An informative manual for explorers of taiji and qigong.
A guide offers exercises for the mind, body, and spirit.
Mixing Western medicine with Eastern traditions, Kuhn (Tai Chi for Depression, 2017, etc.) introduces the reader to two worthy “internal energy workouts”: taiji and qigong. Both blend meditation and exercise and are, according to the author, excellent ways to counter the damages of aging that affect bodies and minds. Taking a holistic approach to health, Kuhn advocates a regimen of simple exercises that will keep the body in balance, sharpening memory and holding diseases at bay: “If you move your body in an energetic way every day,” writes Kuhn, “you can change your life and your health.” Following an explanation of the history and philosophy of qigong and its younger offshoot, taiji, the author describes the positive effects of these practices on the cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and nervous systems, as well as how they increase stamina, bolster the immune system, and correct chemical imbalances. She then goes through the various exercises, providing photographic examples and paragraphs explaining the goals and payoffs of each one. The author also advises the reader on other activities—such as singing and socializing—that supplement these exercises. Excerpts from the Tao Te Ching and a list of recommended reading round out this primer for anyone embracing these Chinese workouts. Kuhn writes in a clear prose that is simple to follow. She makes a compelling case for the exercises and the philosophy behind them. Even those who are unconvinced of the validity of traditional Chinese medicine should find sound advice for healthy living in these pages. But some chapters feel redundant, repeating information—such as the benefits of taiji—found elsewhere in the book. Similarly, a vague mystical language permeates the volume (“Shen refers to our spiritual energy, our highest consciousness, a reconnection with universal energies”), which may put off more skeptical readers. But those curious about traditional Chinese exercise or interested in a holistic program of health with a philosophical bent should find much of value in this work. As Kuhn likes to remind the reader, these are exercises for all ages, and the younger one starts, the better.
An informative manual for explorers of taiji and qigong.Pub Date: July 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-59439-524-6
Page Count: 192
Publisher: YMAA Publication Center
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.
A follow-on to the author’s garbled but popular 48 Laws of Power, promising that readers will learn how to win friends and influence people, to say nothing of outfoxing all those “toxic types” out in the world.
Greene (Mastery, 2012, etc.) begins with a big sell, averring that his book “is designed to immerse you in all aspects of human behavior and illuminate its root causes.” To gauge by this fat compendium, human behavior is mostly rotten, a presumption that fits with the author’s neo-Machiavellian program of self-validation and eventual strategic supremacy. The author works to formula: First, state a “law,” such as “confront your dark side” or “know your limits,” the latter of which seems pale compared to the Delphic oracle’s “nothing in excess.” Next, elaborate on that law with what might seem to be as plain as day: “Losing contact with reality, we make irrational decisions. That is why our success often does not last.” One imagines there might be other reasons for the evanescence of glory, but there you go. Finally, spin out a long tutelary yarn, seemingly the longer the better, to shore up the truism—in this case, the cometary rise and fall of one-time Disney CEO Michael Eisner, with the warning, “his fate could easily be yours, albeit most likely on a smaller scale,” which ranks right up there with the fortuneteller’s “I sense that someone you know has died" in orders of probability. It’s enough to inspire a new law: Beware of those who spend too much time telling you what you already know, even when it’s dressed up in fresh-sounding terms. “Continually mix the visceral with the analytic” is the language of a consultant’s report, more important-sounding than “go with your gut but use your head, too.”
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-42814-5
Page Count: 580
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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