Bagua and Tai Chi: Exploring the Potential of Chi, Martial Arts, Meditation and the I Ching

A very Interesting book written with much respect and a clear way of explaining things. It is quite autobiographical, but not overly so.

This book on taiji and bagua seeks to place these two martial arts in the context of taoist energy and meditation work. I've read a lot of Bruce Frantzis's books and have to say that this is one of my favourites as it looks at health and meditation aspects. It gives context on taoism, taoist energy work and the I Ching. It has chapters each on bagua and taiji and then another one on their health benefits. The last two chapters look at how the two practices can be used as meditation. If you are interested in how the internal martial arts can be used as or to support a spiritual practice then this book is definitely worth reading.

another good insightful book from bruce

It is a cliche that everyone has a book in them. In Bruce Franztis' case this is literally the case. He has one book in him. Unfortunately he wrote that book some time ago and is still rehasing and rewriting the same material again and again and trying to pass it off as something else. If you own "The Power of the Internal Martial Arts" or "Tai Chi for Life" you really don't need to buy this book because you already basically own it (and if you own 'Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body' you probably own half of it). You get exactly the same appendices, exactly the same photographs, the same anecdotes and diagrams. How many more times can Mr Frantzis trawl out the same photos (some of them are basically in every book he has ever written).Obviously you cannot learn any martial art from a book, but given how much time Mr Frantzis spends in his book laxing lyrical about how amazing the arts of Ba Gua and Tai Chi are, you would think that a few proper photos or demonstrations of the moves would help to illustrate what he is talking about. He bangs on and on about the 'single palm change' but doesn't really demonstrate it or provide any illustrations to back up what it is he is saying (you get two tiny photos that just show the final step of the change). Given the numerous reference to the 'Bruce Frantzis Energy Arts Programme' and the endless 'trademark' symbols littered through the text, I have to say this feels less like a book and more like an extended advert. It is not here to inform the reader, but just sell the (expensive) programme to them.Mr Franztis is clearly a very experienced and competent practitioner. Lets just hope he writes something better than this next time...