Qigong Empowerment: A Guide to Medical, Taoist, Buddhist, Wushu Energy Cultivation

This book is excellent! I'm a 10 year Tai Chi Chi Gong (Taiji Chi Kung) or however you want to spell it, practitioner and teacher.
This book is perfect for ANY level. 300 plus pages of no fluff information. You don't even have to read page after page, learn a few techniques and try them immediately. I like this so much because it kept me interested all the way through. Very seldom do Qigong books have any unique practices. You won't have that problem.
Some people may be intimidated by how many different styles it covers, but then some people get intimidated by having too many detergent choices or whatever.
I love it...I recommend it.
Perfect book to use for reference and daily practice.

Hi folks,
I bought several books on Amazon, and I always received everything in few days, perfect condition, monitored by e-mail and across the ocean...Yeah, I'm from Rome. I also bought used books, always in good condition or, better, in the exact condition like described.
E-bay don't do the same, absolutely.

This book which has been out for 10 years now dates back from a time when it was almost impossible to get any information about the many varieties of qigong in a single location in the west. Actually, from individuals that I know who have traveled through China on Qigong adventures/retreats since then, this book addresses a serious deficit in most centers of qigong instruction, including China. The reason for owning this book is that it gathers in one text an overview of many seemingly unrelated or even contradictory approaches to qigong. The common thread of these techniques are the focus on working with qi (the body's internal energy) and the principle that these techniques become increasingly effective through being a repeated, practiced and sincerely followed path (gong).

The authors separate this manual into five distinct books, rather than chapters, a device that helps the aspiring qigong student gain a very important fundamental understanding about these practices regarding their apparent variability. Hidden in specifics, they are each a type of internal alchemy, or a mental technology that facilitates the student's navigation on a life path that they find most meaningful. The sojourner on these life paths is a mind-body, no spiritual or philosophic pursuit is totally a mind activity anymore than any sport is a purely physical activity. The methods that assist the integration and strengthening of the mind-body on a path become a part of that path, independent of the traveler's long term goals. For example, many Buddhist meditators that I have met think of the body as merely a hindrance to "real" meditation, an attitude that this text shows, dismisses a fundamental quality of your life (that you have a mind-body) which could be your ally in meditation.

I personally feel that a very important aspect of this text is its eclectic variety. So many people who study qigong think that the method they use is best or that what others are doing is not even qigong. Further, Orientaphiles want their techniques to be the "oldest/original" while Westerners want their techniques to be "newest/best". This text shows that all of these qualitative judgments are off the main track which is actually to explore and experiment with an open mind, testing each technique for its ability to assist you on your path.

The single biggest failing of this book is that it not the best source of information once you are clear on what you want you qigong practice for, this is an encyclopedia not a basic training manual. There is starting to be a large range of qigong instruction available within each of the Books within Qigong Empowerment. There are techniques that bridge several of these disciplines as well as other Books such a Christian qigong or bike racing qigong that remain to be written.

Finally; this book can help the beginning student with the most important first question that they need to be able to address when starting their practice. A fairly new issue in North America is that there have started to be thousands of self declared experts, "Qigong Masters", ready to take your time, money and commitment, many of them are modern day "Snake Oil Salesmen". This text has enough of the generally accepted standard information for even the novice to recognize these charlatans for what they are.

If this is not in your qigong library, add it.

This book is among the best to be released to the general public about the many different types of Chi Kung training. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about internal cultivation and understanding a very rich part of traditional Chinese culture.

I train with Master Wen-Ching Wu and i have trained a little with Grandmaster Liang, and I have not been able to find ANY books that come close to surpassing the ones that they have written. Together they have an incredibly vast knowledge of martial arts and Qigong and share it quite willingly in their fantastic books and teachings.