Shaolin Spirit is a wonderful introduction to the mastery of the self and an insight into how Shaolin Monks live their lives and the ways they follow. Shi Heng Yi offers a wonderful and accessible insight into his own mastery of self. I personally found the book easy to follow, informative and a wonderful starting point into the journey of Shaolin Spirit.
I do believe this is the perfect introduction, offering a good overview of the fundamentals as well as practices that can be done. Of course this is not a one stop way to find true self-mastery but it is most certainly a fantastic guide and starting point. The ease and flow of the text allows readers to fully absorb the knowledge imparted. Definitely a must read for those wanting to start on their journey.
As always thank you to Penguin for the advanced copy to review, my reviews are always honest and freely given.

Shi Heng Yi is a Shaolin monk and a Master. In this book he outlines some of the background to past and present Shaolin practices. He also talks about his journey in life and the arts. The "arts" here are the internal, and often martial, arts associated with a number of Eastern countries. There is some background to the basic philosophies including the idea that while Shaolin practices are rooted in Buddhism they are linked to Daoism and Confucianism too. Indeed much of this books seems perfectly relevant to Eastern arts in general.

There is a format running through this book. Each chapter will look at a particular topic and often Shi Heng Yi's life/Shaolin practices and then end with a "method" to help you deepen your understanding of Shaolin practices. As such this is quite wide ranging covering Buddhism, breathing practice, meditation, martial arts particularly internal, morality & virtues among other topics. The structure and order of this was generally good for me. There was emphasis on self awareness in a number of areas which is very good and an essential part of moving deeper into these arts.

In particular aspects such as nourishing Qi and working with the energy channels are basic but so important. I guess one problem is that is quite a short book and an awful lot is crammed in to my mind. This inevitably means that there will be a lack of detail for some people. At the end there are pointers to websites for further information and training however that might not be for everyone.

As an internal arts practitioner for some years now I found this interesting. However I think it rather unlikely that anyone is really going to get the best out of themselves via the rather basic descriptions of "methods". A phrase that I will use with my master is that it is all very easy however you have to work very hard to make it easy! Personally this will not come solely from any book for me. However it is quite possible that this will act as a trigger for people to explore more of this fascinating subject. I found this book a worthwhile read and informative in a few ways. Certainly of interest to those who want to know more about the Shaolin way of life and internal arts more generally. The writing style is simple enough and very accessible.