Shadowing Practice: Discipline Your Thoughts | Shi Heng Yi Motivation - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
258 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
Discipline yourself in order to overcome that hardship.
2
So there will be difficult times, you will have a sore body, you will have some type of pain,
3
but you still find something about you to still transcend this type of state.
4
Nobody's gonna help you.
5
It is you, yourself, who needs to go through the pain, who needs to go through the training,
6
who is the one who needs to motivate yourself, find your own purpose in why am I doing this.
7
There is nobody else out there helping you to achieve what you are setting on the mind.
8
Set up a schedule and just do the work, free from how you feel.
9
Because also feelings sometimes, you wake up one day, you feel this way, you wake up next day you feel another way
10
and it's just not helpful to base your structure or your goal on how you feel.
11
Overthinking is something inside of the mind is fluctuating all the time.
12
There is too much input available and it's jumping from one to another.
13
So in a way there is that type of restlessness of the mind.
14
It's continuously jumping which means it's too much.
15
So you're thinking about too many different things.
16
This is one type of overthinking.
17
Overthinking can also mean you only have one thing that is like keeping you busy,
18
but you are turning it over and over again and never come to any type of conclusion.
19
It's also a type of overthinking related to let's say one subject.
20
You stick to what you put there on paper.
21
You take your time, you make the plan and unless you really are sick or have some type of higher excuse,
22
you just do what you have committed to.
23
This society is too weak. And why?
24
Because of all the technology which is available right now, so you don't need to use your body anymore.
25
I always think about in the stone ages.
26
Do you think somebody in the stone ages had depression?
27
Or even a more modern variation, the Spartans.
28
Do you think they had depression?
29
You know, maybe you are laughing but all of these groups they are too busy with their body,
30
They are too busy with activity to be depressed.
31
But nowadays how does the time look?
32
You can sit if you want from morning till evening just in front of the screen and nothing's going to happen anymore.
33
Watch your thoughts because they will become your words.
34
Watch your words because they will become your action.
35
Watch your actions because they will become your behavior.
36
Watch your behavior because they will become your habits.
37
Watch your habits because it will become your character.
38
Watch the character because it will become your destiny.
39
Putting now that long chain of what I just said together with the idea of energy follows intention, there is some similarity.
40
If something in this world you want to create, creation needs energy.
41
So ultimately, where does this energy come from?
42
It comes ultimately from thought.
43
Just don't give up.
44
Just don't give up.
45
Even if right now it doesn't make sense.
46
One day, I'm very, very sure, when you start to see the connections and things fall into place,
47
you will maybe also realize that it couldn't have been different even
48
if it's difficult but the only thing
49
that I learned from the martial art practices
50
and also from my own life is giving up was just simply not a question or simply never an option sunrise
51
Sun goes down so that means there is a up there is a down.
52
Since we are born, we have inhaled 50 % of our times, we have exhaled 50 % of our times.
53
Our heart, the same, sucking the blood, pumping the blood, also the same, meaning always 50 -50.
54
Always the exchange between left and right, up and down, bright and dark, in and out.
55
Success. and failure.
56
The biggest mistake a person can do right now, no matter in which situation you are, is to give up.
57
You might not reach the best best version of yourself in this lifetime, but a better one than you are right now.
58
Do not ever allow anyone and anything put you in a conceptual box.
59
There is no, you must become this or you must become that.
60
You can become everything as long as the mind is free and it's not preoccupied with any ideas of the parents,
61
of the government, of the society, of the advertising, of the propaganda, of anything like this.
62
The free spirit.
63
whatever keeps the free spirit alive.
64
We are overcoming the suffering.
65
We are not running away from the suffering.
66
You are overcoming it.
67
You go through it until you have become so strong.
68
Your body becomes so strong.
69
Your mind has become so strong that it doesn't matter afterwards anymore.
70
Whatever you try to hold onto, the nature of thing is
71
that this is happening swinging away it's gonna move away from you
72
and whatever you try to avoid
73
and push away from you is just a question of time until it's gonna move like pretty close towards
74
you it's gonna come towards you it's gonna come towards you
75
if If you don't want to have a life that is too shaky, don't touch the water.
76
Because in the moment you touch, your touch is the initiation for the ripples to appear.
77
Same way, you want to follow that goal, you want to have it easy along that goal, don't touch any additional water along your goal.
78
Don't touch it because you like something and don't touch it because you dislike something.
79
Because when you walk towards the goal and you do here and here and here, you're just gonna ripple your whole surroundings,
80
which ultimately means your energy is being just drawn away from your initial goal.
81
When you sleep, you sleep.
82
When you eat, you eat.
83
When you talk, you talk.
84
When you work, you work.
85
But nowadays people work and they think about eating.
86
People eat and they think about sleeping.
87
People sleep and they think about working.
88
So there's something not aligned.
89
There is no synchronicity.
90
You are here but actually something else is there.
91
And this is not how it's supposed to be.
92
Being present means you sleep you sleep.
93
You talk you talk.
94
You eat you eat.
95
You walk you walk.
96
You drive you drive.
97
You listen, you listen.
98
In order for something new to come, something old must go.
99
And that old can sometimes mean let go of what you know until now.
100
Empty the cup and start from the beginning.
101
It's not easy to do,
102
but at the moment it's the only way that I see how something that is blocked can be brought back to movement.
103
You must spill the OT and pour in new one.
104
Then things look different.
105
Discipline your thoughts.
106
Stop thinking too much.
107
Don't go into the past.
108
Don't go into the future.
109
Be in the present.
110
Why?
111
Because only then it's possible that the mind is free,
112
the capacity is free and now you completely immerse into whatever you are doing and this means you have arrived.
113
You have arrived.
114
That's it.
115
Whoever is seeing this video right now in 100 years they're all not here anymore.
116
So what is the truth?
117
The truth is our lifetime, what we have right now, it's very, very precious.
118
With the knowledge of our lifetime has an end,
119
my mission, my wish for you is to really contemplate about how do you want to spend this lifetime?
120
In what do you want to invest this lifetime
121
and therefore it doesn't need to be Shaolin it doesn't need to be any specific person
122
that you follow but whatever decision you are taking in your personal life just always take care
123
and ask yourself this question is this really what you want to do with your lifetime.
124
Sometimes there are just forces and energies in this world.
125
They are very, very strong.
126
And if you're not able to have a proper root of yourself,
127
if you have nothing about your mind that truly is anchored steadily, you're going to lose yourself.
128
And therefore, what is it that I wish?
129
Not just for my son, for everyone.
130
Find this route.
131
Find this place, it's stable.
132
Yes, I feel something is arising, I feel something is coming, I see things are happening,
133
but there's also something where nothing is happening it's just
134
there learn discipline be kind be patient learn to not get distracted learn what means focus there is a price
135
if you don't do it and there's a price
136
if you do it and it's just up to you to decide
137
which of those two passes of development would you like to be in.
138
The human is able to develop and learn so many different things when the willingness is there.
139
When you are willing to learn.
140
You are willing to learn and afterwards you put that willingness into a form.
141
Willingness into a form means to make a plan.
142
A simple daily plan.
143
Tomorrow I'm dedicating five minutes to practice it.
144
The day after, another five minutes.
145
After that week, ten minutes every day.
146
And this you keep no matter what, no excuse.
147
everyone is old enough to make a plan where you can put five minutes into your daily schedule
148
that is just unchanged for the next months.
149
I don't see a problem with this.
150
But sometimes we're too compulsive.
151
Sometimes you do have a plan but then somebody calls you,
152
you receive a message, Something comes in between and suddenly the plan is gone.
153
If you have this type of commitment, why would you even call it commitment?
154
It's called commitment because the commitment itself already knows.
155
The human is used to fly around simply the Kung Fu training the Shaolin Kung Fu training
156
there is a saying
157
which is Shaolin Kung Fu literally means walking through the valley of pain what does it mean
158
when you are doing stretching stretching stretching stretching it's gonna be painful
159
when you are doing strength training is gonna be painful
160
when you do conditioning training it's gonna be painful so the whole pass on
161
this martial art journey
162
it is just filled with working yourself up to the level
163
of where it feels uncomfortable getting some consistency into the practice until the point where that uncomfortable feeling just started disappearing.
164
Why?
165
Because somehow you broke that initial comfort zone.
166
So, but then it doesn't end.
167
Now, next level.
168
Until you're building up first of all, yeah, whatever we're doing, later on I will show you some practices,
169
it's not that I do not feel pain.
170
I also feel pain.
171
Maybe I feel it later.
172
But the essential part is that my connection,
173
my relation between the pain of the body towards what would it affect in the way of how I take my decisions,
174
that is a different one.
175
I feel the pain, but at the moment I feel the pain, but I see no necessity to still change something about my way right now.
176
Why?
177
Because I can take the pain.
178
Whereas when you are not used to this pain, you feel it and then it tells you,
179
let's say it's painful, the mind says, okay, it's not good.
180
And so you directly change something.
181
And this is just the difference.
182
So it's not that I became numb.
183
No, I just feel there is an additional layer.
184
that I can observe about myself, it is painful, but it's okay for right now.
185
So apparently when somebody has this very, very high ambition of doing something,
186
achieving something, it is coming from the idea of wanting to nourish or create an identity.
187
An identity that represents something that you think you want to represent, So this is the one area,
188
the doing versus the being.
189
If you don't know what type of thoughts are going to arise in the mind,
190
it doesn't make sense to me to blindly follow whatever comes up in the mind.
191
So this is where in the ancient teachings comes the saying, you are not your thoughts
192
this is the very very first essential point to really reflect for yourself upon it do you truly believe
193
that what you are thinking is you and
194
that you have to follow everything that pops up in the mind
195
or is there an another perspective in simply viewing okay something is popping up I don't really know why,
196
I don't really know actually what, but in the moment you have this additional distance to your thoughts,
197
it already gives you one huge advantage, which means the power to choose.
198
Choosing what?
199
Choosing to just let it pass or to be hooked by it.
200
And being hooked by thoughts is the same expression that in the ancient text sometimes is related to.
201
You have two choices.
202
Either you master the mind or you are being enslaved by the mind.
203
Only when you look into the dark, it becomes light.
204
Only when the dark is being seen, light enters.
205
There is no other way than looking into the dark.
206
Do you carry any type of guilt inside of you?
207
Any type of resentment, any negativity, any frustration?
208
All of this, all of this.
209
I think there's no way than facing all of it.
210
It's uncomfortable, it's not nice, but once it's seen, it's not a problem anymore.
211
Once it's seen, it is being integrated.
212
Only when you try to hide things away, live a life in order that nobody sees it and you don't want to spend time there.
213
So this is like you're running away from yourself.
214
If you have ever asked yourself how much influence do you really think you have,
215
whether a thought is arising or not.
216
So meaning, this is sometimes the experiment that you can do for yourself or the people at home.
217
Try to calculate whatever next thought is going to come up in your mind.
218
So do you have any influence in knowing what is going
219
to be the next thoughts within the next 20 -30 seconds are going to arise in the mind?
220
There was a time I did this experiment myself and I always come up to one conclusion.
221
I don't feel like I have too much influence
222
or impact in knowing what type of thought is going to pop up or arise within the next seconds or minutes.
223
I don't.
224
The more you're used or getting used to something, the more habits actually you yourself are starting to develop.
225
So we humans are beings of a type of life where there was not a lot of discipline involved.
226
You can still develop it of course in the 21st years
227
and onwards but before
228
that we have to somehow balance out these 20 years of your habit of being undisciplined
229
so what it means is the older you get the more habits
230
you already have the more difficult it will become to change any of them
231
so this is why starting as early as possible is the
232
easiest way to actually program yourself condition yourself in the right
233
direction of what type of habits what type of thinking patterns
234
you would like to develop in yourself
235
it depends on the openness of the mind eventually it is it depends everything on the openness of yourself
236
so if somebody is 50 years old
237
but he is still open to life open to life means you actually realize about yourself
238
that you know nothing about this lifetime you have 50 years of human life yeah
239
but 50 years is 50 years yeah
240
so it really depends on how open are you staying throughout your journey in this lifetime
241
if you always take care of staying open
242
there is no limit in terms of how much and how much more are you able to develop yourself
243
the more limited the more restricted the more closed you are the more you think you're perfect the less you're gonna change.
244
Living this lifetime is not easy.
245
The more wishes you have, the more difficult it becomes.
246
The more ambitious you are, the more you will have to face.
247
So, bottom line is, I do think that in the moment where you just on a regular basis
248
Put yourself consciously and willingly in different situations and circumstances that actually represent a little bit the structures of life.
249
There are moments in this lifetime where you are going to be super tense, super tense.
250
And then it's good to know already how does it feel and what is it that you can do?
251
Well, to learn and release the tension.
252
That's why releasing tension is also a big part of the exercises.
253
The one thing is learning to release tension.
254
The other thing is like when you are too sloppy, when you're too slacky, how to increase your tension,
255
how to increase the energy level again for you to get back into structure again.
256
So it's always this balance and ultimately, how does it help people? to know the hard stuff.
257
Well, because I do think that it is symbolizing this way of life.
258
It is symbolizing the patterns of what you are going to go through in this lifetime.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
C11
178 sentences
FOCUS ON YOURSELF AND STAY SILENT | Shi Heng Yi Motivation
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B11,905
18 sentences
Discipline Beats Motivation
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
264 sentences
OVERTHINKING STOPS NOW (Watch This Video)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C11
271 sentences
Secret to a Stress-Free Mind (Lao Tzu + Psychology)
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
232 sentences
How to Train Your Brain to Enjoy Hard Work | Andrew Huberman
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
122 sentences
I don’t understand what we’re living for
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C14
67 sentences
SHAOLIN MASTER - FEAR IS AN ILLUSION | Shi Heng Yi 2021
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
477 sentences
The Only 28 Minutes You Need To Transform Your Life | Joe Dispenza Motivation
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C14
160 sentences
Powerful Stoic Quotes That Will Change Your Life
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
193 sentences
Can’t Stay Consistent? Build Daily Habits | ENGLISH PODCAST
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
191 sentences
Your Imagination Won't Fix Your Life
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C12
112 sentences
The Most Dangerous Mindset I See as a Therapist
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Discipline Your Thoughts”. This video has 258 sentences and 2893 words to shadow. The speech runs for 21:56. The speaker talks at a steady 132 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 91% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| lifetime noun | /ˈlaɪf.taɪm/ | The duration of the life of someone or something. |
| habit noun | /ˈhæb.ɪt/ | An action performed on a regular basis. |
| painful adjective | /ˈpeɪn.fl̩/ | Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental. |
| arise verb | /əˈɹaɪz/ | To come up from a lower to a higher position. |
| commitment noun | /kəˈmɪtmənt/ | The act of sending a legislative bill to committee for review. |
| stretch verb | /stɹɛt͡ʃ/ | To lengthen by pulling. |
| discipline noun | /ˈdɪsəplɪn/ | A controlled behaviour; self-control. |
| tension noun | /ˈtɛnʃən/ | The condition of being held in a state between two or more forces, which are acting in opposition to each other. |
| overcome verb | /ˌəʊ.vəˈkʌm/ | To surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of. |
| depend verb | /dɪˈpɛnd/ | To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition |
| uncomfortable adjective | /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/ | Not comfortable; causing discomfort. |
| willingness noun | /ˈwɪlɪŋnəs/ | The state of being willing |
| suffer verb | /ˈsʌfɚ/ | To undergo hardship. |
| afterwards adverb | /ˈæf.tɚ.wɚdz/ | At a later or succeeding time; after that; |
| conclusion noun | /kənˈkluːʒən/ | The end, finish, close or last part of something. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| pop up verb | To come up with a "pop" sound. | |
| run away from verb | To avoid or shirk a problem or consequences; to rush to back away from or disclaim responsibility for something. | |
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| build up verb | To erect; to construct. | |
| come up to verb | To approach. | |
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Do you think somebody in the stone ages had depression?
- Do you think they had depression?
- Tomorrow I'm dedicating five minutes to practice it.
- I don't see a problem with this.
- Do you carry any type of guilt inside of you?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be depressed · are born · being just drawn |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have committed · have inhaled · have become |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | one who needs · jumping which means · technology which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 50 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, gonna, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: tension /ˈtɛnʃən/, conclusion /kənˈkluːʒən/, martial /ˈmɑɹʃəl/, intention /ɪnˈtɛnʃn̩/, relation /ɹɪˈleɪʃ(ə)n/
- Long words — get the stress right: uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, experiment /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/, consistency /kənˈsɪs.tən.si/, continuously /kənˈtɪnjuəsli/, necessity /nɪˈsɛsəti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like lifetime, habit, painful.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.