Episode 812 - Shifu Demitri Daniels
Shifu Demitri Daniels is a Martial Arts practitioner and TikTok star known as Jade Jackhammer.
I was bragging to two of my Kung Fu brothers about it. Because I was like, yeah, dude that was so cool. I kicked this dude's butt in the street. People were all like yelling and my teacher overheard it and I got in trouble…
Shifu Demitri Daniels - Episode 812
Shifu Demitri Daniels started training in martial arts when he was five years old, as all the males in his family had done some form of martial arts. His father practiced Tai Chi, while his brothers and cousins practiced karate. However, Shifu Daniels was the only one who got the chance to train in Kung Fu. He found it to be really cool and had a lot of fun with it.
Shifu Demitri Daniels, also known as the Jade Jackhammer, is a social media content creator and he’s become famous in TikTok.
In this episode, Shifu Demitri Daniels talks about his journey promoting Shaolin culture in the US and in China. He also shared about his upcoming made-for-tv Martial Arts series called the Legendary Masters Council. Listen to learn more!
Show notes
You may check out more about Shifu Demitri Daniels and his cool stuff on TIkTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jadejackhammer
Show Transcript
Jeremy Lesniak:
What is happening, everybody? Welcome. This is whistlekick Martial Arts Radio, episode 812 with my guest today, Shifu Demitri Daniels. Some of you may know him as Jade Jackhammer. I'm Jeremy Lesniak. I don't have a fun nickname, but I am here because I love traditional martial arts, and we've done every episode of this show, and we've founded this company because we love traditional martial arts. And I say we because it's not just me anymore. There are a whole bunch of us working on this stuff. Eight people touch every single episode of Martial Arts Radio to share it and make it what it is today, the top-rated martial arts podcast in the world. And we're very proud of that and we will continue to work hard to make it even better. If you wanna go to whistlekick.com, you can see all the things that we're doing, all the things that we're trying to make better constantly cause isn't that the martial arts way? And if you go to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com, you're gonna find everything related to this show. Not just this episode, but every show, every episode we've ever done. Because we don't put anything behind a paywall. We don't take them down, we leave them out there for you indefinitely. If you wanna go back and start at number one, just gimme a little bit of grace, I wasn't as good of an interviewer back then, you could do that. If you wanna search for a topic, there's a search function and we put transcripts up of all the episodes so that way you have an easier time searching. If you wanna support us, Patreon, patreon.com/whistlekick. You can tell people about stuff. You can leave reviews. Really word of mouth is like the number one thing that I ask people for. But we've also got a family page, whistlekick.com/family. What do we post there? We post on at least a weekly basis, some behind-the-scenes content, and we're giving you all the ways you can help us out because we're here to connect, educate, and entertain the traditional martial artists of the world. We want everybody in the world to train for at least six months because I think and the rest of the team believes that will make the world better, and let's make the world better together. I appreciate your help. Now, today's guest is one that I've known of for a few years, and following him on social media for a while, and he's quite the personality. But what we get here today is we get the man, the real man, the honest man. And I have to say in speaking with Shifu Demitri, I was constantly blown away at how open he was willing to be. You know, there's a saying, words and all. And I'm not saying that this man was sharing terrible things about himself cause he absolutely wasn't. But what he was sharing was the honest, open version of him. He didn't sugarcoat things. He talked about things that he'd done in his past that maybe he would do differently now, and I loved getting to hear that. Martial arts make us better versions of ourselves, doesn't it? And this episode is a great illustration of that. So here we are, my conversation with Shifu Demitri aka Jade Jackhammer. Hey, how's it going?
Demitri Daniels:
Hey, not too bad. How are you?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm good, I'm good. It's nice to talk to you.
Demitri Daniels:
Thank you. Same here.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You were one of the first people I started following on TikTok.
Demitri Daniels:
Whoa! Really?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Like a year ago. Yeah. Yeah. Year ago? Two years ago, whatever I got on TikTok like you were, I mean, you were all over the place then. You were larger than life then man.
Demitri Daniels:
Crazy. I can't believe that it kinda blew up the way it did, so.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. Well, you were you and you put you out there and people responded and that's cool.
Demitri Daniels:
It was pretty.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah. It was fun.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Good.
Demitri Daniels:
Or is fun. I don't wanna say it was like, it's over, so. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right. Well, you got other stuff going on. We're gonna talk about a lot of that.
Demitri Daniels:
Excellent.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's all good. Yeah. Before we kind of dive in, you got anything from that you need from me? Anything you need to feel comfortable?
Demitri Daniels:
No.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Any questions you wanna ask of me before we roll here?
Demitri Daniels:
No, I'm good.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. Cool. All right. Well then, you know what? Let's just keep what we got. We'll just start at zero at the audience and get a bit of behind-the-scenes. They tend to like that.
Demitri Daniels:
Awesome.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I know some of the places we're gonna go in our conversation today but there's probably far more that I don't know.
Demitri Daniels:
Okay.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Now, we tend to start in a pretty fundamental way in almost every episode. You can probably guess what that is because it's such an important thing and that is how the heck did you get started as martial artist?
Demitri Daniels:
How did I get started? I have kinda oh, I dunno if you guys can that every first Tuesday of the month there's like a tornado war and that's it. Got me off guard.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's fine. We'll keep it.
Demitri Daniels:
Excellent. Love it. Ok. So I started training when I was five years old. It was because every male in my family, I guess I was kinda lucky, has done martial arts. My father had done TaiChi, my brothers and my cousins did karate actually. And I was kind of the lucky one that got a chance to train in Chinese martial arts. And so my father had said that one of his work colleagues was like, oh, you know, in China, every male does Kung Fu. And so he was like, I'm gonna put my kid having him train with you, you know it. And so, my original teacher was my father's colleague and he didn't, he had like a family style that was kinda Shaolin-esque. I mean, if you wanna say that. And then I trained with him, I trained with a couple of other Chinese martial arts schools in my area. And then in the mid-90s, I got a chance to go to China and start training, that's where my teacher introduced me to who my Shifu would be or his family because he passed away. And then in about ‘98 is when I first went to the temple and I met my teacher.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So I'm doing a little bit of math here and you know, I never directly ask people their age. If you wanna volunteer, that's fine.
Demitri Daniels:
I'm 41 years old.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. Alright. So you're starting in 5, 41 that has you at like 1986. You started.
Demitri Daniels:
‘86? That is, wow! That's pretty good. Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, I have two easy reference points. I was born in 79, I started in ‘83, so I just have to do a little bit of math to get there. But what I think's interesting is, you know, actually I recorded an episode earlier today where we talked about this. It wasn't super common for kids that young to train or really kids at all. And if they were training in the US, they were training karate or TaeKwonDo.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes, yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So what was it, I mean, not only is this unlikely that this is gonna happen, which is awesome, but what was it about this guy that your father worked with and he was like, oh yeah, I'll teach a five-year-old?
Demitri Daniels:
I think that it was just because, so like in China, kids do martial arts, they start off really early, right? And if it's like your family style then as soon as your child can walk, you just start training. And I think that because he didn't have kids and he's like…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Demitri Daniels:
I mean he was talking about how, I guess he, I mean like, I obviously dunno what the conversation was between dad, but it was obviously something about how it's something to make kids strong. I mean, I guess I was probably a little, I dunno, I guess I was always kind of, not a bigger kid, but like I wasn't really like soft and I was just kinda yeah, energetic. And I think that he felt that it would be good. Like I said, my older brothers they did karate, my cousins had karate. It originally started, my father always said he was a pacifist but he started because we had gone to, as kids there was this kids program in the area called Matthew House and they introduced me. It was owned by a German lady and named Tamara Youngman. And she thought that it was great to put kids in martial arts and in music I actually used to be in a band when I was younger as well so.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay, what do you play?
Demitri Daniels:
I played the drums.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. Alright. Why do you think your siblings ended up in karate and not you?
Demitri Daniels:
So, because I was really young at the time and my eldest brother, he would kinda play around teaching me stuff but not really. And so this was separate from going with, so it was just kinda on a whim that they did karate and I mentioned my brother and my cousins because they went to this place Matthew House, I was younger and when I got older I started going to the place but it's because of them I actually got a chance to go to China. And then after that, my father had already had interactions with his…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Demitri Daniels:
His coworker.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Alright, that makes sense. And again, a little bit more math, you were in China at like nine, 10 years old?
Demitri Daniels:
Yes. Really. So…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Wow.
Demitri Daniels:
So back then it's really crazy. So that's why people were like, what? You started Shaolin when you were five years old and you went to the temple? No, no. That time there is no way that would've happened. So, I just yeah. So I was older so I went with my father's friend so that's why. So it wasn't like my parents were like, you know what? We're gonna send you to China. Yeah. And that's how, so I gotta…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Demitri Daniels:
Close with his family, and, yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Nice. All right. If we start plotting this out on like a timeline, where's the next hop? Where do we…
Demitri Daniels:
So…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Dig in?
Demitri Daniels:
In 2008, I became a disciple of my Shifu [00:10:23].
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. What does that mean?
Demitri Daniels:
So I kinda like, it's like he accepted me into his family kind of so to speak. Like where I take vows and love like how I'm gonna live my life and like enter the family and things like that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. How many disciples does he have?
Demitri Daniels:
You know, I don't know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Is this…
Demitri Daniels: A couple?
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's quiet a few?
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah. He has quite a few over, over the years. I know that the ones that predate me are actually, I dunno if you've had heard of Gene Ching, he used to write…
Jeremy Lesniak:
He's been on the show.
Demitri Daniels:
On the street, yeah He's my older brother.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yes, Gene's a great guy.
Demitri Daniels:
I love Gene. Crazy thing though. I've spoken to him so many times, we've never actually met.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No way. Oh, that's funny.
Demitri Daniels:
So, my teacher kind of so I speak Chinese fluently and so my teacher kinda made me the person that was kind of in charge of like helping the non-Chinese students like in the West to kind of help in the teachings that he gives us. So, that's kind of even how like the TikTok thing and all of that happened.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. Okay, so what happened between, if I, again, if I'm doing math right, you visit the temple for the first time when you're about 18?
Demitri Daniels:
Dude I was actually…
Jeremy Lesniak:
And then…
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah, 17. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
17? Okay. And then 10 years later, you become a disciple, obviously.
Demitri Daniels:
Oh, I was going every year. I was going every year.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. But you said in 2008…
Demitri Daniels:
I became his disciple.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right. So…
Demitri Daniels:
If you let you know in between what was happening…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Demitri Daniels:
Going for the summers.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Great. It sounds like that just the way you're describing becoming a disciple, that this is not a decision to be taken lightly.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That it's probably a bond that you don't sever easily, if at all.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And so if that is the case, then it suggests to me that in the years prior, there were things going on that were really significant for you, where you were not only willing but excited to make that commitment. So talk about that 10-year span from first time at the temple to going all in.
Demitri Daniels:
You know, so it's actually kinda funny that you say that. Because literally I would go there and train every year, the summers, come back, go back and forth between the States. I was also training at martial arts schools in the States as well. Just only there for two, three months for the summer. That's not really long at all to actually train. But I would go back and forth and train. And it's weird in 2008, he always expected me at a certain time. I always left like June 2nd and arrived there. And so one year, I get flown into Zhuzhou which is like the capital of Hunan Province, so from there to the temple is about maybe back then it was like a three-hour bus ride. And so one of the students, one of elder brothers and one of the foreign students that had gone to the school because at this time my Shifu was out of the temple and he's like oh hey, he was a French student, he's like, oh here's Shifu’s disciple from the States, from Chicago. And I was like, what? I am? That's interesting. So the thing is because, so in Chinese to say disciple is Tudi and then to say student is Xuéshēng. So if someone's speaking to you, usually, they would say Xuéshēng, student and not Tudi. And then I say oh, that's interesting! Okay. That's cool. I guess. Yeah, I am. And they took me.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You didn't quite understand at the time what that meant?
Demitri Daniels:
No.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Or?
Demitri Daniels:
I understood what it meant, but I was like why didn't I get the memo?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, okay. I get it, get it now. Everybody knew about this but me.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah, yeah. So I arrived and then that year we were sitting, he was giving me ride. I was getting ready to actually leave. And he was taking me to the airport, and he was like, oh, I think that it's a good time for us to further our relationship. And so I was like, oh, further our relationship? And then it was…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sounds romantic.
Demitri Daniels:
I was seeing like okay cool. I mean like I understood what he was talking about. He wasn't like he were at a candlelight dinner. No, nothing crazy like that. And so, yeah, and that's kinda like how it started. I mean, it was a really, it was a personal thing.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I understand, you know, roughly what the act of becoming the disciple might be, but what about what was different before and after?
Demitri Daniels:
So, you know, I think that it was for me it seemed like it was like it's a, I don't know. I kind of like your father takes care of his child. But I think before it didn't seem, so, I guess we have to back to the idea of the way things are done in Shaolin. So in Shaolin and in China generally for Chinese martial arts, they're actually like real teachers is that, I don't know if you've, so you've seen the movies where someone will wanna go to the temple and they're like, oh, admit me into the temple I wanna train in the temple, and all of this. And then the temple just closes their doors and they sit outside like…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Demitri Daniels:
Kneel on a rock.
Jeremy Lesniak:
They test them. If you're not ready. We're gonna test you and not tell you how long you have to do it. We just decide one day that you've suffered enough, and you're worthy.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes. A big thing that's really descriptive is kind of like they'll be kneeling but they'll be on some rock, kneeling on a rock. So, usually, the movies they portray like they've been there for a long time, rain, snow, and like their knees are bleeding because they were on a rock and I believe like that's just a metaphor for the idea one of the first question that they ask you is "Nǐ néng chīkǔ ma?", can you endure hardship? And so that's, and so it wasn't just so much that you're kneeling, but like on a rock, so you're extremely uncomfortable and you're still able to do it until someone opens the gate. Now, obviously, I didn't have to do that but I think the way that teaching is is that takes time for a teacher to decide if someone's really the type of person that not only just to represent them but someone to teach them kind of like the real ways of the martial culture.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure.
Demitri Daniels:
So that's why I think that was a little bit different. I did notice, it's kinda funny a story I always end up telling people is how about I started doing drunken fist. Is that, every year I would go back to China and he would see me, and this was after this was right, probably a couple of times before I became the disciple, but he'd be like, what's happened to you? You've gotten fat. Go run. I'm like, yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
If you're listening and you're not watching, I was just taking a sip of coffee and just totally, almost dropped a spit take. Please continue.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes. And I was like, well, wow. Okay, how long do I have to go run? And he's like, go run. And so I would just go run. And I would also like to add that I was actually in really good shape. But in China, they perceive, I was a weightlifter, I played football in high school and so I was always into weightlifting and so I was stockier muscular. But in China, they would call it like fat meat. Whether it's cellulose or if it's meat muscle…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Demitri Daniels:
You’re fat and so he would tell me to go run, I go run. Every so often I would run past the school. Make sure he sees me, that he doesn't forget about me and this would happen all the time. I'd be like [00:18:52] and that would be the first thing you say to me before he said hello is what's happening to you? You've gotten fat, and one year, this was probably in, maybe 2000, I think this was 2009, and so I'm about to leave and he hands me, gives me this DVD, like, actually this was a vcd that was those were kind of big in China, and so it was him doing kinda like the Shaolin basics and he's like, yeah, so I want you to take this. I had made this for a school, they gave me a whole bunch of them so I think you can use these and you can practice. And I'm like thinking to myself, man he really thinks I don't train when I'm in, when, like, I train literally for like six to eight hours a day when I was in the States as well. That's kind of the luxury of being a kid that you have all this time to train. And but like okay, thank you. I'll practice it and make sure that I have everything down. And so I take it back to the States. I had already known the basics, but hey, whatever. And on the video going past it, there was a performance of him doing drunken fists.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh.
Demitri Daniels:
And I was like…
Jeremy Lesniak:
And you hadn't seen him do that before?
Demitri Daniels:
I hadn't seen him do it before. No. No. And so I was like whoa, now was he doing that because he wanted me to really learn drunken fist and not just the basics, like, is that what it was? Was this like some secret thing? Later on, I was just realized that that's just the way that they had, he didn't make the DVD, so it just happened to be on there. And so I learned it I made sure that I went back and showed him that I learned everything and he was really happy and after that, he stopped telling me that I got fat. He started, yeah, pretty awesome. And then I injured myself and then did get fat, so hey. Yeah, it happens.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I wanna go back. You've used a word a couple of times that I think bears some exploration and that that word is real. You know, it's no secret that there are plenty of people who present martial arts in different ways and I think for a lot of Chinese martial arts practitioners, especially in the Kung Fu lineages, that the temple, the Shaolin temple, and going to China really represent something. We've had a lot of people on the show who have had powerful experiences or furthered their training by traveling to China. I'm guessing in using that word real, as you've talked about a couple of aspects there that you have some opinions on the subject and I wonder if you might share.
Demitri Daniels:
Okay. So basically what I mean real probably not like what a lot of people would think like, oh, just cause this person trained in China or whatever, he's a real martial arts instructor. No, when I say real, I'm talking about the martial arts instructor that really takes on the father role. With the word Shifu, there are two descriptions of the word Shifu in Chinese. One is what you would naturally call any martial artist or even someone who's like achieved something, whether they've gained skill cause we know Gung Fu or Kung Fu doesn't have anything to do with martial arts.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Demitri Daniels:
So, but anyone, like you would say, like if I get in a taxi and I'll like Shifu [00:22:29]. Then it's just like saying, Mister.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Demitri Daniels:
It's just…
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's a term of respect.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes. It's a term of term of respect. And then there's Shi as in coming from the word Lǎoshī, which means teacher and then Fu from Fuchi which means father. So this is only what a disciple would call hiis teacher that he's become, yeah. That he became a disciple we call them Shifu. And a lot of people don't really get that. And so it's important that we talk about that idea is like your father if there are a lot of teachers that, oh, I wanna do martial arts, I wanna teach martial arts, so I'm gonna open up a school and they're mostly like coaches. They like people to call them Shifu or Sensei or Sabonim, and all of these grand like titles, but they don't really teach the students as if they are their fathers. They are teaching more like it's just, it's a business. And like, you pay me, I teach you and you call me master so I treat you kinda like a slave, you do what I tell you, that's the way it is. So that's what I mean when I say like a real teacher. Someone that's really gonna like believe in teaching the student as if they're a child. Because we help raising them in their Martial world.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So what I'm guessing, if I can try to say it in a different way. A lot of martial arts instructors, their role begins at the beginning of class and ends at the end of class.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And what you're talking about is 24/7.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes. Yes. Yes sir.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You are raising a martial artist. You are not simply teaching a student. And I've known martial arts instructors who were like that. You've probably seen, there's almost a cliche at this point, meme that goes around and it's probably put into other industries too. But there's a taller person and a smaller person, and they're both made of puzzle pieces. And you know, the metaphor is that the instructor is giving part of themselves, right? And then, you know, you tend to carry it out. And the person has very little of themselves left. And you know, that's a whole other conversation. But I think the metaphor kind of fits here in that I believe as well as it sounds like you do that a good martial arts instructor, it's not a few hours a week, it's, hey, you know, if you get an email or a text or a call, you know, these people are putting so much faith and trust and in you. So much stock in what you have to offer. We've had plenty of folks on the show talked about how a student came to them, especially if they were a younger instructor asking for, you know, like marriage advice. It's like, yes, I'm 20 and I'm not married. You know, like, you know, we just, we tend to, in a healthy teacher-student relationship, look at our teachers as probably bigger than they are.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes, I would always, and it's really kinda crazy, but I know that I had, I was in a relationship while I was in China and maybe things didn't go so well because I mean, it's kinda hard to keep a relationship if you're in one country and then you change to another country.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Demitri Daniels:
Right?
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's the ultimate long-distance.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah. And I would call my Shifu sometimes and talk to him about things and, but he would always tell me, Lee Wěidà [00:26:05] he'd always say, my Chinese name, Wěidà. And so he would tell me, you know, that's just destiny, keep training in Kung Fu. And so I will always think to myself like thanks. Now that I'm older, I guess I kinda get what he was talking about. I won’t explain my idea of what he’s talking about. I'll leave that for the viewers to kinda see if they epiphany.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure.
Demitri Daniels:
But yeah. He was like my father I think a lot of that. When you say instructors, you know, I think even they say martial arts instructor's kinda not really a good term. I would say martial arts coaches. They just had to like push you. If your technique isn't correct, they don't really do a whole bunch of like correcting and things like that. I mean, think about how many high school athletes or younger that your trained, but then we don't really know how to train. I remember being at football, we had we have to do two a days where we did practice before class and then practice after school and we'd also have to go to the gym. And so they didn't really teach us how to work out. I mean, what did every high school kid do? Guys always did bench presses.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That was probably about it.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah, yep that's it you might do squats.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Maybe some bicep curls.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes, yes. And no one really Yeah. No one really taught you. And I think that's kinda like, that's the coach. Like it's their job to just tell you to go and do something and they don't elaborate so much. But when you say instructor, I mean what is the word instructor mean, right? To teach. And so if I'm gonna be a martial arts instructor martial being war or warlike. And then art is just kinda like this, the description of kinda like the way it's done, the way the martial or like skill is taught, right? And so I think if you want to instruct you'd have to think of, in martial arts, not only do you teach someone movements, but you teach them the reason why the movements are like this. And then you teach them how to use the movements and then you teach them to forget about how you told them the movements are supposed to so that it becomes a part of you. And so I think that if you're a martial arts instructor, you kind of need to do all of that. You can't just say practice this talu or poomsae reform kata. Yeah. Which a lot of martial artists do that when they're teaching.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Let me take a hard left. Why don't you live in China?
Demitri Daniels:
Why don't I live in China? I actually moved back.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah, so in 2012, instead of living, cause I started to do six months in America, six months in China. Yeah. I was traveling a lot. I was doing seminars at different schools around the, like just in the US and I had actually done some movie choreography and things like that. But I ended up getting really, really busy around 2012, 2013, I kinda got burned out and I did, I was living six months in America, 6 months in China. And one of my martial arts brothers, we actually opened our school together a few years before had just left America and moved there. And he was always trying to tell me that I should do it because I was spending a lot of money trying to live between both places and then I decided to move there. Well, in 2016, my girlfriend got pregnant so then I had to come back to the States. Though I was kind of like I had a really long visa to live in China, you can't really, even when you're married, we did get married right before we left but you can't get a green card so even though you may be married and you can live in China for 10 years and then only have to leave like every six months, you're not allowed to work. You still be there…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, Okay.
Demitri Daniels:
Unlike in the States, if you come to America and then you get a green card, you're automatically able to work. You don't have to do anything separate.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. And lemme tell you, the reason I asked about why you didn't live in China is because you're talking about these two parts of your life, but you don't really say a lot about your American life, right? You were talking about your Chinese life and I fully understand. Yeah. You know this, it sounds like where your heart was and probably still is, but it wasn't until I asked you this question that you were, oh, well, you know, I had a school and teaching some seminars and everything, and I find it interesting as an interviewer that the stuff unsaid is often even more interesting for me than what is said. So you come back here in 2016, and then what?
Demitri Daniels:
I go back to teaching. So, while I was in China I would have, I actually opened up a boarding school for foreigners and Chinese. When I was with foreigners and Chinese also the Chinese students they would learn English and then they would learn Shaolin and then the foreigners would learn Chinese and learn Shaolin. So in the States, I mean, I think that in the States I led kinda a pretty regular life aside from, I've done Taekwondo. I was going to because my teacher didn't allow us to do competitions, when I was younger, I always felt like people were like, oh wow, you're so good. You're so good. And I'm like, really? Like how do you know that I'm good just because I do a form like I jump up and I move that doesn't mean I knew how to fight. So I wanted to like after a while I never wanted to have a big head. So I'm like, well, that doesn't really mean anything. I mean, like, I would get in maybe street fights with people, but when you're young, it, I mean, yeah. So if you've trained and the person obviously hasn't trained, there is no competition. And so, I wanted to enter competitions. Well, my teacher didn't allow that being Buddhist-like Shaolin style for going and competing. And so I was at my godparents. They owned a gym and there was a Taekwondo instructor there. So they were like, hey, well since you're not going to the Chinese martial arts school anymore, that I had actually met them. And why don't you come you wanna keep training? Why don't you come to this Taekwondo school that's in our gym and he can help you to get into tournaments. And so I kind of it's a little bit underhanded. Hey, I was young. And so I started doing Taekwondo because then if my teacher ever found out I was doing tournaments, oh, well, I was training at this TaeKwonDo school and they require it, so it's, yeah. And so I, yeah, just to give myself a chance.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You found a loophole.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I don't think you're the only one that would've done that.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes, yes, I hope. But I started doing Taekwondo and the school, the instructor was like, oh, you know, you're pretty good. And he gave me what's called a belt adjustment test. And like what's a belt adjustment test? He's like well because you've trained since you were 5 years old you're obviously not a white belt. So I'm not gonna make you wear white belt in class. And I was like, but why? I've never done Taekwondo before, like, what does, yeah. And he was like so what do you want me to do? He's like but you still doing martial arts so why don't you show me your highest level form and I can give you a ranking off that. And I was like, well, okay. But we don't really have, so Shaolin, because it's not like it doesn't have a belt system, you just kinda train, right? So there isn't really a level, there's not like a higher level form or lower level form to learn the basics and learn different fighting strategies, which that's what the forms are. And so at the time, I was really big into doing Tiger for performance. So I just performed a Tiger forum for him and he was like, whoa, that's really good. Well, I can't make you a black belt because you don't know the style at all. So I'll make at his school like red belt was before black, and he made me a red belt. And I started dressed up and he was like slowly as your training I'll teach you all the forms as well. After like a couple of months of that, he just started having me teach instead of actually teaching me Taekwondo and I was like okay. But I…
Jeremy Lesniak:
And were you teaching TaeKwonDo or Kung fu?
Demitri Daniels:
I was teaching TaeKwonDo at his school, so I was still going.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah, this was during, in the States and so China for the summers and then being at this Taekwondo School where the teacher, he was like, I was like, but I don't know TaeKwonDo. He was like, you have really, you know what good stances look like. Like their knee has to be over their ankle and things like that and so yeah you know what a good stance is so you can do it. I mean, obviously, I'm gonna be there too and I'm like, okay. So I ended up learning the forms through correcting the student's stances. And one day he was like, hey, so I think you should test for black belt. Test for black belt? I still don't know TaeKwonDo like, and he's like, well, I think, cause I mean there had been some problems with, cause he started having me, I was about 17 at the time, so he started having me teach his adults. And some of them were higher ranked than I was and they didn't like that. And so there was one in particular that didn't really like it so much and I was like, well, how about if you can beat me, then you can teach. I won't teach. And so I beat him up and I mean, like he was, I was 17 and he was like approaching 40.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Demitri Daniels:
It doesn't matter how long you've been training, the whole old Kung Fu master that the likelihood of you beating someone that has some skill that's like going into their prime and you are someone who's already probably well outta your prime. And your prime, even when you were in your prime, you weren't as good as, but you started later in life. Yeah. That's not really realistic that the older persons gonna win. And so I think…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Did that have the effect that you wanted it to?
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah, actually.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Demitri Daniels:
Hey, the teacher got angry and it's not like I beat him up like a broken bump or anything like that. It's just I showed him that he could learn from me. And so the teacher because of these problems though, like, unless you wanna do that all the time, you should get a black belt. I'm like, but doesn't mean anything to me. And so, but he like, it'll make people feel more comfortable about learning from you. And so I was like, well, I guess okay. So, I literally, he gave me this like folder that had all of the TaeKwonDo forms from white belt to like 8th degree black belt. And I learned them all in like a month, two months. I'm not gonna say it's base style, but it's really linear and boxy kinda like the forms. They are really easy to learn. And then I took the test in front of the Grandmaster and got the black belt.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Nice.
Demitri Daniels:
So that was it. I started to run his school for let's see I did Taekwondo technique for 9 years and yeah, I ended up changing the school from a TaeKwonDo school to a Chinese martial arts school. Cause that's where my heart was anyway.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right. Did your Shifu in China ever find out that you were doing TaeKwonDo?
Demitri Daniels:
So he never really asked me about things like that. He did find out that I did tournaments, and he…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Did he care?
Demitri Daniels:
What?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Did he care?
Demitri Daniels:
Oh, he wasn't happy. He was like, so I think for me, and it's really something that I've always struggled with and most people do is ego. I've never really wanted to have an ego but when you get used to people constantly, being like oh you're good, you're good, you might start to believe that. And so I started. All these years I had no problems and it wasn't my ego about thinking that I'm great, but it was the fact that, I mean, as a traditional martial artist, people are constantly being like, oh, that stuff doesn't work. And so I was actually in China at that time and was talking to a friend that was at a club. I was standing outside. It was a KTV club, a karaoke club, and I'm talking to a friend who's a girl. These 2 security guys, they were probably like 18, 19 and at this time I was 24? 25? Something like that. And they come over and they started talking to me and talking to my friend first and saying, hey, you speak this foreign language. Now foreigner isn't an insult, it's just the way the language is. Like they'll call someone who's outside of the country, a foreigner. Not being rude or anything, like that it's just the way they speak. And so she's like, no, she speaks Chinese. And so they start talking to me and they're like, oh, what do you do here? I'm like, I'm doing here, training Shaolin Kung Fu. And they start telling me oh, okay, so you're good at Go fu? You wanna teach me? I'm like you can't afford me. And they're like, oh, no, you can do something like if you want to train why don't you go to my teacher's school, I'm not gonna teach you. I was not getting what he was talking about and so my friend’s like and he wants to fight you. And I'm like, he wants to fight me? Like look at his skinny little arms and legs against me. Like, there's no way you're gonna like, and then he was like, well, the two of us can fight you. And I'm like, you can have five of you the outcome is still gonna be the same. And he’s like really? I'm like, yeah. So let's go then. Well, let's go. So we kind of you know my friend kind of backed up and only one guy came in and I'm like are you like okay? And so we fought and he runs in like the first thing he does is he runs it and throws like a roundhouse kick to my leg. And I kinda lifted my leg up to block it and was just like, and he, he kinda so funny because he likes rubs his chin like you know like a Jackie Chan movie. And so and we're going around and then we go I'm throwings and punches at him. He's throwings and punches at me. And then I like back kick him in the face. And he goes back into the street and we start fighting and people are like starting to crowd and my friend comes and tells us to stop. And he was like man you're really good. I'm like, you know, you're pretty good too. And he's like, well, I train at Tago. And so Tago is like in the in the village Dongfeng which is like the Shaolin Village. It's like the largest martial arts school. Like, they literally have like 70,000 students or something like that. And he was on their Sada team or Sancho Sundown like kickboxing. And I'm like, oh my god, you're so, you've actually trained and he's like how long did you train? And I was like well I've trained since I was 5. I've been training for like, he's like oh my god that's longer than I've been alive. And I'm like, yeah, like I'm so sorry that like, I was so rude and making fun of you saying that, but I thought you were just picking on me cause you thought that I was so in the village it's become kinda like a tourist place. So a lot of people, a lot of foreigners come and not, and even Chinese, they come from all over to see the Shaolin temple. They'll do like a little day seminars or stay for a couple of weeks to get the experience of Shaolin and then leave. And so for the people that grew up there, that's kind of like, they feel that it's like they're making a mockery of it. So, he thought that I was one of those people, and then he didn't, when he realized that I wasn't, we kinda became friends and I realized that I shouldn't have done that. But I was bragging to my Kung Fu brothers about it. because I was like yeah, dude, he was so cool I kicked the student spot in the street, people were all like yelling like go and my teacher overheard it. And I got in trouble and that's how he found out that I was doing tournaments as well and stuff because I had to kind of come clean. Yeah. And then he made me promised not to take challenges and stuff anymore so.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Would you handle that situation the same way now? I mean, it's almost 20 years later.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I get the sense, you know, just in the way you talked about it, the words you used, you know. Exciting at the time but it sounds like I guess we'll say you've changed your own mind as you've aged about something like that.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes, that is true. I completely would've. Now, I don't really care. When I first started doing TikTok and I was like, I would run like Facebook and things for promotion of the school, but like I said, I grew up with people always being like, oh, you're so great. Wow! Your group is so good. Like even at that time I had people that asked for my autograph which like crazy. I'm like on cloud 9, right? And then I get on TikTok and it's the first time I found out what like a troll was. And so people started, I'd post some stuff and people would be like oh that wouldn't work in a real fight. You suck and I'm like what? Like me? No one's ever anything like that to me. And that's so stupid. And I'm like, well, you suck. I'm like, that's stupid. You wanna find out if it works or not. And so I had a couple of people challenge me. And some being someone that, even my school in America, we won't really talk about it, but it was open for challenges. So especially living in Chicago. If you get a say you can do something, you'd better be able to do it, right? And so I'm like, okay. The guy started, I was like, well, follow me so that we can contact each other. And I followed him, they followed me. They follow me, and then I message him. Okay, you challenged me and he's like well how do you want to do this and I'm like what do you mean how do you want to be? he's like you're gonna come out to me and I'm gonna come out to you? Like I'm in Florida and I'm like okay, you challenged me so that means that you would come to me like, what are you talking about?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Demitri Daniels:
And then he is like, oh, well…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Plane tickets.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah, I'll have to we'll have to wait until because we're the pandemic, we'll have to wait until like the government gives like the stimulus and then I'll come and I'm like, okay, whatever.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Just lemme know when.
Demitri Daniels:
Just lemme know when. He's like let's do it in like three months or so. I'm like, okay, cool. Whatever. I mean, do it tomorrow, but if you want to wait to get money okay that's cool. And then he starts messaging me and he's like, oh, you're a pretty big guy. And I'm like okay. Like would you say that you've won most of your fight just because of your size? Like no I've won most of my fights because of my skill but that's irrelevant. He's like oh well I've done this before with people kind of talked to and went out and sparred them. I'm like wait what do you mean sparred? You challenge me. That means that if you can't beat me it's gonna be a really rough ride home. And he is like, oh, well I was just talking about sparring. And I'm like, see? Like I think that before you say something to someone, you kinda need to really know who they are and not look at some 15-second video and try to make a judgment and try to sound cool. Needless to say, he never showed up.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Shocker.
Demitri Daniels:
And he unfollowed me. I had someone else do it from California and I really thought that they were gonna come. Like this guy said I mean from his TikTok profile he was like an ex-military dude. He was like really skinny, I don't know what the deal is like small people wanting to fight big people but hey, whatever.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, clearly he didn't wanna fight you.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes, he didn't. And I was actually talking to my godfather and this is what kind of helped me is that I was like, man, another guy challenged me. And so he’s like, you're gonna do it. Like, yeah, but he actually, he's gonna here, he the stimulus league too, but he's actually gonna come, and he wants to prove to me that my style is BS. And he was like are you going to kill him? He said he wants to challenge me. And he was like so think about it. Someone is going to travel halfway across the United States to fight you, that doesn't know you over a 15-second video? Do you honestly think that this person is going to come to lose? Or what if you beat him, then what's gonna happen? Like, do you know that he's not gonna bring other people? Do you know he's not gonna shoot you or anything like that? And I'm like, well, I don't, but I mean, I guess I'm not opposed to killing him, but I would rather not. And he is like, so why are you gonna accept the challenge? But because he said he was going to and I guess we'll figure out what happens. And so this guy never showed up. Obviously, yeah. Shocked again. Because that's what people do on the…
Jeremy Lesniak:
But when people challenge they're never nearby there's always a logistical reason that they can't get there.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And they always want to have that conversation of why they can't go, you know, put action behind words privately, right? It's never like, you know, I'm withdrawing my challenge because I can't afford the flight. It's always like, hey man, you know, I would come to kick your butt, but you know, I don't have money for the plane ticket, right? Like, it's a…
Demitri Daniels:
I wasn't used to that. So I'm used to, people always say, so I'm like, okay. But then after his talk with him and I was like, man, I mean, I guess he does have a point, but, and I just thought about Buddhism and thinking about the idea that, I mean, no one could make me angry or like it's all my choice, how I choose, why did I really care that they were talking smack about me? It's just cause I had let my own ego get to me. It was something that I wasn't used to it. And so I can only choose how I react to something. So I've realized that yeah, that's ridiculous. And just because someone, something my teacher told me is like, someone said that you're not good, does that mean that you're not good? Like, why are you letting and this is what he said to me about accepting the challenges or fighting in competitions. Like, what are you trying to prove? Like are you doing martial arts for yourself? Or are you doing martial arts so that people can think that you're great?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Demitri Daniels:
And so
Jeremy Lesniak:
There's always gonna be somebody that won't think you're great.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes, yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No matter how good you are there, there's somebody out there who thinks, you know, Chuck Norris is a joke.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right? Probably the martial artist that has the most acclaim.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes. People are, they're always people.
Jeremy Lesniak:
There's still somebody out there. Ah, Chuck Norris sucks, right? Like
Demitri Daniels:
Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, man, you can't make everybody happy.
Demitri Daniels:
That's true. So, yeah, I kinda changed my idea on how I should live my life because no matter what, eventually, sooner or later, I'm gonna lose. But does that I suck? No, it means that it happens. Mean good days, you have bad days. Yeah, people get old. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Fans of boxing, you know, have something they like to say, you've probably heard this, you know, on any given day, you know, a lucky punch…
Demitri Daniels:
Yep.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Is all it takes.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right? You've got a pretty big project coming up and I'm just looking at the calendar here, and I think your episodes gonna be out just a bit ahead of when it launches. Tell us about the TV series you got coming.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah. Oh, so it's called Legendary Master's Counselor. It was inspired by for those of you that are really into martial arts was inspired by the WMAC Masters. An old show that I just loved that was in the next from ‘95 to ‘96, ‘97 and they've been 2 seasons. And it was this show that put the kinda the really well-known martial artist from movies or even in the like the ISKA or NASKA circuit martial arts that they were in this like show. It was kinda like reality, yet not reality. It was kinda hard. Yeah. And so it was a really great show they taught kids about, or not just kids, but everyone about martial arts ethics which I really believe in. And so, I started doing a Q and A where I would go live every night and people could talk to me, ask me questions about my life, ask me about martial arts, everything. One of my kinda fans, he was like, hey, so I heard that they're doing a reboot, they're doing a remake of WMAC Masters and would you ever try to be on the show? It'd be so cool to have Jade Jackhammer, the Drunken Master of TikTok. Oh, and I was like, whoa, that sounds cool. The Drunken Master of TikTok. Oh, that's nice. Thank you. But I was, I mean if they asked me to of course. I'm actually friends with a lot of the guys that were on the show. And so I spoke to Ho-Sung Pak who played Superstar who was a really big martial artist. He was also one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And he was like yeah they've been talking about it but no one's wanted to actually do it. And so I'm like, man, that's kinda crumby. But I started talking to some of my friends and was thinking man, I have the connections like I was just coming off this independent film for Mortal Kombat, filmed in the UK and I was like man I have friends that are in the industry. Producers, directors, cinematographers. Man, I bet we could put something together like this and do it yeah it'd be really cool. So I started talking to some of my friends about it. One of my good friends who is a writer of the show for the Mortal Kombat film, short film that I was in, he also wrote a book that Pity Dreadful was the story Pity Dreadful was this Netflix TV Series. Kinda like Gothic. But he wrote the book that it was based off.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, cool.
Demitri Daniels:
And so he told me that he would write the script and that but I was telling him about the show showed us some episodes and he's like you know, that's really cool and all but it was cool for the ‘90s. He's like you should I mean if you really want to relate to people and you should do something for one that's your own but something more modern. So we talked about how we were gonna do it and he wrote out this really cool script. And so we talked about it, we were gonna make it a series, but what we needed was money. I'm not rich, he wasn't rich and so I'm like what if we, this is what we can do, we can start a Kickstarter for it for people to see if they really want it to happen. I think that aside from me, let's take other martial artists. Like, let's do something like let's get other TikTok creators that are martial artists, that are real martial artists and not just like they're really interested in wanting to do this and so we can do this. Make it come together and let's do it. So I spoke to a few different artists that I've seen on TikTok and we put it together and I did a charter for we raised 65,000 dollars to make the show and so that's what's happened. We've had some, had a rough patch on getting it done but it did. Finally, it's coming up it's being released on May 4th.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Demitri Daniels:
But they're also doing a premiere at a local theater on April 29th, so.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. And where can people find it?
Demitri Daniels:
They'll be able to find it on Vimeo. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Demitri Daniels:
A pilot show. We're gonna have it on Vimeo. We wanna use it to kinda like, maybe send it to maybe get Netflix or Amazon.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's a pilot. Make sense.
Demitri Daniels:
But if we can do well and show everyone and people like it then we can, it makes it easier to go these companies. I mean kind of like using the idea of Kobra Kai. It started on YouTube and then Netflix liked it. So that’s it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Awesome. Awesome. And if people want to stay in touch, like so they can see developments with a show you on social media. I know you're all over the place, so like give the audience all the ads.
Demitri Daniels:
So you can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Those are the three main ones that I use under Jade Jackhammer.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Where does that name come from, by the way? We don't have very many guests that have aliases or pseudonyms or whatever you would call it. But yours, I mean, honestly, cuz what I looked in the notes, it was like, I was like, who the hell is Demitri Daniel? Jade Jackhammer, I know who that guy is. So where does that name come from?
Demitri Daniels:
So Jade Jackhammer comes from, so in China, my martial arts brothers and my teacher, one of my other teachers, so not [00:57:49] disciple, but I also trained in a kinda a village-style in the temple and under [00:57:56] which is [00:57:57] over 700 years. And so it's where one of my main styles of Tong Bay that I do but it's really funny probably I think that everyone kind of thinks it's weird that I'm a big guy and that I can jump around and stuff like that so my coach at the time, he, we were doing a form, and he made me do a tornado kick [00:58:26] , and so I do it, he was like, oh my God, do that again. And I'm like okay and he takes out his phone, and he starts filming me doing the tornado kick and he's like, oh my God, so good. So good. And he's like, oh, like "Hēisè xuànfēng" is the name of, I dunno if you’ve ever heard of the story Warriors of Outlaws of the Marsh, there's a Chinese story that has, there was this famous hero or outlaw that depending on who’s telling the story, right? Named Li Kui and he was supposed to be a really big guy. He was dark but he was really strong. His nickname was "Hēisè xuànfēng,” which means black Whirlwind. And so they started calling me Black Whirlwind and obviously the black part being that I'm a black man. And so I was telling my godfather this and he's like man, that's really cool and all but, cause originally I had gone as like "Hēisè xuànfēng,” because I'm like that's pretty cool, right. My Chinese name "Wěidà" means great hero. And so which is a name that was given who was given to me I did make it up. And so he was like oh that's pretty cool but "Hēisè xuànfēng" you being an American being a black man, you probably, I mean, like, I mean, cause people won't get it. Like if you're in China, yeah. Everyone completely understands they would think it's a racial thing right and yeah so yeah but he's like you know what you get hit like a jackhammer. And so and he was like yeah, why don't you be like a jackhammer? And I'm like, that's kinda like a porn star name.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I was thinking I wasn't gonna say it, but now that you've said it, yeah. That's where my brain went too.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah. And so I'm like, okay, how about this? So there is my school is called, called Yujai, Yujai Shaolin which means Jade, Jade Fortress. Jade Fortress or Yuja i is historically what the Shaolin temple was called or the area because of in history books, dating back hundreds of years or so, and or thousands maybe. And they like the Temple on the mountain so it kinda looks like a fortress and if you go right in the morning time, right when like the sun is coming out and things like that it kind of has a jade tech, a greenish. And so they referred to Shaolin as Yujai. And so then I was like, oh, you know, maybe I'll be Jade Jackhammer. That'd be pretty cool, right? Cause it had the idea of Shaolin because a lot of people think that the Shaolin temple for what was just like, it's just a building. Like a church and that Shaolin was only in there, but in actuality like the whole mountain area had martial artists and different family styles that were connected to the temple, things like that. So in 2012, I went from just doing kinda like Shaolin lineage in the temple and went outside of the temple to learn more kinda like older type of styles. Because it's kinda true though Shaolin is really old because of like the abbot they have a different river, whoever your teacher is, your teacher is your lineage defines like how old your style is and if it's modernized. Now about 10 years ago maybe. I dunno, I think, I'm getting the age, that I'm kind of old, so what seemed to be like 5 or 10 years to me was actually like 20-plus years.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Tell me about it. Yeah. I'm with you.
Demitri Daniels:
I've been back in the States for 7 years, so I guess, yeah, it was probably like 15, 20 years ago. The Abbot started to make a requirement that if people were teaching Shaolin like in TaeKwonDo and karate styles, is that if you were teaching it, it had to be done this certain way. Not like, oh, well I know this [01:02:51], I learned from this guy and he does it this way. Well, I learned from this guy and he does it this way. So they kinda, I dunno how they decided on what was going to be the core way that you do the movements but that ended up happening. So we started trying to restructure and requiring people to go to the temple to learn the forms the way that they now want them to learn, be taught. And I mean, I understand if you go from the idea of being like the CEO or like a business outside of being a temple and teaching culture that yeah, if you do Taekwondo or Karate it's really big. But they all generally do their forms the same way like they'll be little nuances, but they're kinda done the same way. And so he, I guess that's what he was trying to do so.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Makes sense.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We took a little detour, so let's come back. You were talking about your social media handles. I think you got through those. Were there any websites…
Demitri Daniels:
Oh.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That people should be aware of?
Demitri Daniels:
So, people my website is Jade Fortress, and yeah. And then Jeremy Lesniak: .Com?
Demitri Daniels:
Yes, jadefortress.com. It talks about my school, it talks about TV show. I actually am in the process of starting this, I used to teach couple years ago something I called Shaolin Culture Educational I mentioned earlier that my Shifu would kind of put me in charge of all of the disciples in the United States or outside of China. Because they didn't learn the language. So it's too really in-depth. And so I started the Shaolin Culture Educational where it was completely free. I did a Facebook Live for a group that people could comment, ask questions or I did a class for about an hour where I talk not only the names of the techniques but the 5 principles of Mastering Your Style in Shaolin which are actually, you know what I have a question for you.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Demitri Daniels:
Yeah. Let's see you in here. So, what do you think the first thing is to master your style? I ask everyone this question. Let's see what you mean, the first component to mastering your style and don't think so hard about it but yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Practicing.
Demitri Daniels:
Practicing. Almost. That's, I mean, like practice. You need to practice, but something more important than practicing. You need this before you can practice.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Be open to learning?
Demitri Daniels:
That's also something that's important, but you're not, I think you're thinking of it too grand.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I probably am, help me out.
Demitri Daniels:
Okay, so you have to have something to practice.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, sure.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes. So excuse me. Yeah, so in Shaolin and the ideas that you first learn the movements, and then you add speed and power to accuracy. And then, you become ambidextrous, right? Now, we do speed and power before epidex becoming ambidextrous is because the way, like it's a lot easier to learn something one way and then to be proficient at it and then switch over to be able to do the other side. It's a lot harder to try to do both sides at the same time. Now you naturally practice things on say your left and your right but a lot of times we really focus on one side. And so after you have learned, you've really learned the techniques, you become ambidextrous. Then after that, this is something that a lot of people don't really do, but it's done in Shaolin, a lot of outside martial arts, is that the force is to practice on uneven terrain, different surface. So that's why in Shaolin we we practice on seeing like the plum blossom polls, we practice on a mountain, right? So your footing is really important it's not like some matted floor or some paved ground. I mean if you're fighting someone, especially if you are on a mountain you could literally slip on the dirt and gravel and fall like a hundred feet, right?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Demitri Daniels:
So your footing is really important. Also, training in different climates, like it's not just some air-conditioned room with mats, right? So training in the rain, training in the snow. Because in reality, we never know when we're gonna be attacked. And even if it's not about just fighting so many people as they get older and like they slip on the ice, crack their skull older people having falling in the bathtub from having a wet floor, right? So all of these things, if we train to know how to move our bodies in these different circumstances, then we're a lot better off. And it'll be a lot harder to get hurt, right? And then the fifth is to be applicable. Not only does the teacher, one of my favorite things, and I do wanna address this cause for the people, I don't ever talk to people about this, but I make on my TikTok videos or in my social media post, it's funny cause I'll ask questions like, would you think this work in a fight? Or this is how we would do this technique. And one of the common things that people like to say is, oh well it's easy if you have a compliant person. And for those, it's a special thing to let everyone know in this life. So anytime you see me do a video, if you see it, like if it looks kinda sloppy or something like you will never see some unless it's for a video reel of doing a movie, will it be like clean and cut and done? And the reason for that is the way my Shifu taught in Shaolin is that he was also, he had won some Sanda Tournaments and was a champion, right? So he was teaching us a technique and he was like, oh, well I'm gonna show you the application form. And so he'd always like to pair me up 'cause he's a small guy, I'm a big guy. He looks cooler to the students.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Demitri Daniels:
So he'd okay like, we're this movement. Okay, I'm like okay well how do you want me to attack you? It's like I want you to attack me. I'm like well, what do I do? A back head straight punch or a kick or he was like I want you to attack me and I would just think of cool go out and throw something crazy and he would still get the technique on me. And the reason that is that he's already confident in what he's doing and so he doesn't need me to tell him what I'm gonna do so that he can be ready for the technique to come. And I think that was his way of showing that if you know how to fight if you actually have martial skill, you don't need to be told how to apply the technique. If you know the technique, and then you can use it on them.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That makes sense.
Demitri Daniels:
So I've trained, that's how all my videos are done. So I do the video where the student, I don't tell them who it is, what they're gonna do. I just tell them to attack me and then I do the technique on them whether I get him over, that time when we move around and then I eventually get on with so.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Awesome.
Demitri Daniels:
Yes sort of a little secret but yes, all Jade Jackhammer happened the Shaolin Culture Educational I'll be teaching that. I'm trying to reboot it so it'll be on the jadefortress website, but people can sign up for it and get the Chinese language, see application videos, forms, and history.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Plenty of good stuff for people to check out. I hope they do. And this is where we're gonna wind down. The next time they're gonna hear my voice will be in the outro. So this is your chance to close it out. What words do you wanna leave the audience with today?
Demitri Daniels:
I think that I'll go in with how I always kinda end and just say happy training. So I think that happy training to me, it started as just kind of a joke, but I think it really encompasses my idea of when you train. I feel that it's a lot easier to learn when you're not stressed. Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't have pressure or things like that, but when your mind is stressed, it's harder to receive things. If someone's yelling at you or if, yeah, if there's so much hardship outside of the point that you can't receive it, then it's useless. So always keeping, when I think of saying happy training, I'm thinking you're happy doing something that you want to do. You can receive that, you can receive it a lot better. You can excel a lot better so that's my idea. You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar, right? So, if you're calm and you're happy, you can learn a lot more and do a lot more. So yeah, happy training.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What a character and I don't mean that in the way that he has an alias and that is his character. I mean, what a personality. And what I loved about my conversation with him was that he just, here I am. I'm me. I don't always get that when I talk to guests. If you've been listening or watching for a while, you know that some guests are more open than others. This is an example of someone who was incredibly open and it gave us no shortage of things to talk about. I look forward to the day we get to train together. I know it's gonna happen because we actually have some mutual connections. Somebody who's been on the show multiple times, someone who doesn't live too far away, they are actually first-degree connections. And it was because of that wonderful person that Demitri came on the show. So thank you, Shifu. Thank you. I appreciate your time, your openness, and all of it. Audience, I appreciate you just as much because what's a podcast without an audience? Thank you for being here. If you wanna support us as whistlekick, if you wanna support this show, if you wanna support me, if you wanna support the team, share this episode with somebody. If you've already done that, leave an app. Review somewhere, buy something using the code, podcast15. Sign up for the newsletter. There are so many things that you can do, okay? Now here are two others that I didn't mention in the outro. We do seminars. You wanna host me for a seminar? I'd love to come out and work with you and your students on some of the things that I find really interesting in the martial arts. Most people who bring me in for a seminar bring me back, so I guess that means I'm doing something right. You know what else we do, right? Consulting. I believe in our methodology is far more holistic, far more authentic because all martial arts schools are different. Having a one size fits all approach to marketing and growth doesn't seem to resonate for a lot of people and that's most of our clients. They've worked with other schools I'm sorry, other consultants or not, and said, you know what? Let's give this a try. Guess what? Schools rarely leave our consulting. Just as you rarely stop watching or listening, people stop contributing to the Patreon. That doesn't happen often. Why? Because it's about overwhelming value and I make sure that all of our clients get overwhelming value out of our relationship. I appreciate our relationship, even if it's as simple as me talking, and you listening means a lot to me. If you wanna support us, do any of the things that I just mentioned, and if you wanna talk to me about something, email me jeremy@whistlekick.com. Our social media is @whistlekick everywhere. Until next time, train hard, smile, and have a great day.