Bending Tree Tai Chi Kung teaches classes and provides information for Tai Chi, Chi Kung, and Qigong in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area. We invite you to learn more about Tai Chi and Qigong, to see our class offerings and schedule, pre-register for a class, and to review the other information we've provided.
It is our pleasure to offer you the teaching.
Recommended Reading
This recommended reading list is suggested as a general resource in support of the Bending Tree Tai Chi Kung Instructor Training Course. The readings are in no particular order, but they are grouped together mindful of the number of years of student involvement and the level of proficiency with Tai Chi and Qigong.
This list is also recommended for all beginner, intermediate, and advanced students. Please support Bending Tree by purchasing your Tai Chi and Qigong books through this web site.
Beginner to Two Years Experience
"Tao De Ching"
(Monthly Assigned Reading for the Instructor Trainees)
The Tao De Ching is an esoteric but practical book written most probably in the sixth century BCE by Lao Tsu and has been translated more frequently than any work except the Bible. It provides one of the major underlying influences in Chinese thought and culture.
"Qi"
The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health and Fitness. (Magazine)
(Published Monthly - available at Bookstores or thru Bending Tree)
"T'ai Chi"
The International Magazine of T'ai Chi Chuan. (Magazine)
(Published Monthly - available at Bookstores)
"The Empty Vessel"
A Journal of the Daoist Arts. (Magazine)
(Published Quarterly - available at Bookstores) Available only from the distributor, Abode of the Eternal Tao
"The Complete Idiot's Guide to T'ai Chi and Qigong"
Bill Douglas
Do not be fooled by the title. Bill Douglas is a longtime Tai Chi player and the founder of World Tai Chi/Qigong Day.
"Chi Kung, The Chinese Art of Mastering Energy"
Yves Requena
This is a concise yet comprehensive overview of Chi Kung’s theoretical background and more than fifty exercises that are well within the capability of anyone, regardless of age or physical conditions.
"The Tai Chi Book"
Robert Chuckrow, Ph.D.
Detailed guide for students who have learned a Tai Chi form and want to know more. It introduces beginners to the principles behind great Tai Chi, and answers common questions. It also introduces some advanced concepts of Tai Chi.
"The Way of Energy"
Master Lam Kam Chuen
This is a comprehensive guide to a powerful form of Chi Kung, 'Standing Like a Tree.' The author claims that it builds internal stamina, strengthens immunity, relieves chronic illness and promotes the natural regeneration of the nervous system.
"The Way of Qigong"
Ken Cohen
This comprehensive volume explains how you can integrate Qigong into your life and harness the healing power that will help your mind and body achieve the harmony of true health.
"The Healer Within"
Roger Jahnke, DOM
Four simple principles and techniques to release your natural powers for healing: gentle movement, self-applied massage, breathing exercises, and meditation that are easily adaptable to every lifestyle.
"108 Insights into Tai Chi Chuan"
Michael Gilman
This is a collection of observations, advice, and insights to help you refine your Tai Chi Chuan practice. Each insight addresses the most important elements of Tai Chi: breathing for better health, body mechanics for improved performance, visualizations to improve your practice.
"365 Tao"
Deng Ming-dao
Life-enhancing daily readings. Each entry begins with a one-word title and its Chinese character in elegant calligraphy. A brief, poetic aphorism provides the theme, followed by a meditation on the day's principle.
"Tai Chi Secrets of the Ancient Masters"
Dr. Yang Jwing-ming
Over the centuries, Masters have practiced and pondered the mystery and purpose of Tai Chi Chuan, preserving their profound insights in songs and poems. Dr. Yang has translated these poems from the original Chinese and has written additional commentaries to make them more accessible to contemporary minds.
"The Miracle of Mindfulness"
Thich Nhat Hanh
Eastern emphasis on maintaining self-awareness as an antidote to the ravages of our stressful world. The teachings use familiar objects and situations, such as washing the dishes, answering the phone, and drinking tea, to give us a practical framework on which to build and maintain a more healthful, relaxed, and harmonious outlook.
"One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way"
Robert Maurer
"Be Free Where You Are"
Thich Nhat Hanh and Sister Chan Kh""ng
"Tai Ji: Essential Tai Ji"
Chungliang Al Huang, Si Chi Ko
This is a beautiful little book that, along with the author's book, "Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain," shows the true essence of Tai Ji: the dance of Life from within, the joy of pure movement. I give copies of this book to Family and friends who I think are mature enough in their thinking to appreciate it. I found two of the reviews on Amazon.Com troubling and misleading--there is far more to Tai Ji than "devastating martial art" and "the forms." I have been a teacher of martial art and forms for more than 40 years; fighting and forms are only shadows of the two books' lessons. Instead of teaching dance steps, Chungliang Al Huang teaches readers about the spirit of life's dance. If you don't understand, please read the books (or reread them). I recommend both books--unequivocally and joyfully! - Jim Paschal
Two or More Years Experience
"Embrace Tiger Return to Mountain, The Essence of Tai Ji"
Chungliang Al Huang
This book is unusual compared to all other works that try to explain the positions and principles of Tai Chi. The author imparts an understanding of the basic principles of the art before going on to the meticulous details, and he refuses to break down the tai chi movements into a one-two-three drill. The reader is drawn into the feel of the Tai Chi form because of the poetry of the prose.
";Transform Stress into Vitality"
Mantek Chia
Emphasis on several Qigong techniques: Inner Smile so that stress and negative emotions are transformed into creativity, learning, healing, and peak performance; 6 healing sounds that cool down the systems, eliminate trapped energy, and clean toxins out of the organs; how to circulate Chi throughout your Microcosmic Orbit.
"A Path With Heart"
Jack Kornfield
This is a practical book on meditation, the process of inner transformation, and the integration of spiritual practice into our Western way of life. It guides the reader through the ups and downs of contemporary living, such as addiction, psychological and emotional healing, problems with relationships and the difficulties of achieving a balanced life. It brings the possibilities of inner peace, wholeness, and the achievement of a happiness that is not dependent on external conditions.
"Quantum Touch"
Richard Gordon
Teaches you to use special breathing and body-focusing techniques to raise your energy to a level that allows you to practice hands-on healing using a light touch, so that pain and inflammation are rapidly reduced and healing is accelerated.
"Qigong Empowerment"
Liang Shou-yu and Wu Wen-ching
A unique and complete volume on Qigong. It can be used for attaining better health, for healing, for gaining extraordinary power, and for spiritual development. It is also a great Qigong reference manual.
"Master Cheng's Thirteen Chapters of Tai Chi Chuan"
Cheng Man-ching
Cheng Man-ching was the preeminent teacher of the Yang Style of Tai Chi on the East Coast of the United States. Cheng's teacher Yang Ch'eng-fu did not share all of his knowledge, fearing it would fall into the wrong hands. Cheng has taken all of Yang's "secrets" and presented them in this book.
"A Brief History of Qi"
Zhang Yu-Huan and Ken Rose
Gives precise explanations in discussing the ontology of Qi. The transformations of Qi, and the merging and driving force of Qi in the fields of ancient Chinese philosophy, literature, art, self-cultivation, medicine, health preservation, and science and technology.