Sifu Jen Sam

The Invite
Fresh from my arrival in Manila after the intense 10-day Vipassana silent meditation retreat in Cavite, I got a workshop invite from my good friend Dunia, of the Subic-based Jordana Yoga. A resource speaker is in town (Subic) and would give a workshop about yoga, nutrition and martial arts for an entire day. With that, I geared up a 2-night stint at Subic. I was eager to meet up with the Subic crew: Dunia (whom I met at the Amma workshop), Carlo (who took up Empath Yoga with me), and Guada (who took up Vipassana with me), and of course, the merry Jordana crew.

Off to Subic
The night prior to the bus ride to Subic was exciting. I drifted from one event to another - Mag:net Café, and Dodoy's birthday. Problem was, I had no place to sleep (as I was still homeless) that night and the earliest bus to Subic was still at 5am. I ended up hanging from one 24-hr fastfood chain to the next (McDonald's, KFC, Jollibee, etc) until 5 am. I caught up on sleep at the bus.

Sifu Jen Sam
I haven't heard of the resource speaker before...Sifu Jen Sam. He's caucasian, but his background is all Asian. From his credentials, he seemed very knowledgeable and equally as interesting. Among his many disciplines are acupuncture, tai chi, tai mun chi yoga, traditional chinese medicine, nutritional therapy, live blood analysis and Shaolin martial arts Yau Kung Mu. That was a lot. But he has been doing this for about 25 years. Best, the entire day was devoted to teaching us snips and parcels of all the above. How cool is that?

Disciples
As a teacher, he was in search of disciples, or at least students he can impart his knowledge and experience on. Out of the 15 he took under his wing 5 years ago, only 1 remains. He was with him that day and assisted along the way.

Shaolin Yau Kung Mun
I love martial arts...and I miss it. The fact that he was teaching an ancient martial arts is doubly interesting to me. I don't know if it's the same as Kung Fu, but Yau Kung Mun dates back to the Shaolin temples of China. Monks train to defend their temple and way of life. The technique uses the opponents energy against himself with the least amount of energy exerted. I guess it's like Aikido that way. Too bad there was no sparring demo staged that day.

Nutrition
Sifu Jen Sam talked about optimizing the intake of food. Some foods are not to be taken at the same time - protein and starch, starch and acid, protein and sugar, etc. Other food combinations however, are beneficial - protein and vegetables, starch and fats, etc. Melons and milk are to be taken alone. All of this is somehow consistent with what the author of the best selling book, Fit For Life, was advocating.

• a monk summoning fire. He raised his hand a foot above a piece of paper, and the paper burst into spontaneous combustion. When Sifu touched the monk's hand, it was like touching a hot flat iron.
• An 80-year old monk did a hand stand...then lifted one of his hand (thus doing a one-hand stand)...then lifted his 4 fingers (thus doing a 1-finger hand stand)! The monk confessed later that what he was doing was levitating as his finger wasn't really that strong.

Sexually Prolific Filipinos
Ha-ha...I knew I'd get your attention with that! Well, he did say that a muslim emperor (Suleiman the Great?) had about 500 wives, concubines, etc. in his harem. So, how can he possibly do his imperial duties of pleasing all them? At 2 sex acts everyday, it would take him nearly a year to be with all of them...and at that point, he would probably would be reduced to skin and bones (but smiling!). Sifu Jen Sam said the secret was...(drum roll please), not ejaculating! Hmmm....blue balls come to mind. He further added that Filipinos are too sexually prolific that by the time they reach 50, they already lose steam. Hmmm...is that why Viagra is a bestseller? But hey, nobody...I mean nobody talks about it! In locker room talks, it's all about being God's gift to women....ha-ha! If noses could only stretch longer with every tall tale!

Ending Thoughts
When I was much younger, my fantasy was spending the equivalent of a university tenure inside a Shaolin Temple learning the ancient art of Kung Fu...the martial arts and the meta physical component. Of course that didn't happen. Now, I was face-to-face with a guy who actually lived that life...+ 20 more years. I was looking at his disciple and somehow envied him. I was thinking, I could have been that guy. With just 5 years, he already knew a lot of the Shaolin ways. How could my life be different now if I was that guy? Hmmm...maybe in the next life.

--- TheLoneRider

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