A personal account of the Qi Gung, Shaolin Kung Fu, & Taoist Meditation Workshop held at the Omega Institute with David Carradine from October 1-3, 1999

I rose early, having slept fitfully all night, mostly from the excitement and the fact that I was nearing my fourth month of pregnancy and I had to get up to go to the bathroom several times during the night. I walked around the quiet town while Helen still slept and remarked to myself how much it was like the little towns I knew back in Nebraska. After Helen woke, we decided to take a cab to Omega after having continental breakfast in the restaurant at the Inn. We took some more photos of each other and we were soon on our way.

We arrived at Omega, checked in with registration, and discovered that our tent cabin would not be ready until after two that afternoon. It was all right with us. We could walk around and take photos. Omega is a campus setting with cabins, some dormitory style, and several buildings.  There is a lake on the property and we walked to that place and took more photos.

The Lake and Me

You will also see sculture all over the place. Omega offers courses in Music, Dance, Theater, Fine Arts & Crafts, Writing, as well as professional courses in Holistic Health both in body and spirit. Yoga is a main offering, and to have David Carradine there is perfect. Omega also offers classes in sports and play, nature and science, and they offer a kids camp.

Sculpture by the Lake

You never know who would be speaking at Omega as guest speaker, too. They have had such speakers as Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Steven Segal. When we arrived, Thich Naht Hanh was just finishing up a five day Mindfullness Retreat. The Main Hall was crowded with people. It was also the same space where David Carradine would be speaking with his four instructors that evening that would begin the three day weekend. Actually it was more like two days with Friday evening (partial), All day Saturday, and all morning Sunday.

The Main Hall

After having lunch, in their cafe, we again walked around some more. Not far from where we would be sleeping, there was a nature trail and we walked that, trying to use up some of the time before we had to get unpacked. Also not far from us is a place called the Santuary. We did not go in just yet, but walked around and found a wonderul fountain area. I took Helen's photo. You can see the Santuary building up behind her.

Helen by the Fountain

Then someone took one of us together. They remarked how we looked like sisters. They were also surprised to learn that we had met on the internet and this was the first time we had met in person. I am the one on the left and Helen is on the right. It's a much better photo. Incidently, the mauve shirt that I am wearing is actually the shirt that David Carradine wore in the Long Riders. I acquired it off of eBay.

Alisa and Helen

Omega is such a wonderful peaceful place. Every where you go, you can find little gardens like this one to sit and meditate. This little garden happened to be within a ring of Pine Trees.

Buddha Taking Some Time to Himself

Soon it wasn't long before we could go up to our tent cabin. We did not have to haul our luggage all the way from the drop off point near the registration building, since the staff had golf carts and they could take our luggage up near the place where we would be sleeping and drop it off at a luggage area. I should have taken a photo of our tent cabin, but during that first day I was too eccited to really get into taking photos. But as we were settling in, we noticed something that became an omen for the whole weekend. Inside our tent was a small grasshopper. It was neat and we remarked, though the grasshopper was not at our feet, but up on the celing of our tent, we truly thought that this was going to be a good omen and it was. The grasshopper stayed with us the whole time. Of course we caught it and let it go before we left. We did not want anyone else coming in and killing it by mistake.

That evening after dinner we all began to gather in the main hall. Overall, there was about 160 of us that came for this retreat. Not a bad number. Though I must wonder who really knew of this event. Perhaps only those associated through Omega and through the Kung Fu: The Letters Continue website and list. If it had been any larger, we would not have been able to accomplish what we did and still it wasn't enough.

As we sat and waited, the instructors came in first. Helen and I had learned ealier in the day that David had indeed arrived and was taking a nap. Then the moment was upon us, and David came in carrying a cup in his hands. I assumed it was tea or perhaps it was coffee, since he had just woken up and looked somewhat ragged and his hair was a little mussed. I noticed he wasn't wearing any socks.

First hand, I must mention that the whole weeked was recorded on cassette tapes for the particpants. You could purchase the whole set or just one or two tapes. I purchased the whole set, and what I am going to paraphrase here, most of it will come from that set of tapes. It certainly will help me to remember most of what went on without having to recall from memory and help me to certainly recall many of the feelings of excitement of just being there. Now back to David.

The workshop was introduced by David Nakaraha who was the coordinator and MC for the event. After speaking, he then passed the mike over to David Carradine. He spoke slowly and as he spoke, I soon became aware that he was sounding much like Caine in his speech cadence (though he uses more contractions than Caine). David started talking about Bodhiharma and how he imparted knowledge of the teachings of Buddha throughout China as well as teaching the Shaolin monks these hindu temple dances that he knew after he noticed that the monks were very weak. It was to get them in shape. This later developed into Kung Fu. David mentioned that he had been to the temple that Bodhiharma visited. He spoke about how Bodhiharma had gone to the top of the mountain to meditate for nine years. He faced the wall of the cave so he would not be distracted, but there was this young monk who would visit him and wanted Bodhiharma to teach him. Bodhiharma refused until the young man cut off his arm. And when Bodhiharma of course saw this, he agreed to teach the young man.

David explained the difference between Karate and Kung Fu, saying that Kung Fu was designed to make you feel better while Karate is brutal and stiff, hard, taxing. Karate also had come out of Kung Fu when some of the monks went to Japan to spread the word of Buddhism. The Japanese way of life was that of the samuri and the sword. Many villagers wanted a means to defend themselves against those warlords who would invade their villages. So the Japanese adapted Kung Fu to their needs, using only those moves (primarily the use of hands and feet, i.e., blocks, chops, punches, and various kicks) that would disable an opponant.

Kung Fu, at least in its original form were once sacred hindu temple dances designed to keep a person in shape. The dances evolved and moved through China, down the peninsula through Korea and other Asian countries on the mainland and then over to Japan. He also said that Kung Fu is used to decrease pain. There is no such thing as No Pain No Gain with Kung Fu. It is designed to make you feel good. It is a technique of the heart, spirit, and mind, not just of the body. It is a philosophy that includes the body to explore the nature of ourselves and of the universe with yourself as the subject and the object (without the verb).

David related about how he came to be involved with Kung Fu from when he was doing the original TV series and how Kam Yuen was the stunt coordinator. He related how after the show was over, a few months later, he got into his car and went down to Kam's kwoon and took a class, I think to find out where his interest was and he told how he ended up living there for a while. He would sweep the floors and sleep on a cot in the back room, just like Kwai Chang Caine. He had not expected as that time, that it would become a life-long devotion.

Aftward, David turned the mike back over to David Nakarha and told us what the weekend was to be about and what they wanted to accomplish. DN first started out talking about Tai Chi. The workshop was to be a means to give people a foundation. He described Tai Chi as being a combination of Kung Fu, Chi Gung, and Taoist philosophy. He said that Tai Chi is not magic and simply moving your arms. There has to be intent. He indicated that the workshop was divided into four sections, Kung Fu, Chi Gung, and Tai Chi with some history and demontration, and finally integration. David then passed the mike over to Donald Hamby the first instructor.

It was also durng that two hours on Friday where we would learn a few Kung Fu forms. Two of the instructors also demonstrated quite spectacularly their areas of Kung Fu. The first instructor, Donald Hamby said that his style came from the Southern Shaolin. Lots of low horse stances, very hard, the use of dynamic tension, and very powerful punches. He said he started when he was 21 which is late compared to the Chinese that start out as children.

Donald demonstrated from the Tiger and the Crane forms. David Carradine mentioned agan the story that he told in Kung Fu: the Legend Continues. He said that this was indeed a legend, how a crane was able to turn aside the hunting tiger. The form that was demonstrated combined both forms and it was quite powerful and beautiful in its movement. I wished I had a video camera at that moment so I could see it all over again. At the end of the demonstration David said, "We're all very grateful that Donald is even tempered." David went on to say that not only does the form benefit the body, but he was also working internally to help benefit the organs.

The next instructor, Michael Marshall, demonstrated from three other animals in Kung Fu. David mentioned that Michael danced at this wedding. They then got us off the floor and started us out doing strecthing exercises. One of the first stretching exercises they had us do was touch our toes. David Carradine broke in and said. "When he first tried to do this years ago he said to Sifu, 'I can't touch my toes without bending my knees.' So Sifu said, 'Bend your knees.'" He then said if you feel any pain in the joints like in the ankle, just to rub it and that will warm it up. I told him of what my sifu says about pain being weakness leaving the body and David responded, "Okay. Good riddens." (Referring to the pain that is.) We then did horse stances, bow (and arrow) stances, cat stances (David would comment as we did our stances), and scissor stance (cross or twisting stance). I could hear David on the tape assisting someone, referring to ballet. We then did the heal stance.

After a bit, they had us move the pillows back so we could go through the stances a second time, this time with Donald facing the wall. (As we were moving the pillows I caught on tape that David had commented to someone that the fire extinguisher looked like a great pot of coffee.) For me it did not matter which way the instructor faced. I had been doing David's video tapes for six months so I had been able to transpose the action, you might say, in my mind. For others, I could see how this would be comfusing if they had not done any exercising at all. We did the stances, both for left and right and even this was a review for me. In David's original Kung Fu tape, one of his sections dealt with stances. We then did some kicking, some front kicks primarily. We did not do too many of these because there wasn't a great deal of room and people were reluctant ot spread out. I think they wanted to be as clost to David as possible so they could see him. It was nice that David was doing this along with us.

After that, Michael demonstrated some more Northern Shaolin techniques. We then did some punching. What we did was based on the crane. We did what was called the Sun Punch. You make a fist with the thumb on the oustide and punch straight with the fingers vertial, not horizontal. After that we did what is called Tiger Claw. The palm is open with the fingers spread out and curled like claws. Then we did a Crane strike with cat stance. The fingers are brought together to form a crane's beak and we then had to stand in cat stance position. Each time we came around to strike with out hands we would move into the cat stance. We then did a technique called Crane Perches on One Leg with a kick. That one is a little more difficult to describe here.

Afterward, we retrieved out pillows and David again spoke to us, referred to Kung Fu as a dance. He then asked if we noticed how good it felt. He said that it stimulates the adrenals and the paranervous system and uses up the acitacoline. He then said that we need to extreme dance, then sit quietly. He then lead us into a brief meditation. We sat quietly, breathing very regularly, with eyes closed. Helen was having trouble with a cough and David showed her a Chi Gung technique to quiet her cough. It worked quite well. We were silent for a few more minutes and it was just wonderful. He then had us bend forward and told us to raise up slowly and stretch, still with our eyes closed. The he had us open our eyes. Everything looked more colorful.

David C. then passed the mike to David Nakahara and he spoke on martial gentleness. He stated that you need to have a strong base thus the Kung Fu. Everyone usually starts out in Kung Fu and moves toward the softer parts such as Chi Gung ad Tai Chi. He explained how Tai Chi is a martial art. That there is also an intent. David Caradine them spoke up again and mentioned that for him, the martial part was not about gouging someone's eyes out but dispelling the demons within himself.

I could go into what was discussed afterward, but there was so much. David Carradine even got into more of the history. Whenever he spoke, the room would get quiet. He just drew people in. Aftward, everyone came up to get closer photos and to have their photo taken with David (those with cameras that is).

David Carradine

The first photo of David is not really a very good one. The light is harsh and the angle just is not a good one. He still tried to answer questions. As you can see, he was wearing the pendant that he wore in Kung Fu: TLC. He said that his ex-wife Gail had given it to him. He did not remember what was written on the pendant. I suspect it is the same a what is written on my chinese coin that is a part of my pendance. Both Helen and I had our photos taken with David. She tried to take mine with my camera but my flash did not go off so she took one with her camera and aftward, he patted me on the shoulder.

Alisa and David