Welcome to the YMAA CA Retreat Center

YMAA Retreat Center in Humbolt County, CA is a facility established in 2005 by the founder of YMAA (Yang’s Martial Arts Association), world renowned author and teacher, Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming, Ph.D. The main purpose of this organization is to restore and preserve the traditional Chinese arts and culture to their original high standard. Preserving the arts has been the focus of Dr. Yang’s work throughout the past 35 years, and the Retreat Center will ensure this authentic lineage of the traditional arts will continue for generations.

Expertise and mastery in the field of the Chinese arts requires the guidance of an experienced teacher. The Retreat Center will offer a unique facility to reestablish and continue the time-honored tradition in which a student lives and trains with the teacher for a decade. This level of dedication ensures deep and accurate transmission of the teachers' complete knowledge, making the arts a way of life, and academic career option for each student. Semi-isolated from the distractions of modern society in a remote mountain area in Northern CA, 15 students will live and train with Dr. Yang in an unprecedented 10-year training program. The extensive curriculum includes Chinese martial arts and weapons, English and Chinese literature, writing and publishing, Chinese cooking and culture, horseback riding, archery, meditation, and the healing arts. Graduating students will be conferred the title of Master of Traditional Chinese Martial Arts.

Dr. Yang explains:

1. "There are four main purposes of establishing this nonprofit Retreat Center.

   To preserve Chinese arts to the same level as 50 years ago. From my experience of more than 35 years of teaching, I deeply realize that in order to preserve the Chinese arts to the profound level as in ancient times, a student must live in an environment similar to that in ancient times. Traditionally, a student would live together with a master for 10 years of training in a single martial art style. Back then, there was no TV, no computer, no external distraction, no social pressure, and no luxurious lifestyles like today. Daily life was simple, and the heart of training was sincere. A student was thus able to concentrate his/her whole mind in the training. Therefore, my plan is to take 15 selected students to this remote mountain environment for 10 years of training, nine months per year. With good discipline and instruction, I sincerely believe that I can raise the quality and depth of the arts to a standard as high as in ancient times.

2. To prove that today's youth is able to develop good self-discipline through traditional Chinese martial arts training. In this school, a student must learn and perform a high standard of self-discipline in order to persevere and succeed throughout the difficult training.
3. To raise awareness of martial morality. Due to widely-spread commercialized martial arts, such as Hollywood Kung Fu movies and culture, martial morality has been ignored in modern times. In this Retreat Center, a student must aim to achieve a high level of martial morality, including:

   Morality of Deed: humility, respect, righteousness, trust, and loyalty.
   Morality of Mind: will, endurance, perseverance, patience, and courage.

4. To plant the seed for future Chinese martial arts development. It is the intention with this camp to establish a model which demonstrates the structure and methods for preserving the Chinese arts, and for planting the seed for future generations to continue this long-term development of the arts on the correct path. It is my hope that this type of training method will continue to spread and become popular in youth training centers around the world.

   Thank you,
   Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming"