“I studied fine art sculpture at university and became increasingly more interested in eastern artists and eastern philosophy. By the end of my degree I had lost my faith in the art world completely - I found that artists were too self-absorbed and lacked real understanding of the world, this didn't inspire me. Over the next 6 years I attended a number of different Buddhist and meditation classes but was not satisfied until I met Sifu at his 2002 Annual Retreat in Greece. I have never met someone who gets so much out of life, he seems to be able to effortlessly make the most of every situation and bring out the best in people. Nowadays it is very hard to find a good role model, and for me Sifu is the perfect example of how to live your life in harmony with everything around you. I was so impressed that directly after the retreat I enrolled as a student on the Classical Qigong Study.”

Loday Gompo (Newcastle)