Philadelphia Martial Arts (Seven Mountains Kung Fu)

Come meet for yourself a real kung fu master with 45+ years studying and only Than Vo Dao school in North America. Throughout the years, Sifu Phan has guided several generations in the traditional way of Spiritual Martial arts, focusing not only on physical practice but also moral understanding, kung fu intellectual awareness and historical based teachings. You will not find another school like this one!

This is my first time learning Martial Arts, and I am so grateful to have such a great teacher to teach me! Sifu Phan has great personal charisma and fantastic traditional Chinese Kung Fu skills which amazes me a lot in learning these arts. The school is like a big family! I deeply appreciate Sifu's help in not only my martial arts skills, but also in my personal improvement!

This school teaches an ancient, battle-tested martial art. There is nothing new or modern about what we learn from our teacher, but many techniques in current combat systems can be traced to this lineage! =====MY EXPERIENCE OF THE ART=========== The focus of this school is on martial, spiritual, and moral development! The martial art consists of physical forms (both hands and weapons) training, and also internal (both hard and soft) chi training. We train the physical forms to make our bodies strong, flexible and agile. The physical forms equate to a vocabulary of combative body maneuvers which, after repetition, can be effortlessly drawn from in a fighting situation. For illustration, we draw from our verbal vocabulary in a speaking situation the same way! My favorite part about form-based martial art is that I can get a great workout and sharpen my skill at any time, any place. I don't need a partner or a wooden dummy (although our system has it!). The hard chi (think about a Shaolin Monk) is used to vitalize the bones, muscles, tendons, sinews, etc! We learn to make our body hard like an iron pipe which can absorb blows and inflict massive damage! The soft chi (think about Tai Chi) is used mainly as a tool for meditation and energy cultivation. I came to this art two years ago with no knowledge of fighting, and now I walk my wife home through a rough neighborhood with no fear! The art is abstract compared to less complex disciplines, but after taking some time to study it I realized that there is nothing else worth learning! Our master gives us a knife, but also a sheath (morality). The hope is never to take the knife out, but it is always with you! =====ABOUT THE CLASSES================= Most Kung Fu teachers have only a limited ability to apply their art to real combat situations. Sifu Phan teaches us application every day, using live action examples and also a partner fighting technique he calls "form sparring". This is the reason that we feel confident enough to use such an abstract art in a short amount of time! Master Phan treats the class with a constant stream of light-hearted joking! If you come to class, you had better be prepared to laugh and joke around! The jokes really helped me as a new student because the application of the art can seem quite brutal and inhumane (considering we aim to cripple or kill multiple attackers as fast as possible). Beginners get personal, one-on-one attention until they are able to work out the basic forms with the rest of the class. Some students learn in a week, where as it took me about a month! There is periodical testing of skill every 6 months after that! Classes vary from large to small sizes, and from hard to soft workouts. Some days, we rip through 20 forms and sweat a ton! On other days, we spend a whole class focusing on one small subset of a form, or Chi Kung breathing for internal technique! Each class is like opening a present because you don't know what you will get inside! =====CONCLUSION======================== In just two years, my entire life has changed. I am stronger, smarter, more hard-working, focused, confident, and moral than I have ever been! I am not bragging, but just highlighting what this art has done for me! If you are interested in the history and practice of martial arts, then you should learn from our teacher. If you are interested in getting a really healthy workout and avoiding self-injury, you should learn at Seven Mountains Kung Fu! If you are interested in internal energy, meditation, moral growth, or Shaolin Monks, here you will find answers! If you want to learn the ultimate martial art, this is its home!

Traditional Southern Chinese animal form Kungfu and chikung taught by a highly regarded master.

Why does the outside look like a drug store?