Description

Thanx to the original uploader at Digimob for scanning and OCR’ing this great book.# Hardcover: 1086 pages# Publisher: International Institute of Medical Qigong (2000)# Language: English# ISBN-10: 1885246080# ISBN-13: 978-1885246080CHINESE MEDICAL QIGONG THERAPYA Comprehensive Clinical Textby Dr. Jerry Alan JohnsonInternational Institute of Medical Qigong, hardback, 1035 pages, $135This book is available at a discounted price from The Journal of Chinese Medicine bookshopThis is an extraordinary book, an absolutely essential purchase for anyone with any interest in qigong or qigong healing. Dr. Jerry Johnson is Dean of Medical Qigong Science at the Five Branches Institute college and clinic in Santa Cruz, California. He holds a graduate degree in medical qigong from Hai Dian university in Beijing and a subsequent professorship also awarded in Beijing. He is a 34-year practitioner of numerous Chinese martial arts, has won tournaments at state and national level and has taught taijiquan and baguazhang for many years.This is an enormous and truly comprehensive manual covering seemingly every aspect of medical qigong. Section 1 (220 pages) covers the underlying philosophy and basic theories of Chinese medicine and qigong. Section 2 is devoted to the three outer forces (heaven, earth and man) and covers subjects such as sun and moon cycles, gathering the sun’s essence, gathering qi from the earth, trees, flowers, bushes, mountains, valleys, deserts, oceans, lakes etc. Section 3, on dao yin training, describes a variety of postural, respiratory and mental practices. A short section on benign and malignant emotion and thought activity conveys the flavour of much of the text:Benign emotion and thought activityThis is a gentle or favorable belief structure of the subconscious mind, resulting in relaxed, pleasant thoughts. This thought pattern will both improve and regulate the excitation and inhibitory processes of the cerebral cortex. These positive thoughts and beliefs help to restore strength to the Yin and Yang organs, and thus promote health. Benign emotional thought activity can be further divided into internal and external influences:1. Internal benign thought activities stem from the inner Hun’s influences over the subconscious mind. These positive thought patterns tend to enhance self-esteem, by complementing and encouraging our thinking and actions.2. External benign thought activities consist of praise and encouragement received from others (parents, friends, co-workers, etc.), which have been accepted and believed. These positive thought patterns promote confidence and self-esteem.Malignant emotion and thought activityThis is a harmful belief structure causing excited, nervous, stressful, and unpleasant thought patterns that interfere with the performance of the cerebral cortex, resulting in internal organ dysfunction and disease. Malignant emotional thought activity can be further divided into internal and external influences.1. Internal malignant thought activities are the thoughts stemming from the subconscious mind, which tend to destroy self-esteem, cause obsessions, and discourage productive thoughts and actions. This thought pattern extends from the influences of the Po.2. External malignant thought activities are internalized negative cynical beliefs and criticisms that originated from the surrounding environment (work, parents, teachers, friends, mate, etc.). External malignant thought activities cause thought distortions that destroy our self-esteem and discourage us.Section 4 is devoted to qi deviations in qigong training, with chapters explaining the principal causes and corrections that can be made to disordered qi arising from improper practice, as well as subjects such as ‘projected spirit demons from the subconscious mind’, ‘actual encounters with spirit demons’, and soul retrieval therapy and meditation.Section 5 covers diagnosis of disharmony by all the standard Chinese medicine methods of pattern differentiation as well as sensory, intuitive and perceptual diagnosis and their training methods.Sections 6 to 11 (around 400 pages) centre on the practice of medical qigong from the entirely preparatory (e.g. establishing rapport with a patient, precautions to protect the energy of the practitioner, power dynamics and ethical behaviour, energetic boundary invasion), through comprehensive qigong treatment principles, methods, exercises and prescriptions for numerous diseases including many kinds of cancer. Appendices cover many aspects of research into the benefits of medical qigong.The book has numerous illustrations and over 775 charts, photos and illustrations. There is also an accompanying set of 10 videos.The text is characterised by its deep roots in traditional Chinese practice and philosophy integrated with modern medical and scientific research and understanding, and is imbued throughout with a sensitive and modern awareness of human psychology.This is an extremely impressive work that must have taken many years to craft. With the growing interest in qigong in the west and the advances in the study of psychoneuroimmunology in western medicine, here is an absolutely first class English language textbook from the tradition that has been quietly developing these practices for over two millennia, interpreted and explained by a western expert.Finally, I’ve tried in writing this review to resist the temptation to comment on the qi training that is involved in simply handling this nearly 3kg tome but clearly I have failed.Peter Deadman