Shifu Yan Lei

Shifu Yan Lei was born in a traditional family in the Xin Jiang province of China. The son of a fisherman, he is the youngest of seven children. “It was a struggle for my parents to look after seven children. I was constantly hungry. I was very naughty as a child; always skipping school and getting into street fights.” He began his martial arts life at the age of fourteen when he travelled to the other side of China to train in the Shaolin Temple in Henan province.

“Temple life was very hard and sometimes I hated it. I had to get up every morning at five-thirty and prepare my teacher’s breakfast and bring him water so that he could wash himself, and then I would take the boys running up the mountain. But looking back I feel very happy. Temple life gave me a strong focus. I stopped fighting on the street and trained very day, honing my Shaolin skills.”

His Master; the Shaolin Abbot; Shi Yong Xin gave him the name Lei - meaning thunder - and he became a 34th generation fighting disciple. When he was eighteen he travelled to different Kung Fu schools to learn additional Kung Fu and Qi Gong skills from famous masters.

“Because I was young my main interest was in fighting but the more I studied the more I realised that in order to do physical exercise you need to look after your internal organs through the practice of qi gong. This will give you a longer martial arts life. I then went back to the Shaolin Temple to read all of the ancient books they have on the subject.” At the age of twenty-eight he was invited to the West to teach authentic Shaolin martial arts.

“Shaolin has become very famous but unfortunately a lot of what is taught is not real Shaolin. The Buddha said, “Question everything I say. Test it for yourself. Don’t just take my word for it.” This is the same with Shaolin. Try it, see it works for you, once you see it working then you can give your full commitment but be wary of claims people make. There are a lot of so-called secrets about Shaolin but the only secret I have found is that you have to train consistently.”

Kung Fu literally means hard work, for example, for a virtuoso violin player their playing is their kung fu. They cannot learn violin in a year, neither can a person learn kung fu in a year. It takes time but it is worth it.

“If the Shaolin Arts were in pill form then everyone would take it because the results are a longer healthier happier life and I don’t know of a single person who doesn’t want this.”

interview with combat maqazine

The Shaolin Dharma of Fighting

My main motivation for studying martial arts at the Shaolin Temple was to learn how to fight. But when I got to the temple the only techniques my teachers taught me were forms and acrobatics. These looked beautiful and impressive but they didn't take me any closer to my goal of learning how to fight, so I began to get into street fights outside the temple gates to see if I could learn how to fight this way. My master - the Shaolin Abbot Shi Yongxin - soon grew tired of dragging me out of the local police cell and sent me to a Chan Temple in the hopes that I would calm down.

Fighting Meditation

There was no martial arts taught at this temple, and my Chan master would wake me in the early hours of the morning and ask me to come and chant with him. I told him I couldn't concentrate. He asked me what I could concentrate on, and I told him: my training. He then instructed me to let my training be my meditation.

That one sentence changed my life forever. Suddenly I understood why the Shaolin arts are linked with Buddhism. I realized that the true purpose of training the body was to train the mind. It didn't matter what we did - meditation, forms, calligraphy, fighting, chanting - it was about the motivation behind what we did and how we did it. From that day on, while he chanted I trained.

Shaolin Steel Jacket

When I went back to the temple, my master asked me to choose one of the seventy-two different Shaolin styles. Because I'm only 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m), my opponents were nearly always taller than me, which made it hard for me to go in and attack. This is one of the reasons why I decided to study Shaolin Steel Jacket.

I had seen monks demonstrating this skill at the temple. They would do a qigong form, and then monks would kick them and break sticks over their torso. But I wanted to see if it was possible to use this technique in a sanshou fight, which is so much quicker than a traditional demonstration. Could I control my qi instantly without the need to do a qigong form beforehand? Could I make my body into a weapon in a modern fighting environment? Those were the questions I set out to answer.

As a disciple of Shaolin I feel it is my responsibility to not only learn what has been passed down to me generation by generation but also to take it to a new level. Olympic athletes constantly break records and run at new speeds. I didn't want to train just to stand still, but I wanted to push the boundaries of Shaolin.

Turning The Body into a Weapon

My training program consisted of four sessions a day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. I would begin my day like the other disciples with a run up the Songshan Mountain, but I would wear a 10-pound weighted shirt. When I came back from the run, I would then skip for thirty minutes. I used the weighted vest for the same reason long distance runners run at high altitudes. Not only did my punches and kicks become much quicker, but my footwork did too.

I would then finish my first session with Shaolin Steel Jacket. It's only when the body is hot that it's safe to practice body conditioning. I would begin by doing a qigong form especially designed for Steel Jacket, then I would use different instruments to beat myself: a brick, an iron bar, a club of wood, and a canvas sack full of metal ball bearings.

It is very difficult to get through the first three months of body conditioning, as this is the time when it is most painful. There were many times when I wanted to stop. I felt nervous in the beginning because body conditioning is potentially dangerous; if done incorrectly, it can end a person's martial life. An injury can take months to heal, but an internal injury may never heal completely. I became very worried when my skin started to go from black to blue to red and then completely peel off. Beating a brick on raw skin pushed my pain barriers to the maximum, and when I went to see my master to tell him my concerns, he gave me a recipe for a body conditioning tincture. I applied this to my skin and it started to heal.

Bamboo Block

For my second session I trained on different weights of bags, and I also kicked bamboo posts with my legs and blocked them with my arms. I would then have lunch, sleep, and in the afternoon my third session would begin with my kung fu brothers. We would practice throws, kicks and punches. If one of my brothers was better at throws, then I would get him to throw me over and over again so I could try to work out how to block his throw. We would also do combinations, sparring and pad work.

For my fourth session I did some basic Shaolin training, and then my Shaolin Steel Jacket training again. I completely stopped doing kung fu forms and acrobatics and focused on turning my body into a weapon. I trained like this for nine months, and then my master said I was ready to compete in sanshou fights.

Sanshou Fighting

I felt apprehensive in my first fight because my opponent was taller and heavier than me, and I still didn't know whether I would be able to use my Shaolin Steel Jacket. I'd used it against my kung fu brothers, but could I use it in a real situation?

I started off by allowing my opponent to attack me. I didn't defend and I didn't block. Because I had trained so intensely in Shaolin Steel Jacket, I found that I could harness my qi immediately. The training I had done on the bamboo meant my arms and legs were harder; not only did this protect me, I could see that it was painful for my opponent to kick or block me. When my opponent punched and kicked me, this opened up a gap, allowing me to go in and attack. I was very happy to discover that my traditional Shaolin skill could be used so successfully in a modern sanshou fight.

Unlocking the forms

I continued to compete in sanshou fights in China, and I also went back to the forms I'd learnt as a boy. I began to unlock them and discover the self-defense, blocking and attack techniques hidden in the forms. I could never have discovered these without the experience of fighting.

I began to practice these techniques against my kung fu brothers and adapt them so they could be used in a modern fight situation. As I began to master them, I slowly introduced some of these into my sanshou fighting too.

Coming to the West

I came to the UK ten years ago to help my brother Shifu Shi Yanzi set up the first Shaolin Temple in Europe. He was also a sanshou champion in China. We set about teaching a unique combination of traditional Shaolin skills as well as sanshou skills. Many people argue that traditional skills take too long to master. It's true that it's much easier and quicker to learn how to punch, kick and throw, but in China we say that if you take three years to master your skill, then your opponent will need three years to figure out what you are doing and beat you.

The Shaolin Dharma of Fighting

Since coming to the West, I am surprised that most fighters don't train in qigong and body conditioning. Combining modern fighting with one or two traditional techniques means that not only do you have a kick, punch or throw as a weapon but also you have additional weapons and defenses - which are hidden and harder for your opponent to defeat. I believe all fighters should train in traditional techniques. Not only does it enrich their fighting experience and help them to respect themselves and their opponent more, it gives them the edge and helps them to compete at the highest level.