Zen Body-Being: An Enlightened Approach to Physical Skill, Grace, and Power [Paperback]

Peter Ralston (Author), Laura Ralston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 27, 2006

In this inspiring guide, Peter Ralston presents a program of "physical education" for anyone interested in body improvement. Using simple, clear language to demystify the Zen mindset, he draws on more than three decades of experience teaching students and apprentices worldwide who have applied his body-being approach. More of a transformative guide than a specific list of exercises devoted to any particular physical approach, Zen Body-Being explains how to create a state of mental control, enhanced feeling-awareness, correct structural alignment, increased spatial acuity, and even a greater interactive presence. Exercises are simple, often involving feeling-imagery and meditative awareness, which have a profound and sometimes instant effect. Where similar guides teach readers what to do, this book teaches readers how to be.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Working with Peter changed the way I move my body. I exercise, dance, and live differently…it’s not only a powerful way to live in a body but a powerful way to live in a body but a powerful way to live. His knowledge and application of body mechanics is more relevant than anything I learned in seven years of medical education."—Kate McQueen, MD; Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UTHSC-Houston"Zen Body-Being is clearly stated. Peter’s ideas, concepts, and truths help you transform your skills, balance, grace, power, and the experience of being in your body."—Howard James, founder Hawaii T’ai Chi Ch’uan Association

About the Author

Peter Ralston has black belts in judo, jujitsu, and karate. The founder of the martial arts tradition Cheng Hsin and the school dedicated to it, he leads workshops on a wide range of disciplines.Laura Ralston is an editor, model maker, and collaborator with her husband. They live in San Antonio, TX.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Frog Books (July 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583941592
• ISBN-13: 978-1583941591
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #206,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very readable and excellent, October 3, 2006

By 

Tim Ash "SiteTuners.com" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zen Body-Being: An Enlightened Approach to Physical Skill, Grace, and Power (Paperback)

Peter has written several books. Because of the broad and profound scope of his agenda it is difficult to communicate it in writing. Thanks to the editing of his wife, this is the first readable book that covers his excellent material. Start here - do not get any of his other books first.

He covers basic principles such as relaxation, centering, and rooting that are necessary for any martial art or complex physical/relational activity. His emphasis on mental/awareness training is an important contribution to the field.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "It" in a Book, September 12, 2008

By 

V. K. Lin (Eugene, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zen Body-Being: An Enlightened Approach to Physical Skill, Grace, and Power (Paperback)

Level: Beginner to Advanced

I have got to get to a Peter Ralston seminar... I've always admired Ralston's attempts at capturing the essence of internal martial arts-- that is, that "secret" component to achieving effortless power. His "Principles of Effortless Power" is on my "must read" list for those aspiring, as I am, to attain that magical ability to absorb/redirect/emit force, and make it seem effortless. But it's a dense read, and it's largely a conceptual framework without practical exercises. Still, it always made me believe that Ralston knew what he was talking about. His "Art of Effortless Power" is a further expounding on more esoteric concepts, then a techniques book that shows exercises that Ralston has adapted from aikido, Tai Chi, and Ba Gua, primarily. They're sensitivity exercises best employed with a partner who has also developed some sensitivity.

But in Zen Body-Being, Ralston has made a breakthrough. A fabulous, clear book wherein he returns back to the important basics, and describes how he understands "it"-- that magical body-sense-- that we are all striving for. His wife, Laura, has clearly helped him articulate his ideas in terms we can understand. Even better-- a goodly number of exercises that help us expand our awareness, and give us a direction to follow in forwarding our internal development.

The magic of this book is its clarity. At last, Ralston has found a muse we can understand clearly, with exercises and practices that we can relate to. A strength of this book is that it is geared for everyone-- not just the martial artist. The exercises are do-able by anyone, and relate what Ralston is trying to convey about his conceptual framework-- his understanding. It isn't magic. It's fine-tuning what he calls "feeling-sense", "body awareness", and "body-being" among other concepts. It's turning our attention inward, and letting it just go-- living in real time, and doing it.

Anyway, I've already started using his exercises in my martial arts/Tai Chi practice. Yes, I was doing something like it all along-- but somehow, another way of trying it, another perspective, always helps. And Ralston's has really helped me. This book is great for the yogic practitioner, any athlete, dancers and other performing artists-- musicians! And those who just want to meditate! Bravo! Read this book, then do it, then read it again.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zen Body Being: An Enlightened Approach to Physical Skill, Grace & Power, November 6, 2006

By 

Love Books (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen Body-Being: An Enlightened Approach to Physical Skill, Grace, and Power (Paperback)

This book gives the reader an enlightened approach to movement, interaction, being and so much more. The principles and body being posture points are not solely for those on any martial journeys - they are applicable in every facet of life. Highly recommended!