Practicing Kung Fu is like anything in life: if you want to do something well, you have to repeat it, keep repeating it, keep repeating it many, many times before you can do it really well. There's an old saying in China: "Practicing Kung Fu for one day adds one day to your experience, but one day without practicing the basics sets you back ten days. " What I want to achieve with Kung Fu is.
. . I see how it helps me and I think it can help many other people as well.
And that is my goal, I want to spread Kung Fu. Basically, I traveled thousands of kilometers to come here and get. .
. Beaten The steel plate is used to practice the "iron head" technique. My name is Giuseppe, and I have a mission, to travel the world to meet the most extraordinary people on the planet and ask them a simple question: What is happiness to you?
Welcome to the "PROJECT HAPPINESS" I just arrived in China, more precisely in Dengfeng because this is one of the most spiritual places on the entire planet. What you see behind me. It is a very special temple because it is said to be the cradle of all martial arts.
This is the Shaolin Temple, and today I am meeting a very special person, a warrior, a legend who has dedicated his life to learning, teaching, and protecting. The true Shaolin Kung Fu. Sit back, because a great adventure is about to begin of the Project Happiness.
Shaolin Kung Fu is not just a physical discipline, but a philosophy of life that combines the strength of the body with the wisdom of the mind. Legend has it that an Indian Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma traveled from his homeland to China, crossing mountains and rivers to spread the teachings of Buddhism. However, when he arrived at the Shaolin monastery, he found the Chinese monks physically weak and unable to maintain concentration during long hours of meditation.
So, to help them, Bodhidharma introduced a series of physical exercises aimed at improving the monks' health, strengthening their bodies, and enabling them to maintain a vigilant mind during meditation. This physical training not only improved their health but also made them more skilled in defending against the bands of thieves and robbers that threatened their mountains at the time. Over the centuries, the practices introduced by Bodhidharma evolved into a sophisticated martial art, known not only for its combat techniques, but also for its deep connection with philosophy and spirituality.
Today, Shaolin Kung Fu is more alive than ever, and especially thanks to Hollywood movies, in recent decades it has also conquered the West, inspiring entire generations. Our mission is to immerse ourselves in the life of Shifu Shi Miao Ha. One of the last true Shaolin monks, to push ourselves with him beyond the limits of the human body.
To discover the power of our mind and learn what happiness is in Kung Fu. Dengfeng, the city that hosts the monastery, is now known as the cradle of Shaolin Kung Fu. Thousands of children come here from all over China to become Shifu or aspire to a better future.
Come on. All together! This is a Kung Fu school.
It's called "Tagou. " It has about 30,000 students. They train from dawn to dusk.
Some of them do physical conditioning, others practice forms. They are practicing for a big general ceremony. and it will be wonderful.
I am really impressed by how many young people decide to embark on this martial path and study Kung Fu for so many years. Why is that? These students come here at different ages, learn different things and train for different periods of time.
For example, if a student comes at the age of eight, they might need to train until they are eighteen, then they can go to university or start working. If a student arrives at the age of fifteen, they might need only three years and then they can become a soldier. They can become Kung Fu teachers and they can make Kung Fu movies.
Or whatever they want. Well, there are also some students who come to practice for a year, two years, and then they feel very down and tired and end up going back home and choosing something else. It depends.
But there is only one way to understand the art of Shaolin Kung Fu: that is to practice it. And so the Shifu takes me to one of the most suggestive temples in the city, where he himself studied as a child. I think the greatest meaning of practicing Kung Fu is that Kung Fu itself can change your life.
If you practice it for a short time, you won't feel it; but if you practice it for a long time but if you practice it for a long time you will discover that Kung Fu and life are inseparable. The horse stance is the basis of Shaolin Kung Fu. It is a very, very important technique.
This exercise can strengthen the power of our legs. I see this as a challenge. We are about to do the horse stance, which is one of the.
. . simplest stances in Kung Fu to strengthen the legs and to have balance in Kung Fu.
But the Shifu doesn't know that I am stiff as a board. But we will do our best. Ok.
Alright, let's start by placing our hands on our legs. Yes, ok, squat. Slowly.
Yes, good. Good. Ok.
Good. I can't take it anymore. Yes.
Yes. . .
Good. Very good. I hope he doesn't keep us here too long, because if not, something might fall off here.
Shifu. . .
help me Ohhh! 3 and a half hours. .
. like this, in position. We only did these 20 seconds because otherwise, the video would have been too long, but.
. . "three hours!
" Three hours. . .
so long. Did you take pictures of him while he was trembling? There is an old saying in China: "Practicing Kung Fu for one day adds one day to your experience, but one day without practicing the basics sets you back 10 days.
" This is the importance of the basics. So, every day we must practice the basics. Go.
Go. Go. Good.
Thank you. Now we will hit the candle. In one direction: not to the left, not to the right, not up, not down.
Just in one direction. We will hit with the wind of our punch to increase our strength. The Shifu is showing me a perfect exercise to train the explosiveness of the punch and also to train the aim, because clearly, if you don't have control of your punch, you might throw the punch a bit to the right or a bit to the left.
Instead, the candle, the flame is like a target, you always have to aim there, and the explosiveness of the punch should extinguish the flame. Now he will do the exercise, then we'll see if I can do it too. Ok.
Will I be able to do it? I don't know, but. .
. we're here to try. Obviously, the sleeves must be rolled up, otherwise.
. . they help to create wind to extinguish the candle.
Ok, ok. Uh. .
. Good: inhale. I am.
. . more impressed than him, definitely, but I don't show it to him.
The most important thing in hitting the candle is to practice our mentality: sometimes you won't be able to extinguish it and you will feel very anxious. The more you can't extinguish it, the more anxious you will be, the more you can't extinguish it, the more you should be stable. Stable.
Slower. In fact, what we need to practice most is not the strength itself, but our heart. Slow, slow, slow.
When facing life, it's the same: whatever you encounter, the more you want to get angry, the more you should calm down. It's incredible how even an exercise that seems so simple trains the body, the mind for control and discipline. You must not get angry if you can't do the exercise, maintain control, even if it's not working out, and even a candle can teach you that.
Now the Shifu is taking me to his old school, which was closed, the Chinese government closed it and it remains abandoned behind this beautiful temple because we have to try an exercise that is very dear to him, apparently, namely. . .
. punching the wall. A thousand layers of paper.
It is a thousand layers of paper. It's used to condition the hardness of our punch, so. .
. Ah wow. .
. He reached the wall! How did he do it?
How the heck did he do it? These are conditioning exercises to strengthen the knuckles and the punch The wrist. They are very important to do to obviously have a stronger punch.
It's used to strengthen the wrist Exactly, yes, yes. Yes, shall I try? Shifu, why is Kung Fu so repetitive?
Why do you do the same stance, the same gesture thousands and thousands. . .
or rather, for your whole life? Practicing Kung Fu is like anything in life: if you want to do something well you have to repeat it, keep repeating it, keep repeating it many, many times before you can do it really well. You have to train a lot, back and forth, repeat everything many, many, many, many, many times.
And slowly your Kung Fu can improve greatly. One of the Shifu's most promising students is Sasha, a Swiss guy who left everything and came to study the ancient art of Kung Fu where it all began. We are very fortunate to be here thanks to our master.
It is a unique place in China, with limited access. Not everyone can come here. As you can see, this is the cemetery of the ancestors of Kung Fu, there are monks and warrior monks.
These are tombs! ? Exactly, yes.
For example, those like this one, more rounded, are the tombs of the warrior monks, and those that look more. . .
Square. Square, exactly, are the monks. And the difference is that monks do not train in Kung Fu, while warrior monks do.
The Guru, or the staff for Shaolin monks, is the preferred weapon because it is perfect for sharpening their technique and precision. Since it has no sharp ends, no blades, monks must be extremely precise and quick to hit the opponent. In fact, now we can admire it as the guys are training.
Master Shi Miao Ha and Sasha keep talking to me about the Dantian as a fundamental concept in martial arts and traditional Chinese medicine. But what is it? The "Dantian" is the center of gravity and vital energy of the body and is located here, in the abdomen.
It is used to channel the "QI" (internal energy), and if the QI is strong then your body will be powerful. You will never get sick. You will have a strong immune system.
Because you know, for example, this battery is the same as "QI". It is very large, which means it contains a lot of vital energy. Something really curious just happened that you barely saw.
The Shifu went towards the camera and touched something, actually, he touched Nik's camera and Nik's battery because he described the Dantian as the battery, the more you charge it, the more strength you have, the more you charge the Dantian, the more you charge the internal energy and the more you can have superpowers. and this is the Dantian. An inner force that can make you harness the maximum energy of your body, mind, and spirit.
We came here today to practice hard Shaolin Qigong. Everyone can practice hard Shaolin Qigong. Some people learn faster and others more slowly.
To practice it, you hit the body so that the muscle mass becomes resistant, powerful, and strong. This is why people who practice Shaolin Kung Fu are stronger. They are more resilient.
To practice it, you use an object. Then you hit your arm, for example. Little by little.
Some train by hitting the throat, some hit the head. Others the legs. You have to hit many times, even the stomach.
It doesn't hurt too much. It's just tough. Lower yourself a bit, ok, ok.
Basically, I traveled thousands of kilometers to come here and get. . .
beaten. But let's see how it goes. It's already like this.
It's very simple, trust me it's simple. It already hurts like this. Trust me.
Ok, I trust you. If you stay tense, it's easy. If even the trials hurt.
Ok, start. Ah. Ok.
Ok, yes. You're right. It is doable.
Ok, we are even doing it again with a much harder stick than the other one. But I am more prepared. OK Ok?
Yes, ok. I didn't feel anything, guys. .
. Good. Another one?
Another one, yes, yes. Stop! .
. . it hurts a lot.
Good. But now it's Sasha's turn! Harder, tougher!
How was it? It went well, look at the mark. What do you think while.
. . how do you concentrate?
I try to stay in the moment as much as I can, so I don't think about anything else, I focus all the energy of my body in this spot. Yes. And I try to combine that with staying in the present moment.
This is the steel plate. The steel plate is used to practice the "iron head" technique. We have to bring our "QI" from the Dantian through the mind, to get here, and then we can start practicing.
Only at that point can you break it on your head. You need to train, train a lot, and you will be able to break it. Will he break two together?
Let's see, one or two but yes, on the head. I didn't expect him to break it. I thought he would bend it.
. . he broke it!
I have high expectations from this adventure, but I must say it's going much better than expected, especially because thanks to Sasha and his Shifu, we have access to secret places. Abandoned places, this temple has been abandoned for. .
. decades but they have the keys. We managed to get in, and we are training here.
Sasha is training here, but we stopped for a moment because, as always, I want to remind you of something very important. Choose very carefully the browser you use to browse online. I have been using OPERA for a few months now, a free browser that has revolutionized the browsing experience thanks to the built-in and free artificial intelligence called ARIA, which answers my questions and generates content for me in real-time.
Moreover, when we work on reports or search for unique stories on YouTube, we often come across video content from a few years ago that was certainly not shot in 4k. And that's why we always use the "LUCID MODE" to improve their quality and sharpness. I had never found this feature in any other browser.
For work organization, on the other hand, I manage tabs intuitively with "TAB ISLANDS. " Separate groups, connected tabs, and a stress-free experience. Drg, drop, expand, and shrink, all at your command.
Try OPERA and discover the browser of the future. I'll leave the link in the description to download OPERA today and see the difference. Did it hurt?
Everything's fine. It doesn't hurt too much. You are used to it.
The more you do it, the easier it gets. So. It's a pleasure to see you train, because you can see that you have a kind of fire inside.
But I am very curious to understand why you chose Kung Fu in your life, why did you have to practice Kung Fu? For me, it all started in 2005. The first time I arrived in China with my parents, we arrived in Shanghai.
And while we were walking down the street my mother saw a Kung Fu school. And she said to me: "Oh, do you want to train there? " And I replied: "ok, why not?
” So the first week I went there, the first time. I opened the door of the school and for the first time I heard this “Aaah! ”.
I felt that something was happening inside me. So I ran up as fast as I could. And I saw all these guys training, and I saw something in their eyes, that I really wanted.
I saw, like, I don't know, something that I couldn't. . .
I couldn't describe. But I knew that this is what I want to do and this is what I must pursue. And from that day, it never left my mind.
And I decided to finish school and then dedicate my life to this. What I want to achieve with Kung Fu is. .
. I see how it helps me and I think it can help many other people as well. And that is my goal, I want to spread Kung Fu as much as I can, so that many people can benefit from it.
In this new world for you, far from home, how does happiness change? Happiness for me is something. .
. when I wake up every morning, the feeling I have of happiness, I would describe it this way: it's that I have a destiny in life and there are many roads you can take in life. But the way my intuition tells me is to take a road and as I go down this road, I must go step by step closer to this destiny.
This makes me feel very happy. As I walk this path, I try to be as much myself as possible, and I try to do this with all the people around me, to. .
. love each other, basically. So it's a path full of love, full of destiny and a path with a lot of commitment.
When I feel that I am walking this path and I feel that what I am doing is right, this gives me a great, great feeling of happiness. What you just shared with me is really beautiful, and I felt it because I think there's no better feeling than knowing you are following your destiny. And along the way, you are sharing this deep feeling with all the people you love.
And I think that this is part of happiness, true happiness. So I am happy that our paths crossed because I believe we have the same mission. I am very happy about it.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you from the heart.
But the ultimate mission of a martial artist is to cultivate the chi, the vital energy that pervades the universe and flows through every living being through meditation, Qigong, practitioners develop a deep awareness of their body and its sensations. Well, now we are training "Shaolin Qigong". I will teach you a fundamental practice.
It's called "standing meditation". It is about training our "QI", and our mind. We have to train them to be like water.
First, bend your legs a little. Like this. A little.
Ok. Hands as if they were holding a ball. Relax your shoulders.
Good. Ok. Move.
. . Inhale.
Press with your palms downwards. Ok. Thank you.
One of the most important pillars of Shaolin Kung Fu is not craving, not clinging to the desires or good things in life, but also not rejecting and pushing away the bad things in life. Could you explain it to me? The true goal of a human being is to achieve a mental balance capable of accepting that whatever comes, will go away.
So, you must not be too involved in what you have gained or lost. Some people want a lot but have nothing. Some people don't want much, but have a lot because they are in balance.
So, slowly, slowly, slowly, over time, you will understand. What wants to come will come, what needs to come will arrive, and what should not stay will go away. Shifu, what do you think happiness is?
You know, I have understood that man must dedicate his life to a single goal. He must dedicate every day to it, to doing it well. There's an old saying in China that says "less is more.
" You don't need much. Just very little, but do it very well. Whatever you choose, cultivate a strong heart, because only with a strong heart difficulties won't bring you down.
They will no longer be relevant to you. And how can you strengthen your heart? In my opinion, by practicing Shaolin Kung Fu intensely.
I practice it to strengthen my heart. If you enjoyed Shaolin Kung Fu, keep practicing it. I am sure you will fall in love with it.
Until today, for me, Kung Fu has always been synonymous with martial arts, a world of agile and powerful movements, where body and mind merge in perfect harmony. But after this unforgettable experience, I understood that its meaning goes far beyond fighting. Kung Fu is the pursuit of excellence through incessant practice, the understanding that every challenge is an opportunity for growth and the awareness that true strength arises from the harmony between mind, body, and spirit.
This is the warrior mentality, the attitude of never giving up in the face of challenges and always surpassing one's limits. It is an art that teaches not only to fight but also to live with integrity and determination. And it was Shifu and Sasha who taught me that dedication and the pursuit of excellence can transform lives, revealing that the greatest strength already resides within us, ready to emerge to realize our true potential.
