Customer Reviews

The Way of Energy: Mastering the Chinese Art of Internal Strength with Chi Kung Exercise (A Gaia Original)

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If you've heard about Zhan Zhang (or Jan Juang) and want to begin practicing it, you're fortunate. You've also come to the right place. Dr. Lam's book is one of only two books I've found that explains "standing like a stake" in a clear, straigtforward manner. The other is "Opening the Energy Gates of your Body by Bruce Kumar Frantzis (BKF). If you decide invest the time to practice Zhan Zhang, the amount of additional time it'll take you to read both of these fine and inexpensive books is trivial and will repay you many times over. Both books provide wise counsel from a master teacher.

As an Energy Gates practitioner I find a deep level of agreement between the two systems. There are differences in emphasis, but nothing in Dr. Lam's book and his I Chuan system (also see The Way of Power) strikes me as wildly different than what you'd get from BKF. Both books are incredibly clear and helpful. Both would enable a beginner working without a teacher to learn basic standing and obtain a great deal of benefit. However, at a certain point, everybody needs a teacher. Trying to learn and practice everything in the EG book and everything in both of Dr. Lam books by yourself would be very difficult. IMO, The odds of a beginner pulling it off are almost nil.

But, with Zhan Zhang, alone, the odds are much higher. Why? For the same reason it's kind of a magic bullet (albeit an incredibly slow moving magic bullet) for movement artists who study Tai Chi, Ba Gua and Hsing I. Even a beginner in Zhan Zhang can precisely align his or her body and achieve great relaxation and energy flow in a very short time compared to attaining this level while practicing a complex form. And, inevitably, your standing practice will flow into all your arts and daily life. In short, you might find yourself progressing much faster than your fellow students who spend much more time just practicing the form.

Differences:

1. BKF focusses on alignments much more than Dr. Lam, even at the beginning level. Dr. Lam in the book is basically trying to get people practicing, and presumably their teacher will give corrections later. Per Dr. Lam, you can practice with your eyes open or closed. You can listen to music if that helps. You can even practice with the TV on!

The thought of BKF telling someone that they can practice standing with the TV on strikes me as hilarious. OTOH I often stand aligned while watching a sporting event on TV and do other exercises, so Dr. Lam is probably offering some sound advice. Bottom line, learning more about alignments is one of the best reasons for somebody reading The Way of Energy to also read Energy Gates.

2. Energy Gates has a strong emphasis on what BFK calls dissolving (i.e. freeing blocked chi). This is only mentioned in passing in Dr. Lam's book. It's probably something that he considers best left to the teacher. Also note that the more advanced level of dissolving presented in EG (inner dissolving of the individual Energy Gates) is not really a beginning practice - not that it would cause harm.

3. Energy Gates standing tries to establish the downward flow of Energy very strongly, which BKF considers the safest way for a beginner to approach Chi Gung (or Nei Gung, to be more exact, working all the energy in your body simultaneously). Thus, the Energy Gates practitioner always stands in the Wu Chi posture.

Dr. Lam on the other hand introduces more advanced postures that work the upward flow of energy once the student has been standing for half a year or more. This is one of the most attactive reasons for the EG practitioner to read the Way of Energy. Because unless he's had the opportunity to learn BKF's Spiralling Energy Body Chi Gung, he hasn't been taught anything about these other postures. I'm strongly attracted to working with Dr. Lam's sequence and plan to try working with them when my basic standing time is a bit longer than it is now.

4. Dr. Lam suggests warming up before you stand, which in an ideal world is a very good idea. He presents some simple warm-ups and then for the experienced student he teaches Ba Duan Jin (8 brocades, Chi Gung). This section alone is worth the price of the book. BKF implicitly presents EG as the warmup to your Tai Chi or Ba Gua practice.

5. The Way of Energy focusses on standing alone (plus the warm-up). The EG book presents a complete Chi Gung set including some movement exercises; Cloud Hands, the Swings and a spine stretch exercise. Again, it would be quite hard for a beginner to learn these from a book without introducing distortions. For example, the 3rd. swing isn't even taught in my school until the student is in the 3rd. level of Energy Gates and the exercise has been described by my teacher as "the hardest thing we teach". Just reading the book, you wouldn't assume that there's much
difference between the third swing and the second.

6. BKF comes down strongly against visualizations. I Chuan typically uses them. But this difference is more apparent than real. The visualizations of I Chuan are all easily imagined bodily actions and feeling that help you learn to put your intent into your body. For instance, it's not hard to imagine holding a large ball, and doing that gives you some insight into what you should be feeling in a certain posture. By the same token, Bruce is getting you deep into your body, but what he's teaching you (the energetic model of your body) is so different from your current model that you're probably going to be visualizing rather than feeling it to some extent anyway. For example, Bruce might tell you to increase the space in your midriff, specifically in the two cavities of your midriff on your side channels. An I Chuan teacher might tell you to imagine simultaneously sitting down and getting up out of a chair. Both of them are helping you to learn to feel the same thing deep inside your body that's not familiar to you yet. Both are valuable. Also, a key technique of
what BKF calls outer dissolving (feeling your tension move from solid to liquid to gas) is basically as much a visualization technique as most of the stuff in I Chuan.

If you're doing Jan Juang, buy both "The Way of Energy" and "The Way of Power" and also check out BKFs books, especially "Opening the Energy Gates..."

I have read several books dealimg with Zhan Zhaung (pronounced Jan Jong), and I have recommended some of them, but with a disclaimer "Not safe for beginners". "The Way of Energy" IS safe for beginners, if the authors advice is heeded. Do listen to the signals your body sends you. This book has a safe and effective exercize system called Ba Duan Jin. to loosen the joints, muscles and tendons. On first glance you may assume that standing in one pose for a few minutes is extremely easy, but don't let that fool you. Zhan Zhaung is one of the most demanding forms of exercize ever developed. In my opinion standing in the second position "Holdinng the balloon" for 15 minutes will give you more of a workout than power walking for 3 miles. It will deffinately build your endurance! With dedicated practise it isn't unrealistic to build your endurance to where you can hold one pose for an hour or more. I like Zhan Zhaung because it doesn't abuse the body the way most exercizes do, and I meditate during my Zhan Zhaung sessions. This way I don't have to make time for exercize and meditation. I am not entirely happy with this book because it doesn't have a drawing showing where the meridians occur on the body, or teach how to lead chi along the meridians to clear blockages. If you think Zhan Zhaung is too easy, there are several ways to increase the difficulty. a. increase the difficulty of the pose by widening the stance, bending the knees more, or holding the arms higher. b. increase the time spent in Zhan Zhaung c. hold weights.

This book has become a "golden guide" to beginning qigong (energy-work) training and the simple but powerful standing exercises developed by the great Internal Arts master Wang Zhang Zhai at the beginning of the last century. It is not only easy to follow and learn but the exercises are safe to practice if following author guidelines. It is also a historical find for students of "stake standing" (Zhan Zhuang-JAN-JOONG)since it recaps efforts in this direction for centuries. I have used this book and recommended it to classes of martial arts students and health enthusiasts since it's publication. One of the best buys in paperback in the entire field.

In just 8 months of practicing Chi kung daily it has changed my life. It all started me being a freediver(apnea/breath hold diver). This book is highly recomended by one of the champ freedivers most respected guru's of apnea, Eric Fattah. The reason we practice chi gong is that over a period of months you breathe deeper and for some reason over time you can hold your breath longer underwater and explore the mysteries of the ocean on one single breath!!!

Little did I know that besides increasing my breath holds, Chi gong centers you as a person, gives you tremendous amounts of energy, creativity, improved immune system and many other positive things for generating energy and being healthier. I've also become a more patient individual and now have the capacity to read books for hours; also my character/personality has improved(emotional intelligence), being less impulsive and thinking before acting.

Some teachers here in NY charge $100 a month and up to $30 a personal session or even more. After reading this book, and interviewing a couple of teachers; this book in so many ways offers much more for those sessions; don't get me wrong a teacher is always important to correct your postures but for a begginer you can't go wrong with this book to introduce yourself in this powerful and ancient practice.

Sincerely,
Roberto Zuniga

When I bought this book about 10 years ago, my neck and shoulders were so tight and painful that I could hardly focus on anything else. Ergonometric adjustments at my desk didn't help. Yoga didn't help. I didn't want to type at all.

Within a few weeks of doing the basic exercises provided in this book, I was beginning to feel relief ... and hope. After a month or so, I was nearly back to 100%. Now, 10 years later, I haven't had any serious problems since in my neck or shoulders when typing. When I feel myself getting tension there, it's a reminder to return to the exercises described in this book. The basic, warm-up exercises are sufficient to help me if I'm in a hurry. They only take about 15 minutes and are easy to remember. They're not a strain in the way some yoga exercises can be. After less than 10 minutes of doing this chi kung, I begin to feel re-energized: that happens almost every time I do them.

Of all the health practices I've tried, this one delivers the most and all through this book. No classes, no mystical grasping of some nameless form. I just did what was described and it worked. Sorry if this sounds too good to be true. I hope it works as well for you as it has for me.

I can only say that "The Way Of Energy" is probably the finest book on standing Qi Gong or Zhan Zhuang that I've ever seen. It is also the most innovative. There is nothing easy about anything in this book, so don't let anyone fool you. Qi Gong is hard work. The author is innovative, because he has devised many different ways to keep you motivated enough to get through your daily practice; listening to music, clenching your toes against the floor, imagery, and even watching TV! I've owned this book for almost three years, and I constantly refer back to it. It is really a masterpiece on the subject, brilliantly written, and the instructions are given with an air of warm kindness. This book should never go out of print. It really is the last word on the subject!

The past few years I've been practicing various types of meditation and decided I wanted to combine meditating with movement, so I turned to the internal martial arts (Qigong, Tai Chi, Xiang Yi, Ba Gua). After speaking to several internal arts teachers from sound linneages, they all recommended starting with Qigong, and to spend at least half a year only mastering several postures before moving on to the other forms of the internal arts. I bought this book because Master Lam's method seemed in tune with this belief, and I was pleasantly shocked at the results of this book:

--The book says to expect changes over a span of weeks; after the first day alone my back felt more loose, stress free and relaxed then it had in years.
--I no longer have the need to drink caffeine in the morning to keep me up throughout the day.
--I've slowly started to be able to detect an actual physical presence of chi throughout my body (this is coming from a fairly rational/logical, non new-agey type of guy).
--My overall mood and energy has improved.
--I have a much more peaceful state of mind.
--My hypertention has been completely erased; I can calm anxiety driven behavior down much more easily, and have learned to control and regulate my breathing.
--It has helped my cardio activities, long distance running & basketball, immensely. I feel I have more endurance, more balance, and more confident in both sports.

I owe a huge thank you to Master Lam for publishing a book that is simply written and easy to understand, while containing a wealth of information about the forms, postures, breathing, visualizations, anecdotes, meridians, and other information about Qigong, and Lam's specialty of Zhang Zhuang in particular. I'm still shocked at how much learning these postures has improved my life and brought me both physical relief as well as inner peace. Highly recommended.

This is an awesome book, and I have seen many of its type. "The Way of Energy" stands out significantly.

For starters, the book is beautifully rendered: the high-quality binding, the more expensive thick, "shiny" pages, the readability of the text, the wonderful pictures and drawings- all are first rate. Whoever did the layout and graphic design on this book did an amazing job. It is a pleasure to hold, read and refer to.

Of course, all of this means nothing if the contents don't measure up, but the writing and explanations are as clear and thorough as the book is beautiful. Master Lam obviously knows what he's talking about, and even though I study standing meditation under a very skilled instructor, the book still offered me tidbits of information that nicely supplemented (as well as supported) my in-class instruction. It wasn't just a repeat of what I thought I already knew.

The pictures of Master Lam in each position are beautifully photographed, and make the correct execution of the form crystal clear. I especially appreciated the chapter explaining the physical problems one might (and probably will) experience when starting to learn to "stand like a tree," complete with a chart showing what percentage of people experienced each symptom. (I was very relieved to learn that the pain I have been experiencing lately in an old wound is a common side-affect of beginning this energy work!) In fact, the disclosure that pain is indeed to be expected encouraged me to push through it rather than decide that standing meditation "wasn't for me." The book makes clear the many benefits of daily practice, and Master Lam is a living example of them.

In addition to the many photographs and drawings showing proper form, scattered throughout the book are artful photographs of trees and poems about trees that nicely set a meditative mood.

I highly recommend this masterful work to anyone interested in the internal martial arts, or in meditation in general. It is solely responsible for getting me to practice every day, and I am already seeing (and feeling) the results.

With the proliferation of Chi Kung books out there, you'll be way ahead if you can ignore all the others (except Jan Diepersloot's Warriors of Stillness, which gives additional excellent information on a standing practice) and just follow this book. It really is amazing! There are so many other complicated chi kung forms to confuse you, and I really believe that simple things done in depth over an extended period of time have the most profound effects. Avoid the mental indigestion of too much complicated chi gung and just work with this beautiful book.

I have been practicing this standing chi kung for almost 4 months. It is truly amazing what I have learned about my body during that time. These exercises generate an incredible amount of energy and clear the cobwebs in your brain and your body. Each day I cannot wait to practice the standing. Now, when I want to relax after a hectic day at the office, I come home and stand outside in the first, relaxed stance, shown in the book. It is so much better then laying back in the recliner! This book has had such an impact on me that I have bought almost 10 copies to give to friends in hopes that one of them might find this magical, hidden wonder.