Working Out, Working Within: The Tao of Inner Fitness Through Sports and Exercise

by Jerry Lynch, Al Chung-Liang Huang, Chungliang Al Huang

Zen meets "The Zone" in this guide to combining physical fitness with spiritual awakening. During physical training, we can experience something deeper than just the burn of working out. We can achieve spiritual awareness and feel what it's like to be alive and healthy. Working Out, Working Within offers readers techniques and suggestions to avoid fixating on winning the game, scoring the goal, or building the perfect body. Our workouts become tools for personal transcendence as we get to know ourselves, test our limits, gather inner strength, and build physical vitality. We can learn how to find harmony between body, mind, and spirit using breath watching, a simple Tao technique to encourage calming and an awareness of our bodies, and to discover our "Tao minds"; visual recording, through which we imagine our bodies in motion, employing all of the senses in our visualization; affirmation reciting, a way to confirm our thoughts by repeating them aloud; and valuable ancient Tao wisdom and strategies to synchronize body and soul. Chungliang Al Huang is the founder and president of the Living Tao Foundation and director of the Lan Ting Institute in China.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health

Hardcover

First published February 23, 1998

Reviews

[G Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not going to lie. As trite and cliche as it sounds, this is one of those books that has changed my life. I'll admit that whenI started to read this book, it all seemed so.."out there". But as I pushed on & applied the precepts in this book, I saw the changes manifest. Wow. Just wow.

[Michael Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another text related to Eastern Tao philosophies and haw they relate to sport. Each section provides the reader background, meditations, affirmations and an application of wisdom. It's not a book you read straight through. Little bite of individual thought and work. Good for both coaches and players.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many great visualization are included in this book to assist with athletic performance. Also thought provoking questions to help me remember why I love my sport. I’m putting what I’ve learned to work immediately!

[Chris Banul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some cool concepts and advice using the Tao. Each chapter ends with a 4 part affirmation homework thing that I always skipped. The homework things might help another person out who reads the book but I found them unnecessary

[Carter Naughton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit repetitive.

[Stan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A combination of Taoist philosophy and sport psychology, who would have thought that would work out? I believe it did in this book. I think a martial artist might relate to the book better than a generic athlete, on average anyway. Engaging stuff for anyone who is has an interest in Taoism.