Product Description

This acclaimed classic shows you how to transform breath into vital energy to attain a perfect balance of body, mind, and spirit. Classical singer and chi kung expert Nancy Zi guides you through the art of breathing in six simple lessons. Using twenty-four progressive exercises and mental imagery drills, Zi demonstrates how to use breathing to: Look, feel,and be healthier, Minimize the effects of again, Increase stamina and coordination, Work through pain and promote healing, Enhance speech, singing, athletics, meditation - and more! Fifty questions and answers, targeted exercises, applications, and a thought-evoking Epilogue further expand the learning experience. This dynamic book has over 100,000 copies in print and translations in many languages.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82844 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-30
• Released on: 2000-08-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From Publishers Weekly
According to the ancient Chinese discipline of chi kung (pronounced chee gung), the body's energy is released by the air breathed into it. Zi, a classically trained American singer raised in China, has adapted that idea in an intriguing method she calls chi zi. (Chi means breath, breathing or air.) Her premise is that controlled breathing can create new sources of life-enhancing energy. In six concise, uncomplicated lessons she shows how to tap that energy through a range of exercises (accompanied by line drawings), imagery and situational applications. Her techniques for using the body's inner dynamics (the Chinese "core") will be especially valuable in relieving stress, building stamina and engaging in sports. (May
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Scientific American
The Art of Breathing, both the book and the video, are excellent sources...I am unaware of any other book that provides such practical and thorough instructions on how to do [the exercises]...Nancy Zi is an inspiring teacher, enthusiastically sharing the wisdom of her experience.

Review
"...More than an exercise program...has the potential to penetrate and change all aspects of living, simply and powerfully." -- NAPRA ReView

"...Nancy Zi has given us a masterpiece.....exercises [are] invigorating, easy to follow, based on simplicity and results..." -- Whole Life Times

"...Nicely detailed and beautifully demonstrated...technical quality of the video is consistently high. This book/tape set is highly recommended." -- Library Journal

"...Zi has given us one of the most thorough and lucid presentations on the health of good breathing..." -- The Book Review

"...such practical and thorough instructions...Nncy Zi is an inspiring teacher, enthusiastically, sharing the wisdom of her experience." -- The Georgia Strait, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

"More than an exercise program...has the potential to penetrate and change all aspects of life, simply and powerfully." -- NAPRA ReView, Nov. 1994

"One of the most thorough and lucid presentations...[chi yi] gets the energy juices flowing better than coffee." -- The Book Reader, Fall 1994

"[Her] program should be mandatory training for all people who inhabit a physical body...Zi has given us a masterpiece..." -- Whole Life Times, Dec. 1994

Customer Reviews

Applying these exercises really makes a difference!
As a vocalist, using these exercises has helped me immensely already (after only just finishing the 6th lesson!) This is my second time around with them, (did six years ago to help develop diaphram). I'm going to practice regularly so as not to get "rusty" again. Wish I could get in hardcover. . .

one of the top 10 books on breathing exercises.
Nancy is a singing teacher. They MUST know how to improve the breathing though some are better at it then others. I believe Nancy is one of the best. She gave me good insights and accelerated my understanding of the strengthening of the voice for singing and speaking. I would have preferred more information aboout breathing's relationship to health and longevity but this book is a must for the serious student of the breath (or life).

Practice, practice and more practice
I got this quite a while ago and was very excited about doing the tape. But while I was excited initially and actually felt good I stopped doing them because I got busy with a project at work and never really went back to it. I was cleaning out my tape library and came across the tape. I started doing the exercises and realized just how good they were and just how out of shape I was. Some of the exercises are not easy but she does a wonderful job of explaining how to do them and what you can do as alternatives as you develop your technique. She seems the ever patient teacher as she calmly moves you along to better breathing.