Iron Shirt Chi Kung I [Paperback]

Mantak Chia (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Healing Tao Center (December 15, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0935621024
• ISBN-13: 978-0935621020
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #738,379 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good detailed book on iron shirt, July 22, 2000

By 

Bluestream (in my world) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Iron Shirt Chi Kung I (Paperback)

This is a very detailed instruction book on Iron Shirt Chi Gung Part 1. Iron Shirt Chi Gung has 3 levels, and this covers level 1 which must be mastered before going to level 2 and 3. The aim of level 1 is to correct and improve your posture, strenghten your internal organs by packing 'chi' around them, strenghten tendons, muscle etc. Also, it teaches you the types of energizing breaths. Master Chia has written a very detailed book that's clear and easy to undetstand. However, to master this, you may have to get the video as well. You should read this book (which has a lot of pictures and illustrations), understand the principles, then look at the video to model his postures etc correctly. The bottom line is, this is really a good book on Iron SHirt that deserves a read and study by anyone interested.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice How-To for Iron Shirt Concepts, August 25, 2003

By 

V. K. Lin (Eugene, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Iron Shirt Chi Kung I (Paperback)

After reading this book, I read the existing reviews here before writing mine.

I liked this book. It is like many Mantak Chia books,detailed and well-organized. I know that some reviewers complained about the organization, but what Chia does is give step-by-step instructions for a number of exercises. It gets confusing when trying to digest it in totality. Like reading a math text cover to cover. It helps if you read a part, practice it, master it. All of a sudden, the next chapter makes sense, and it works!

I think the reason why Chia does not focus more on energy is because he does that elsewhere. He has a number of books. He's focusing on the specific techniques for this specific process-- Iron Shirt.

I agree that one should not practice without an instructor. But it is impossible to really learn this stuff from a book. Internal martial arts in general. External martial arts, for that matter, too. Meditation, qigong, it all benefits from having an instructor. Books are ancillary materials. As are videos. References only, a different perspective. Supplements.

Particularly for those looking at enhancing your Wu Chi posture structurally, this is a great book. For standing meditation exercises, this is a great reference. As for danger with packing-- I always stick with Kumar Frantzis' 70% rule... do something 70%. As you progress, that 70% will become more and
more.

I particularly liked the way Chia mechanistically describes what to do step-by-step. When your instructor says, work on your chi belt and you stare and say-- how? Then your instructor says, feel this, now do it! And you say-- that's really cool, but I'm still not sure how to do it-- Chia gives you a roadmap. Or even if your instructor tells you how, Chia gives you a roadmap to compare with.

As for who is right/wrong, where Iron Shirt really came from, what preliminary exercises should go with this or that-- I think there are many paths to any one goal. This is one. There are others. Now go find the one that gets you where you want to go.

I'd recommend this book for those who are still walking the path. For those who've reached the end of their journey, why'd you buy the book in the first place?

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good material, dangerous to practice, April 19, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Iron Shirt Chi Kung I (Paperback)

While I do not really know weather or not master M.Chia is a real Daoist master, I do know that most of the techniques in this book take 15-20 years to learn, and only after fully mastering the standing meditation (1 hour daily), inner smile, microcosmic & macrocosmic orbit (after many years of hard daily training), you may start practicing the iron shirt (which is indeed not really necessary for a healthy life).

Just for a simple example, a friend of mine, who bought this particular book and started practicing it without consulting his whushu teacher first, got some major breath disorder and lost his erection for a couple of months.

The book indeed contains some interesting topics, worth reading, but be very careful and practice only under a supervision of an experienced master.