Movement Practices (Tai Chi, etc.) Resources

Yoga

There are many different styles of Yoga and many classes available in this area. If you’re new to yoga, it’s a good idea to experience different styles and different teachers until you find what you like.

I prefer a meditative style of yoga rather than yoga as an athletic performance, and I’ve finally found a class I really like. The teacher is Tina Madison. She is a Stanford graduate and a trained physical therapist who is genuinely fascinated by the body. Her teaching style is a gentle form of hatha yoga, and I especially recommend her for students who have injuries or chronic conditions.

Classes are at Ananda in Palo Alto (El Camino at Oxford), Tuesdays and Thursday, 12:15 to 1:30. Here’s her email address in case her schedule has changed. Classes are very affordable. If you purchase a ticket for 10 classes, the cost is $7 per class. The cost for a single drop-in class is $10.

I’ve listed some additional books on yoga in the Osteoporosis section of Wellness Topics:

•  Yoga Builds Bones, Easy Gentle Stretches that Prevent Osteoporosis by Jan Maddern
•  The Woman’s Book of Yoga & Health, a lifelong guide to wellness by Linda Sparrowe

[back to top]

Acu-yoga uses yoga poses to stimulate acupressure points and stretch energy channels. Like yoga, it works extensively with the breath. It has all the advantages of yoga, plus the additional benefits of addressing energy imbalances and specific ailments. After discussing the basic principles of acu-yoga, this book illustrates hundreds of poses. The illustrations are good and you can learn this practice from the book.

[back to top]

Tai Chi

Similarly, we are fortunate to have many excellent Tai Chi teachers in this area. I have studied with Martin and Emily Lee, who teach a Yang style of Tai Chi. You can find their introductory class listed in the DeAnza/Foothill College catalog. Once you complete the initial class, you can go on to take additional classes, which are not listed in the Foothill catalog. The cost for the introductory class is $75 for a series of seven weekly sessions. The class meets at the Oak School in Los Altos (near Fremont and Truman Avenues).

[back to top]

One of the things I liked about learning Tai Chi from Master Lee is that he’s written a book that describes each movement in precise detail (his background is in particle physics). This makes it very easy to refresh your memory between classes and, for me, it made learning the sequence of the forms much easier. This is the introductory book that describes the first 12 of the 64 forms of the sequence.

[back to top]

Qigong

I’ve mentioned my Qigong teachers under Qigong Healing. Master Yang teaches in Mountain View. Master Wang now has many disciples who teach Tibetan Qigong in Oakland, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Rafael, and Monterey. Elizabeth Congo practices at East West in Mountain View.

[back to top]

Another excellent book by Dr. Yang (see the Tui Na Resource section for more on Dr. Yang.) This book is not instruction on how to do Qigong, but a companion book for the serious student. The section on Keys to Qigong Training includes chapters on regulating the body, breath, emotional mind, essence, qi, and spirit. There’s an interesting chapter at the end called One Hundred and One questions, where Dr. Yang raises points that are unexplained and deserve further thought and research. I’ve never met him, but you can sense the spirit of this teacher through his books, and I have a very high regard for him.

[back to top]

This is another book I’ve used for close to twenty years. It describes healing exercises — not just Tai Chi and Qigong, but exercise therapy for specific conditions, including chronic conditions such as arthritis, asthma, insomnia, indigestion. The index is good, so you can pick it up whenever you need relief from hemorrhoids, for example, and find helpful exercises. This edition, published in 2000, is considerably updated, both visually and in content, from the 1985 version I’ve been using.

[back to top]

This entire book is devoted to the Qigong practice called Eight Pieces of Brocade, also known as Eight Silken Movements, or Pal Dan Gum. This is a simple sequence of movements, appropriate for almost anyone. Unlike more advanced Qigong practices, Pal Dan Gum can be learned from a book, and this is a good book to learn from.

The complete set movements helps release blockages along all twelve energy meridians. It only takes five to ten minutes to do the complete set, so it’s easy to make this a daily habit. The same movements are also described in Iona Teeguarden’s book, The Joy of Feeling, Bodymind Acupressure Jin Shin Do, which is where I originally learned this practice.

[back to top]

Do In

Another useful self-help practice from Japan is Do In. It’s a sequence of moves that tap, squeeze, and press the body’s energy channels. Shiatsu practitioners frequently teach this to their clients. I haven’t yet found a good book on Do In in English.

[back to top]

Makko-Ho

Another set of stretching movements commonly used in connection with Shiatsu is Makko-Ho. Like Pal Dan Gum or Eight Silken Movements (described in Qigong for Beginners), Makko-Ho activates all the meridians.

[back to top]

Meridian Tracing and Self-Massage

I learned a wonderful Tui Na self-massage sequence from my teacher, Brian O’Dea, which includes tracing the meridians. Tracing the Stomach meridian, for example, is very helpful for acid reflux. For Qigong self-message, see Dr. Yang’s tape, described in the Tui Na section.

[back to top]