There is Always Time for Yan Shou Gong

Harry with former Germany's Strongest Man, Patrik Baboumian

Hey you guys, so last weekend, I attended Vegan Campout for the third year in a row. It was a great experience; there were many wonderful speakers, brilliant presentations, awesome bands, and of course, lots of amazing food. Lots, and lots, and lots, of amazing food.

New York style vegan hotdog

Amidst the wandering about, listening to music, chatting with people (and eating, of course, lots, and lots, and lots of eating), how was I ever able to find time to dedicate to my practice of Yan Shou Gong?

As an instructor, I think it's really important that I try to spend time every day to go through my forms, to stretch, to try and cultivate more energy, to refine my techniques, but this isn't always easy. The nice thing about learning Yan Shou Gong, is that we don't need to invest a huge amount of daily time to achieve this.

I found that I was able to get up and run through All Things Comes From Emptiness several times, without rushing, without setting an alarm at some ungodly hour, without any stress, and I could finish the day in the same way, or chain together different forms (the different forms flow from one to another very well).

Enjoying some Nepali momos

It was pretty late when we'd be wrapping up for the night, sure, but it's possible to run through forms one, two and three in just a few minutes. We don't always want to do it, I understand that, and obviously it's up to each student to decide for themselves how much time to spend with the forms, or whether they even want to do this every day, but the point I want to stress is that if we're really committed to this art, we can always find the time. It might just be five minutes, a couple of times a day, but every time we spend those five minutes on our forms, remember, that's experience that goes in the bank, and every time we do it, we build our foundation a little more, and every little helps.

It's not every weekend that we're attending an event or a party, a concert or whatever else might be going on, but when we do, we can always put aside a couple of minutes to reset, to go through a form or two and deposit that Yan Shou Gong money in the bank.

Patrik Baboumian (right) is a retired strength athlete that featured in the 2018 documentary, The Game Changers

When we get up in the morning, we can go through a form or two before we even drag ourselves into the bathroom to brush our teeth. When we get ready for sleep at night, we can do the same. Ideally we'd have more time, maybe we could have three or four little Yan Shou Gong sessions during the day or spend thirty minutes or so with it before lunch, but we all have different routines and different commitments.

However you choose to do it, however much time you can spare, just remember, little and often will get the job done. Invest a minute here, a minute there, and all that Yan Shou Gong money goes in the bank.