WHAT IS SHORIN RYU, AND WHAT CAN IT ACCOMPLISH?
Shorin Ryu Karate is an ancient Okinawan martial art that traces its origins back almost 1500 years to the Shao Lin Monastery in China. There, a Buddhist monk named Bodidharma, established a sect known as “Zen” or “meditation.” Tradition states that Bodidharma found the monks in the monastery to be physically weak. They were not able to withstand the rigorous mental demands of Zen training. Bodidharma created numerous exercises to both strengthen and unify the body and mind. The practitioners performed the exercises to bring themselves to a state of “moving meditation.” An ancillary benefit was that the exercises also provided a system of self-defense. This was important when the monks sojourned in the countryside. Throughout the 14th century, the Chinese established supremacy over Okinawa. The Chinese introduced Buddhist monks to the Royal Okinawan Court that introduced “moving meditation” to the Okinawan monarch’s bodyguards. The bodyguards trained in secret and passed on their marti
