First off I am writing this as a 30 plus year practitioner of Korean Martial Arts and so review this training from a seasoned perspective.

A year ago, we were fortunate enough to travel to the Shaolin temple in China and train for a day as part of our tour to China. It was a great experience but only enough to whet our appetite for more. My son, a second degree black belt, especially wanted more of the chinese martial arts experience. After doing a thorough internet search we decided to visit and train with Sifu Marilyn Cooper this summer.

Sifu Marilyn Cooper has decades of experience and has an obvious love of teaching. She is both patient and demanding. She was able to demonstrate both form and application with equal facility.

In addition to the physical training, we had many enlightening conversations and her other students with whom we shared group classes were equally helpful and a delight to train with as well.

Based on our level of martial arts proficiency, Sifu Marilyn tailored a program that included not only tai chi form and push hands but also a strong focus on shaolin style tan tui training. In addition to learning the 12 forms within this style, we also learned applications for all the moves we learned. This was incredibly useful as we intend to bring this knowledge back home to incorporate into our pre-existing repertoire of techniques.

For anyone that is interested in learning tai chi, shaolin, or both, Sifu Marilyn Cooper has our highest recommendation!

Sifu Marilyn is a gracious host, dedicated practitioner and skilled teacher. She has a wonderful depth of knowledge, foundation and honor for the origin of these practices. All of which informs her ability to meet her students where they are and create a learning experience tailored to their benefit. The more you have the more you will learn. In the old tradition of handing down information one to one, Sifu Marilyn holds nothing back.

I had a great time working on my form and general kung fu knowledge, training in the park and meeting her gracious and supportive community of students and fellow teachers. Thank you very much!!

I booked my retreat online with zero prior experience in kung fu. I only had some previous martial arts training (Taijutsu and Aikido) and a strong background in the philosophy and meditation practices of Zen buddhism, but i was searching for a way to integrate martial arts into my life. I work two jobs and do a lot of business travel, so weekly martial arts sessions at a studio where i live were not enough, i needed a way to focus on it and get some passion built up so i could build up the internal drive to motivate myself not just to attend training sessions, but to practice independently.

the experience learning from Marilyn was exactly what i was hoping for, and more. Marilyn's background and skill is impressive to say the least. it was a rare experience to converse with her about kung fu history. the ability to drink from this deep well of insight into Chinese martial arts was in itself a stimulating aspect of the retreat.

but i found her knowledge of kung fu forms, tai chi, bagua, and qigong to be singularly valuable. over the course of six days, Marilyn assessed where I was at, mentally and physically, as she developed a personalized study plan that I could take back home with me. this plan incorporated drills, warmups, and practice recommendations that were designed to maximize my progress if i studied them diligently on my own.

in the "journey of a thousand miles" that is kung fu, this was the perfect first step.