Written By: Marcellus Northington
Fruit-filled rice porridge, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, sore hips, and Shaolin discipline collide at the 2026 Shaolin Warrior Monk Martial Arts Retreat.
What does a bowl of nutritious fruit-filled rice porridge have in common with a functionally drunk rant about the Indigenous ancestors of the Shinnecock Tribe from the Big Baby Jesus himself — our Lord and Savior, Ol’ Dirty Bastard?
Simple: they are both directly influenced by the magic, lore, and history of the Shaolin Temple.
And after this weekend, a select group of participants from all over the world will be just as influenced by the history and culture of the temple — or, at the very least, sore as sh*t from its martial arts regimen.
This Memorial Day weekend, May 22–25, the USA Shaolin Temple — founded in 1994 by 34th-generation Shaolin warrior monk Shifu Shi Yan Ming — will host its annual 2026 Shaolin Warrior Monk: Martial Arts Retreat deep within the “mystical” Catskills region of Upstate New York, where city people traditionally go to either “find themselves,” join indie folk bands, or microdose mushrooms in converted barns.
Dedicated to preserving and sharing knowledge from an authentic lineage of the Chinese Shaolin Temples, the mission of the USA Shaolin Temple, located at 102 Allen Street in New York City, is to teach the disciplines of Ch’an philosophy, also known as Ch’an Buddhism, through the core Shaolin practices of martial arts, or “action meditation”: Gongfu, also known as Kung Fu; Taiji Quan, also known as Tai Chi; and Qigong, also known as Chi Kung.
The temple continues the tradition founded by Bodhidharma, also known as Putidamo, in the year 527 — back when people still achieved enlightenment by staring at cave walls instead of watching 47-second motivational reels narrated by retired CIA agents.
The retreat entails an all-inclusive “weekend of action, meditation, and philosophy to rejuvenate your mind.” With meals and lodging included, the only things needed to attend — besides your prepaid tuition receipt for the “modest” fee of $650 — are comfortable sleeping bags or blankets, emotional resilience, functional kneecaps, and the tenacity to vigorously pursue self-improvement through physical kung fu training and intentional metaphysical-biomechanical “Daoist internal magic” systems.
Participants can expect sunrise mountain air, communal warrior meals, Buddhist meditation, intense flexibility drills, deep philosophical reflection, and the horrifying realization that their hips have been spiritually disconnected from their bodies since Chief Keef released his critically acclaimed mixtape, Almighty So.
From comfortable shared lodging spaces and healthy, delicious meals prepared fresh from the temple kitchen — fit to fuel warriors in training — to rigorous Shaolin body-conditioning techniques and Buddhist meditation sessions, the retreat offers a genuine path toward self-discovery, self-discipline, physical empowerment, and temporary liberation from modern psychological decay.
Whether you’re on a mission to become the next Jet Li or simply seeking a healthy, intrinsically intense, community-driven environment to escape the matrix for a few days, the 2026 Shaolin Warrior Monk: Martial Arts Retreat may be the answer to your prayers.
EVENT DETAILS
Event: 2026 Shaolin Warrior Monk: Martial Arts Retreat
Host: USA Shaolin Temple
Founder: Shifu Shi Yan Ming
Dates: May 22–25, 2026
Location: Catskills, Upstate New York
Temple Address: 102 Allen Street, New York, NY
Tuition: $650
Includes: Lodging, meals, martial arts training, meditation, philosophy, and Shaolin conditioning