Dan Monaghan

Teachers

Daniel Monaghan 3rd Dan

Dan in freestyle pushing hands action

Dan started practicing Shizenryu in 1998 at Bournemouth University and now holds a 3rd Dan black belt in Shizenryu.

Dan has 18 years of experience in the martial arts. He practiced Judo for 2 years from the age of 8 and then Win Chun Kung Fu for four years from the age of 13. Dan has been keenly researching Zen Buddhism, Taoism and the Martial Arts since he was 16.

Dan enjoys anything active – specifically swimming, bike riding and walking long distances. Music is another big part of Dan’s life and though he has not learned to play a musical instrument, if he ever does it would be the drums. Dan likes going out and socialising as well as staying at home writing. Art is another hobby that Dan has been enjoying for quite some time.

Back in 1998 when Dan first became involved with Shizenryu at Bournemouth University he watched one of the classes and was impressed with the whole ethos and attitude of the teachers and students. The martial arts Dan had practiced in the past lacked the ‘Zen Way’ and appeared to be too geared towards just fighting. Shizenryu reinforced Dan’s feeling that martial arts should be a ‘Way of life’ and are to be applied to all aspects of life.

Since before Dan achieved his Shodan he had sometimes taught in Bournemouth within Ian’s classes, helping beginners learn the basics. Dan realised that teaching is the best way to learn. Once he attained his black belt in 2003 he felt that he had to go back to London and start his own adult’s class in order to gain valuable experience. Dan taught adult classes in a Buddhist temple for three years in west London. This solidified his realisation of what he wanted to do: teach full time. He returned to Bournemouth and started his full time teaching of both adults and children.

Dan comments:
“Shizenryu a complete system that trains us to realise the ‘Zen Mind’ – the key to mental and therefore physical health. It trains the practitioner to deal with life’s inevitable changes in an enlightened way – very useful indeed. We specialise in pushing hands in which we use the body to teach us about what is going on with the mind and iron out bad habits by applying universal principles like ‘Middle Way’ to our practice. What the body is doing physically says a lot about the state of mind. Apart from life skill one side effect with this training is you become a skilled martial artist! My aim as a teacher is to guide my students to realise their ‘Zen Mind’ whilst increasing my training and teaching experience.”

Currently Dan teaches full time in Bournemouth, Poole, Ringwood, and New Milton

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