Kung Fu Workshop for Businesses

KEI Kung Fu from Amsterdam is the Kung Fu school that does things a little differently. By different, we mean that this beautiful Kung Fu school in the center of Amsterdam is truly for everyone. For everyone who sees Kung Fu not just as a goal but as a means. A means for more self-confidence, better fitness, improved results at work, and genuine attention to yourself and your environment. Through Kung Fu workshops, KEI Kung Fu from Amsterdam aims to contribute to better performance also in work environments. One of the companies that got acquainted with Kung Fu and its benefits in daily (work) life is the Amstelveen marketing agency Merkelijkheid.

In this article, we describe the different parts of the workshop that lasted a total of half a day. During the intake, Merkelijkheid indicated that they were mainly interested in a combination of martial arts, focus, posture, and especially self-development.

Reception and Introduction

Every workshop for companies always starts with a reception in our modern academy. Of course, there is excellent coffee and tea, but we also always provide fresh fruit. After meeting Sifu Lai-Wing, all participants receive a unique KEI Kung Fu shirt. After the tour of the academy and an explanation of the meaning, origin, and history of Kung Fu, the workshop begins.

Posture (Qiqong Foundation)

In the first part of this workshop, we focus on posture. We teach participants how to stand properly. That seems simple, but in our society, we broadly see that most people are actually no longer able to do the simplest things like standing or sitting in a healthy way. We have simply unlearned it. When standing, feeling how you stand, the correct weight distribution between the front and back of the foot, and proper breathing are important. By learning this, less pressure is placed on the knees and other joints. This part of the workshop, often used at the start of KEI Kung Fu workshops for companies, delves deeper into the core elements. In our weekly regular classes, we call this Qigong Foundations, an approximately 4000-year-old exercise for aligning breathing, movement, and awareness. In this part, we often work from top to bottom, from the head to the neck, shoulders, spine, pelvis downward. Then attention was given to sitting posture. Just like standing, we also see incorrect sitting posture where the pressure is distributed incorrectly. The first part of this workshop ended with a short seated meditation exercise to further increase awareness, followed by a short break with fruit and drinks.

Kung Fu as Martial Arts

The workshop continued in the second part with Kung Fu as martial arts. Participants received an explanation about the purpose of Kung Fu as self-defense. Aspects such as creating space, energy optimization, and posture are always central. Mastering Kung Fu fully is, of course, not possible in one workshop, but understanding and performing some basics is. This workshop therefore addressed several aspects of a (potential) fight. First, participants received information on how to create space for themselves in a non-aggressive way. The goal is to prevent a confrontation while still adopting a proper basic defensive stance. It was explained how a good balance between projecting self-confidence and avoiding too much dominance (aggression) can be achieved. Participants then learned about the proper use of energy in a strike. The beauty of Kung Fu is that muscle strength is not the key factor, but they could experience for themselves how energy, movement, and focus are much more decisive.

“I experienced the workshop as very balanced. Not only in terms of energy, where consciously standing still in a perfect way is alternated with very conscious movement, but also in terms of variety in work forms and exercises. When you think of Kung Fu, you quickly imagine some kind of Bruce Lee fights. During this workshop, of course, we learned how to use Kung Fu as martial arts and in fights, but above all, the rest was experienced by me and my colleagues as extremely valuable. Sifu Lai-Wing made us incredibly aware in a few hours about our posture, how we breathe, stand, sit, and move. That in our daily life, which largely takes place at work, we are so unaware of these basics was a real eye-opener. I am truly convinced that being more aware of this and making a few small adjustments in our routine contributes to more energy and healthier staff. I would therefore recommend everyone, whether you have a job in an office environment or a job where you are very active, to get to know what KEI Kung Fu can mean for yourself or your company.” Tal Gonen (owner Merkelijkheid B.V.)