White Pheonix Online Academy

nix is a wholistic Chinese martial and healing art that incorporates a mix of soft and hard martial art styles, such as kung fu (gongfu), tai chi (taijiquan), and chi gung (qigong) meditation. Methods and applications range from fighting, self-defense, and body conditioning, to forms, Tai Chi, and active meditation and healing practices. Our goal is to create well-rounded and healthy martial arts practitioners that defend themselves and others, and cultivate self-mastery and wellbeing. The online academy makes the full forms and applications of the White Pheonix system available to you online and on the Kajabi mobile app. We have partnered with Kajabi as our platform host to offer a high quality and robust learning experience. You will also gain access to the online community where you can interact with other practitioners and organize training meetups. Private instruction is also available with certified instructors either remotely or in select locations in-person. It’s a goal of ours to offer world-class instruction, to anyone, anywhere. We also do that an affordable price, with monthly and yearly membership subscriptions. The White Pheonix System as it is called today - like the Chinese Phoenix - has a history of rising, burning to ashes, and then rising again. Today it is a modernized hybrid gōngfū (kung fu) system focused on its traditional roots. It traces its core movements directly back to the Southern Shàolín Temple in the Fujian province of China in the 17th century. Our first Grandmaster Ming Guan is believed to have started his training as a warrior monk at the Northern Shaolin Temple in Henan province. However, in 1644 the monastery was destroyed by the Manchu army, so he went to the Southern Shaolin Temple. Ming Guan eventually created an advanced hybrid master style that combined the best of the northern and southern martial arts styles. Generations of practitioners would go on to defend themselves and their nation using this effective fighting style. Generations of masters have also expanded, updated, and refined the style into the complete martial arts system we have today. It's a modern system, but the roots and methods are traditional and authentic. The training begins with basic sets and exercises to teach fundamentals and prepare the mind and body. Training progresses into the five animal styles - Tiger, Crane, Mantis, Elephant, and Dragon. As well as Snake style diǎnmài (dim mak), and the Eight Chambers of Shaolin strength training. These are then combined with the five element styles at the core of the White Pheonix System - Water, Earth, Wood, Gold (Metal), and Fire. The culmination of mastery of the first four elements unlocks and produces the Fire element, which is the final and highest fighting style in the system. White Pheonix is complete with traditional Chinese weapons including the Shaolin staff, broadsword, straight sword, double straight sword, nine-section chain whips, and the unicorn steel whip, among others. To temper the martial fist and weapons training, Grandmaster Joel Castillo has added three traditional Luóhàn Qìgōng (Lohan Chi Gung) forms throughout the system for health and longevity. To further round out the system with more internal martial forms, Grandmaster Castillo has added the Chén Tàijíquán (Chen style Tai Chi) Eighteen Movements and Cannon Fist forms. This is to balance the yáng energy of the more external "hard" animal forms with the yīn energy of the more internal "soft" Taijiquan forms. This balance is key for the long-term health of martial arts practitioners. We also give students the option to pursue the standard White Pheonix curriculum, or to choose the more internal focused curriculum - depending on the objectives and physical abilities of the student. Many martial arts systems today, unlike in the past, no longer focus on creating true and complete martial artists. Grandmaster Joel Castillo insists that everyone young or old know how to really use their gongfu. We say at White Pheonix "we don't dance", and we mean it! Through hard work and dedication, anyone can become an expert in their own right, and will possess a priceless gift within their own mind. Martial arts is more than fighting, more than meditation, and more than a health exercise. It is a system of thought that gives you the tools to lead a long and happy life. True martial arts is about self-mastery, from which life and spirit may flourish.