Traditionally, Buddhist nuns have not been allowed to exercise. They are forbidden from singing, leading prayers or being fully ordained. In some monasteries, it is believed that female Buddhists can’t even achieve enlightenment unless they are reborn as men.

“Everyone has this old thinking that nuns can’t do anything,” said Jigme Konchok Lhamo, 25, who has been part of the nunnery since she was 12. (Jigme is a first name that all the nuns share, which in Tibetan means “fearless one.”)

But the spiritual leader of the Drukpa lineage, His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa, has spent much of his life breaking down those patriarchal Buddhist traditions.

Gyalwang Drukpa doesn’t like “the terminology of empowerment,” he said in a 2014 interview. “That actually means that I have the power to empower them.”

“I’m just moving the obstacles, so that they can come up with their own power.”

In 2008, as part of his mission to bring about gender equality in Buddhism, Gyalwang Drukpa had the nuns learn kung fu to help them build strength and confidence. He has allowed nuns to take on leadership positions and has taught them how to perform and lead rituals.

The all-female monastery he leads has since swelled to around 800 nuns, with the youngest member aged 8 and the eldest around 80. Every day, the nuns wake up at 3 a.m. to meditate for two hours. Then they take a series of classes, including Buddhist teachings that were previously taught only to men, and two hours of kung fu training.

Beyond martial arts, the nuns are also environmentalists who pick up litter scattered around the Himalayas and cycle thousands of miles to promote sustainability. In a region notorious for violence against women and human trafficking, they go from village to village teaching girls self- defense.