First off I am writing this as a 30 plus year practitioner of Korean Martial Arts and so review this training from a seasoned perspective.
A year ago, we were fortunate enough to travel to the Shaolin temple in China and train for a day as part of our tour to China. It was a great experience but only enough to whet our appetite for more. My son, a second degree black belt, especially wanted more of the chinese martial arts experience. After doing a thorough internet search we decided to visit and train with Sifu Marilyn Cooper this summer.
Sifu Marilyn Cooper has decades of experience and has an obvious love of teaching. She is both patient and demanding. She was able to demonstrate both form and application with equal facility.
In addition to the physical training, we had many enlightening conversations and her other students with whom we shared group classes were equally helpful and a delight to train with as well.
Based on our level of martial arts proficiency, Sifu Marilyn tailored a program that included not only tai chi form and push hands but also a strong focus on shaolin style tan tui training. In addition to learning the 12 forms within this style, we also learned applications for all the moves we learned. This was incredibly useful as we intend to bring this knowledge back home to incorporate into our pre-existing repertoire of techniques.
For anyone that is interested in learning tai chi, shaolin, or both, Sifu Marilyn Cooper has our highest recommendation!
