SWIMMING DRAGON: A Chinese Way to Fitness, Beautiful Skin, Weight Loss, and High Energy [Paperback]

Tzu Kuo Shih (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 17, 1999

For therapists, healers, and lay practitioners, this superb guide covers every aspect of the ancient healing art, from its basic functions and the energetic principles underlying its practice to a detailed history of the method and its practitioners. Most important, it offers an explicit presentation of essential qi gong methods and styles of practice, including basic postures and respiratory exercises. The author translates into Western medical language the effects of qi gong on the nervous system, heart rate, blood pressure, endocrine system, appetite, and digestion. With an enlightening summary of the relationship between qi gong and the other Chinese healing arts, and an inspired collection of quotations from traditional texts, this is a thorough representation of an increasingly popular approach to health and healing.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Born in 1929 in Shanghai, Grand Master Shih represents the fifth generation of Chinese medicine doctors and qigong masters in his family lineage. He began his study of qigong at the age of eleven when he contracted malaria during the World War II Japanese bombing of Shanghai. At that time, his grand-father taught him a special qigong technique that cured his life threatening illness. When he was 19, he developed tuberculosis due to harsh living conditions and deprivation following the war. Doctors did not expect him to live so they sent him home from school to be with his family. For three months, Doctor Shih continuously practiced qigong exercises for his lungs and the microcosmic orbit meditation as he was unable to do anything else. He soon recovered completely. Doctor Shih continued his qigong studies during his youth under the tutelage of famous Taoist and Buddhist masters. He also learned Chinese medicine and acupuncture through apprenticeship with his father's brother, a well-kn

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Station Hill Press, Inc. (October 17, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882680633
• ISBN-13: 978-0882680637
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, March 25, 2006

By 

Judy Koot - See all my reviews

This review is from: SWIMMING DRAGON: A Chinese Way to Fitness, Beautiful Skin, Weight Loss, and High Energy (Paperback)

I found this an excellent book.
The information provided is very practical and clear with black and white pictures to show the movements. The Qi Gong form isn't difficult to learn. You have to learn one movement, a kind of spiraling body movement, and then have to repeat this movement 20 times. Each movement cycle takes a minute. In time, you can focus on the specific breathing pattern that goes along, which is also clearly described in the book, but I've noticed I automatically started breathing the way you are supposed to during the excercise, a breathing pattern which I found to be very natural.
The first time I practiced the full form (which takes 20 minutes in total plus a 10 minute meditation) I felt very good and remarkably relaxed and energized afterwards. I am quite a busy and tensed person and relaxing doesn't come easy to me, so yes, I found the immediate effects quite something.
Lately, I have been doing another form of Qi Gong, The Eight Silken movements from the book 'Qi Gong for Beginners' by Stanley Wilson, out of pure curiosity because that form only takes 6 to 10 minutes. But I have to conclude that I find The Swimming Dragon much more effective and powerful, so I want to pick it up again. I can only imagine what will happen if I'd do it on a daily basis...
I highly recommend this wonderful book.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great form of Qigong, December 24, 2004

By 

reader (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SWIMMING DRAGON: A Chinese Way to Fitness, Beautiful Skin, Weight Loss, and High Energy (Paperback)

This is one of the best qigong exercises there are, certainly the best exercise there is for the back, hips and neck and the abdomen, and because it massages all the meridians, it is excellent for all the internal organs. Combined in a regimen with other forms of qigong, it has a profoundly beneficial affect on the health. In addition to this one, you would benefit by looking at the books by Master Lam Kam Chuen, especially The Way Of Energy, and the very excellent encyclopedic book, Qigong Empowerment by Master Shou-Yu Liang & Wen-Ching Wu. Swimming Dragon is a very enjoyable flowing form that is not difficult to learn. And although not the same, it is akin to another profoundly envigorating moving form called Chan Mi Gong. There is a book called Chan Mi Gong by Liu Han Wen.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear and precise, December 20, 2001

By 

V. Haecky (Sunnyvale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SWIMMING DRAGON: A Chinese Way to Fitness, Beautiful Skin, Weight Loss, and High Energy (Paperback)

For anyone who has practiced Quigong or Tai Chi for some time,
this book offers clear and easy to follow instructions on how
to do Swimming Dragon. For the beginner, it provides a starting
point, and with a mirror and lots of patience much can be
figured out. As for the promise of improved health: this is true
for any Quigong done consistently. Personally, I like that
Swimming Dragon can be performed in a very small space, and
that it completely moves the spine.