The $10,000 book

I’ve received some great gifts in my life, but looking back on them, few surpass the gift of knowledge.

And most of the knowledge I’ve acquired has come from books.

Some of these books inspired me to dream; to imagine no longer living poor.

Some helped me build a business; to avoid the mistakes of other entrepreneurs.

Some gave me confidence; to believe in myself and what I’ve learned.

But the greatest book I’ve ever received (after the Bible, which you already know about) is a book called the The Shaolin Workout: 28 Days to Transforming Your Body and Soul the Warrior’s Way.

DON’T STOP READING if you’re over forty or if you don’t care about martial arts. (Oh, I barely caught you, didn’t I? You were about to leave the page.)

“You’re never too old — we just get too tense, too stiff. We think too much. It makes no difference if you’re in your twenties, fifties, or eighties. Relax, never feel old. Stretch your body and your mind, stretch your life. Get up and train harder!”
– USA Shaolin Temple

The older you are, the more this book is for you.

And if you don’t care about self-defense or martial arts, this book is for you.

This book — when I follow its daily exercises — gives me peace, makes me feel handsome, and removes all the cares from my life. It’s taught me incredible stretches, unbelievable exercises (don’t worry, it starts off slow), and indescribable teachings.

It has fundamentally improved my health, my posture, my attitude.

As I walked my dog tonight, living in the moment and enjoying heaven on earth, I realized I must share this book with everyone I can. To not do so would be a sin. It would be nothing short of theft.

And as I felt inspired to share the post, I wondered: How do you describe such a book?

How do you describe a book that years ago (when I first bought it) made me feel completely at peace when just minutes before I’d been worrying about debt, my lack of health insurance, and my job that paid just a little over $20,000 a year?

How can a book with just a few stretches, exercises, and teachings bring God (or Buddha or whoever) into the room with you, lift your mood, and make you ecstatic you’re alive? How can it do this when minutes before you were seconds away from giving up, crying, or wanting to end your life?

How can it take you from no hope to hope in just minutes?

And what would such a book be worth? My first thought tonight when I asked myself that question while walking my dog was $500.

I’ve spent $500 to travel far away and gaze at the ocean while waves lapped my feet and gulls glided by me. I’ve experienced that heaven on earth and it was worth every penny of that $500.

But, I’ve never experienced it alone in my study, just moments after feeling deeply depressed.

So, what’s a book worth that gives you that feeling of heaven any time you want, without having to travel or spend additional money? It’s given me this feeling hundreds of times, and I literally carry it in my work bag every single day — I hate not having it by my side.

What’s a book worth that does this? I think without question that this book is worth $10,000.

It’s changed my life that much.

It’s made me happier, healthier, improved my posture, and allowed me to catch glimpses of God’s beauty that I’d never seen before. It’s helped me deal with angry customers and bad employees. It even has an exercise to help improve your eyes — and yes, I believe it’s helping my eyesight; certainly preventing their continued deterioration from how much I time I spend in front of a computer.

The book has the best ab exercises I’ve ever seen, and believe me I’ve seen them all. It does so much for your posture and attitude that you’ll feel a difference on the first day you give it a try.

I’ve shared parts of this book with family and friends and they’ve all been changed. The book is that deep, and that powerful. But remember, we shouldn’t be surprised. The book contains more than a thousand years of compiled wisdom from Shaolin Monks.

These teachers have seen what bad posture does to you. How sadness and negativity can wreck your body.

They’ve seen how birds live their lives, gleeful and spry (ever seen a sad bird?) and they’ve transferred this knowledge into passed-down wisdom.

The only folks who won’t like this book are young. If you’re under twenty, don’t waste your money. You haven’t experienced the hell of life. You’re still rushing through it 90 mph convinced happiness awaits you at the next mile marker. You’ll soon learn you’re wrong, but you’re too young to listen to me. (Just as I was once too young to listen, as well.)

But for everyone else, this book is over-the-top good. It will change your life, if you let it. If you simply just try its stretches and exercises, and read its teachings on philosophy/Eastern thinking at the end of each chapter.

And it is easy enough that you can start it at any age. (That’s part of what makes it unique. It starts so easy that you won’t get frustrated and quit. The first day’s exercise lasts less than five minutes — really, it’s about two minutes. Surely, you can stand up straight and stretch out your wrists and ankles for two minutes, even if you’re 80, right? And ignoring the exercises and stretches, I’ve got to say the teachings/philosophy lessons are worth a $100 alone.)

So, there you go. I’ve tried to explain the inexplicable. I’ve attempted to give you the greatest gift I’ve ever received. It’s taught me to slow down, live in the moment, and feel handsome and pure; like an angel on earth that God wants to wrap His arms around, instead of some worthless failure who’s wrecked by the reality that he didn’t measure up, who’s frustrated his body is growing weaker and softer each passing day, and that he’s growing older and the best may be behind him.

The book has taught me to love harder and give more at work and in every thing else I do. It’s taught me that life is a blessing, and that I can grow younger every day — not older (you’ll understand this strange point once you read the book).

You can mock this post. You can ignore it. I might have, too, if the situation were reversed.

But I have attempted to hand you the greatest gift I could give you. I’m extending both my hands to you with this knowledge lying in them, like gleaming gold medicine, radiating outward from my cupped hands.

The book is roughly $20, depending on when you check it’s price. It’s the cost of a night out for dinner or some silly purchase you won’t remember a month later.

And it’s right there. In my hands. Glowing and awaiting you, battling your skeptical mind with nothing but the power of centuries worth of love and wisdom that you won’t find in Western teachings. (Well, you could find some of it in the Bible, but not the way we teach it in the West, and you still wouldn’t know the stretches and exercises.)

I hope you’ll at least go read the reviews on Amazon and give it some consideration. And for those who take the plunge based on my words, I hope this book transforms and improves your life 1/1,000th as much as it has mine. And when it does, you, too, will be telling your friends about it like some babbling, silly prophet. Like you have something you must share.

Trust me on this. Here’s the link again. (And if you buy it and it starts to change your life, will you share that in the comments below? I sound delusional in this post, but I’m convinced I’m not wrong and I want to help as many people as I can. Your comments can help do that.)

Stan R. Mitchell

Oak Ridge, Tenn.

P.S. Please, please, please. If you’re over 40, or certainly over 50, I beg of you to buy this book. Even if you hate the philosophy, which you won’t, you must keep your back and neck limber. Don’t wait until you’re hunched over or your balance is so bad that you’re sure to break a hip. Please, I beg of you. Buy this book and take care of your body in a healthy way — a way that’s safer than the gym or other things you’ve seen. Haven’t you seen 80 and 90 year old Monks doing Tai Chi and Kung Fu? You can be this way at that age, too. Don’t die a slow death each day like we do in the West. Take care of yourself starting today, and allow this book to transform your attitude and posture. And even better, learn to experience heaven and joy on earth right now, wherever you are, and for the rest of your life.

P.P.S. Some may think the author’s teaching interfere with Christianity. They don’t. He even says not to change religions and expresses his appreciation for Christianity. But, speaking as a Christian — actually, I hate that word, but it’s the closest to describing my views — I can say with certainty that this book will help improve your service to God and those around you. I guarantee it. (And honestly, if your faith is so weak that you’re scared to read a book that barely mentions Buddhism a few times, then you need to change churches and open up your mind.) And with that line, I’ve made the pitch about this book, as well as I can. Now the choice is yours.