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Revolution is generally considered something external, explosive. In this book, Bruce Frantzis, renowned chi master and author, challenges readers to embark on an inner revolution to reclaim joy and happiness in life, reverse the effects of aging and release their stress and negative emotions.
Chi adepts can consciously feel and work with all the acupuncture meridians, internal organs and other structures in their own bodies. Yet these are skills that most Westerners would consider to be something out of science fiction and absolutely impossible to achieve in real life. Drawing on forty years of training in ancient Chinese practices, Frantzis provides readers with new and startling insights about how life-force energy—chi—can help them achieve enduring health and wellbeing. “The smooth, balanced flow of your life-force energy is the single most important determinant to your health, vitality and happiness,” he says.
Instead of the “no pain, no gain,” mantra of our over-caffeinated, stressed out culture, Frantzis gives readers energetic fitness exercises that comprise the unique Chi Rev Workout™. These transformative exercises teach readers to activate and strengthen their chi and to relax their nervous systems. “The more you relax, the more health, stamina and strength you will have,” says Frantzis.
Frantzis reveals how once closely guarded and ancient secrets of chi are the power behind:
—Spirituality, prayer and meditation.
—Acupuncture and the potent self-healing methods of chi gung (qigong) and Taoist yoga.
—Enhanced sexual vitality and intimaterelationships.
—Internal martial arts, such as tai chi.
—Divination methods of the I Ching.
Bruce Frantzis is reputed to be the first Westerner to hold authentic lineages in Taoist energy arts. He studied healing, martial arts and meditation with renowned teachers in Asia for 16 years—including training in China for more than a decade.
Since 1987, Frantzis has taught chi gung, martial arts, TAO yoga, TAO meditation, and energetic-healing therapies to over 15,000 students in the United States and Europe. His teaching methods are spread by a growing number of certified instructors that he has trained in the United States and Europe.
Frantzis is the author of several widely praised books about the power of chi including: Tai Chi: Health for Life; the chi gung books, Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body and the Dragon and Tiger Medical Chi Gung Instruction Manual; and two volumes on the water method of TAO meditation, Relaxing Into Your Being and The Great Stillness. Two CDs, The Tao of Letting Go and Ancient Songs of the Tao, shed valuable insights into the power of TAO Meditation in helping people let go of their deepest emotional blockages and move closer to becoming truly alive, balanced and joyful.
When Frantzis moved to China to follow the Taoist path of warrior/healer/priest, he was extensively trained in the chi principles and practices that are the basis of Chinese medicine. From 1974 to 1979, he trained with high-level chi gung tui na (therapeutic energy work) doctors and apprenticed under their tutelage in Chinese medical clinics. He learned to use chi to help heal a wide range of conditions including broken bones, nerve and organ damage and cancer. He also gained an advancedacupuncture degree.
Frantzis used these chi principles and practices to dramatically heal himself: first from a life-threatening form of hepatitis in India and more dramatically from massive spine injuries that he received in a car accident in 1981.
Frantzis’ experiences have made him a teacher with a mission: teaching people how the ancient and proven self-healing chi practices can help them achieve health, relaxation, inner peace and longevity. He aims to help avert a major health crisis that threatens to engulf the Western world.
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February 03, 2008: For an overall introduction to the possibilities offered by chi gung, Bruce Frantzis' newest book is the best of the best. It's the most user-friendly of his books yet. He provides an excellent context so you understand what he means by chi, and how delving into the world of chi can improve your life and enable you to take responsibility for your health. Then he gives clear directions for 5 energy exercises that will give you immediate results. So you get both from this book: first the words, the explanation about why you would want to develop your chi, and then practices that actually give your body the experience he's been talking about. I've been doing Frantzis's Energy Gates exercises for a few years now, and was excited that this new book teaches three exercises from the Dragon and Tiger set, which are new to me. The exercises are simple but powerful, and I was surprised that doing even the very first step revealed structural imbalances that I hadn't noticed?while simultaneously providing an avenue to correct them! Doing the exercises for just a couple weeks has already improved my ability to feel the energy in my other practices. I got so excited about this that I ordered Frantzis' new Dragon and Tiger Teaching Manual so I can learn the rest of the exercises. That's the greatest thing to me, that everything you learn from The Chi Revolution is remarkably useful as it is, and, if you get excited by your progress, you can go more deeply into any of the practices through Frantzis's other books and training programs.
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January 29, 2008: I've read the Author's other books, and they are very thorough and detailed 'which I think is a result of his position in the lineage' on their subject matter. The unfortunate thing about that approach is that many of the topics discussed are so deep, full understanding the material requires a lot of practice and work 'although to be fair I've only somewhat gotten to that point and it's had a profound impact on my own practice'. Chi Rev is a nice contrast to these other titles because it's much easier on the reader, and provides many thought provoking or useful little tidbits. There's an inevitable trade off between the amount of detail you can give to a complex subject and the range of topics that can be covered. This book represents the other half of the spectrum, and gives a larger overview of all things related to Qi. I found the book quite rewarding since it put a lot of the work I've been doing for a decade into a much broader context I never saw myself. At the same time, I think it would be just as rewarding to a beginner, as it has quite a few techniques presented in a much simpler fashion. It's fairly difficult to write a guidebook which can be just as valuable to completely different audiences, but that was done here, so my prediction is that this book will end up being quite popular. Only time will tell though. In conclusion, if you're able to successfully digest the material in this book, I'd recommend moving onto the Author's other books, that's where the real fun starts! *My only real gripe about the book is that I don't like the cover, but at least in this case I'm very grateful I don't judge books by their cover.