My Story
Overdoing It
Some assume I emerged from the womb in full lotus with Shaolin monk discipline.
In truth, my flair for discipline comes from its opposite: my flair for intensity and impulsivity. I was born holding a metaphorical flamethrower with no 'Off' switch and no setting but maximum.
In my early days, this led to some success. And I won't pretend: I certainly had fun.
But it also caused problems.
Funnelling my energy into sport, I competed in international-level rugby and elite-level powerlifting. But I was riddled with chronic pain from injury, including a nasty jaw break.
Directing myself towards academic success, I got straight As before landing a role at a Magic Circle law firm. But my soul felt drained from running on the hamster wheel.
I enjoyed hedonistic highs but discovered they were eventually outstripped by the lows.
Waking Up
The hollowness became too much.
I could no longer ignore the question that had been pestering me for so long:
Is this it?
Surely there's more to life than oscillating between fleeting satisfaction and emptiness for a while and then dying?
I did what any private-school English boy with first world problems would do: a soul-searching mission in Asia.
Spent a couple of weeks in tech-free silence, meditating for 12 hours per day in a Thai temple.
The first week was an inner tussle.
Then, I succumbed.
'Ah, there I am.'
Inner smile and inner knowing returned. Quiet, yet electric. So alive. The fleeting highs of yesteryears were exposed as hollow. I'd been empty, but now something had reawakened.
The Corporate Dojo
As fate would have it, I was on the eve of stepping into a role at Clifford Chance, a top UK law firm.
The corporate world would be my crucible for learning to retain stillness amidst chaos.
I experimented relentlessly, earning the moniker 'Plotter' amongst friends because of the countless hours spent strategising on the intersection of performance and peace.
I read and applied self-help books. I became a personal trainer. I spent time on retreats. I gradually grew a daily practice across meditation, Qi Gong, Tai Chi and Kung Fu.
I even spent a year living in a Tibetan Buddhist centre while working on the trading floor at Goldman Sachs, where I helped run a meditation group.
It was when I met Chinese (Zen and Taoist) martial arts that I knew: this is The One.
I became fascinated by the Zen mind. Unshakeable yet gentle, disciplined yet creative and free.
The practice had a remarkable effect on my working life.
Half the working hours. Double the output. No work phone for three years. A handful of email checks per day. No overtime, no missed exercise or lunch breaks. No missed deadlines either.
I actually really liked my job.
I realised that the stress people experience in high-performing institutions is often an unnecessary consequence of beliefs about the toll work must take on wellbeing.
As a nice bonus, my chronic pain and stress fell away.
All-In
In 2020 I packed in the corporate world to go all-in.
Since then, I've channeled my energy into martial and meditative arts, waking at 4am to practice for five hours per day. I let go of social media, news, streaming, and other forms of conventional digital distraction.
Emotional turbulence and stress fell away.
I don't demand the same of my students — I'd have no business if they all shaved their heads — but I can help them take a few steps in that direction.
Many invisible limitations fell away, and I was able to create the life I had been fantasising about for years.
I live by Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Zen, training in XinYiBa with Shifu Wu NanFang, an ancient Shaolin internal Kung Fu. I practice for six hours per day while writing and coaching online.
After three years training intensively with Shifu Shi Heng Zuan in Europe, I moved to China, where I spent a year in Wudang, eventually becoming a teacher.
I have had the privilege of being taught by world-leading masters such as Shifu Shi Heng Yi, Chen Geng, Shifu Yuan Xiu Gang, Shifu Chen Shiyu, Jake Pinnick, Xiao Yun, Liu Jin, Shifu Yan Lei and Iain Armstrong.
And yet, all the way, I still felt like I hadn’t quite arrived. Until…
Gulun Kung Fu
I doubted myself.
I had trained with so many masters in so many art forms.
And yet… I felt something lacking. I hadn’t found the One.
In 2024, I went on a tour to meet three special masters I had in mind. I had big expectations. And yet, at the end, I still knew I hadn’t found what I was looking for.
It was a dark moment. I felt lost. I really doubted this whole thing.
And then I stumbled across a video of Gulun Kung Fu.
I saw something different. A unique quality to this Shaolin style. It carried not only the elegance of Tai Chi but a quality of internal power arising from deep, spiralling movements. I was mesmerised.
I tracked down the school and shortly arrived.
As soon as I started practising, and even more – as soon as I met Shifu Wu Nanfang, the lineage holder – I knew the search was over.
Things moved quickly, and since September 2024 I have been practising one-on-one with Shifu himself. No plan to leave any time soon.
The overflow of gratitude and luck I felt at having the opportunity to learn from and exchange energy with the lineage holder of this ancient art became too much. Gradually, it grew into a desire to share the practice with others and ensure the transmission of this art to the next generation.
Feel free to email me at ben@benlucas.co, in particular if you want to comment how much you enjoyed my jokes.