By Katie Brindle
You may recall in the last book review I posted on this blog that one of the interesting things about it was that the author used multiple terms to refer to the self healing practices he was writing about. These included chi-kung (an outdated anglicization of qigong), Nei Kung, Tao, Yin, and Yang Sheng. Many of these terms are not used so frequently these days, but appear in some of the older texts on these arts. Katie Brindle has chosen to focus specifically on the last of these ‘Yang Sheng’.
Yang Sheng has a really nice translated meaning. It means ‘life nurturing’. I really like that concept and think that it is a useful mindset to bring to qigong and other health practices. The idea of gently nurturing rather than fixing or forcing. Even just having this in mind will alter the quality and results of the efforts you put into your wellbeing.
The book provides a nice overview of a range of Yang Sheng or life nurturing practices, ranging from various types of self massage, including tapping and gua sha, to affirmations, breathing, food, living with the seasons, and of course qigong.
Covering such a broad range of topics, of course it is impossible to go into great depth on any of them, but Katie does a good job of providing an introduction to each of these different self care methods, and some practical ways that readers can start to implement them in their lives. She also provides some easy to understand explanations of some of the underlying principles and philosophy behind these practices.
One of the things I liked most about the book was that it addresses managing emotions in several different ways in different sections of the book. This seems to be a topic of growing interest for many people, and of course, much of our health, wellness, energy, or conversely dis-ease stems from our emotional condition. The book gives readers multiple options of small things that they can do to start to take charge of this and live in an emotionally more empowered way. Of course it is also nice that I am credited within the book as one of the influences with regard to qigong.
Conclusion
Yang Sheng – The Art of Chinese Self -Healing is a light read, which covers a range of different Chinese selfcare methods including some qigong. It is beautifully presented and would look great sitting on a coffee table, in a bookcase, or on a bedside table.
While it doesn’t go into great depth on any of the methods in the book, it does what it sets out to do, which is to introduce these methods of selfcare and their underlying principles in a simple, easy to understand way, that people will be able to use immediately in their lives.
You can find it on Amazon here (release date May 7th 2019)