T'ai Chi According to the I Ching: Embodying the Principles of the Book of Changes | 
 enlarge | Author: Stuart Alve Olson
Publisher: Inner Traditions
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 145453
Media: Paperback
Pages: 192
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.8 x 8 x 0.7
ISBN: 0892819448
Dewey Decimal Number: 613.7148
EAN: 9780892819447
ASIN: 0892819448
Publication Date: September 15, 2001
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
• Reveals the close relationship between the eight basic postures of T'ai Chi and the hexagrams of the I Ching.
• As handed down in the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Chang San-Feng.
• Explains the physical and spiritual benefits that result from the practice of the Before Heaven T'ai Chi form.
• An essential reference book for any serious student of T'ai Chi and the I Ching.
T'ai Chi is a physical expression of Taoist thought--a philosophy in motion. The relationship between the I Ching, Taoist philosophy, and T'ai Chi is well established in many of the classical texts and teachings handed down by the Yellow Emperor and Chang San-Feng, yet it has essentially remained a mystery in the West. Stuart Alve Olson, a longtime student of renowned T'ai Chi Ch'uan Master T. T. Liang, shows how the hexagrams of the I Ching relate to the eight basic postures of T'ai Chi, and how together they comprise the orderly sequence of the postures in the Before Heaven T'ai Chi form. The practice of this form initiates a process of internal alchemy that allows for the stimulation and accumulation of chi through the major energy systems of the body. Physically, this process restores youthful flexibility. Spiritually, it frees the mind to roam the sublime Tao.
Because the Before Heaven sequence of postures is the foundation of all T'ai Chi forms, this book provides valuable advice for all practitioners, regardless of the style they practice or the depth of their experience. An essential reference book for any serious student of Taoism, T'ai Chi According to the I Ching is an invaluable guide to how even the most esoteric aspects of Chinese philosophy are firmly rooted in a physical practice.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Very detailed August 16, 2005
magellan (Santa Clara, CA)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
Very detailed discussion of tai chi concepts, linking the techniques explicitly to the 8 trigrams, the five activities and five elements. The book is chock full of diagrams and illustrations that show these relationships, which makes it good as a reference, as you'll find few other books that lay it all out like this one does. Also discussions and presentations of the pre-heaven 16-movement form for both yin and yang parts, and the 64 move post-heaven form, the 8 hands, and the 8 stances as well. There's a huge amount of detail here also, which is bound to make it a little intimidating to some people, but overall a very detailed book although perhaps more than most people will want to wade through to gain an understanding of these concepts, since most tai chi practitioners are probably more interested in practical applications rather than an advanced knowledge of taoist theory. But at least some knowledge of that is necessary to become a truly advanced practitioner, and this book serves very well in that regard.
By the way, a little history here and also by way of comparing tai chi with kung fu. Tai chi was developed in the vicinity of the Wu Dan mountain, and is one of the three internal arts, along with Hsing I and Ba Gua. According to the history, tai chi was developed when a master (can't recall his name right now) back in the 13th took the Twelve Canons of Chinese Boxing, a famous martial arts book, added the great Da Mo's internal principles and modified the postures, and created the first tai chi movements. In the beginning there were only a half a dozen movements, but these were later expanded.
Although tai chi is known as a soft, internal art, it's not correct that it can't be hard. Tai chi is both hard and soft, but the balance between the two is different. In kung fu or Shaolin, the hardness and softness run the full gamut or spectrum. There are movements which are extremely soft and there are others that are very hard with lots of power and strength.
In tai chi, however, the two principles of yin yang come into play, which means that the hard and the soft are always balanced, and there is never an excess of either, so you don't get the extremes like you do in kung fu. However, tai chi is capable of hitting very hard when it wants. My masters would prefer to use the other person's strength against them, but when pressed, they had no problem with just hitting you hard, either, and they could hit just as hard as my karate and kung fu masters. :-)
Another point to keep in mind is that there is considerable overlap between kung fu and tai chi, as both have internal training. It's just that in tai chi, they start with the internal and work outword to the external, and kung fu starts with the external and works inward. In that sense, their methods are opposite sides of the same coin. This is because kung fu's internal chi gung methods come from Da Mo (or Daruma or Bodidharma, as he's sometimes called), rather than from the master or master's who developed tai chi. There are even similarities between the three external harmonies in tai chi, which is the shoulders in harmony with the hips, the elbows in harmony with the knees, and the hands in harmony with the feet (they are supposed to move together), in kung fu. I study hung gar kung fu also, and some of the movements also incorporate these principles.
Finally, although tai chi is well known these days for pushing hands and for off-balancing the opponent, actually, that part was incorporated into tai chi later on. Tai chi was originally a purely dim mak or points striking art. Most people who study tai chi still don't seem to know that fact as most do the short form for health and exercise, and the martial aspect and especially the point striking principles aren't taught as often. But tai chi has medical, martial, and spiritual aspects, and it is said that the Yang style form has 7 levels of performance, with the highest being the spiritual level.
Well, I didn't mean to digress so much, but I mention all this since sometimes in books like the present one, it's easy to lose sight of the overall guiding principles in tai chi, which aren't really that mysterious, they're just different, and get lost in the details. Really, the taoist concepts in tai chi aren't that difficult to understand intellectually, it's the actual physical application of them in the tai chi form that can take you half a lifetime to really learn and get good at. :-)
 Almost a home run June 18, 2003
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book is difficult to review because if you are like me you love it when technical manuals of this kind are presented. This is a great effort and as always Mr. Olson does a great job, but I think it would have been a home run if the focus was kept tighter. I think this should have been 2 books and each might have been made even more to the point in clarity. It will be in my library though along with a simpler? version by Da Lui.
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