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Welcome to our new column, Expert Habits, in which thinkers, leaders, and other high performers talk about the habits and routines that help them live a better life.
Shi Heng Yi has spent a lifetime trying to quiet his mind. Yi, a master of shaolin martial arts and founder of Shaolin Temple Europe in Otterberg, Germany, has been teaching students at the monastery since 2011, where he specializes in both physical and mental training. He is well-versed in kung fu, and, in combination with the mental cultivation of zen, he encourages the embrace of placid life with a brain free of noise. As the description for his forthcoming book, Shaolin Spirit: The Way to Self-Mastery, reads, the ancient teachings of Shaolin wisdom aim to “unite mind and body, cultivate resilience, and develop an equanimous perspective amongst a chaotic world.”
Over Zoom, Yi embodies these teachings with a patient, peaceful demeanor. He shared four habits that help him in his daily life, and that he says even the most high-strung of us could use to slow down and be more present. “This tradition that I, in a way, became known for is derived from the Shaolin tradition,” he explains, adding that while he no longer lives in a temple, “there are still some habits that actually are derived from the temple structure that I feel are very, very beneficial.”
Spend the first 30 minutes of each day doing nothing
Master Shi Heng Yi: “Normally, as soon as we are awake, either we watch [something] on the phone or we check the emails. Or if you have a family, then somebody else is maybe awake and needs your attention. Even if it’s really difficult in the beginning, a really good time for yourself is if you try to wake up, let’s say half an hour earlier than usual. Use this half an hour to make yourself very aware. This is all about you right now. The children are not awake, the wife is not awake. Nobody is awake that early in the morning.
“If this becomes a constant habit to wake up half an hour earlier and really consciously say, ‘OK, this is my time right now’ where I literally sit with myself. I don’t use this half an hour, for example, to think about what I am going to do today. It’s literally like I just touch back with myself. A big problem nowadays is that as soon as people are awake, the running starts. Your mind is always like, what’s the next thing to do? The world wakes up, you wake up, and then the run begins. A really good balancing practice—many people nowadays call it meditation—but to make it really simple, you don’t need to sit cross-legged or anything. It is just about starting to really understand yourself. Are you right now in running mode or are you right now in, “OK, that’s it. I have arrived right now.” As an integration into the daily habits, I would say this is very essential. I would really suggest that this type of morning routine would be integrated just like brushing the teeth.
“That’s why it’s really called the practice. If somebody is not used to this and he wakes up in the morning, automatically the thoughts start to come. It really takes some effort from your side to literally remain empty. This is why it’s oftentimes called meditation practice, because in the beginning, it’s not going to work. Even this half an hour, still you’re going to be very busy already thinking about, “OK, later I have to do this, I have to do that.” This is where it comes in that people use so-called meditation objects, which for example can be the breath. So you inhale, you exhale, and your mind only focuses on the sensation of the breath, for example. You can put the timer—how many minutes are you able to maintain the focus on the breath without the mind wandering off again? There should really be a time where you tell yourself, ‘OK, I have invested enough of my lifetime for my company, for my friends or my family, and now it’s done.’
Think of yourself as a white paper
“Whatever we are trying to attain in this world—or whatever we possess in this world, let’s say for example, my car, my house, my money, my job, my girlfriend, my family, whatever you regard as mine—it can never be you. People identify themselves with what they do and with what they have. The identity shift is an illusion. This is not literally what you are or who you are in the first place.
“What is all of this learning about? It’s about realizing and always reminding yourself exactly about this. You are not supposed to have a car, you’re not supposed to make money, you’re not supposed to make a business, you’re not supposed to go on nice holidays. It’s not about this at all. It is about whatever you do in this lifetime, always remind yourself that in essence, you are empty.
“All the anxiety, all the suffering, all the problems, all the stress, it doesn’t come if you stay here. It comes if you hold on to these outside things that you have attained and try to maintain, these artificial things that you have gathered around you. This is where the stress happens. Again, it’s hard to grasp with the mind. Everybody is free to do what he likes to do in this world.
“Always remind yourself you are born as a white paper and you are going to leave this world as a white paper, and everything that happens between is where people write their stories. You can do what you want. But if you truly, truly feel that you know, “This is me in the beginning, this is me in the end,” it’s there throughout your whole lifetime. In between, you are able to write additional stories. Just don't identify yourself too much with it, because this is causing all the anxiety and suffering.”
Notice your patterns
“People should really look at patterns that they went through during their lifetime already to see if they start to recognize a pattern that they are following. The pattern of setting a goal, doing all of our efforts to reach that goal, being satisfied after reaching the goal for a week, and having the next goals already. The fact is, whatever goals we have been setting for ourselves in this lifetime with enough dedication, many of these goals are possible to achieve. But somewhere, there are also clues that no matter what I have wished for myself when I was a teenager, when I was 20, when I was 25, when I was 30, 35, 40, I always had something I wished for. After putting enough work in, I also got it, but actually getting the thing was never so nice like I expected. It faded away somehow, naturally.
“If you see these little patterns, it started with the phone. Twenty years ago, we had those big Nokia phones. Then at some point, we wanted to have the first iPhone, and ultimately we got all of this. But whether it is the iPhone 1, the iPhone 17 right now, or if it's going to be the iPhone 27 in 10 years, it really doesn’t matter. It is the same.
“At some point when you really start to logically look into the patterns of your behavior, you can already derive a lot of answers for your own life.”
Practice Qigong
“Qi means breath. Gong means, like a skill or putting effort into something. So Qigong is putting effort into the breathing, or breathing exercises.
“Why breathing exercises? Because breathing is one very big source of energy. Qi as energy is correct, but it is simplified as breath. So [my] suggestion, therefore, would be integrating some proper practice in understanding and improving the way you are breathing. Which means, for example—not just the chest breathing, the short one—but deep inhalation into the belly area, inflating everything, proper breath work.
“Then you can literally feel and sense and be aware of: There are so many things that are made to pour the attention and energy out of you. Flashing lights and delicious smelling food—I mean, all the marketing and advertising things that are happening in this world—it’s all made to catch the attention from the people. But catching the attention from you means it’s not with you anymore. You are being drawn towards something. And what is the result of it? It’s easy to get lost in the world.”