For years, wellness has been synonymous with matcha, Pilates Reformer, ten-step skincare routines, and perfectly curated morning routines. Today, however, TikTok tells a different story. A story of waking up before dawn, grueling runs, punches, bamboo sticks, balance exercises, and workouts so intense they seem straight out of a martial arts movie. Or, to be more precise, from *Mulan*, a landmark Disney animated film.
As you scroll through your feed, it’s impossible not to come across videos of young European men and women who decide to leave everything behind to move to China—even if just for a few weeks or months—to experience life at a traditional kung fu school. Some stay for a month, others for six, and some return every summer. No one is looking for a vacation. They’re seeking a transformation. And watching them, it’s hard not to be mesmerized. Training under the scorching sun or in the dead of winter in the snow, hours spent repeating the same movement until it’s perfect, sticks snapping against their bodies during conditioning exercises, impossible jumps, meditation, silence, and an ironclad discipline that punctuates every moment of the day. It seems almost absurd that, in the age of instant gratification, millions of people are fascinated by something that requires time, effort, and sacrifice. Yet that is exactly what is happening. Perhaps because, deep down, we are not merely witnessing the return of martial arts; we are witnessing the return of discipline.
We live in a world that constantly pushes us to go faster, consume more, react immediately, and always be available. We’re connected to everything and, paradoxically, increasingly disconnected from ourselves. Martial arts offer the opposite. They force you to slow down. To breathe. To listen. To repeat the same movement hundreds of times until it becomes second nature. They teach you that control comes before strength and that patience is often more powerful than impulsiveness. It is a philosophy even before it is a sport, and that is probably what makes it so relevant today.
What is particularly striking is the growing number of young women who choose to go. Many have never practiced a combat sport. Some say they’ve never even exercised regularly. Yet they decide to endure weeks of grueling training, to live with the bruises, the exhaustion, the frustration of failing, and the immense satisfaction of succeeding the next day. They aren’t trying to become violent, because martial arts have nothing to do with violence. They’re trying to become strong, and there’s a huge difference. For too long, female strength has been portrayed almost exclusively in terms of economic independence, career success, or social emancipation. All of these are fundamental, of course. But today, another desire is also emerging: to feel physically capable. To know that you can defend yourself, that you can hold your ground, and that you can face fear without being paralyzed by it.
Not to wage war on the world, but to navigate it with greater confidence. It’s a form of empowerment very different from what we’re used to—more concrete, more quiet, less performative. And it’s impossible not to notice how this need arises precisely at a historical moment marked by instability, wars, collective anxiety, and a widespread sense of vulnerability. Perhaps that’s why martial arts are becoming so central again. Because they don’t promise a better version of our bodies. They promise a stronger version of our character. I must admit that these videos have had an effect on me, too. Not so much because of the flying kicks or impossible stunts, but because of the energy they convey. There’s something deeply fascinating about seeing ordinary people discover, one training session after another, a strength they never even imagined they had.
I even found myself looking for a kung fu school in Milan. Out of curiosity, of course. But also because I realized that, perhaps, what drew me wasn’t learning to fight, but learning to persevere. Because the real lesson these disciplines seem to teach isn’t how to strike someone, but how not to give up when your body tells you to stop, how to stay calm while everything around you is in turmoil. How to find balance even when life loses it.
Ultimately, this is the image that sticks with you after watching dozens of these videos: not that of broken sticks, punches, or endurance tests. But rather, that of people who enter a school determined to become physically stronger and leave with something far more valuable: the realization that limits, very often, exist only until someone decides to test them. And that the greatest strength is never the strength we exert over others, but the strength we learn to have over ourselves.
[📷 Instagram: shaolinmasteryu]
