Power Taiji Book by Erle Montaigue (Preowned)

Originally, taijiquan was much more than just a pathway to health and vitality it was the most deadly fighting system in China. Based on the effective martial uses of the acupuncture points, taiji incorporated all of the strikes that caused great damage or death into its training methods, requiring only medium force to immobilize or kill an attacker.

For those who wish to take taiji on to its secondary level as a self-defense art, this book moves beyond the healing aspects and explores its more powerful martial side. It offers fast and explosive training methods and forms that teach this aspect, as well as the slow-moving form that gives us the three main prerequisites for any fighting art: balance, coordination, and timing.

Authors Erle Montaigue and Michael Babin also demonstrate how, using taijiquan's movements and postures in conjunction with certain breathing techniques, we can build on the qi we are born with, make it flow beneficially during our practice of forms, and actually augment our store of it. In addition, they detail the martial applications of the Yang-style taiji forms, each posture of which represents a particular combat tactic that causes qi to go to the appropriate attacking portion of the body when you need it most - in a sudden, life-threatening situation.

Length: 186 pages

Publication date: 1995