Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #232582 in Books
• Published on: 1996-02-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 206 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent book on tai chi and chi kung
As a spiritual healer and student of Cheng Man Ching Style Tai Chi I was very impressed by this book.

The author covers Chi Kung, iron shirt techniques, healing techniques involving the manipulation and direction of chi, and a short tai chi form.

He describes exactly what the chi is doing in the movements of tai chi forms, what we should visualise and how we should breathe.

Most of this is information I havn't seen in other books on tai chi which seem to focus on the external aspects of the form.

A superb book, I learnt a lot. Good for tai chi students and those involved with energy type healing, such as spiritual healers, reiki and shiatsu practitioners.

Inner Structure is the best Tai Chi book available
Mantak Chia really knows what he is talking about and he describes in amazing detail what the energy should be doing. I have found my centre and my grounding is superb now - too many tai chi books, videos (and instructors) concentrate on what the moves should be like. But once you understand the principal of tai chi the rest follows so much more easily and the moves complete themselves., The most important piece of information that I picked up on was that of the first move of the form - raising your arms. Overlooked by many, the underlying principal of relaxation and tension - yin and yang - is explained and understood by mastering this one move - the rest will take care of itself. Just remember to always relax your spine just above your bum and let the relaxation do the work. Mantak Chia has improved my Tai Chi practice so much! I went back to my old tai chi class which i haven't been to in a year - I was doing push hands with my tai chi master and i was better than some of the folk who had been going for over nine years!! My instructor is a good teacher but with the aid of this book everything is much clearer. There is a load of information but once you pick up the technique none of that matters and you will move as you should anyway! Buy This Book! Buy this Book! Buy his other books too!

no secrets
I'm not sure whether to praise this or condemn it. The book "reveals" higher teachings that are in fact taught in external martial arts at a fairly high level, they are not secrets. I too like Mantak Chia studied Thai Boxing and Aikido before going on to Tai Chi, and it's fairly clear to see where his ideas have come from. This book does a good job of setting forth the ideas often missed from tai chi, that is you can't fight if you're not grounded and the use of spiral force, so often talked about so often completely misunderstood because those teaching have no background in external martial arts. It's useful from that respect and is clear if a tad waffly. A useful book for the tai chi practitioner that has never learned anything but tai chi and is new to the concepts of tai chi chuan as a martial art.