About a year and a half ago, I spent 4 months training at the school and I really enjoyed it. I didn't even know about the traditional program until after I arrived and at first I thought that being right at the maximum age range (28) I was a bit too old to participate. After much deliberation and a few talks with Master Yuan, I decided to come back with my sister Melanie for the next five years. It wasn't an easy decision to make, leaving everyone I love behind and sometimes I miss Canada so much but I've never found anything that I was more passionate about than kung fu. It doesn't make sense to let an opportunity to immerse myself in my calling slip by. I truly believe that my life's purpose is to help people through kung fu and I plan to fulfill it. Training at home was great but I felt like I wasn't getting closer to achieving mastery as fast as I'd like and the way we train here is the best way I've seen to do that. 

What changes have you noticed in yourself since you began training?

It's difficult to say, training so much and so often makes it hard to see improvements in yourself but there are a few that I've noticed. Physically, I'm way faster than I used to be. Looking at videos from before the program started I can't believe how slow I was, and I distinctly remember trying to go as fast as I could. I'm still one of the slowest people in our class so there's lots more room for improvement but I can see that I've come a long way already. Mentally I am really calm. I'm sure it has to do with following my passion and doing what I love but I think a big part of it is from being pushed to the limit and beyond. For the first 6 months or so I was often upset with being pushed so hard during class. Sometimes I would be angry, sometimes I would cry from frustration, sometimes I couldn't sleep at night despite being totally exhausted. Looking back I can see that my mind was weak, easily influenced, and reactionary. I'm not sure exactly how it happened but my mood is much more stable now. I feel like I can deal with our training now. Even if my body resists going further, I can override it on my own. Now I understand that our teachers were pushing us that hard so we would become stronger and learn how to push ourselves. 

What hopes do you have for the future of San Feng Pai? 

It's simple. I hope that my classmates and I can become masters in our lineage and by leaving China and teaching it around the world, we can keep the traditional way of training. It would be a shame if this style became all about performance and modern wushu training. I hope that we can keep this tradition alive and help others to find peace through internal kung fu.