Product Description

Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body explains the practice of chi gung (qigong), the 3000-year-old self-healing exercise system from China. Originally published in 1993, this book has become a classic that has inspired tens of thousands of Westerners to learn to activate their chi—life-force energy—to improve their health, reduce stress and reverse the effects of aging. This fully revised edition has more than 100 pages of new material, including Longevity Breathing methods; how cross-training in chi gung can enhance other exercises such as yoga, golf and weight training; and nei gung techniques for advanced practitioners.

Chi gung exercises utilize a system of energy channels in the body that are similar to an electrical circuit. Frantzis’ thorough knowledge of energy arts and the Chinese language allow him to peel away the secrecy and metaphors. He presents this 300-page edition in easy to understand terms to suit beginners, with enough meaty detail and depth for the advanced martial artist, healer or meditator.

Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body includes a comprehensive guide to chi gung theory and a systematic lesson plan with more than 100 illustrations. These low-impact exercises are suitable for almost any age or fitness level. They provide the foundation for learning any other chi practice, such as tai chi, martial arts, meditation or TAO Yoga. Frantzis explains not only how these inner aerobics are done, but why. Going beyond mere body movement, he teaches from the inside out, linking the biomechanics and anatomy of the physical body with the subtleties of chi. This book provides practical methods to help people become balanced, relaxed and joyful.

Frantzis trained for more than a decade in China, became a Taoist Lineage Master—quite a rare occurrence—and came back to the West to teach. “My hope is that chi gung and tai chi can become mainstream exercises in the West,” says Frantzis. “We have a major health crisis looming; practicing chi gung or tai chi is one of the most effective ways people can reclaim control of their health and well-being.”

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24112 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-23
• Released on: 2005-12-23
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
“This extraordinary book, written by one of the West’s greatest living masters, offers nothing less than a course in the miracle of our own energy field. Bruce Frantzis has translated ancient Taoist practices into a modern program that manages to be both highly accessible and transformational, affording us all the opportunity to experience the wonder of the Tao firsthand.” —Lynne McTaggart, author of The Field and What Doctors Don’t Tell You

“A must for those who are new to chi gung, those who are already practitioners, and anyone interested in complementary medicine or self-help.” —Angela Hicks, Co-founder of the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine, Reading, England, and author of The Acupuncture Handbook

“This remarkable book has become a classic. Mr. Frantzis’ biography alone is worth the price of admission.” —Stephen E. Langer M.D., Berkeley, California, President of the American Nutritional Medical Association and author of Solved: The Riddle of Illness

About the Author
Bruce Frantzis is reputed to be the first Westerner to hold authentic lineages in Taoist energy arts. He studied healing, martial arts and meditation with renowned teachers in Asia for 16 years—including training in China for more than a decade.

Since 1987, Frantzis has taught chi gung, martial arts, TAO yoga, TAO meditation, and energetic-healing therapies to over 15,000 students in the United States and Europe. His teaching methods are spread by a growing number of certified instructors that he has trained in the United States and Europe.

Frantzis is the author of several widely praised books about the power of chi including: Tai Chi: Health for Life; the chi gung books, Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body and the Dragon and Tiger Medical Chi Gung Instruction Manual; and two volumes on the water method of TAO meditation, Relaxing Into Your Being and The Great Stillness. Two CDs, The Tao of Letting Go and Ancient Songs of the Tao, shed valuable insights into the power of TAO Meditation in helping people let go of their deepest emotional blockages and move closer to becoming truly alive, balanced and joyful.

When Frantzis moved to China to follow the Taoist path of warrior/healer/priest, he was extensively trained in the chi principles and practices that are the basis of Chinese medicine. From 1974 to 1979, he trained with high-level chi gung tui na (therapeutic energy work) doctors and apprenticed under their tutelage in Chinese medical clinics. He learned to use chi to help heal a wide range of conditions including broken bones, nerve and organ damage, and cancer. He also gained an advanced acupuncture degree. Frantzis used these chi principles and practices to dramatically heal himself: first from a life-threatening form of hepatitis in India and more dramatically from massive spine injuries that he received in a car accident in 1981.

Frantzis’ experiences have made him a teacher with a mission: teaching people how the ancient and proven self-healing chi practices can help them achieve health, relaxation, inner peace and longevity. He aims to help avert a major health crisis that threatens to engulf the Western world.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Attaining Your True Nature
Taoists cherish practices that raise the human being from the "Inferior Man" to the "Superior Man" of the I Ching…To do so, the energy of one's body and emotions needs to be strong and balanced. If you are ill, chi gung will provide you with a means to become healthy; if your mind is disordered, chi gung can give you a way to attain balanced discipline and perseverance. If you are healthy, chi gung can raise your energy level, release suppressed talents, and prepare the body/mind/spirit to succeed in Taoist meditation. All people are born "inferior"—it is only through great effort and genuine humility that a person transcends. All sane people wish to be healthy and strong; all those interested in spirituality wish to attain their true nature. In Taoism, chi gung is the first basic method for achieving these very human goals. (Note to the Reader of the New Edition)

Chi Gung Works with the Fluids of the Body
In chi gung, blood is circulated without stress on the heart. Unlike aerobics, chi gung does not dramatically increase the heart rate during exercise. The object of chi gung is not to make the heart pump more strongly, but to increase the elasticity of the vascular system. As the vessels expand and contract with more vigor, the heart does not need to pump as strongly, thereby providing it with more rest.

The lymph fluids are moved primarily by tiny muscular expansions and contractions. The chi gung techniques taught here employ some of their strongest motions where the largest lymph nodes are located; that is, the armpits, the backs of the knees, and the inguinal region. Chi gung’s relatively fine muscular expansions and contractions move lymph efficiently through the entire system. These actions, as well as the overall increase in chi that chi gung brings, strengthen the body's immune response.

Synovial fluid is found in joints. Chi gung lubricates them, allows joint flexibility, and when functioning normally helps prevent arthritis and rheumatism. From the point of view of Chinese medicine, when “wind/damp” or physical obstructions (coagulated blood, calcium deposits, and so on) get struck in the joints, the results are not only specific joint problems but a decrease in the flow of chi through the entire body as well. Chi gung works with the synovial fluid by compressing and expanding it, preventing and reversing all sorts of joint problems. (Chapter 2: How Chi Gung Works)

Customer Reviews

Great for a beginner.
The information in this book is great for a beginner because it focuses so much on the very basic breathing exercises, and proper alignment. I have spent a month just practicing those things without even reading about the dynamic physical exercises.

This hopefully will prevent the common problem of people trying to skip important steps when learning from a book.

Very instructive
This book was eye opening for me. I learned that exercise is more than sweat and pain. The whole Chi movement is well explained and made understandable for a beginner.

Potentially life changing - must read!
I've been interested in Chi-Gung and Taoist things for a number of years. Took a few classes, etc, but nothing has been as detailed and to the point as this material from Mr Frantzis.

Honestly, most chi-gung books and many classes out there just teach you some physical movements or "standing like a tree".. stand in different poses and hold it without a whole lot of additional instruction as to what goes with it. Mr Frantzis sheds some (in my opinion) much needed light as to what you are really supposed to be doing, the "internal details" of what you are supposed to be doing with your body and with your mind in a clear and straightforward way. Just the first third or so of the book up until the part where he talks about standing is easily worth the price of admission.

I say "potentially life changing" because for a period of maybe a few months I began to do the standing practices (not any of the swings) every morning and every night. After a few days with it, I found that my mind was a lot calmer and I was feeling physically stronger and more vibrant. After a week or two, I felt like I was floating on air.. Ease of movement made me feel like a dancer floating on the clouds, and the sense of wellbeing just continued to increase. It was quite amazing. I was involved in martial arts at the time, and my teacher commented how much better I was getting.. it had nothing to do with the martial arts training though, but just with the standing and dissolving practice. It made my meditation that I was trying to do every day just a whole lot easier.

I let myself get distracted, and stopped doing 1 1/2 - 2 hours a day like I used to. However, you don't have to be that hard-core (though the author said he did 6 hours a day for a time.. if that is whaco or dedication I don't know). I think once a day for 30 minutes or so would produce great results as well, the same as mine eventually just somewhat slower. But there is plenty of material here to get you motivated to put time and effort into the practice. That is another great thing about this book. Not only is the Author obviously very, very knowledgeable, but his story and his presentation is very straightforward and actually kind of inspirational. A must have book for anyone interested in alternative health, chi-practices, or Taoism in general.