New Books from Tom Bisio

[wetmarble]

Hey All,

My teacher, Tom Bisio has released the first 3 (of 6) books in his series on ba gua nei gong. These books are meant as a detailed discussion on the theory and practice of the core qi gong exercises that accompany practicing ba gua zhang. They are not meant to be a substitute for studying with a teacher, although it may be possible to use them in this manner.

Volume 1: Yin Yang Patting & Dao Yin Exercises (http://www.amazon.com/Gua-Nei-Gong-Volume-Exercises/dp/1432799487)
This volume focuses on two routines. The Yin Yang Patting routine is similar to the slapping and patting qi gong discussed a few weeks ago on this forum. It invigorates the meridians and helps to unblock the qi and start to circulate the qi. It helps to condition the body and teach the practitioner how to generate force from the dan tian. Dao Yin Exercises are a self cultivation set of exercises used to invigorate the qi and lead it and guide it throughout the body.

Volume 2: Qi Cultivation Exercises & Standing Meditation (http://www.amazon.com/Gua-Nei-Gong-Vol-Cultivation/dp/1432799517)
The Qi cultivation exercises derive from Gao Ji Wu. They help to develop the dragon body that internal arts are famous for. The Standing Meditation focuses on the key elements of Zhan Zhuang practice.

Volume 3: Twelve Posture Standing (http://www.amazon.com/Ba-Gua-Nei-Gong-Vol/dp/1432799533)
The Twelve Posture Standing set are a series of postures that are commonly found in the practice of ba gua zhang. By practicing these stances as zhan zhuang standing practice prior to incorporating these movements into more dynamic palm changes, practitioners can cultivate the rate shape and right energies in the body. We find that these are excellent postures to teach beginners and that they greatly improve someone's ability to learn ding shi postures and palm changes at a later time.

If anyone has questions (general or specific) please let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.

Adam

[edededed]

Tom is writing quite a lot of books these days, really very generous of him!

Uh oh - I think the Amazon descriptions for all 3 books are all the same and all wrong - they seem to be the description for the "Decoding the Dao" book... The correct descriptions seem to be here (http://outskirtspress.com/webpage.php?i ... 1432799519).

- Is the yin yang patting the set of paidagong exercises that Li Ziming taught and often practiced?
- What are the daoyin exercises (i.e. are they a moving set like baduanjin, or a more gentle qigong-like set, etc.?)
- Same as for the qi cultivation exercises from Gao Jiwu (Sitting meditation? Moving set?)

Also, would be interested to hear about the above methods from a historical point of view (i.e., did they come from Zhang Huasen, or...?). Just curious from a Liang syle point of view.

Thanks a lot!

[Bob]

Thanks for posting--his material has always been extremely helpful.

[wetmarble]

Uh oh - I think the Amazon descriptions for all 3 books are all the same and all wrong - they seem to be the description for the "Decoding the Dao" book... The correct descriptions seem to be here (http://outskirtspress.com/webpage.php?i ... 1432799519).

I'll bring this to Tom's attention. It looks like the description for Volume 2 is the same as for Decoding the Dao, but the other two volumes seem to be correct to me.

- Is the yin yang patting the set of paidagong exercises that Li Ziming taught and often practiced?

I'm not sure, I'll ask Tom this week. The patting is essentially the same set that Tom teaches in his Zheng Gu Tui Na course, level 2 and the same one described in the textbook for that course, however it is covered in far more depth in this volume.

- What are the daoyin exercises (i.e. are they a moving set like baduanjin, or a more gentle qigong-like set, etc.?)

The daoyin exercises are a more gentle set. They involve leading and guiding the qi throughout the body through massage of various channels and acupoints. Most of the set is performed while seated. Again, like the patting, this is similar to the set taught in the Zheng Gu Tui Na class and described in the textbook.

- Same as for the qi cultivation exercises from Gao Jiwu (Sitting meditation? Moving set?)

The qi cultivation exercises are a moving set. I believe that they are inspired by Gao Ji-Wu's yi chuan training. There are six exercises that play with moving qi along different axes. They are, 'Rising and Sinking', 'Pushing and Pulling', 'Circling Horizontally', 'Circling Vertically', 'Playing with the Ball', and 'Opening/Hooking and Closing/Filing'. This set expands on Zhan Zhuang (Stake Standing) by incorporating the same rooting with circulation of the qi and physical movement of the body.

Also, would be interested to hear about the above methods from a historical point of view (i.e., did they come from Zhang Huasen, or...?). Just curious from a Liang syle point of view.

I believe the 12 standing postures were originally taught to Tom by Zhuang Hua Sen. Tom then created linkages to allow practitioners to transition from one posture to the next. This allows the set to be practiced with more of a zhan zhuang perspective, where one holds the postures for a period of time, or more of a dynamic set where one moves fluid from posture to posture without pause.

The Standing Meditation is probably a synthesis of working on standing from many different teachers.

I'll ask for more definitive lineages.

-Adam

[edededed]

Thanks a lot, Adam.

Zhengguituina sounds very interesting in as of itself - always wanted to learn some tuina (or other traditional Chinese medicine aspects). Maybe one day if I find myself living in NYC... (And yes, I do have a copy of his Tooth from a Tiger book...)

BTW, Zhang Quanliang (he has published VCDs and books) has written about a set of standing postures (in books and magazines) - not sure if it was the same or similar to Tom's set (might have been a set of 8 postures). I don't know if he learned that from Li Ziming or if he developed it himself, though.

[wetmarble]

I spoke with Tom.

The Patting and Slapping and Dao Yin exercises are both descended from Li Zi-Ming.

The 12 Standing Postures are something that Tom came up with that blends postures and ideas from Zhang Hua-Sen and Gao Ji-Wu.

[edededed]

Hi Adam,

Thanks for the information! The books do look very interesting, again, Tom is very generous to publish all of these books. It is also the holiday season soon, so I may be able to read some of them soon!

Also looking forward to the 3 later books - especially the marrow washing one (always been curious about that).

(Also, I had a brain fart - meant Zhang Quanliang but wrong Zhang Huasen above - so I fixed the post, sorry for any misunderstanding.)