Tai Chi--The Perfect Exercise: Finding Health, Happiness, Balance, and Strength

by Arthur Rosenfeld

The host of PBS's Longevity Tai Chi and leading Western Tai Chi master Arthur Rosenfeld offers a groundbreaking guide to the myriad mental and physical benefits of this ancient martial art, including easing chronic pain and illness, dealing with stress, and resolving conflicts more easily. Are you looking to develop your mind as well as your body? look no further than tai chi.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Martial Arts

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Born Arthur Rosenfeld in America, Yun Rou (the name means Soft Cloud) was ordained a Daoist monk in China. Host of the hit national public television show "Longevity Tai Chi with Arthur Rosenfeld", he is the author of award-winning titles and teaches tai chi around the world and in South Florida. As did Alan Watts, his non-fiction books use the wisdom of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching to address climate change, the challenges of culture, society, and everyday living, advancing prescriptions as useful as those in Wayne Dyer's "Change Your Thoughts Change Your Life", but with the east-meets-west philosophical flavor of Eckhart Tolle and Henry David Thoreau. His novels, by contrast, bring a New York literary sensibility to the emerging "Silkpunk" genre, blending Chinese history, some science fiction, and fantasy into adventurous, rollicking, thought-provoking reads.

Reviews

[Todd Jacobucci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because I wanted to learn Tai Chi. It's actually very similar to the program I've been doing for awhile now - Essentrics. I ended up incorporating some Tai Chi into the Essentrics program I was already doing. It's working out well for me. Anyway, If you wish to learn Tai Chi, you should get this book. It will teach you how to do it.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introductory book to Tai Chi, that touches upon history, philosophy, and the roots of this martial art. On the flipside, it's a lot about the author's ego and full of masculine energy. You can skip all those paragraphs and keep only the interesting bits.

[Nelda Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to know the history,philosophy,and Chinese medicine behind tai chi this is an excellent source. It also presents some excellent descrption of exercises pertaining to the what is discussed in each chapter. I was initially impressed but as I continued into the book Rosenfeld's insistance on the centrality if the martial arts dimension, the Chen school and the purity of that school,i.e. superiority of the Chen school, he began to read more like a true believer. My way or nothing. This is definitely a "masculine" book in tone stressing discipline,training, and no pain no gain. He admires Bruce Lee. Anyone who does tai chi for any other reason than marital arts training is doing it wrong. Further I started adding up how much time it would taken to do all the exercises he recommends and it would mean devoting all your spare time to it as if you were training as a professional athlete. As a older woman Quaker Buhddist, who walks, swims, bikes, meditates and does yoga, this approach felt too abrasive. Having read other tai chi writers not as focused on marital arts practice, this one just seemed too insistant on this aspect. I learned alot of facts but not anything to inspire me to take up tai chi as he practices/teaches it.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, this is not an instruction manual -- though there are exercises to do in order to get started learning Tai Chi. It's more of an exploration of what Tai Chi is like, what it means, and what committing to learning it would look like. Rosenfeld illustrates his explanations with stories from his own Tai Chi experience. Read this book and you will be ready to be a smart consumer of Tai Chi. You'll be able to find the right style, approach and master for you. And you'll know enough to be able to talk about Tai Chi without making a fool of yourself. After reading the book, I came to the conclusion that it was worth reading -- in other words, Tai Chi is complicated enough that Westerners, especially, need some sort of orientation before beginning.

[Danel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing reference to tai chi chuan. Rosenfeld doesn't focus on just one aspect of the style like so many others but addresses physical health, mental and spiritual improvement, and martial skill all with the same attention to detail. I would recommend this as a must-read reference to any student of tai chi looking to move beyond the basic forms into what the art is truly about.

[Pauline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice book reviewing the benefits and origins of this concept.

[Lindathrashercox.net · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book to learn about tai chi

[Eleanor Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK book. Not a bad read.