Greek Shaolin Cultural Organization
少林希腊文化組织

The 11th Scout community of the local branch of "Analipsi" had a unique experience that was organised by the Greek Shaolin Cultural Organization in cooperation with Shaolin Cultural Center True Path. The action was entitled "Introduction to the arts of Shaolin" and was held at the club of the Thessaloniki Shaolin Center on Sunday, February 12, 2017 at 5: 00pm, by the head of the Center, Mr. Vasilopoulos Ioannis.

The purpose of the action was to become acquainted with the culture of Shaolin, namely the internal arts such as Qi Gong and Shaolin Rou Quan [chin .: Shàolín Róuquán Nèigōng 少林柔拳内功] the precursor of the widespread Taiji Quan [chin .: tàijí quán 太极拳­].

The center welcomed a selected group of scouts who came to the center with the formal attire and consisted of the head of the 11th system Mr. Karidas Konstantinos and the scouts Dimitris Ioannidis, Leondarakis Antonios, Dimitriou Ioannis, Konstantinakis Photios and Dimitriou Michail.

The group initially received a gift parchment with the Fighting Virtue of Shaolin Wu De [chin .: WǔDé 武德] which is the cornerstone of the practice at Shaolin Arts. Reference was also made to the "four treasures of Shaolin" [chin .: Shàolín wénfángsìbǎo 少林文房四宝] and printed material was distributed.

Then followed a teaching of the Qi Gong principles[chin .: qìgōng 气功], that astonished the group who did not expect that so simple moves will bring to the limits their physical endurance. Despite the stress, team smiles were permanently there, going with serenity to the second part of the presentation, that was Rou Quan [chin .: róu quán 柔拳].

The harmonic movement of the first unarmed skill was supplemented with some self-defense techniques, completed with sitting meditation exercises, and then followed by a discussion on the advantages of exercise in the Shaolin arts, the relationship between Master and Student, the difference between Chan and other internal paths , history of Shaolin, etc.

Visibly excited the 11th system leader Mr. Constantine said:

"We are very happy! We were practising for more than three hours, taking knowledge happily without understanding how the time passed. We found that the seemingly simple exercises had an exponential rate of difficulty. We understood that the principles of Shaolin and especially the Fighting Virtue, are consistent with the principles of Scouting and the aim of our concrete action. Besides, the founder of Scouting, Lord Baden Powel 1857-1941 had said something that matches Shaolin : Through our actions we try to leave the world a little better than we found it. We would definitely recommend this activity to other broader sections of scouts and will define a more concerted activity. "