“In Buddhism there are methods to meet the various needs and aspirations of different people, which can be divided into the following three generalized levels:
1) Live healthily and happily to a ripe old age
2) Go to heaven in the next life
3) Attain the greatest, highest achievement, described variously as attaining enlightenment, achieving Buddhahood, returning to God, union with Allah, unity with the Cosmos, becoming one with Brahman, seeing ultimate reality, or finding Absolute Truth.
Shaolin Kung Fu, in conjunction with the teaching of Buddhism, can help us achieve any or all these aims.”
~Wong Kiew Kit, The Art of Shaolin Kung Fu
I think it’s important when practicing anything really to remember your purpose in doing that thing. And if you want to do it authentically, then it’s important to learn its true method and purpose. This is especially true for things which have a looong history, such as languages, artistic or craft skills, martial arts, etc. When learning one of these things your mental state must match the activity, or your efforts will be shallow and inauthentic. So, when speaking Serbian, you must think and feel like a Serbian, or else it will be difficult to internalize the language and make it feel natural. You could not approach creating an impressionist style painting with the same mindset and feelings as you would to create a photo-realistic style painting.
The purpose of many martial arts are most importantly to build character, cultivate spirit, etc., and secondarily for martial application (though this is important too). Why is this so? Well, In the instance of Shaolin Kung fu, the Shaolin Temple was a center for Buddhism long before they had any form of martial arts. The martial arts were then integrated into their methodology for achieving the three purposes outlined above. So, to practice it authentically, this must be researched and kept in mind when pursuing your training.
Also, the proper state mind and body must be understood and maintained:
“What’s Shaolin style? Shaolin style builds moral character, promotes excellent circulation, strengthens the body, creates the limbs coordination, increases agility of the mind and the body, and trains Wushu skills to such a degree that victories can be gained in all forms of conflicts. What’s the practice? Advance is like lightning. Retreat is like the wind. The head moves like the waves. The feet are as solid as stones. The body flows like a flying dragon. The hands move like shooting stars. All movements spring forth from the human mind and human being nature. Attacks are hard and strong but not excessive, they can bend like the reed in the wind, changing from one type of attack to another. The attacks contain fakes and surprising strikes that combine to react to your enemies defence. In Shaolin style, defence is like a gentle girl, soft but not weak. Attacks are tiger like, violent and appropriate. If one wishes to defeat his enemies in a fighting, he must overcome his weaknesses in practice. Practice leads to skill. Skill leads to perfection, and perfection leads to the supernatural.”
The Mysterious Past 