dangers of yi jin jing

[lilman]

And what precautions would you include that were left out, if you dont mind me asking?

[styrofoamdog]

I think an explanation of who should be practicing it, and at what level, is pretty important. It isn't made clear in the book that the Yi Jin Jing forms are more advanced or dangerous than the Ba Duan Jin, for instance. Also, I think a bit more explanation of exactly what the Yi Jin Jing forms do, and how they work, would be very helpful for beginners.

These are just suggestions, but I think that all-around, the book would be better if it were thicker and a bit more comprehensive. But as it is, it contains a huge amount of information in a small book, and I think that is an impressive feat that I have not seen in other qigong books.

[joeblast]

Agreed on the prerequisites...although it does say it is an advanced regimen for the serious practitioner...

[lilman]

In Dr. Yang's defence...

That book IS NOT a book on Yi Jin Jing. It is a book about qigong practice. They are just mentioned in the book as Wai Dan exercises, NOT Yi Jin Jing exercises, though he does mention the Yi Jin Jing. The safety precautions he gives in that book is good enough to practice it as a daily Wai Dan technique as long as you do cool downs, storage, and massage techniques afterwards.

This is why he has all these different titles out there (ie, The Root of Chinese Qigong, Qigong for health and martial arts, Qigong The Secret of Youth, etc...) He does that so you read this book, and get a general idea of what the book is about. To get the deeper aspects, you go to this book and this book. To explain everything in that one book in complete detail, You would probably need 2 people to lift that book... That is why he does it like that. So, as a beginner, if your just learning from books, one book turns into many if you really are perservering and want to understand... But the practice in the books still remain the same, just your idea of theory and practice broaden.

[styrofoamdog]

I'm not going to argue about it, but in closing, I will simply reiterate that I think the book could be a bit more well-rounded. I write this as a constructive criticism of one of my favorite Qigong books. You may disagree with me, and that is alright with me. I think that Dr. Yang would accept thoughts such as these with an open mind.

But on another unrelated topic, what happened to the YMAA boards? When I used to read these boards and post here a few years ago, things seemed much more active. Maybe Taiji and Qigong has become less popular now than it was a few years ago? When I started practicing around 8-9 years ago, it seemed as though people were genuinely excited about it. Now it seems as though nobody talks about advanced topics or theory, or proposes new ideas.

[Dvivid]

Actually, there's a couple great threads for us nerds interested in technical aspects in the Taiji forum right now...

I agree, there have been less Qigong topics lately...but we can change that. The forum is full of threads on MANY topics too, if you use the search function.

And, to be fair, I agree with your criticism of the book...it is helpful objective feedback for a next-edition edit.

[styrofoamdog]

Actually, there's a couple great threads for us nerds interested in technical aspects in the Taiji forum right now...

I agree, there have been less Qigong topics lately...but we can change that. The forum is full of threads on MANY topics too, if you use the search function.

And, to be fair, I agree with your criticism of the book...it is helpful objective feedback for a next-edition edit.

Okay cool, that's a good answer (that we can change that). I actually have a topic that I've been meaning to post about for awhile, but it's a long-ish one. But I'll wait until I'm not quite as swamped with work.