The Yin of Tai-Chi: Tao, Tai-Chi & The Mysterious Female [Paperback]

John Lash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2003

Over the past twenty years, studying the Tai-Chi has become increasingly popular in the West, yet for the vast majority of these students Tai-Chi has been reduced to a series of meaningless movements. Without a deeper understanding of the philosophy that spawned it, the Tai-Chi is incomplete, merely a series of exercises to be memorized and performed. Here you'll find a thorough discussion of Wu Chi, the Yin or female counterpart to Tai-Chi's male or physical energy, which together make up the Tao (the Way), the totality of all things. Literally translated as the "Ancient Beginning," Wu Chi relates to the spiritual in the way that Tai-Chi does the physical. Only by truly understanding and embracing this duality can one's soul be fully developed and the resulting strength, serenity, and clarity of mind woven into your daily living.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Raised in Texas, John Lash has studied and practised Tai Chi for over thirty years and has a masters degree in Philosophy. After service in the US Marine Corps and the US Army, he travelled around Europe, the Middle East and Asia, visiting the sacred places of the world's major faiths and religions. John Lash is now based in Berne, Switzerland, where he operates the Harmonious Dragon Tai Chi School.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Vega (March 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843336154
• ISBN-13: 978-1843336150
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,745,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific book, October 16, 2003

By 

Mark Dodds (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Yin of Tai-Chi: Tao, Tai-Chi & The Mysterious Female (Paperback)

A most amazing and challenging book. I learned a lot about love and life. Here's a little excerpt:

"The Dalai Lama, the Buddha and Mahatma Ghandi are examples of those who profess Yang love. They love all human beings, everyone who exists, because we are all children of the Spiritual Force. They love each human being because each is a human being. They love Lucy because she is a human being, not because Lucy is Lucy. They love Tom because he is a human being, not because he is Tom. They do not have to know Tom or Lucy in order to love them. They love their human beingness. Yang love is a necessity, otherwise we would be cut off in our isolated little groups of families and friends. We owe much to such exponents of Yang love as Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and the Buddha.
But, there is another love, Yin or female love. This love is a love of the mother for her children. It is face to face, soul to soul, body to body, heart to heart. In Yin love, I love Lucy because she is Lucy. I know her dreams, her visions, the pain she has suffered, her strengths, her weaknesses and the beauty of her individual soul. A mother does not love her child because it is a human being but because it is her child. And it is this type of love that binds us to the here and now."

This book is a total joy!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource for Dao Students as Well as Tai Chi, July 18, 2003

By 

boycottamazon (Carmichael, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yin of Tai-Chi: Tao, Tai-Chi & The Mysterious Female (Paperback)

Lash's book is helping me make sense of many ideas, frustrations and unhealed wounds that have collected over the years. This book absolutely applies to Tai Chi, and the reality of the subjective Chi experience, but also places everyday social and political encounters and challenges in a new perspective. Certainly worth picking up by anyone who's felt drawn to the Dao.

I do wish Lash has spent a bit more time integrating the martial aspects of Tai Chi with the other ideas collected here. (This may be discussed in The Spirit of Tai Chi, which I've not read yet.)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enlightening discussion of balance, November 30, 2008

By 

Joyce Ronquillo "ladybastet" (Lacombe, LA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Yin of Tai-Chi: Tao, Tai-Chi & The Mysterious Female (Paperback)

Being a woman I am sensitive to the ways that Yin is described. Too often it is about negative energy and darkness. This book discusses Yin as potential and a necessary and equal aspect of balance. With that in mind we can come to understand the ebb and flow of chi as we practice Tai Chi. We can think of Yang energy as water that can't be contained or directed without the cup that is Yin.