(Part 2) Best tai chi & qi gong books according to redditors
We found 122 Reddit comments discussing the best tai chi & qi gong books. We ranked the 61 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
Hi there. I applaud your interest in traditional JSA (Japanese Sword Arts). I am not at all an expert but I did study Nakamura Ryū for two years. First, a quick and small correction: iaitō = sword for iai, iaidō = the way of iai.
The standard, default advice you will get on this matter, as with any kind of combat skill or physical activity, is this:
Get a qualified teacher.
Yes, you can begin "studying" with a bokken and not risk injury quite as much as with an iaitō or shinken (live blade), but you will invariably develop some bad habits that will be very difficult to unlearn. Better to start your journey with a clean slate if possible. All the books and videos that exist cannot critique your form and mistakes, or show you in-person the right way to do it, or explain things you are not picking up on. And moving up to shinken without training is a bad idea, for obvious reasons I hope.
To that end, the folks at e-Budo* can help you find a legitimate JSA dōjō near you, if one exists. Note that "near you" is a relative term; some iaidōka travel hours to get to practice. That is the exception rather than the rule, I'm just pointing out that people make it work if they really want it.
With all that being said…
I didn't read many iai books when I was studying Nakamura Ryū — I was always much more interested in the art historical aspects of the arms & armor, not as much the usage — but I know that Flashing Steel is a popular book about a legitimate style (Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryū). The same author also produced a video series which I have never seen. Of course I would be remiss if I did not mention my own ryū's founder, Nakamura Taizaburo, and his book on the subject.
These books will not allow you to "learn iaidō" in a practical sense, but they will give you a solid start on understanding it, studying the fundamentals in an academic way, etc. I mean, you can of course pick up a lot of practical skills… but you will also be interpreting the instruction in a unique way, and the result will not be correct from the school's perspective. This is the kind of difficulty that WMA (Western Martial Arts) practitioners face, interpreting historic fencing manuals… if they had the option, you can bet they'd study under living inheritors of those styles.
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*Unfortunately e-Budo seems to be stalling at this moment.
Here is most of my library, broken down, with links and some thoughts on each.
Karate Specific
Kobujutsu Specific
Other Martial Arts
Health and Anatomy
EDIT: I can't believe I forgot this one...
Some books:
Fairly sure that Qi Magazine can now be accessed online for free, and the Journal of Baguazhang.
All of the best resources are in Japanese but, though some come close, none will answer all of your questions. I don't know of any work that attempts to tackle popularity and very few that cover both extant and dead schools mark which is which.
The closest thing to the Bugei Ryuha Daijiten in English is Dr. David A. Hall's Encyclopedia of Japanese Martial Arts.
For free resources, I recommend you read through the wiki in the sidebar and then check out this post: Kata in Classical Japanese Martial Arts. There are many more videos here in /r/koryu and /r/iaido and more info in the other links in the sidebar.
Hmmm… I need to create a "Taoist Starter Kit" article…
As far as translations go… one I like is Red Pine's translation because it has commentary and the Chinese. The nice thing about the commentary is it lets you see all of the different ways each chapter can be interpreted. Political strategists see strategy and alchemists see instructions for spiritual immortality. :)
https://www.amazon.com/Lao-tzus-Taoteching-Lao-Tzu-ebook/dp/B00APD9VP2
If you want something chill and direct. I like these comics:
https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Speaks-Lao-Tzus-Whispers-Wisdom/dp/0385472595/
https://www.amazon.com/Zhuangzi-Speaks-Nature-Chih-chung-Tsai/dp/0691008825
If you wanna compare a bunch of translations…
https://ttc.tasuki.org/
I don't really think you can go "wrong" with any translation/interpretation if you're planning on reading more than one. If it was just the one, I'd go with Red Pine's.
As for meditation, I would look into Zen or Chan Buddhism close to where you are. You can also get started right away by just closing your eyes and breathing for a minute a day and build up to more as you do more research (via videos, books, seminars, teachers, etc.)
More important than any technique is developing the habit of doing it every day.
This app is awesome and it comes with a bunch of free guided meditations. I just use it for the timer. :)
https://insighttimer.com/
If you start getting serious I'd look for a teacher of some kind, but good teachers for Taoism seem kind of elusive. I think that's from the nature of the practice and it's history.
Google searches, reading reviews, talking to people, etc will take you where you want to go although in the beginning it's hard to tell the difference between "good" and "bad", but there's no way around that other than to start doing stuff and getting some experience under your belt. :) Also "bad" for you might be "good" for someone else. :P ;)
There are probably some good books for beginners as well, but I'm not familiar with those yet. I'm gonna start ordering and reading through them… (I haven't been a beginner for a long time… that said… I'm still a beginner… lol)
Oh! There's a cool Eva Wong book on Taoism that gives you a nice historical overview and breakdown of the different styles.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1590308824/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_1590308824
Hopefully you'll get some other recommendations! :)
This. Kung fu is an embodied art, which means you need to get it from someone else and you improve it by practicing against someone else. That being said, getting ideas from books is fine so long as you test them out under pressure. You have to be strict on quality control but you can sometimes uncover gold.
I'm not sure about your goals behind learning kung fu, but I've found these two books to be useful: The Complete Book of Yiquan, and Developing Jin: Silk-Reeling Power in Tai Chi and the Internal Martial Arts. I repeat, these were useful to me just for getting new ideas; you need to try them out to see what works for you.
on this topic, I recommend reading In Search Of The Warrior Spirit by Richard Heckler - account of a former Marine and Aikido master who's brought in to teach mindfulness to a group of Green Berets as an experiment.
I practice fu style with a student of Nick gracenin. I can guarantee that fu style is pretty awesome. I have a few resources. I'll send them your way when I have a few moments.
Some notes after a few minutes research. I can't find much on Master Severino, though he seems like a very accomplished martial artist. That being said, there's a number of videos out there, some of Fu Wing Fei, Fu Zheng Song's son, Shen Lung (Victor) Fu, Fu Wing Fei's son and a few other masters. (Bow Sim Mark, student of Fu Wing Fei, Nick Gracenin, student of Bow Sim Mark, etc.)
Unfortunately I can't find much on this 8 step form. I've never heard of it, so unfortunately I can't help here. Hopefully one of the following videos sheds me insight though. Let me know if you would like more information and I can probably hook you up.
A good starting point is Tommy Kirchoff's videos (https://www.youtube.com/user/TransMun/playlists) whom has made a number of Victor Fu's (And some of Fu Wing Fei's) videos available on youtube.
Bow Sim Mark performing Liang Yi Quan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwdW1eGeJmc) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI53j16441Q)
Nick Gracenin performing Lian Yi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qajXmVOJ-b8
If you're willing to buy the book, if you're looking for history this is an excellent book as well: http://www.amazon.com/Zhen-Songs-Dragon-Bagua-Zhang/dp/1583942386
There's also /r/taijiquan (using the pinyin system for Chinese). I do personally like to read up, but a good instructor - or at least occasional clinic/camp style instruction is more or less a must.
It probably takes quite long to practice tai chi ch'uan to have fighting proficiency, but if that's your goal, doing something else as well and trying to apply the principles might be a shortcut. The practice of taiji could be roughly divided into three categories: First and most popular is health-oriented light calisthenics. (These often do drop the "ch'uan" or "fist" from the name of the art.) Second is "wushu", Chinese martial arts tricking ("wushu" means "martial arts", but these days it usually refers to the acrobatic sport). And third is traditional martial arts. The likelihood of finding someone with combat proficiency increases as you go down the list, but even if someone's doing "traditional tai chi" and can track his or her lineage back to the Chinese big shots, it's no guarantee of actual proficiency.
For the closest westerners can get to original sources, there's Paul Brennan's translations on old manuals. Do note, those aren't how-to manuals, but rather reference for someone who already knew the arts.
This book is a good introduction, IIRC. I'd need to check my library.
If you use Amazon's Kindle, Ken Gullette has a nice no-nonsense material on the Chen Xiaowang short form as well as the body mechanics. (Also runs an "online school" with video material.)
This book is a very comprehensive intro on the subject of Yang style taijiquan. This book is a good intro on one of the short forms, along with video sources to cross-reference, such as Ian Sinclair's YouTube series.
The Tao of Wing Chun is a great book about conceptual things. It's a light read and incredibly informative. The Sifu who wrote it is also usually available via email about inquires, and travels around to teach people if they are interested in running seminars.
https://www.amazon.ca/Tao-Wing-Chun-Principles-Explosive/dp/162914777X
Have you read this book on Aikdio groundfighting? I haven't yet. Wondering if anyone had.
The point of the video is to look at your form (whichever style your practice) and look at what function the movement/posture has. Martial forms were put together by past masters to teach students principles of movements and how energies/techniques can be applied with certain movements.
The issue with some (not all) traditional forms is that some teachers and/or students do not know or practice the function of what their forms are trying to teach. In terms of Tai Chi, there are many applications hidden within the form. Some are obvious, some are not. After learning the Yang style Tai Chi Chuan form, my sifu took each posture and taught us at least two applications and added more throughout the years.
No, this guy is not a "Tai Chi guy" and I doubt he is a "TKD guy" (I don't practice TKD), but his message about translating your form into something that is functional in a self-defense/fight situation is something that anyone from any style should at least learn if not strive for. As another person has said, at least this guy looks at Tai Chi as a serious functional martial art instead of just saying that it's useless. He posted another video asking "Can you win a fight using Tai Chi?". I suggest watching the video, but the short answer is yes, if Taiji is trained properly with martial intent and practices.
I've read a good book called Hidden Hands: Unlocking the Secrets of Traditional Martial Arts Forms that explains what this guy is showing with greater detail.
>but there's no published wudang sword manual. it's hidden somewhere where the public aren't allowed to access it.
Heres one from the 1930s available for $15 on Amazon, with 2 day shipping
The Secret Teachings Of Aikido by John Stevens.
I really enjoyed the book, as it starts with Ueshiba's youth (military stage, family)
continues with maturity (religious beliefs, influencers, training, meditation, dojos) and continues with his elderly years(philosophy, uchi-deshi, meditation, enlightenment).
It's a lot of value in there to see his evolution and how aikido was modeled over the years. Throughout this book I've also learned that he achieved his greatest strength at the age of 50.
It is titled Chin Na Fa. My copy is in a box somewhere, but I believe it is this one
Oh man, I could recommend so many.
Kung Fu and Taoism:
The Making of a Butterfly is one of my favorite books. It is about a white kid who starts learning Kung Fu out of a Chinese master's basement back in the 70s, well before Kung Fu was popularized in the West.
Chronicles of Tao by Deng Ming Dao is excellent, a narrative perspective of how Taoism intertwines with the life of a Kung Fu practitioner.
American Shaolin by Matthew Polly is an entertaining and illuminating story that disseminates a lot of the mysticism surrounding the Shaolin Temple.
The Crocodile and the Crane is a fun fictional book that is basically about Tai Chi saving the world from a zombie apocalypse.
My next goal is to tackle The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Of course, I highly recommend the Tao Te Ching and the Art of War as well.
Buddhism: I highly recommend anything Thich Nhat Hanh. Anger and Peace is Every Step are two of my favorites.
Karate and Japanese Arts:
Moving Toward Stillness by Dave Lowry is one of my favorite books, taken from his columns in Black Belt Magazine over the years. A really excellent study on Japanese arts and philosophy.
Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings by Kenji Tokitsu is wonderful. It includes the Book of Five Rings as well as some of Musashi's other works, including many of his paintings.
The 47 Ronin, by John Allyn, a dramatization of the Genroku Ako Incident, is still quite poignant in 2016.
most are recommending vids (me too) but this Book: Budo is both good and interesting.
You may consider this worth purchasing. Loren knows his stuff.
https://www.amazon.com/Solo-Training-Martial-Artists-Guide/dp/1594394881