You Are How You Move: Experiential CHI Kung

I've done some chi kung over the past two years with a martial arts group, so it's nice to see a book on the subject. I'd probably give this more a 4 or a 4.5 stars, but I think it's good that there's a book out there with some of the forms I've practiced. I would preface that this is very basic. It's a nice introduction to chi kung. What is chi kung? Basically, chi kung is a form of meditation, breathing, stretching and connecting with your chi. It's kind of woo-woo, so if you're not into the mysticism, you might be a bit put off with it. Still, there's a lot of good stuff in this and the exercises are easy to do without hurting yourself. The neat thing about chi kung is that it can be done at almost any age and without fear of hurting yourself unless you're a real masochist and push hard. But that's not what chi kung is really about. It's about getting in tune with your breath and your body and removing blockages. If this is something that appeals to you, this book will probably appeal to you too. Check it out.

Ged Sumner's book "You Are How You Move" pleasantly surprised me. It is an easy read yet it provides useful tools to help the reader grow both physiologically and psychologically. This is not a self-defense book or one that teaches exercises to build muscle. This book is about exercises, movements, and visualizations that help people increase their energy and health. The book provides clear examples and pictures of movements that can be performed by people of all ages. The visualizations are also written clearly. I enjoyed this book, plan to utilize it daily and highly recommend it to people of all age groups.

I do Kundalini yoga for exercise about 30 minutes per day. I chose it because it was a low stress yet high output workout. I don't like gyms because of their corporate look and subliminal competition. I wanted to relax while I worked out, not get frustrated or stretch my muscles to their limit. Chi Kung has a lot of the same mindset Kundalini yoga has. I have never heard of it before this book, but I guess it is trendy to do it, like Tai Chi. The poses remind me a lot of Tai Chi. Chi Kung is a way of seeing exercise as every movement, how to walk in the right way, how to stand and observe the body. I was hooked when I did the exercises about finding my spine. The book is written in simple, easy to follow language. I enjoyed that the book had elemental poses...it starts with Earth and grounding, then moves to Fire and Water with poses like the ever famous Crane pose via Karate Kid. I like the animal poses very much. All the poses are to release energy, much like Kundalini does and to help areas of the body that are unhealthy and need work. The photos are helpful but I wish there were more of them. I had a slightly hard time trying to figure out how flowing I was supposed to be with hand and arm movements, so I hope I am doing them right. I tend to find only start and stop photos. I think I will be able to figure them out as I go on. I am hoping to do a half Kundalini/half Chi Kung workout, since I like the ideas of it so much. For those who like this book, I recommend Kundalini yoga as well, especially Kundalini Yoga For Beginners and Beyond by Ravi Singh and Ana Brett. I think the two practices go together very well in releasing untapped energy from the body as well as being good exercise. I do wish the book had an index of poses and also a list of aliments like for example, asthma or anxiety would have pages right there for me to look up. The last chapter does explain these well, but a quick reference list would have been nice.

"You Are How You Move: Experiential Chi Kung" by Ged Sumner is a good basic text for those new to qigong or chi kung and want to learn a little about this practice and become more in touch with their body. I think the key aspect of this book is that it gets the reader thinking about the importance of body alignment and breathing. There are much more complete texts on qigong and chi kung, but this book is still a great place for beginners and a nice addition to your health library. The author begins by asking, "what is exercise?" He then shares some basics for good health. One must remember that there are various ways to exercise depending on your goals. The goal here is to combat the sedentary lifestyle and increase health, not to compete in athletic competitions or maximize human performance. (However, simple qigong or chi kung exercises certainly can be incorporated into even the most strenuous athletic training regimens with positive productive results. The sections of the book that encourage the reader to become more in tune with your own body and to breath more offer very good advice. Even a little time getting to know your body better is more than many people ever do. The actual exercises taught in the book may be difficult for the beginner to fully understand. Where there are photographs, sometimes I don't know if they are enough for everyone. I have trained in qigong while living in Korea, and in the U.S. so it was easier for me to fill in the blanks between pictures than it may be for some. For most people, if this book interests them in the benefits of qigong or chi kung, they will seek out an instructor, different texts, and DVDs, so this will only be one of many resources to learn from, and it is a good one to have as a resource. Even if all you do is get to know your body a bit better and change some of your breathing habits the book will be well worth it. The final chapters share a little bit on the common chi meditations that you may want to learn more about and brief descriptions of some chi kung applications such as arthritis, low energy, and impotence. The book is less than 200 pages with quite a few photographs, so it is a fairly quick read. If you are looking for an introduction to chi kung, this book is not a bad place to start. If you just want to get more in tune with your own body, "You Are How You Move" will help you do just that! (That is if you actually follow the exercises and advice Sumner encourages you to) Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of Hard-Won Wisdom From the School of Hard Knocks and the dvds: Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking Essentials series and articles including a regular column on negotiation for The Montana Lawyer. Alain Also wrote a series of articles called Lessons From The Apprentice.

The book differs from some Chi Kung manuals in that it does not focus on rote memorization of a routine or arbitrarily telling one how and where to place different body parts. The book is set up as a series of exercises and explorations where you feel experientially what your stance is doing, what your breathing is doing, how you are moving. This makes the art more internal. It reminds me of another book called EIGHT ESSENTIAL MOVES where 8 different Chi Kung exercises were explored experientially. My own practice was created from this kind of exploration. The movements work deeper when you know how to cooperate with the intent. My one reservation about the book is that the photos seemed a little blurry, not enough contrast between the background and foreground at times. I got a review copy and I am hoping that they correct this. Even so, the photos are adequate.