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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent book for someone who is already practicing Tai-Chi-Chuan, September 9, 2008
This review is from: Tai Chi Dynamics: Principles of Natural Movement, Health & Self-Development (Paperback)
This is an excellent book for the critical thinking practitioner of Tai-Chi-Chuan who at least has some moderate experience. Moderate experience because many of the theories and thoughts in the book may be difficult for a beginner to grasp and critical thinking since some of the ideas especially later in the book may or may not be considered part of Tai-Chi and are very spiritual in nature.
Personally the best parts for me were the detailed breakdown of the individual elements in the form. The careful analysis and theory of the physical aspects of the body were very illuminating. Other reviews have questioned some of the body mechanics, such as "muscle extension" as opposed to "muscle contraction" for the production of power but I believe this is a feeling one is supposed to have, not necessarily an actual muscle movement. Even the book is not sure what "muscle extension" is and conjectures that it might be a constriction of muscle fibers. Actually many of the other chapters concerning posture, force, breathing, strive to help the practitioner achieve a proper feeling. Although the concepts may be couched in terms of physical and mechanical action, the proper feeling and sense is the most important. This is where critical thinking comes in and someone with existing experience practicing Tai-Chi can properly interpret the information.
Another important chapter for me was the one on breathing. As the book suggested I read it a couple of times and came away with a much better understanding of the relationship between the body, movement and the flow of chi. I felt this chapter alone was worth the price of the book.
There is so much covered in the book and on some very widely ranging subjects from the physical to the spiritual. It almost feels like this is the last book the author will be writing on Tai-Chi and he wants to put everything in it. For me the book was designed with an open interpretation in mind. Every person who reads it will come away with their unique and individual take on the effects on body and mind. As the author said in his first book "The Tai-Chi Book" which now I am reading thanks to this book, when he first looked into the art and asked what were the benefits of doing Tai-Chi-Chuan, the response was; "It is different for each person". I think it is the same with this book.
Overall this reviewer feels the author has taken a very difficult and wide ranging subject and made it as understandable as it can be. No one has all the answers but this book goes a long way in the eternal journey that is Tai-Chi-Chuan.
Disclaimer: I was offered this book for free to do a review, but I was going to buy it anyway and took advantage of the offer. I did like the book enough to purchase the author's previous book on Tai-Chi-Chuan called "The Tai-Chi Book" which I am now reading. If the author lived closer, I would really liked to have taken some lessons from him.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good addition to any Tai Chi library, August 26, 2008
This review is from: Tai Chi Dynamics: Principles of Natural Movement, Health & Self-Development (Paperback)
Though I disagree with his theories on muscle extension, there is more than enough valuable information to make up for this. The chapters dealing with Health, Self Massage, and Healing as well as those dealing with Teaching are excellent.
I altered my foot massage to match the one he shows and had immediate positive results!
There are also many exercises provided to help strengthen a practitioners skill in push hands and footwork.
This book is meant for the intermediate or advanced practitioner of Tai Chi Chuan. It's only other drawback, and Dr. Chuckrow gives early warning, is that some parts must be read several times before they are understood. That's true with any complex idea.
I recommend that this book (and Exploring Tai Chi, by John Loupos) be included in any Tai Chi library.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"A string of pearls" in a lot of seaweed, September 2, 2008
This review is from: Tai Chi Dynamics: Principles of Natural Movement, Health & Self-Development (Paperback)
*Disclosure- I received this book through YMAA for free to review. *
Although Robert Chukrow is billed as a Ph.D. in experimental physics, it seems that he has left behind the `experimental' ideal for the realm of anecdote and supposition. Dr. Chukrow states that "Many verifiable scientific principles have originated with conjecture." True enough, but they became scientific principles only after backed up by facts.
As an example, Dr, Chukrow places a great deal on the idea of `muscular extension'- the idea that a muscle can `push' or cause movement by extending, rather than contracting. The problem with this idea is that the mechanism of muscular movement is well described in cellular and molecular biology. Actin and myosin filaments within muscle fibers interact in a `ratchet' mechanism that only provides force by shortening, or contracting. They cannot provide force by lengthening. Dr. Chukrow provides a diagram of a possible mechanism of muscular lengthening, but his diagram would require that muscle fibers be arranged in a dramatically different way- one not found in real life. In addition, if `muscular extension' was so powerful, why are all axial skeletal muscles arranged in opposing pairs? Why not a single muscle that could do both active contraction and extension?
While this idea of `muscular extension' might be a good training tool for visualization, much like imagining the limbs inflating with air for the feeling of `peng', Dr. Chukrow seems to treat muscular extension as a physiologic fact, and bases much of his explanation of tai chi phenomena on this idea. However, until he gives me a better reason as to how `muscular extension' really occurs, I retain a significant amount of skepticism about his explanation.
Dr. Chukrow covers many topics in his book... perhaps too many. His chapters on self-defense and martial applications are fairly basic, but my impression is that Dr. Chukrow's main focus is not in those aspects of tai chi. Other topics, including fasting, dream interpretation, the nature of consciousness, and life after death, range far from the empirical world, and turn the physical exercise of tai chi into a near pseudo-religion.
Despite my misgivings about the presentation of many of his concepts, there are some very good things in this book. I thought his chapters on `seemingly paradoxical admonitions' that makes the student question those `always/never' statements, push hands, and teaching students were enlightening and worthwhile chapters for any tai chi player to read. I also enjoyed his chapters on relationships and dynamics in tai chi movement after I learned to take his ideas on muscular extension figuratively and not literally.
I leave with a quote from an Amazon reviewer of Dr Chukrow's previous writing "The Tai Chi Book"
"I was hoping for a book written by a smart man of Western science to provide some insight into this most esoteric of Eastern "mythological" topics. I was hoping for a breakdown of at least basic biomechanics, some Western-style research into physiology, so that those concepts would be used to elaborate on this author's insights into the learning process of understanding and mastering Tai Chi.
Not to be."
Dr. Chukrow does provide an answer of sorts to this reviewer, but I'm afraid that some of his biomechanical and physiological explanations are lacking. He continues to delve into aspects of philosophy and metaphysics that may or may not fall into your definition of the study of tai chi chuan, just as he did in his last book. There are some very good concepts in Dr. Chukrow's writings, but the reader has to separate the wheat from the chaff...
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