I have been studying Wing Chun for approximately 2 years now and while i love Wing Chun, i feel that i would like to begin practicing qigong to build the spiritual/internal side of my kung fu.
I was wondering if anyone here could recommend a couple of books or a particular book which would be a good basis for practicing qigong. I was considering purchasing a book on soft and hard qigong from a well regarded white crane master as it is my understanding that Wing Chun was influenced heavily by White Crane. Is this a good idea?
Nah, Yang is just a translator. Why not go for someone who has actual experience like Bruce Frantzis’ Opening the Energy Gates of the Body or the guy who wrote The Way of Energy about zhan zhuan…Kam something.
Yang is just a translator
Thomas Clearly is a translator
Jwing Ming Yang is an actual qigong,Tai chi and martial art teacher.
His book the roots of chinese qigong is a very nice detail work.
Bruce Frantzis’
I read his work its decent Ken Cohen is a better begginers guide
The Way of Energy about zhan zhuan…Kam something.
Great book however being able to a few posture and not knowing the theories of qigong is well like reading a cook book and not knowing how to measure.There are plenty of good books on Qigong by different authors most talk about 8brocade
or microcosm orbit which is fine but I think if someone wants to learn from a book
or wants to go deeper into Qigong a more detailed book would be good
I find Qigong Empowerment a good sourcebook for qigong - there are also accompanying videos if you want to look into the training. GM Liang addresses the various schools quite well, both as an overview and as a specific training manual.
Travo- when done right and taught right- wing chun has plenty of chi gung
for martial purposes. No harm in doing other compatoble chi gong for health- if taught and learned properly. A good hsing I or Taiji teacher could show you.
At the moment i’m waiting on a copy of Dr Yang’s book The root of Chinese Qigong. I read some reviews on it and it seems to be quite theory based and i thought it might make a good place to start.
Vajramusti - i was considering approaching a teacher of an internal style for some training, but wasn’t sure which style to look at.
I must admit that im a little intrigued about Ba Gua Zhang after having read a little about it. Although there aren’t many teachers of this style in my area that im aware of.
I think another really good back on qigong theory & background info is Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy by Jerry Alan Johnson.
This book explains all the different things - the hun, po, zhi etc. I would say this book along with Qigong Empowerment by Liang Shou Yu & Wen-Ching Wu are the best for general info.