Borders book buying frenzy

Well, perhaps that’s an overstatement – but Borders’ 40% discount promotion, which ended yesterday, certainly got me spending. I bought quite a few books! Here are the ones relevant to this blog:

• Empty Force, by Paul Dong and Thomas Raffil.
  I’ve already reviewed this one. A rare book on an interesting and controversial topic, but ultimately lightweight and very disappointing. However, reinforced what I hear from other sources – that standing qigong practice, or zhan zhuang, is fundamental to building qi and internal strength. Hence:
• Chi Kung: The Way of Energy, by Master Lam Kam Chuen.
  The only book I could find that was dedicated solely to zhan zhuang. It looks very detailed, and gives an excellent set of guidelines to to slowly developing strong standing practice.
  
• The Inner Structure of Tai Chi: Mastering the Classic Forms of Tai Chi Chi Kung by Mantak Chia and Juan Li
  I have had to struggle to give Mantak Chia fair consideration. I first saw books of his in a local New Age bookstore; these were the ones about sexual energy, planets, colour energies, and other such topics that made me dismiss him as one of the New Age bull**** artists. However, last year I found his book on Bone Marrow Nei Kung and was  impressed. I’ve noticed this book – the Inner Structure – several times, and have put it back after glancing through it. I wasn’t interested, because I was looking for books on the specific forms that I’ve been studying. However, approaching it while interested in qigong and neigong, I realise that this is actually a true gem of a book, with a huge amount of detailed and interesting information on developing and using taijigong for health. I’m really looking forward to using some of the techniques outlined here. Interestingly, Mantak Chia is one of the few authors who regularly discusses and teaches the Inner Smile technique that wujimon mentioned recently.
• Taoist Qigong for Health and Vitality by Sat Chuen Hon
  In Mantak Chia’s books and elsewhere (including the clip of Kickass Kungfu’s Chris Crudelli interviewing my old bagua teacher) I’ve been hearing about the role of sound in qigong. This is something I know very little about, but I’m beginning to get curious. This book seems to discuss it in detail and credibly so I figured I would get it while the sale was still on. It’s also useful that the author has a website where you can download an audio file of the sounds for the specific organs – useful, because a book isn’t the ideal medium for teaching sounds

Overall, I think this is a pretty useful collection of new books. I’m going through them now and taking notes, and I’m going to be including a lot of these techniques as I prepare a new practice routine for myself. I should add that I’m not taking these on blind faith, but more because they explain and develop techniques I’ve gone through in the past with various teachers.

I also looked at a couple of books by Yang Jwing-Ming: Embryonic Breathing and Small Circulation, but opted not to get them. All of his books are packed full of information, but something about them turns me off. I suspect that I need to be more knowledgeable before I can appreciate them, and that I’ll come back to them in the future. Right now, I need to work harder in the foothills, as it were.