Coupla' Honkies I'm presently reading three books: 'Opening The Energy Gates Of Your Body' and 'The Power Of The Internal Martial Arts' by B.K. Frantzis, and 'Harnessing The Power Of The Universe' by Daniel Reid.
The great thing about Taoists from a western background is the fact that they can explain in western medical terms the nature of Taoist energy practices. I actually prefer the poetic descriptions of the east but the western explanations are far more convincing to those who always need to know the science.
Both these artists and authors know their stuff. If the nature of qigong and neigong are something you have some interest in grab one of these books. Should make things clear for you.

In one of my multi-hour web searches I found a fellow in Vancouver that studied with B.K. Frantzis and teaches baguazhang and qigong. I've emailed him and am waiting for a response. I'll keep you posted.  ¶ 10:44 a.m. 1 comments

  Back Again This past Saturday's Fu Style class was all about the advanced taiji. Master Fu has abreviated the full 105 form to just the individual patterns performed on the left and right sides due to the difficulty of not-so-advanced students performing an advanced set before they've reached a level in their training where their chi moves their body instead of muscular effort. Just the muscles means you actually lose energy performing the full set. It is strenuous. So much so that I reactivated a back injury from earlier in the week that my TCM doctor had alleviated on Wednesday. Oops.
To get an idea of advanced Fu Style Taiji you can see a short video clip of it on fustyle.org. Click on Shop then scroll down until you find it. The clip is of the Grasping Sparrows Tail pattern.
From the diagrams I saw on Master Hon Sat Chuen's site (dantao.com), advanced Fu Style Taijiquan looks quite a bit like the Dragon Style of tajiquan. Dragon Style is probably the rarest taiji system out there right now. Both Dragon Style and advanced Fu Style break the conventions of taiji by bending at the waist all throughtout the set. They require so much more flexibility and balance than other systems. If you perform these styles regularly you'll definitely increase the power in your waist. You'll also feel as agile as Spiderman. I'm guessing that's a nice feelin'.  ¶ 12:34 p.m. 0 comments

  The Order I'm currently reading Daniel Reid's 'Harnessing the Power of the Universe'. It is the most comprehensive book I've found on the history of qigong development in China as well as giving great detail on the various types of energy within us and around us. An excellent book.
Here's a tasty excerpt:
"In human life, most people enslave their minds and spend their energies to serve their bodies and satisfy their desires, thereby 'mistaking the servant for the master'. In the higher orders of the universe, which human life was designed to reflect, spirit is the master, and energy is the tool through which the spirit expresses itself creatively in material form. In order to harness the power of the universe for the benefit of humanity, human beings must pattern their bodies as well as their minds on the universal order of creation reflected in nature and the cosmos and known as the Tao, for this is the context in which human life evolved. When practising the Tao, one must learn to balance physical health and vitality with spiritual awareness and virtue, for that is the one and only way the Tao works."  ¶ 12:09 p.m. 0 comments