By far one of the best English books on Qi and internal arts that I have read.

[Matthew]

Looks to be a nice thorough book from my half hour 'skim through'. Take this review with a grain of salt, as the book really deserves a full couple reads for a decent review due to the amount it covers.

It looked to be impressively organized into sections, which is nice to assist people who may not have an experienced teacher. At least it would stimulate questions and interest into other aspects of practice that some might not have looked into.

The only odd thing it seemed is that it does tout itself as an all-around how to develop/use/understand Qi book, although it reads more like a Taichi/NeiJia arts primer. It promotes Tai Chi throughout as one of if not the most advanced form of daoyin (which they seemed to use as an interchangeable term with what I'm familiar with the term Nei Gong).

It does a great amount of explaining some of the more influential acupoints and does the english translation a great service in this regard.

One odd thing I noticed was the view toward "Buddhist Neigong" and shaolin in general - where they suggest that "Buddhist qigong is based on Indian Ayurvedic" principles as compared to daoist qigong. I've never heard such a differentiation, as my understanding is the neigong practices we know of today principally come from the same region in China. For example - in shaolin itself, the xinyiba lineage holder outright says their neigong comes from daoist practitioners, so I think the book falls short in some of it's unnecessary statements. Although I don't know of any current schools other than shaolin with some of the core neigong principles shaolin teaches (sanjie, sishao, etc.)

They also promote certain shenfa through vague explanations - like the importance of keeping an "upside down u-shape between the legs at all times" and note that "the legs should not form an "upside down v-shape," which is obviously basic to shaolin buzi (shaolin stepping skills) and plenty of other neigong arts. e.g. the Kua Here in this video at 1:10 would be considered as "opened incorrectly" and "weak" according to this book because it "blocks the downward energy flow" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4kHI...utu.be&t=1m10s - which makes things very interesting as we know many early "neijia" arts practitioners learned hongquan and may have been taught a similar shenfa to how this shaolin video demonstrates.

I also noted a conflating of the terms "NeiJia" and "NeiGong," suggesting that "Neijia" arts are considered "internal" because of their commonalities rather than because of their geographic origins. Not a big deal, but something we see time and time again in english translations - as NeiGong is foundational to all chinese arts and NeiJia is a geographical indicator of some specific martial art styles.

Again, take this review grain of salt though, as I haven't perused much.

It looks like a great read for a westerner looking to learn about Qi theory and understanding (especially as it relates to Tai Chi). I know many other books have treaded similar ground, although perhaps in a less-structured/organized fashion (e.g. through the various tai chi masters books (chen family and others), qigong books, and a number of online translated materials relating to neigong, qi, that are online.)

That being said - I enjoyed seeing the recurring emphasis on zhan zhuang. They also try to give scientific explanations to some qi theories, which may not stand any rigorous critique, but seems like the intent (other than to give credibility to Qi theory) is mostly aimed at giving a pragmatic/functioning definition for discussion.

I'd personally suggest that if someone is interested in practice of foundational shaolin neigong - Agnes Chan (Master De Jian's disciple) has put out a number of Shaolin Foundational NeiGong/Zhan Zhuang videos on youtube/chanwuyi website. Master De Jian also has a number of foundational Neigong videos on Youku that build upon that.