5 Ways To Self-Mastery & Manifesting Your Dream Future w/ Shaolin Master Shi Heng Yi EP 1418

https://lewishowes.com/mindset - Order a copy of my new book The Greatness Mindset today! Shi Heng Yi is the headmaster of the Shaolin Temple Europe . In this function he is responsible for the mental and physical development and training of the novices, disciples and master students of the monastery in Otterberg / Germany. Despite it’s traditional history of over 1528 years since the establishment of the famous Shaolin Temple in China, less is being known about the underlying aspects of psychological and mental practices that go along with the hardship of physically demanding training and conditioning, known as Shaolin Kung Fu. His goal and endeavor is not only to explain and convey theoretical principles in an understandable way, but above all to make this knowledge practical and tangible for our contemporary modern world. Being a martial artist for more then 36 years, Master Shi Heng Yi has spend decades of practice and research in the field of Shaolin Kung Fu and Qi Gong. He has an academic background and does not consider himself as a Monk. His strength is the ability to combine his knowledge with ancient Shaolin methods to unlock the potential that lies in the unification of body and mind aspects. He's released a 12 Month Self-Master course that's now available - https://www.shihengyi.online/self-mastery-trainingIn this episode you will learn,How to take control of negative emotionsThe benefits of breathwork in high stress situationsHow to visualize the future of your dreamsFor more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1418 Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:02Lewis Howes?

  I firmly believe that taking charge of your mindset allows you to be in the driver's seat of your life and unlock your potential. And that's why I'm thrilled to share that my new book is out right now. It's called The Greatness Mindset. In it, you'll learn how to build a plan for greatness through powerful exercises and toolkits designed to propel your life forward. This is the book that I wish I had 20 years ago. It's everything I've learned in the last decade with the research and the science to help you unlock your mind. Make sure to go to LewisHowes.com/2023Mindset to pick up your copy of my book, The Greatness Mindset, today.

• 0:40Speaker 01

  Ill will is a state of the mind. Doesn't matter if it's towards yourself, towards another person, towards your colleagues, it's always the same ill will. It is something inside of you, which if you don't pay attention to, is going to be a hindrance.

• 0:57Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 1:21Lewis Howes?

  I'm so excited that you're here because I feel like the modern world is lacking self-discipline, self-knowledge, and they're lacking connection to their authentic selves as human beings. And I've been there in my life where I've lacked these things as well. And it's a constant process of learning, staying accountable and disciplined to these teachings that you have. So I'm very excited that you're here. And I want to, I want to make this a very special, long format episode and interview. And I want to ask you first about the five hindrances that you've talked about online before. These hindrances that hold people

• 2:04Lewis Howes?

  back from mastering themselves and their inner world. I'm curious if you can talk about what those five are first.

• 2:13Speaker 01

  So when it comes to developing something about yourself, it doesn't matter what it is. If it is just following up in becoming great in any type of sport, or even if you want to build up like a small community or something for yourself. It's about if you want to go somewhere, if you have a goal and wanna go somewhere. Along this way, you will meet different type of hindrances that we call, that will sometimes make it difficult for you to, let's say, reach the goal where you would like to go.

• 2:56Speaker 01

  And to very easily explain it. One way, for example, is if you are too easily being caught by positive emotions.

• 3:07Lewis Howes?

  What type of positive emotions?

• 3:09Speaker 01

  All types that is raising something inside of you that you are relating to, that feels really good now. But it takes you out of your ordinary. So that means you have a goal on the mind, what you want to achieve. You start walking, you start doing your, your jobs and your obligations. But along this way, you are meeting a distraction, which is giving you a lot of positive emotions. Because you are in that average state of the mind, that overall, um, let's say, normal state of the mind. Now, if it takes you out of the average of being positive, it's very easy for us that we get attached to these type of feelings.

• 3:54Speaker 01

  So what ultimately means, you're going to lose track of your goal. Because you would prefer right now to spend more time with all of these things that give you positive emotions.

• 4:06Lewis Howes?

  Can you give an example of one of these positive emotions or a situation that someone might have?

• 4:12Speaker 01

  Positive emotions, for example. Let's take a very nice one, fame.

• 4:19Speaker 01

  Yes, you have a goal in the mind, what you want to achieve. But along this way, you feel there is that word of fame. And so what does it mean? It means you are getting the views, you're getting the sight of different people. And now you are encountering something that you haven't planned about it before. But now that you meet it, and now that you feel it, that it's this type of fame that you could get from the people. Well, now the question still is if you can stick to your initial plan or not? Or is the fame going to move in front of all of this? And it's not your mission anymore that was important to you.

• 5:02Speaker 01

  But now suddenly, you are replacing your initial goal with something that gave you positive emotions along this way. Right, so the positive emotion, is that the first thing that could be a hindrance for you? I definitely think it is something that you need to consider as a human, if you walk through this lifetime and want to build something which is out of the ordinary. You are hundred percent going to meet various positive emotions. And one of them is just that example that I brought right now. But it can also be very simple things that

• 5:43Speaker 01

  your eyes are catching the attraction too quickly about things that look beautiful, about things around you that taste too great, that smell too good. So that means it's very easy, especially nowadays with all of the advertising being around.

• 6:04Speaker 01

  To lose your awareness in the outside distractions. Let's call it that like this.

• 6:13Lewis Howes?

  So I think, is this what you call sensual desire? Is this like having too much sensual desire, these positive emotions around the senses?

• 6:22Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 6:23Lewis Howes?

  That could distract you.

• 6:25Speaker 01

  For example, and why is it called sensory desires? Because those desires are based on our five senses, for example. Because just think about it in very simple terms. Everything in this world where you say, I like it or I dislike it. Those things happen only on five different levels. Either you see something that you start to judge. You smell something that you start to judge. You taste something, you hear something, or you feel something. So it's the five senses actually that are the, that are building the bridge

• 7:08Speaker 01

  between what we regard as the outside impacts. And what you internally are then afterwards reacting to. And this is not to say that sensory desire is good or bad. It's really important to understand, I'm not talking about good or bad. I'm talking about if you have a specific goal on your mind. There are things that can happen to you which will be useful to have. And there are other things that are going to hinder you along this way.

• 7:45Lewis Howes?

  Hindrances, yeah.

• 7:46Speaker 01

  Hindrances, and so right now it's not about good or bad. It's about a hindrance. If you have a goal, just take care that these things are existing, the positive emotions. Just like the negative emotions. Negative emotions, meaning you have a goal, you're already preparing yourself to go there. But now things are becoming difficult.

• 8:11Speaker 01

  Your daily schedule is not going according to plan how you wrote it down in your schedule. Things are coming in that you didn't expect. Because you didn't expect it and maybe are not prepared for it. It can easily happen that you are getting stressed out by so many different impacts. So that means there are now events coming along this way that are giving you, that are raising negative emotions inside of you. And so what does it also mean? It means that the chances at these type of mental states,

• 8:51Speaker 01

  it's easy right now to find an argument and give up and stop the journey. And this is exactly, it's the five hindrances of the mind. What I'm talking about is mental states. Beware of your mental state.

• 9:12Speaker 01

  Now, sometimes in different traditions, you hear it already, we have the body and the mind. Sometimes you also have traditions where we talk about the body, your thoughts and your emotions. So now you suddenly have three areas. You can make as many areas as you would like. Because these are just concepts. They are there to help us humans just get into the right direction that you can work with. And now the reason why very often we are only in our traditions say there's the body and the mind and are not separating anymore into the feelings

• 9:57Speaker 01

  is simply because of this. Feeling and mindset. Mental state and the way how you feel. I think they are very, very close related to each other. And what you can try to just observe about yourself is...

• 10:19Speaker 01

  The feeling, no matter what it is, very, very often is just the postponed, let's say, the postponed reaction of what way before that was already implemented inside or cultivated inside the mind.

• 10:38Lewis Howes?

  Can you give an example of that?

• 10:39Speaker 01

  Yes. You go to any type of meeting where you have persons that you maybe meet for the first time, just choose any of them.

• 10:49Speaker 01

  Before you talk to this person, sit somewhere in the corner, always observe the person and pay attention to everything that you can criticize. So that means consciously educate the mind to always find the mistakes in that person. Yeah, look how he dresses, look how he's walking.

• 11:08Lewis Howes?

  So sloppy of this, isn't it?

• 11:10Speaker 01

  Look how he's talking, yeah, look how he's behaving. So, and just make this, project this idea always over and over again towards this person.

• 11:19Lewis Howes?

  A judgment.

• 11:20Speaker 01

  A judgment. Before you even go to that person, so before that, just use it as an experiment. And then, after some time, really go to that person, even without talking to him or her, and just feel. What is it, what type of feeling do you have when you're standing now next to this person? And it is my

• 11:47Speaker 01

  yes, it is my belief that you can either choose

• 11:53Speaker 01

  how you judge the people. You can continuously

• 12:00Speaker 01

  precondition your mind that your feelings are going to follow in this direction. Or you precondition your mind in general towards people around you, towards this world in a completely different way as well.

• 12:15Lewis Howes?

  In an empowering way, a positive way, a way that supports you in building a relationship or a connection, right?

• 12:22Speaker 01

  For example. So what I'm saying is the way how you feel. Meeting people, getting into a situation and then saying, see, I told you it's gonna be like this. No, it's like this because you before that decided already it's going to be like this.

• 12:39Lewis Howes?

  Right. It's interesting because when I meet people, like for today, when you were coming here, I just said to myself, I'm excited to, to connect with you. I'm excited to learn. I'm excited to learn about your lifestyle and your lessons and that excitement, when you walked in, I was excited. And I enforced that belief of thinking, that prejudgment of excitement to learn. So hopefully you felt that excitement, right? As opposed to, uh, who is this guy, you know, this Shaolin master and what does he know? And, you know, I didn't come in with that belief system. Is that correct?

• 13:14Speaker 01

  Yes, thank you very much.

• 13:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. So that's a, that's a good example. So I love this feeling and mindset conversation.

• 13:25Lewis Howes?

  Which influences the other? Is it the thinking that influences the feelings? Or the feelings which reinforce and influence the thinking?

• 13:37Speaker 01

  I'm sure that this could definitely lead to any type of scientific discussion. What I'm saying is the easiest way to test for yourself without trying out too much, reading too much, is just like this.

• 13:54Speaker 01

  Next time you go into this situation or you have a feeling coming up inside of you, no matter which one it is. Just ask yourself, where is the root of that feeling right now?

• 14:08Speaker 01

  Could it be that the way how you feel right now in regards to that situation? What is your relation? What did you thought about this type of situation, let's say weeks before, months before, in the past? When was the last time you had such a type of situation?

• 14:28Speaker 01

  Is it the first time you go into this situation? And actually, you just heard from your friends, from your parents, from your teacher, this type of situations exists and then you need to be careful of this and that. So where is that feeling rooted in? And this you can do with many, many things. And what we call in our language or in what we are doing nowadays, this idea of why is it called self-mastery?

• 15:06Speaker 01

  Because it is something you need to discover about yourself. It is not something other people are gonna discover about you.

• 15:15Speaker 01

  It is you take the time and watch yourself. This is the, this is the path to go. Sometimes we call it also turn the view inwards. Because you see there's this nice picture, it's always something goes wrong. And then it's always easy to say, yes, because of you, you and you. It's always easy that one. The hard part in this world is, is this one.

• 15:43Speaker 01

  It's the hard part and it is the one that opens the greatest doors.

• 15:50Lewis Howes?

  I'm curious, what have you been looking inward at yourself over the last few months? That you've been able to, you know, see in a different perspective? That is opening up for you personally? Whether as a master teacher or as a human being or a friend or what are you seeing and learning about yourself at this season of life?

• 16:16Speaker 01

  It's not just in the last months, let's say. I do think that it is a progress.

• 16:24Speaker 01

  The general idea is that from time to time, it absolutely makes sense to take that conscious decision. Okay, I have a family, I have friends. I need to take care of them, I need to take care also of my job. So that means you're investing a lot of your lifetime trying to support, trying to build up, trying to establish something, let's say, outside of you. At the same time, what we then have is the teaching of Yin and Yang. Everybody knows that symbol, okay? What does it mean? Inside and outside, up and down, black and white, hot and cold, success and failure, outside, inside. Belong together.

• 17:07Speaker 01

  And so, besides the time that you spend outwardly oriented,

• 17:14Speaker 01

  I think it is normal and it's necessary. There is, I think, there is no choice

• 17:22Speaker 01

  to decide from time to time for yourself that you take your personal breakout, your personal time out.

• 17:31Speaker 01

  You can take care, of course, but you also need to take care of yourself in the first place. So, reason for that, until I come back to the question. You're responsible for your team, you're responsible for your employees, you're responsible for your family, you're responsible for your children. Responsibility, what is it essentially? Is it the way how you behave?

• 18:00Speaker 01

  Or is the behavior which comes out of a responsible feeling what we're talking about? So that means, how can you be responsible for something around you if inside of yourself, your body, in the world of your feelings, you don't know how does responsibility feel?

• 18:25Speaker 01

  So that means we're talking about it's a feeling. Just like you love the world.

• 18:32Speaker 01

  How can you love the world if inside of you, you do not carry the feeling of love?

• 18:40Speaker 01

  Why is it important to respect your parents?

• 18:46Speaker 01

  To be thankful and grateful towards your parents? Because if the people that granted you this life right now, you are not even grateful for. To who else you wanna be grateful in this world then?

• 19:00Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 19:02Speaker 01

  And these, let's say, feelings that I mentioned. Sometimes we also call them, these are qualities of the heart. Because the heart, we know it's like, it goes very deep. Yes, because it's related to how you feel.

• 19:20Speaker 01

  So the point is. Whatever you would like to express into the outside world. Number one is, you need to have it. So this is the baseline. This is the main idea.

• 19:36Lewis Howes?

  So if you wanna express love to the outside world, you must have love within you?

• 19:40Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 19:41Lewis Howes?

  But if you don't, if you have anger within you, it's gonna be hard to express it to your friends, your family, or the world?

• 19:47Speaker 01

  Yes, but that's way easier. Because anger is something.

• 19:52Speaker 01

  People are sure how this anger feels nowadays. With the other attributes, they're not so easy. Because anger from its quality, it's a quality that naturally starts to separate things. Actions out of anger, thoughts out of anger. What is their nature? The nature is you are separating stuff.

• 20:15Lewis Howes?

  You're protecting yourself, is that right?

• 20:17Speaker 01

  Yes. Loving is not the way of separating.

• 20:24Speaker 01

  Loving, if you carry love inside, you always, let's say, understand. You, me, in a way, we come from different mothers. We come from different areas, but there is still something that's connecting us.

• 20:38Speaker 01

  And so that means even if you have been mean to me, acting out of love or acting out of the feeling, no matter what, still we are connected. It's different. And so this is what I regard as being really important to cultivate first of all, before we, let's say, do too big stuff on the outside world. And this is the point where it comes back again to this personal retreat. To the time where you watch inside yourself. What do you have inside of yourself? What is your, yeah, take off your clothes,

• 21:21Speaker 01

  take off the jewelry, take off the tattoos you have on the body, look into the mirror, and then just see who is standing there. If you take off everything that, let's say, artificially came on top of your being, take everything away, and then what is it that you see in the mirror? Do you see there is the loving heart inside?

• 21:51Speaker 01

  There is the strength or the willpower inside this body. There is the discipline inside this body. There is a loyal person standing. There is pride inside of this. And these are all things, how do I put my pride here on the table? How do I put my discipline here on the table? This is the area now where we talk about. These are things, they are just don't belong to the world of forms.

• 22:25Speaker 01

  Nevertheless, these are things that make the human being like human.

• 22:32Speaker 01

  And this is the special part that meanwhile, there are just methods where such attributes, such virtues can be developed.

• 22:43Lewis Howes?

  Right. One of the other things you talked about, that I've seen you talk about online, about mastering the inner self and the things that hold people back is ill will. And I think, you know, it's like if you look in the mirror and you say, oh, there's anger inside of me, there's judgment inside of me. Is that also associated with ill will? Is it towards yourself, towards others, to the world? What does that mean, ill will?

• 23:11Speaker 01

  To the mental state. Whatever triggers it is pretty irrelevant. You know, it's sometimes also, just think about it. When we were young and we didn't get what we wanted, we became angry. As a teenager, somebody took something away from you, you got angry. Nowadays, 21st century, somebody takes something away from you, you're angry. The reasons why this anger came up always different.

• 23:42Speaker 01

  But the anger is always the same. The anger you feel today is the same anger that you felt in, when you were in young ages. So that means

• 23:54Speaker 01

  there might be the feeling that outside circumstances are triggering something inside of you. Yes, it's triggering something, but what eventually comes up is what you have not been able to adjust in the proper way yet.

• 24:14Speaker 01

  And the same is like ill will. Ill will is a state of the mind. It's not just, doesn't matter if it's towards yourself, towards another person, towards an animal, towards your colleagues, it's always the same ill will. It is something inside of you, which if you don't pay attention to, is going to be a hindrance along your way of walking.

• 24:37Lewis Howes?

  How do we

• 24:40Lewis Howes?

  heal or integrate ill will so that it's no longer inside of us? How do we reevaluate it, mend it, heal it, go beyond it?

• 24:54Speaker 01

  Go beyond it, I think is the more proper expression because

• 25:02Speaker 01

  This is now really playing with the words, but it's still important. Because we don't try to get rid of all of these things. You don't wanna get rid of the body that it's never gonna be inside of your body anymore. You don't wanna get rid of your jealousy when it comes up. You don't wanna get rid of the joy that you feel. You don't wanna get rid of your feelings. You want to have a very great variety of different feelings that you can tap into. The only thing which makes the difference is if you are tapping into this world of feelings consciously,

• 25:42Speaker 01

  or if that world of feelings is just unconsciously imploding inside of you. This makes the difference. And so to overcome it means to realize it is there. Yeah, but now, like, sometimes, uh, wha- what to do? You need to find something, a state of your, the state of level on which you are coordinating.

• 26:15Speaker 01

  Which means you have to stand above you.

• 26:20Speaker 01

  Learn to get into a perspective where you are standing above you. Which means this is not about you at the moment. This is not about you. Stand above it. It is about you see, okay, you you see that person at the moment has an issue. How would you, as somebody watching at you, help him?

• 26:46Lewis Howes?

  How would you coach, guide?

• 26:47Speaker 01

  How would you coach yourself, guide yourself to the better version? And this is what it only means to sometimes.

• 26:58Speaker 01

  De-identify yourself with this one.

• 27:02Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 27:03Speaker 01

  If you are caught inside here, I think it becomes difficult.

• 27:07Lewis Howes?

  There's some neuroscience that talks about that. You know, we're really good at being a negative or a critical coach to ourselves and putting ourselves down in those situations. As opposed to stepping aside and coaching from a different perspective to ourselves. And there's neuroscience that backs the importance of that as a tool to go beyond it as well. So I think it's really important. How often do you feel these emotions or feelings of ill will? Anger, jealousy, frustration. How often do you feel them? And how do you teach or coach yourself beyond them?

• 27:50Speaker 01

  If I want to, I can tap inside of it right away and my whole day is filled with it. No matter where I watch around on the street, there's no problem at all for me to generate the feeling that ill will starts to dominate.

• 28:04Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 28:06Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:06Lewis Howes?

  At any moment, you could go there?

• 28:08Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:10Speaker 01

  It's just then I ask, but then I just ask, this feeling that you are in,

• 28:19Speaker 01

  if you, does it feel good?

• 28:21Lewis Howes?

  No.

• 28:21Speaker 01

  You know? And then the point is just like I said, it doesn't even feel good to be in it. You know, so if we would say ill will, if at least it would give you something by staying inside that state of the mind, at least then I would understand. But if you watch at it, there is nothing positive, zero. There is no benefit to yourself and there is especially no benefit to the people around you that this ill will is going to cause. That means, what is the first thing that I do when I realize, let's say, I have this feeling? First of all, I need to know from what does it come? What is it at the moment that triggers it?

• 29:06Speaker 01

  So I try to identify very quickly, what is at the moment the source that is triggering it?

• 29:14Lewis Howes?

  What is usually the source for you in a situation that triggers ill will? Is it injustice? Is it someone treating someone poorly? Is it someone with a lot of money that triggers you? Like, what's the root trigger?

• 29:31Speaker 01

  Actually, this is now the question where, for example,

• 29:36Speaker 01

  I say it's so super helpful if you already have, let's say, some type of concept, some type of teachings. They tell you already where it comes from, very simply. And this ill will, to a hundred percent, in all its different variations, that it comes in this world, mainly from three reasons.

• 29:59Lewis Howes?

  Oh, what are these?

• 30:02Speaker 01

  Either from greed,

• 30:05Speaker 01

  greed of not getting more than you want,

• 30:11Speaker 01

  hate or jealousy of not getting what you want. And sometimes it's called, yeah, let's say ignorance or not knowing. Greed, hate, ignorance.

• 30:30Speaker 01

  And especially ill will, easily falls into one of these categories, or sometimes a combination of these things.

• 30:39Speaker 01

  So ill will can be,

• 30:42Speaker 01

  why does he, why does he get it? I deserve it. Why you deserve it? Because you think about yourself, you are the more hardworking person in this room. So what is that combination? In that combination, it is like, there's unfairness from your subjective view, unfairness, jealousy.

• 31:07Speaker 01

  No respect towards yourself, so which then also can maybe mean a low level of self-esteem, self-conf- of self-confidence, a lack of it. So it's very often like a variety of these attributes, I think.

• 31:26Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:27Speaker 01

  But ultimately, broken down, I think that's it. Greed, hate, not knowing.

• 31:31Lewis Howes?

  When does ill will enter your emotions, free you personally? Like what it, what is it that you see where you feel it for a moment? Obviously, it sounds like you know how to catch it and go beyond it pretty quickly, but when it happens to you, what do you struggle with?

• 31:50Speaker 01

  I would say then when it is like a very subjective, I have to say.

• 31:56Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 31:57Speaker 01

  That because this is the reason why I always catch myself back and why then afterwards is not so bad anymore, but subjective unfairness.

• 32:07Lewis Howes?

  Unfairness.

• 32:08Speaker 01

  Unfairness.

• 32:08Lewis Howes?

  In the fairness in the world, or is it some like a jealousy unfairness, like, oh, they have something?

• 32:14Speaker 01

  No. It's not that about they have something, it's about they project something upon you, not knowing the full truth.

• 32:25Lewis Howes?

  Ah, so unfairness towards you.

• 32:27Speaker 01

  For example.

• 32:28Lewis Howes?

  Got you, yeah. Maybe someone's judging you or has an opinion or criticism that they don't have the full story of the wisdom or the, they don't know you.

• 32:37Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 32:37Lewis Howes?

  Right. And so that's, so when that happens, when you feel judged or criticized, or there's an unfairness about you personally.

• 32:44Speaker 01

  They don't know better.

• 32:46Lewis Howes?

  How, how do you not let it ruin your day or stay in the emotions of anger, frustration, or unfairness? How do you go beyond it personally?

• 33:00Speaker 01

  I breathe in deeply.

• 33:05Speaker 01

  And I breathe out. And this sounds super ridiculous. But if you really ask me, how do I cope with such situation? This is meanwhile what I do.

• 33:16Speaker 01

  I am very aware that I have it right now. And I combine my breath, meaning something is getting out of me, together with my deep intention and with my deep

• 33:29Speaker 01

  connection of the mind together with the breath. First of all, they don't know better. If they would have more information available, they would maybe see me differently.

• 33:41Speaker 01

  And together with that physical aspect, this is what I do. This is the first and

• 33:51Speaker 01

  it's like a valve. Before you start imploding, before something starts to rise too much and the pressure builds up, first of all, get rid of that steam. Get rid of that air out. And that's why it sounds very ridiculous sometimes to really say just breathe out. But it's not about the breath only. It's about how serious

• 34:17Speaker 01

  are you living different type of teachings and methods? And if you are able to learn to combine the breath with an intention,

• 34:29Speaker 01

  work with intention more consciously, then I think it's very, very possible to get into an area where breath becomes everything to you.

• 34:41Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I'm a big believer in breathing, meditation strategies, whatever meditation and breathing strategies work for you. But having some type of breathing practice where you slow down the breath, I feel like benefits all human beings.

• 34:57Lewis Howes?

  And there's lots of different strategies and styles of breathing. But I think focusing on the intention and the breathing combined, like you said, is extremely powerful. I'm curious if someone is feeling anger, unfairness, or any emotion around ill will.

• 35:12Lewis Howes?

  About something that's happened to them and they feel this is unfair and they have this anger or defensiveness. You're talking about the breathing. What is the intention that they can think of during those moments? Sixty seconds, ten minutes, however long it takes to go beyond it? What is the intentional thought while they're in that? Ah, it's stressful, the heart is pounding. Ah, I don't like this. I want to break free of this. What can they think or say internally along with the breath to help them go beyond?

• 35:44Speaker 01

  This is sometimes what people then refer to as a mantra can be helpful. So especially in such moments, you have something you always tell to yourself continuously repeat. And now these can be different things.

• 36:02Speaker 01

  If you merge together the thought, they don't know better.

• 36:07Speaker 01

  Together with the cultivation of a heart quality of compassion inside of you.

• 36:16Speaker 01

  Then I think even this thought together with that heart quality and the breath has a very powerful impact. And this is why initially I said about there are heart qualities.

• 36:30Lewis Howes?

  Hard qualities.

• 36:31Speaker 01

  Hard qualities, yes. So that means this is why it's helpful.

• 36:39Speaker 01

  To really from time to time make clear to yourself again. So the greatest love you have ever felt in this lifetime. How did it feel? How does it feel? So if somebody would ask you nowadays, so when was the moment you really felt love? Well, first of all, you can't make it on the go.

• 37:04Speaker 01

  Second of all, even probably people nowadays are ashamed of even getting into this state of being while other peoples are watching around. This is why you need to do these practices alone. Where nobody is watching you and where are you assured you are only with yourself? And there what you do, you start to travel.

• 37:28Speaker 01

  You travel into the world of your memories and you travel into everything that you are still able to recall in your mind that has happened in the past. When somebody hugged you, your father, your mother, your grandfather, your first girlfriend, your first boyfriend, it doesn't matter.

• 37:48Speaker 01

  Recall the situation where you think this was the greatest feeling I have ever felt when I hear about that word "love". So then, at least in the 21st century, you are at least recalling it again and now know, maybe, how it feels.

• 38:10Speaker 01

  And after you have this feeling,

• 38:14Speaker 01

  now you ask yourself if something like this is existing

• 38:19Speaker 01

  and you would have the chance that the people in this world can choose in which state of being would you yourself personally would like to live and what would you wish the others to live in? Wow. I think you will only, if you're intelligent, will only come up with one answer,

• 38:41Speaker 01

  which is for all of them.

• 38:44Speaker 01

  And this is the reason why out of that loving feeling arises then what we call compassion,

• 38:55Speaker 01

  which means I know how great this feeling is. So that's why maybe I know in which direction I would like to guide my life to finally have this feeling, let's say, more in my life. And now you walk around and then you see people that are obviously sad, that are obviously having issues day in, day out and busy with their mind and you see how they are suffering.

• 39:22Speaker 01

  And because you see it

• 39:25Speaker 01

  and now have this direct comparison to yourself, this is why it becomes so much easier now that you are not going to act anymore out of ill will. So the ill will is only there because you are not at that level yet where you can...

• 39:49Speaker 01

  Stand above it.

• 39:50Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 39:51Speaker 01

  Easily said.

• 39:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Feel the love and the compassion for yourself and others at the same time. It's really hard to do though, right? When you feel like someone is against you, attacking you, hurting you, hurting someone you care about, um, saying mean things about you, nasty lies about you, judging you. It's hard to have the feeling of love and compassion in those moments. Cause you feel like this is unfair, this is not right, this is not just. Why don't they just stop it?

• 40:21Speaker 01

  Yes, exactly. In that moment. That's why if you feel like moments are too overwhelming for you.

• 40:29Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 40:29Speaker 01

  Number one is get out of the situation.

• 40:34Speaker 01

  If we get into a big argument right now and you feel like, no, this is too overwhelming. I would now really start, get out of the room, number one. That's always something very practical.

• 40:45Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 40:47Speaker 01

  If something is too overwhelming, then we say, get distance first of all. Get distance.

• 40:57Speaker 01

  Now, this is a nice part, for example, that our abbot, for example, in the monastery also teach us. He always said, you need to be able to adjust room and time. You need to be able to learn and adjust space and time.

• 41:14Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 41:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, sounds very philosophical. But space and time means if we're in an argument, a big one. I want space first of all, so that means I have distance to observe. That is the space. And I want time because time lets me think more clearly if I'm not under pressure.

• 41:38Speaker 01

  If you have someone that you really don't like,

• 41:45Speaker 01

  then vice versa, you also know exactly what to do then.

• 41:52Speaker 01

  If he's a friend, he or she is a friend. You always give room and time. Yeah. If you wanna make enemies, you steal room and space. Hmm. You don't let them move and you don't give them time to react. This is how you treat enemies. Wow, you pressure them. You pressure them. You lock them in, you confine them, yeah. Because this is what it is. Wow. What arises out of that situation, if you put people under pressure, is something that is overwhelming them. And overwhelming means your emotions are not under

• 42:33Speaker 01

  that's your own control, which makes you vulnerable. Right. That is like the the point behind this. So, another thing to just keep in mind, no matter what type of emotion it is that we are sometimes feeling is you don't take decisions while you are emotional. Next one. Hmm, don't make this, don't make decisions while you're emotional, yeah. And, you know, I understand sometimes people in in certain areas, fast-paced areas, where like, time is money, yeah, I don't have time to think about, yeah.

• 43:15Speaker 01

  And so, meanwhile, we really have this culture where like, somebody walks in, gives me a question, and expects the answer right away. And I'm always asking myself, why can't you just to some, to some questions, just say, let me think about it. Hmm. I'm gonna come back to it tomorrow. Right. So that means, sometimes there are questions you are being asked by people, where you feel it puts you under pressure. But maybe think about it, why do you want to answer it right away? What's the point to give the answer right away? If some, especially if it's an important answer.

• 43:57Speaker 01

  I personally would prefer, if I would come up to you with a really important question, I would even prefer for you to tell me, okay, that is something I cannot just decide on the spot. Let me think about it and tomorrow we're gonna talk about it again. And then also for me, I have no problem to say, okay, let's talk tomorrow. Right.

• 44:19Speaker 01

  And this is also something where nowadays is yeah, a lot of pressure is coming from, from these type of things that unconsciously you just give answers for the sake of giving answers, whereas it would be better to just wait.

• 44:35Lewis Howes?

  Wait on it, yeah, think about it.

• 44:38Lewis Howes?

  Speaking of, you mentioned enemies for a second ago. What is the Shaolin philosophy around

• 44:48Lewis Howes?

  enemies when you're not in a actual physical war? When you're not in combat, when you're not fighting for your life, but there is a potential enemy psychologically, business, relationship, whatever, family, friend, who's feeling like an enemy? What is the philosophy of the Shaolin way on how to approach an enemy? When it's not a physical attack?

• 45:15Speaker 01

  If we are really not talking about physical attack, then I think it's very easily expressed that we are right now in the field of Buddhist teachings or of Chan or Zen teachings, which means it is about the mind. We are only talking right now about psychological aspects.

• 45:40Speaker 01

  And every confrontation that you are feeling inside the mind, for me personally, what it means is if something is resonating and is still triggering me mentally and therefore also emotionally, the only thing it means is that is one of the next areas I need to learn to adjust. This is my initial, I don't know what else to say.

• 46:08Lewis Howes?

  That's the lesson. It's more adjusting within you, not them.

• 46:12Speaker 01

  No, no. The reason why they are there is to show you your weakness.

• 46:20Lewis Howes?

  What was your biggest weakness that you had to overcome? As you started to grow up, you know, studying martial arts, living in the modern world and then becoming, you know, a teacher, a student in the temple? What was the biggest inner enemy that you faced and overcame? Or you're still in the practice of overcoming?

• 46:46Speaker 01

  It seriously is still the five hindrances. Because it is just something common.

• 46:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 46:52Speaker 01

  You know? So, for example, one of the next hindrances is laziness.

• 46:57Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 46:58Speaker 01

  Very easily. The lack of energy. Meaning, you have great ideas, you have great plans, all of this. But the spark to put you under fire is just not there.

• 47:14Lewis Howes?

  Why do so many people lack the spark to act? To launch? To build momentum? To be consistent? Why do so many people lack that? Energy, desire, and stay lazy or dull?

• 47:28Speaker 01

  I think it's a combination of the way of life people have lived before and the lack of vision, what lies in front of them. So, both of these things. Yeah, so what I mean by that is, not always, it's just like, let's say, the physical appearance of that laziness, of that dullness, of that heaviness. It's apparent, but why is it there? And this has so many different variations now. When you look into the past, it can really be because of the food that you're eating. Because the lack of movement that you're having. Because of your habits.

• 48:12Speaker 01

  Whatever type of habits it is that caused you to now end up in that body, which is at the moment pretty inefficient.

• 48:21Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 48:23Speaker 01

  To generate fire. You know, I have to say, sometimes in my... In my spare time, I I like to build engines. Really? Yeah, I build engines, I I build race engines. Uh huh. And therefore, me, if I look at it, I really like that similarity. You want that engine to perform well. One of the things that then normally needs to be optimized is, number one, airflow, the intake, and then also the amount of the air that gets in there. Hmm. The quality of it. That's why on the engine, we filter it, so, but now it comes to us. What are you breathing in?

• 49:09Speaker 01

  How is it with your lung capacity? How much of your lung capacity are you able to really use?

• 49:16Speaker 01

  How clean are you inside of it? Hmm. Because what is it eventually that with that oxygen that we are taking in? What is it that you are burning and try to make into energy?

• 49:28Speaker 01

  Now, there are a lot of things that you can eat and try to burn, but the quality of this energy is very little. There is other food, they have a very, very high amount of energy once you burn them. So that means, of course, these things, that diet, has an effect also on the dullness of the body. Hmm hmm. This is the one thing. Yeah.

• 49:54Speaker 01

  And now, looking into the future, well, if you are expecting fast results, this is,

• 50:04Speaker 01

  you know, if looking out into the world, what comes fast, goes fast.

• 50:14Speaker 01

  And especially, something that is changing the status quo of your life, your lifestyle, let's say, something that is changing it too quickly.

• 50:28Speaker 01

  It is like, let's just say,

• 50:32Speaker 01

  you know, at the moment, I visit you, I see you like this. In one month, I come back and you might have thirty kilograms more on muscles. I know, whatever you did, it was not good.

• 50:43Lewis Howes?

  It was too fast.

• 50:44Speaker 01

  Yeah. Because all these quick changes, also when we look outside sometimes. I mean, let's just take the earthquake or the tsunamis or a lightning strike. Anything like this, the natural forces.

• 51:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, they don't tell you one month before that they are coming. The problem is, when they come, they very often have this destructive character. Not always, but often.

• 51:14Speaker 01

  And when it comes now to creating our way of life, when it comes to the transformation of ourself, at least in my worldview, I take this into consideration. Meaning, I don't even expect myself to make huge jumps.

• 51:31Lewis Howes?

  Quickly, yeah, quickly.

• 51:33Speaker 01

  Because I just feel like, okay, that might just not be sustainable. That might not just be something that is helpful on the long run. And therefore, to take pressure away from you, make small steps.

• 51:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 51:51Speaker 01

  And this is what I mean by how far is your view on your future vision of what you wanna achieve there.

• 52:00Lewis Howes?

  How far should we be thinking out in terms of our vision or our mission? Is it based on the season of life we're in? You know, if we're eighteen years old and we're going to school, we should just be thinking out, you know, the next four years? Or should we be thinking out five, ten, twenty years? Because so much can change so quickly in life and situations and...

• 52:22Speaker 01

  Okay, I can only talk about myself, yes? And I have to say, I'm a dreamer.

• 52:29Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 52:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm a dreamer and a visionist. A visionary, probably. I don't know how you call it.

• 52:36Lewis Howes?

  Visionary.

• 52:37Speaker 01

  Visionary.

• 52:40Speaker 01

  My way of seeing this world where I am embedding in is super huge.

• 52:47Speaker 01

  That's why, of course, you can always say, yeah, but this is just your imagination, yeah. Yes, which is your most powerful source. Your ability to put something into your own mind where nobody else has impact on. And only you know that day in, day out, you just still walk this path and feel for yourself how it's getting real because it's unbroken. Because there's nobody who can interfere. It's all small things. And probably, I can just say that maybe to try it out, okay?

• 53:32Speaker 01

  Of course, you should not like dream too big, which is like unrealistic. Let's say like this, of course not.

• 53:42Speaker 01

  But the vision that there is something you can bring out about yourself that this world has not seen yet.

• 53:51Speaker 01

  This is something which is quite appealing to me. And is therefore also something that I also, let's say,

• 54:01Speaker 01

  continuously practice and keep on the mind. And now comes the but. Whatever vision and dream you have upon yourself, that you are projecting upon yourself, I do think that you need to have at the same time a commitment.

• 54:26Speaker 01

  And first on, for example, the commitment and what are you going to do

• 54:33Speaker 01

  with that identity of yours if you're gonna get there?

• 54:37Lewis Howes?

  So you mean a commitment of like the daily actions you're gonna take that you're committed to? Or once you're there, what are you gonna do with it?

• 54:45Speaker 01

  The commitment now, very clearly.

• 54:49Speaker 01

  You are creating because you want to help.

• 54:53Lewis Howes?

  To serve.

• 54:54Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 54:54Lewis Howes?

  To help others, yeah.

• 54:56Speaker 01

  You are not creating any identity of yours in order to harm. Because I think if this is what your initial intention is, then I think

• 55:10Speaker 01

  the penalty will come.

• 55:12Lewis Howes?

  What if your intention is to only serve yourself? Is to look good, to make money for you, to get famous for you, to buy things for you because you want to be successful. But you're not including doing it in the service of other people as well. What happens when it's only about me?

• 55:37Speaker 01

  You might reach it in this lifetime.

• 55:41Speaker 01

  But if you bring this one to the, to an end, or if you continuously go there, not, in my vision, not only in this lifetime.

• 55:49Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 55:51Speaker 01

  You're gonna be lonely. You're gonna have everything you want. You're gonna have everything that blinks. You have all the reputation, it's all great, everything you ever dreamt of, you have it. What you don't have is

• 56:08Speaker 01

  something that gives you real stability. Something that gives you real value in this life.

• 56:17Lewis Howes?

  What is that?

• 56:19Speaker 01

  I think it is something that can't be taken off from you.

• 56:23Speaker 01

  I think it is, it is the connection to

• 56:29Speaker 01

  other fellows.

• 56:31Speaker 01

  It's a connection to people, to humans, to animals, to this world, and ultimately the connection of this life. And what happens with this person if he only lives this way of life? He's gonna repeat himself.

• 56:52Speaker 01

  Repeat, why repeat? Or what do I mean by repeating?

• 56:58Speaker 01

  Now, I jump a little bit, but sometimes this life seems to me it's like a video game.

• 57:05Speaker 01

  And if you're at level one and continuously fail at level one, you're never gonna move up to level two and get into touch with the next challenges of life. So if somebody is still stuck on the material level of wanting this and that's really materialistic. So this is really the basic plane. This is a very, very basic plane. This is like level one.

• 57:35Speaker 01

  Sometimes it's necessary. You need to have it first. And then your relationship towards these things starts to shift. And suddenly you find yourself that now it's not these things anymore that start to matter to you. Now suddenly, since you're in level two, now you're starting to ask yourself, okay, now it's not material things anymore, but I love my wife, I love my husband, I love my children, I love my dog, I love the jobs, I love my employees, but they are getting sick, they are starting to die away. This is now starting in level two to trouble you.

• 58:18Speaker 01

  So now it's the time, figure out a way, how do you walk through this lifetime, figuring out these challenges of life that

• 58:28Speaker 01

  our ancestors, lost people, our future generations are going to lose beloved people. It's nothing new.

• 58:39Speaker 01

  How do you learn despite the fact of that is existing? How can you still find something about yourself to still keep going, stay strong, and still keep going and supporting and helping despite of these things? And then maybe level two, you manage to find a way for yourself.

• 59:06Speaker 01

  And then you're going to be exposed to the next type of challenges that this life is giving to you. So what I'm talking about is that I'm not sure if life is getting easier.

• 59:24Speaker 01

  I just think that you are becoming more mature. You are becoming more skillful in order to tackle the challenges of life. I think this is what ultimately, for me at least, seems to me like this.

• 59:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's learning to become a better leader for yourself. It's developing these skills, overcoming the challenges so that, I think I heard you say, like, life doesn't get easier, you just get stronger. And you can manage it with more peace and grace as these challenges and pains come to you, right? I hope today's episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a rundown of today's show with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me as well as ad-free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend over on social media or text a friend,

• 1:00:26Lewis Howes?

  leave us a review over on Apple Podcasts, and let me know what you learned over on our social media channels, @lewisHowes. I really love hearing the feedback from you, and it helps us continue to make the show better. And if you want more inspiration from our world-class guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness Newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com/newsletter. And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now, it's time to go out there and do something great.