Customer Reviews

Relaxing into Your Being: The Water Method of Taoist Meditation Series, Vol. 1

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my favorite BK Frantzis book (I've read all 4 that I know of...) It goes into detail, from fundamentals to more advanced, about breathing, relaxing, dissolving, meditating. This really helped me understand some things about my own kung fu practice that we were just told to "do it this way" without explanation. It is clear, well-written, and filled with fun anecdotes and stories along the way. This book is exactly what is advertised. Effective, well-written, step-by-step instructional. What to look for, feel for, be careful of. Nice!

Every occultist who is serious about using breathwork may want to strongly consider reading this book and utilizing the practices found therein.

The taoist philosophy and explanation of the differences between fire and water methods of working with energy are insightful and useful for getting an Eastern perpsective on energy work, often lacking in the majority of western books on said subject. The exercises definitely work and will have an effect on you, in a variety of manners. I do urge readers not to take these exercises too lightly...practice them diligently, but be open to what experiences occur, as you will find yourself examining a lot of the emotional and mental triggers that are embedded in the fluid stream of your consciousness.

If nothing else, consider that this book provides a different way of understanding how you breath and that such perspective can be very enlightening...For the occultist this is a must have book! Ten stars out of five

All in all this is a good book. The matter is neatly presented and there is some interesting stuff about the fire and water taoist meditation. However, I think that this book doesn't present much information nor it delivers knowledge that is not present elsewhere. This book tastes like ... re-fried beans to me.
Frantzis' "Opening the energy gates of your body" remains his unsurpassed masterpiece. If I had to save one single book about Chi, the "Gates" would be it.

I found this book to be exactly what i was looking for, in regards to gaining a better understanding of the practice of meditation.

it gives an excellent overview, and is presented in a step by step manner that makes it simple for the novice to start the lifelong process of meditation, and gain all of the wonderful benefits thereof.

* It is simple, but not easy.

In the water method of meditation, nothing is forced, and in my opinion seems to be a much 'safer' method than the more common 'fire' methods, as taught by mantak chia, for example. (and i hope everyone will do their research before starting any of mantak chia's practices...i'm sure you'll run into horror story after horror story.)

i have been practicing BK Frantzis' method for a bit over a year now, and have IMO gained many benefits, including a better understanding of my practice of Tai Chi Chuan.

i highly reccommend this book to anyone and everyone.

Relaxing Into Your Being is an introduction to the Water Method of Taoist meditation taught by lineage holder and Taoist master Bruce Frantzis. This is a republish of the reader's edition, which was originally published in 1998 by Clarity Press.

Subjects covered by this instructive book include:

A comparison of Fire and Water schools of Taoism.
Breathing techniques, from the beginner to advanced
The Eight Bodies of Being and their relationship to one's self and spirituality
The Sixteen-Part nei gung system
The primary and secondary energy channels of the body
The inner dissolving practice
Encountering and working with the mindstream
How to sit comfortably and correct your own posture internally

It teaches the all-important who, what, how, where and why in terms of how meditation works, how to identify internal blocks, where you apply your intent, how to determine whether or not what you are doing is actually working, what to do with problems you may encounter, how to make the most of your practice time, and much much more.

This book, along with it's companion The Great Stillness: The Water Method of Taoist Meditation Series, Vol. 2 were invaluable to me during my twenties in dealing with my mental health problems. Prior to starting Taoist Water Method meditation in 1996 I suffered from recurring suicidal depression, severe anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder resulting from growing up and being repeatedly traumatized and abused both at home and at school, and later in institutions. By the time I was an adult, I was pretty messed up and not very happy.

Psychotherapy and counseling had little effect on me and psychiatric drugs made my life even worse and didn't help me in any meaningful way. I did not come from a privileged family, so I did not have any kind of support network, or health insurance. As someone with severe and treatment resistant mental illness, the outcome of my life did not look good. In the midst of all this suffering, I found Bruce Frantzis' meditation work.

Within the first two years of dedicated practice I found my depression had been cured. Within five years, I had, using the dissolving process and the nei gung system described in "Relaxing", completely healed myself of the neurological conditioning of PTSD. Gone were the nightmares, flashbacks and triggers that had haunted my life previously. Also gone were manic episodes and racing thoughts and anxiety attacks and I gained an inner confidence and self-esteem that I had previously never known.

This work made me stronger, mentally, physically and energetically. I can say that without dissolving the first four Bodies of Being, I'd probably still be suffering to this day. But thanks to the practice of Taoist Water Method meditation, I have not been depressed in fifteen years. While I'm hardly Enlightened, I am very happy with myself and my life, which is something that was missing when I started this. I cannot praise 'Relaxing Into Your Being' enough. The practice of the material within its pages totally changed my life around and gave me a reason to live.

I found "Relaxing Into Your Being" very helpful. There is a set of breathing exercises that helped me relax physically and mentally. I see the world from a more relaxed point of view. In the appendix, there is a good description of the physical process of relaxation.
Also, there is a very interesting and informative description of meditation.

Taoism is a religion (or philosophy, depending how you look at it) that requires practice. Frantzis elegantly explains some of the more complicated concepts within taoist thought, but where he truly excels is in his presentation of the water method's exercises. He offers a systematic approach that offers you enough thorough information to learn basic meditation skills safely by yourself.

As a companion piece to his "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body," "Relaxing Into Your Being" also provides a solid (yet safely basic) core of chi gung practices. Frantzis and his water method provide the only chi gung I would ever dare to learn from a book, and it is because of a combination of his explicit instruction and the gentle nature of the water method that this is so.
Beware: Frantzis is disparaging towards other systems, and he often shows them in their worst light. Take it with a grain of salt, and learn what he has to offer-- it is definitely worth your time.

Every so often a book is written that will forever change the course of Taoist study. This is it. For the first time written in English comes a "bible" of Taoist Water Method Meditation. Clear, precise explantions of Taoist philosophy can be found along with an overview of the various processes used for thousands of years by monks. Even though it is explained that a qualified instructor is needed for more advanced work, great introductory techniques are taught (like breathing). This book carrys much more then words with it. It carrys the first hand experience of the first American to master the Taoist arts. This book will explain what is truly means to practice Taoism and lead you in the right direction to find an instructor. The author has created a series that will continue to carry on a life of its own for centuries to come.

One of the best meditation and internal books I own. It goes through the process on how to stand and use the Outer-dissolving process. It also helps to develop your practice with regards to breathing which I have noticed many people have problems with. Although it is always better to have a teacher to teach you things like this; you could, with the Companion CD, practice these things with little problems.

For those just beginning, this is a nice piece of work. Bruce's earlier writings, Opening the Energy Gates of your Body is much more usable and the Power of Internal Martial Arts is just flat out better. One thing that Frantzis seems to keep repeating is he is one of the few who knows the Water method. In my time spent learning meditation, I can say his methods aren't all that unique. He does clearly lay out his material in a straight forward way so anyone can start to learn this stuff. Definiately the real thing. I just think he could do better because his first two writings are some of the best I've ever seen. Still, on a positive note,I do plan to purchase Vol.2 because it is still well worth it, and it is hard to find good material to read when it comes to meditation.