Translating the Healing Powers of Chinese Martial Arts with Sifu Love

Sifu Love is one of the world’s preeminent practitioners of martial arts creatively applying their ancient principles to healing and personal growth. After 15 years of training, he’s learned ways to help overcome many mental health challenges through mixed movement modalities.

Having experienced special, science-defying gifts from a young age, Sifu eventually found his way to living in China, where he became a devout student of multiple disciplines and styles of martial arts while tapping into the energies all around us.

We share a fascinating discussion detailing how he learned the ins and outs of various styles of Chinese martial arts and applied them to his own life with a mixture of mysticism and soulfulness. Sifu has used what he’s learned to tackle his own mental health challenges and now he wants to share his tools with the world.

Sifu is also an advocate for helping those with minority backgrounds, racial, sexual, or otherwise, to reconcile with traumas they may have suffered and find ways to grow. It’s important work that truly enriches the world. 

His life is one of intentional modalities and a strong sense of self. It’s a truly inspiring story that we can all learn from, be it our approaches to empathy or how in tune we are with our own bodies and the various natural states we find ourselves in.

What Brett asks:

• [01:50] Let’s start with your early days and childhood.
• [04:00] Was your approach to spirituality in childhood something you did consciously at the time?
• [07:00] What was it like being different as a kid?
• [17:00] What’s your perspective on bullies?
• [25:55] What was the process that got you to China?
• [29:50] Where did all your strength come from?
• [32:30] Where should people interested in martial arts start to learn about them?
• [35:25] Take us from your return from China through to what you do today.
• [47:00] Tell us how you involve shamanic teachings in your work.
• [50:00] Any final thoughts?

Lessons for intentional living:

• There’s a beautiful message in the way that Sifu approaches his martial arts. He listens and studies the work, accomplishments, and teachings of others, and then he makes what he’s learned his own. Remember what he said about finding a way to place gratitude into his style of punching? He took something personal and meaningful to him and imbued his martial arts style with it. We should always strive to learn from others and then make things our own.
• There’s a lot to be said for Sifu’s approach to understanding both sides. As someone who was bullied and then flirted with becoming a bully himself, he knows better than anyone to try and understand where people are coming from. It doesn’t mean you have to excuse their behavior, but a little empathy can go a long way.

Resources:

• Healing Kung Fu
• Join Sifu’s Mailing List