I began training at STQI with Master Dao in the spring of 2018. For quite some time, I had been thinking about getting back into martial arts training, but nothing I found truly appealed to me. In the past, I had practiced Taekwondo, Shotokan Karate, and even Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as an adolescent and into my twenties. However, none of them seemed to address what I was really looking for. I realized that if I wanted something deeper—something that connected mind, body, and spirit—I wasn’t going to find it in a typical strip mall dojo. Then, in 2017, I happened to walk past the Lucky Moose and discovered STQI. I knew right then and there that this was where I needed to be. Training here slowly and steadily began to give me more mental clarity. Two years in, when the pandemic hit, it was the training at STQI that provided me with the tools I needed to face the years ahead without despair. Nearly eight years on, I can say that Shaolin has helped me turn my life around. It has allowed me to reconnect with passions I had neglected—music and painting—and to discover new ones I never knew I had. I can truly say that the last decade has been the best of my life.

I began training at STQI with Master Dao in the spring of 2018. For quite some time, I had been thinking about getting back into martial arts training, but nothing I found truly appealed to me. In the past, I had practiced Taekwondo, Shotokan Karate, and even Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as an adolescent and into my twenties. However, none of them seemed to address what I was really looking for. I realized... [MORE]

When we went into lockdown I was so sad because I knew how much I would miss training in person with our classmates! Then Master Dao told us he would be teaching live classes! Elijah and I were so excited, but we have a small place! We quickly found out that didn’t matter! We train as hard as we did when we were outside! Both of us do! We get an excellent workout and we are still progressing in all aspects of our training! Forms, weapons, punches, kicks, stances, all of it! Master Dao gives us feed back during class and Shaolin theory as well. I have to say training online live with Dao it has been great , you sweat like crazy, get a great work out and you get to continue to move forward with your Kung Fu! Elijah and I have a really good time. Even with our small space we’ve managed to figure out a way to run and kick and do our forms, everything we need to do for class. We are even able to continue learning Yin Shou Gun with a short staff that we got from Master Dao. We train hard! I really enjoy training with Master Dao live and we feel it gives us that much needed sense of community because you’re not training alone. Your fellow students and Master Dao are there training with virtually . You can say hi, ask questions and chat at times! I highly recommend training live, it’s the next best thing to being there in the school. I’m so thankful we have this option to keep training even in lockdown so we don’t loose our momentum!

When we went into lockdown I was so sad because I knew how much I would miss training in person with our classmates! Then Master Dao told us he would be teaching live classes! Elijah and I were so excited, but we have a small place! We quickly found out that didn’t matter! We train as hard as we did when we were outside! Both of us do! We get an excellent workout and we are still progressing in... [MORE]