Chi Gong: The Ancient Chinese Way to Health »

Paul Dong has taught chi gong at the San Francisco College of Acupuncture and the YMCA since 1976. The author of Empty Force and other books, he lives in Oakland, CA. Aristide H. Esser, M.D., has worked with the Sino-US Chi Gong Health Sciences Development Center since 1984. He lives in New City, New York.

Chi Gong: The Ancient Chinese Way to Health bridges the divide between Chinese and Western science, systems of health care, and spiritual practice. With proven, step-by-step exercises, chi gong instructor Paul Dong and psychiatrist Aristide Esser show how to perform basic and advanced chi gong exercises; increase vitality by maintaining the balance of bodily energies; prevent and cure ulcers, hypertension, heart disease, and other ailments; and achieve a relaxed and therapeutic meditative state, promoting health and longevity. The authors encourage practitioners to augment and strengthen their martial and spiritual disciplines, but also to develop external energy for the benefit of others.

More than an instruction manual, Chi Gong functions as a complete survey of this healing art. Dong and Esser discuss chi gong’s history, famous practitioners, applications for health and the martial arts, and the role of chi in exceptional human functioning and mind-body interactions. Combining information from Western scientific investigations as well as personal insights from Paul Dong’s practice, the authors provide a thorough explanation of the concept of chi and its role in traditional Chinese medicine, discuss the groundbreaking use of chi gong in cancer treatments, and take the reader on a visit to one of China’s many chi gong clinics.

Library Journal

Practitioners of this ancient Chinese therapeutic art popular in New Age circles claim that chi gong can maintain and restore health through the balancing of chi , the body's vital energy. Journalist Dong and psychiatrist Esser provide extensive history and theory as well as instruction on performing basic chi gong exercises. They explain how a typical Chinese chi gong clinic operates, discuss paranormal phenomena attributed to chi gong , and comment on the relationship of chi and Western science. A well-executed treatment of a unique topic, this will appeal primarily to informed laypersons. Recommended for collections in alternative or traditional medicine.-- Judith Eannarino, Washington, D.C.