Martial arts master, Shi Yan Ming, is a 34th generation Shaolin warrior monk, teacher and actor, best known as the founder of USA Shaolin Temple.
Trained at the Shaolin Temple in the People's Republic of China since the age of five, Shi Yan Ming defected to the United States in 1992, before opening the USA Shaolin Temple in Manhattan, where he has taught hundreds of students, including numerous celebrities.
According to The New York Times, as a young monk, Shi Yan Ming learned to break rocks with his skull, deflect blades with his skin, and sleep while hanging upside down from a tree branch.
By the age of 17, and according to The New Yorker, he could deflect the tip of a spear with his neck, sleep standing on one leg, and dangle a 50-pound (23 kg) weight from his scrotum, a practice that helped train him to withstand a full-force blow to the groin and still have a good sense of humor.
Source: New Yorkers
