, I found not just a teacher of Kung Fu, but a Grandmaster of Shaolin Arts who understood, and lived how to train and apply the benefits to everyday life.

It was just what I had been looking for, and more! ☺

For nearly 20 years I have been training, exploring and further developing methods that can be used to better deal with daily challenges, and apply to the things we find difficult.

And as a therapist, I am particularly interested in how we can use the Shaolin Arts to enhance our health, mental/emotional resilience and outlook on life.

Like all martial arts, the training includes how to defend yourself, and use the training for combat. And whilst combat efficiency is an outcome of training Shaolin Kung Fu, learning how to fight is not the most important or central pillar of the Shaolin Arts.

The Shaolin Arts twin pillars are compassion and wisdom.

By practicing the Shaolin Arts at the physical, energetic and mind level, you learn:

How to avoid causing harm to others and yourself

How to better deal with conflict and overwhelm

How life can be experienced as a meaningful harmonious flow

Learning how to release held tension, focus the mind, flow with an opponent or situation, increase energy levels and remain more centered, more often, are all useful outcomes of training Shaolin Kung Fu.

That is how Shaolin Kung Fu became a system of Self-Defence, Self-Esteem and Self-Mastery.

So, if you are just starting out in martial arts, or feel you need change, then the Shaolin Arts can provide you with just what you need.

The best way to get the benefits is to come and try out a few lessons, and see how it can work for you, just as it has worked for thousands of others.

Sifu Tim Franklin

Over the last few weeks I’ve had the privilege of sharing my martial arts experience with courageous women in Bognor and Pagham.

Firstly, it takes a lot of courage to just show up in the first place.

Second it takes courage to come back and face their fears.

It also takes a lot of courage to do things that otherwise they have avoided. Like physical contact or the idea of displaying power.

So well done you have brought it to the table. You are an inspiration for others.

Carry on being the awesome you that you are...even if others try and put you down.

A course to help you transition between winter and summer using energy skills: preparing for change, increasing and maintaining energy, and welcoming sustainable progress in our lives. All while keeping our feet on the ground and avoiding burnout.

Fully Alive Retreat at Monkton Wyld Court in Dorset - April 3-5th 2020

The Course: Developing Skills for Embracing Change and Sustaining Energy

Traditionally at springtime we welcome the sun, warmth and a budding of new life. Potential is in the air, as is enthusiasm and energy as we prepare ourselves for change. Change means growth and shedding of un-helpful or unwanted habits. Following a period of relative quiet during the wintertime (ideally), we start to wake up to new possibilities. Even hope! Met with enthusiasm and energy we bring to life the potential we create.

Used skillfully we are able to sustain this flow of energy and enthusiasm. We can avoid over extending ourselves (burnout and depletion), and be able to release any suppressed feelings or emotions. On the flip side we could find change unsettling. That can lead to being inflexible and rigid, suppressing emotions and limiting potential energy and growth.

In this course we will help you transition between winter and summer using energy skills: preparing for change, increasing and maintaining energy, and welcoming sustainable progress in our lives. All while keeping our feet on the ground and avoiding burnout.

For more information visit https://shaolin-training.com/retreats/chi-kung-at-monkton-wyld-court/

Thank you Arctic Fox Explorer Scout Unit in Felpham for inviting me to teach self-defense to your scouts on the 6th and 13th February.
Looking forward to meeting you all and sharing how to stay safe and defend yourself.
With kindness
Tim Franklin

Free Women's Self-Defense Classes.
https://www.bognorregispost.co.uk/2020/01/tims-classes/

Tim's classes | Bognor Regis Post Free self-defence classes will be on offer in Bognor Regis and Pagham from this week.   After his wife and children were approached by a stranger, sifu Tim Franklin decided to expand his usual classes to include free women’s shaolin

Also, so happy and excited to share with you that today have been offered an Associate Lecturer for Tai Chi position at Chichester University :-)
I start next week.

Good News...I’ll be running New Shaolin Arts classes at the New Dojo in Chichester, March 2020...

Lot's of great things happening this week...Lot's of changes and opportunities...Resulting from putting it out there and going with the flow!

Through my practice of Zen Yoga I was taught how to release held tension in the body through gentle awareness and often softer, slower movements, and not always the big stretches that some people imagine yoga to be.

The Zen Yoga has traces back to the Shaolin Temple, and Shaolin has a history of Taoist influence and teaching. (BTW, this isn't a claim to lineages, but a sharing that what we practice today has many flavours and sources).

Speaking with Sifu Kai today, in preparation for the Taoist Immortality course - Awakening the Dragon, he shared some information about his practice of Dao Yin:

Dao Yin
A good translation for Dao Yin is “guiding and pulling“. More technically explained pull out or to release (pain/ blockages). This reflect the idea that one can pull the qi out of from ailing part and move it either to or from a specific area in the body.

Stretching is one way to doing it.

The Practice�
More specifically, Dao Yin involves gentle movements of the body in all kinds�of different positions together with deep breathing and the focused mental guiding around the channels and body parts.

At the seminar you will learn a basic set of exercises to release tension/ blockages within meridians, muscles, tendons and fascia.

The picture is a reconstruction of a 'Guiding and Pulling Chart' excavated from the Mawangdui Tomb 3 (sealed in 168BC) in the former kingdom of Changsha. The original is in the Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsha, China.

If you're interested in learning the internal and external cultivation of Taoist tradition then you might like this course in March in Bognor Regis, UK.

Spoke to Sifu Kai today about the upcoming Taoist Cultivation course in March. Just saying, I came off the phone feeling even more excited about what Sifu Kai has lined up to teach.
He explained how over the years things have really changed for him, in terms of cultivation and development, and he wanted to share the colourful nature of the Taoist way. He told me how opening the body, joints, muscles and fascia, in the way he now practices has created much smoother flow and movement, which has helped with cultivation of energy, mind and spirit and realisation.
Sifu Kai has always been and still is a tremendous martial warrior, but the way he spoke was very different now. So at peace, so in the flow, so alive.