The beneficial health effects of daily chi-gung practice have long been known in China, but in the West, chi-gung is becoming increasingly used for general well-being and to complement conventional medical treatment. The Essence of Chi-Gung is an easy-to-use workbook that teaches the fundamentals of chi-gung practice and provides a safe, basic daily regimen that can be adapted for people of all ages and physical abilities. The view in Chinese medicine is that good health is maintained by circulating and increasing chi, the vital life energy that we are all born with. In chi-gung practice, slow, rhythmic breathing is synchronized with body movements, in a way which is beneficial to both the nervous and immune systems and to overall health. This manual includes over fifty step-by-step illustrations of the warm-up exercises and movement forms.
A guide to the history, theory and practice of chi-gung, the ancient Taoist system of health rooted in movement, breathing, meditation, and massage Chi-gung, which literally means “energy work”: is a system of cultivating health, vitality, and longevity that is based on the fundamental principles of Taoism and the laws of nature. Practiced by the Chinese for thousands of years, chi-gung works with the energy found in all living things to help rid the body of the imbalances that sap our strength and give rise to disease. The simple, meditative movements, breathing exercises, and massage techniques that are the basis of chi-gung can be practiced by anyone, regardless of age or physical fitness. Originally published under the title Harnessing the Power of the Universe, this book provides a detailed overview of chi-gung, describing the techniques of movement, breathing, and massage that are intrinsic to this ancient Taoist system of health.
Chi Gong: The Ancient Chinese Way to Health bridges the divide between Chinese and Western science, systems of health care, and spiritual practice. With proven, step-by-step exercises, chi gong instructor Paul Dong and psychiatrist Aristide Esser show how to perform basic and advanced chi gong exercises; increase vitality by maintaining the balance of bodily energies; prevent and cure ulcers, hypertension, heart disease, and other ailments; and achieve a relaxed and therapeutic meditative state, promoting health and longevity. The authors encourage practitioners to augment and strengthen their martial and spiritual disciplines, but also to develop external energy for the benefit of others. More than an instruction manual, Chi Gong functions as a complete survey of this healing art. Dong and Esser discuss chi gong’s history, famous practitioners, applications for health and the martial arts, and the role of chi in exceptional human functioning and mind-body interactions. Combining information from Western scientific investigations as well as personal insights from Paul Dong’s practice, the authors provide a thorough explanation of the concept of chi and its role in traditional Chinese medicine, discuss the groundbreaking use of chi gong in cancer treatments, and take the reader on a visit to one of China’s many chi gong clinics.
"Bruce Frantzis demystifies the fundamental principles of chi gung and provides a comprehensive exercise program with detailed illustrations to increase life energy, improve health, boost sports performance, and combat stress and aging."--Provided by Publisher.
Practising Chi Gung helps you to tap into the chi, the life force, a power that permeates everything in existence. By directing your flow of chi you can achieve better health and pursue your ultimate dreams and desires. This text explores the discipline.
Distills the many different Chi Kung practices into one simple daily routine for abundant health, calmness, and mental clarity • Provides step-by-step illustrated instructions for a complete yet easy daily Chi Kung routine • Perfect for beginners and ideal as a warm-up to more advanced practices • Clears physical and mental stress, stimulates healing and disease prevention, detoxifies the body, releases tensions, improves circulation, and works to develop flexibility, strength, resiliency, and suppleness Within every person there is a place full of energy, health, and happiness. Practicing Chi Kung allows us to visit this place of inner vitality and harmony, clearing physical and mental stress, detoxifying the body and mind, and helping us return to our natural state of abundant health, calmness, and mental clarity. An ideal complement to the treatment of chronic pain, asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, headaches, and even heart disease and cancer, Chi Kung is a way to take control of your physical, mental, and spiritual health and live a long and healthy life. In Simple Chi Kung, Taoist master Mantak Chia distills thousands of Chi Kung practices into one simple daily routine perfect for beginners and ideal as a warm-up to more advanced practices. Designed to relax our muscles, loosen the joints, improve circulation, and develop flexibility, strength, resiliency, and suppleness, the gentle, flowing movements of Chi Kung mirror the movements of nature and help practitioners connect to their own inner flow of chi, clearing blockages and stagnation in our life-force energy and tapping in to our natural powers of healing and disease prevention. Walking readers step-by-step through each exercise, from movement work with the knees, hips, and spine to internal energy work through controlled breathing, Master Chia explains how daily practice of Chi Kung cultivates life-force energy, a stronger immune system, emotional balance, and spiritual awareness, transforming the patterns and assumptions that limit our body and mind as well as enhancing our connection to nature and the universe.
Chi Kung is the ancient Chinese art for strengthening health to prevent and treat diseases, as well as to prolong life. Literally translated, it means "breathing energy, " but it is much more. Unlike other works on the subject, this book was carefully framed to be understood by the Western mind without losing the flavor and spirit of Chi Kung's Chinese origins. For the first time ever the secrets of the Wild Goose Chi Kung form are brought to the Western in easily understood terms.
Qigong a regimen of body, breath, and mental training exercises was one of the most widespread cultural and religious movements of late-twentieth-century urban China. The practice was promoted by senior Communist Party leaders as a uniquely Chinese healing tradition and as a harbinger of a new scientific revolution, yet the movement's mass popularity and the almost religious devotion of its followers led to its ruthless suppression. In this absorbing and revealing book, David A. Palmer relies on a combination of historical, anthropological, and sociological perspectives to describe the spread of the qigong craze and its reflection of key trends that have shaped China since 1949, including the search for a national identity and an emphasis on the absolute authority of science. Qigong offered the promise of an all-powerful technology of the body rooted in the mysteries of Chinese culture. However, after 1995 the scientific underpinnings of qigong came under attack, its leaders were denounced as charlatans, and its networks of followers, notably Falungong, were suppressed as "evil cults." According to Palmer, the success of the movement proves that a hugely important religious dimension not only survived under the CCP but was actively fostered, if not created, by high-ranking party members. Tracing the complex relationships among the masters, officials, scientists, practitioners, and ideologues involved in qigong, Palmer opens a fascinating window on the transformation of Chinese tradition as it evolved along with the Chinese state. As he brilliantly demonstrates, the rise and collapse of the qigong movement is key to understanding the politics and culture of post-Mao society.
In our busy lives we are bombarded by energy that taxes us and depletes our chi. This book of simple movements and meditations drawn from the Chinese arts of t'ai chi and chi gung will help restore your life energy, known as chi. Chi, according to traditional Chinese medicine, is the fuel and essence that connects body, mind, and spirit, and without it we fall apart physically, mentally, and spiritually. In Restoring Your Life Energy, well-known and respected t'ai chi master Waysun Liao explains why protecting our chi is so important, how chi gets taxed and damaged in our lives, and how to restore it. He explains: • The three levels of healing—physical, mental, and energetic/spiritual: what they are, why it is important to understand them, and how to target our practice to address each level; • Moving meditation, a powerful way of restoring chi (once we learn to sense the flow of chi, we can actually direct healing chi energy to areas in our body that need attention); • And how to integrate our knowledge of chi with conventional advice regarding diet, exercise, and medication. The book includes numerous exercises including "exercises for daily life," simple breathing and sensory meditations that can be done throughout the day; more advanced breathing and sensory meditations; standing exercises to move internal energy; "cleansing forms" to do during times of stress; and deeply cleansing and restorative "Tao gong" exercises.
