Goals of the YMAA Retreat Center
- To raise the standard of Chinese martial arts training in the Western world, by demonstrating high levels of skill, morality, humility, and spirituality.
- To communicate the true depth of the traditional Chinese arts and culture to mainstream America and the world.
Dr. Yang explains:
“There are four main purposes of establishing this nonprofit Retreat Center.
1. To preserve Chinese arts to the same level as 50 years ago. From my experience of more than 35 years of teaching, I deeply realize that in order to preserve the Chinese martial to the profound level as in ancient times, a student must live in an environment similar to that in ancient times. Traditionally, a student would live together with a master for 10 years of training in a single martial art style. Back then, there was no TV, no computer, no external distraction, no social pressure, and no luxurious lifestyles like today. Daily life was simple, and the heart of training was sincere. A student was thus able to concentrate his/her whole mind in the training. Therefore, my plan is to take 15 selected students to this remote mountain environment for 10 years of training, nine months per year. With good discipline and instruction, I sincerely believe that I can raise the quality and depth of the arts to a standard as high as in ancient times.
2. To prove that today’s youth is able to develop good self-discipline through traditional Chinese martial arts training. In this school, a student must learn and perform a high standard of self-discipline in order to persevere and succeed throughout the difficult training.
3. To raise awareness of martial morality. Due to widely-spread commercialized martial arts, such as Hollywood Kung Fu movies and culture, martial morality has been ignored in modern times. In this Retreat Center, a student must aim to achieve a high level of martial morality, including:
Morality of Deed: humility, respect, righteousness, trust, and loyalty.
Morality of Mind: will, endurance, perseverance, patience, and courage.
4. To plant the seed for future Chinese martial arts development. It is the intention with this camp to establish a model which demonstrates the structure and methods for preserving the Chinese arts, and for planting the seed for future generations to continue this long-term development of the arts on the correct path. It is my hope that this type of training method will continue to spread and become popular in youth training centers around the world.
Thank you, Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming”
