Vocabulary

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Video (About 8:00)

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

 

Shaolin monks are known for their discipline, their high athletic abilities, and their ability to meditate under any sort of condition. They find the balance between yin and yang. And I’ve spent a whole month at this temple. So, let me tell you what it’s all about.

This is the front entrance of our school and we’re in the ancient village of Mein Hwa. Let me show you around. Let’s go.

It goes 6:30 a.m. . . . Wake up. . . . 7:00 a.m. . . . Roll call . . . It’s like we’re in the army.

We all put on the same uniform every single day. Some people smell kind of bad at the end of the week. That’s That’s not the point of this video. I’m not talking about anyone in particular.

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I’m moving on. My peers here are from every single country you could possibly think of.

Some people come here to find themselves. Some people come here to improve their martial arts. And some people are just complete novices and newbies, like me. Not many, by the way. Not many people are like that.

But a lot of people also come here just because they’re looking for a physical challenge to strengthen their body and their mind.

And I just needed some good old whipping to get myself into shape. I wanted to do something hard. Running a half marathon wasn’t enough for me. So here I am in China.

I guess if a girl like me literally had no experience came here to do this, so can you.

Shaolin Temple Participant: She can’t go through the hardships of monkhood.”
Rivata “Riv” Dutta, Presenter: “I can’t go through the hardships of monkhood!”

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Kung fu means hard work over a long course of time. And that means doing things that you sometimes don’t want to do, like stretching every day.

There’s days that you really, really, really just don’t want to do it, but it’s a non-negotiable. Before every single training session, run some laps and then stretch.

The first couple of days, you’re excited because you’re like, “Oh my god, maybe I’m going to get the splits. And then by the first week, you’re like, “Dang, I just don’t want to stretch anymore.”

But it is so important for your muscles to recover. You have to take your stretching seriously. And then sometimes you get paired with like your shifue or like a bad partner who wants to break you in half.

Honestly, those days are less boring when you’re in searing pain. But it’s like, would you rather choose boredom of stretching or painful stretching? I don’t know.

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This is like our star progeny at our temple. He’s the nephew of one of our shifuse and he’s just amazing at everything he does. Like one day, one day, easy, easy. I’m going to be able to do the splits like shape. Go shape.

We train every day at our temple and some of the key components of what we do include ha chi gong which is where you strengthen your muscles.

What does it mean again? So ha chi gong is something that strengthens your body through pain like punching yourself repeatedly over and over.

And it makes you feel pretty badass — and then after that your muscles start to hurt and you wake up with bruises. And then you ask your peers to go lighter and lighter on you.

Do I feel stronger from getting punched over and over? I don’t know, but I do have bruises.

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So from the very first day, you have the option of choosing what group you go into. There’s three different groups at the school. There is Yu Shifu, who’s all about calmness and meditation, and who teaches the forms like fog. It’s a form of kung fu that looks so graceful and looks like a dance.

You can train with Yaning Shifu, who’s all about high speed, high power, high energy. Whenever you look at Yaning Shifu, he’s like menacing in the corner like doing flips and tricks in the air, and his class very much represents that.

Their focus is on weapons which requires a lot of physical strength and a lot of short bursts of energy. And so you can see that in their training where they condition their body a lot through bear crawls, through push-ups, through planks, just overall building your body strength, so you could even pick up the sword to complete the kung fu form, which by the way, they look really, really cool.

And then there’s always smiling. Wu Shifu is my shifu. I didn’t even know what you trained in each group. I just saw this man and I was like, I know I want to be his student. His positive energy just rubs off on everyone around him and I was like this is someone I really really want to learn from.

Our class we focus on a lot of Wing Chun and boxing. Crazy to think that Wing Chan is actually a martial art that was made by a woman made for a very small petite woman.

It focuses a lot on speed and technique, not pure physical strength, which is really useful for someone like me who obviously can’t beat up someone in a physical fight, but can possibly outmaneuver them using the proper tools.

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I kid you not, when I first came here, I had no idea what kung fu was. like my martial arts experience non-existent.

I did jiu-jitsu for a year when I was 16 growing up and I got one stripe on my belt, which is basically the first level and most people get it in 3 months, but it took me a full year to get my freaking one stripe.

But I literally saw one Instagram edit of this guy and he looked so cool doing it that I was like, “Oh, this seems like slick. I would definitely try this out for a week.” So, I came here for one week in December during winter time when we had freezing, freaking freezing cold water. I’m so cold. I’m start telling myself that anymore, so I felt warm. Okay. Okay.

And there were rats in my room. I got a stick to help remove the rats. I hate this. They came to hang out with me in my room. I was like, “Oh my god, I don’t know what I signed myself up for.”

Also, none of the laundry here is working because the pipes froze over. So, I’ve been rewearing the same three sets of clothes I had. I have no idea if I smell good or if I smell bad.

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But there was something about this place that really spoke to my heart that I was like, I think I have to stay. I was like, it’s kind of fun to like learn how to do spinning jumps in the air and learn how to fight.

So, I decided to come back a couple weeks later during the springtime to fully commit to my training and stay here for a full month.

My experience in springtime has been much more pleasant. Our water isn’t freezing cold. Honestly, I feel much more comfortable.

A lot of people get injured during kung fu, guys. A lot of people. And I faced my first ever injury during the acrobatics class. It’s really important for kung fu cuz a lot of the forms you’re like required to flip in the air.

Everyone made their flips look so easy, but I was trying to show off. I landed on my neck and it was really painful, and so I don’t really like the acrobatics class because I get embarrassed.

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During the days of acrobatics on Wednesdays, we also participate in power stretching where someone else stretches you very intensely. But the difference between power stretching and stretching in power stretching you engage your muscles hardcore.

So you’re like flexing the whole time which deepens the stretch. It’s really important for people like dancers, martial art artists, and gymnasts.
I feel like euphoric afterward. It just feels good getting stretched out.

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Oh, one of my favorite days when I first got here was working on our balance. There’s so many elements of kung fu. I’ve already told you about strengthening and conditioning our bodies through hachiong and power stretching where we work on flexibility.

But also a key part of kung fu is finding your inner chi, which means energy. And balance is a big part of that. So, we have these poles at our school that we run across or we balance on with our different kung fu poses.

It is one of the things I actually struggle at the most. You would think it’s acrobatics, right? No, guys, the poles is actually the hardest.

Wow, I sound like a baby. Everything I’m saying, I’m like, “This is hard. This is hard. This is hard.” And now that I’m thinking about it, yes, it’s hard, but it’s also really fun to challenge yourself and push yourself.

If I really want to challenge my physical strength and my mind, I can easily do that at home. But the reason why I came all the way to China to study kung fu is because I was craving a sense of adventure.

I wanted to come home and tell my friends that I did something cool and crazy that no one’s ever done.

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Well, guys, this was before Speed came to China and did like a 4-hour live stream of training with the Shaolin monks. I’m glad the message of kung fu is being spread worldwide. I guess I’m more basic than I thought. It is what it is.

So to complement hard chigong where we get punched in the stomach, there’s also soft chigong. Because on the side of yang, there’s also yin. There is high energy and there’s low energy where we do forms that basically look like you’re doing nothing.

One thing my master tells me all the time is that even if you don’t feel the movement right now, once you repeat the movement over a long course of period of time, you start to feel it inside you.

It’s about repeating something long enough that you find the chi, the energy within you. Even through simple movements like this, you’re working and activating all your muscles and putting out good into the world is what they like to say and which I agree with.

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Questions

 

Kung Fu. This video features the life and daily routines of monks at the Shaolin Temple. True or false?

Wing Chun. The Presenter: “It’s like we’re in the army.” What did she mean by that?

Shuai Jiao, Qin Na. All the participants are from China; all the participants are from China. Is this right or wrong? Do they all aspire to be martial arts champions or Hollywood action movie stars?

Muay Thai. Is the training program fun and easy, or tedious, grueling, strenuous, both, neither, in the middle, it depends?

Tae Kwon Do. Did they only practice striking and kicking?

Hapkido. Were the participants a hundred percent, totally motivated and enthusiastic, every day, day after day? Did they feel energized and empowered each and every day?

Sambo. China is a hot, tropical country. Is this correct or incorrect, both, neither, in the middle, it depends?

Karate. Is the Shaolin training only consist of physical conditioning?
 
 
 
Judo, Jujitsu. My friends and I like(d) to watch Kung Fu or action movies. Yes or no?

Brazilian Jujitsu. My friends and have practiced martial arts. Are there martial arts schools and clubs in your neighborhood, community, town, city, region, country?

Capoeira. My friends and I wish to live in the Shaolin Monastery. Would you and your friends like to visit the Shaolin Monastery?

Aikido. Do your friends wish to be a MMA or martial arts champ, or ninja? Would you like to be a martial arts expert, or do you want to be able to defend yourself “on the streets”?

Tang Soo Do. What could or should people do?

Mixed Martial Arts. What might happen in the future?