This book is both a good introduction to the theory of Chinese medicine and a simple introduction to Chi Kung (Qi Gong) - Chinese energy exercises. The basic notion of the book is simple - odds are that you are overweight because your body's internal energy system is out of balance. Restore the balance and the weight will take care of itself.
The book presents a series of 10 very simple exercises to be done daily, which should take you about 20 minutes. The idea is that if you do these for six weeks you will notice a difference in your health and weight. After the introduction and overview, there are six chapters - one for each of the six weeks - and an overview of traditional Chinese medicine theory, diet, etc.
The book is very readable, everything is well explained, and, yes, the author does tell you over and over again that this system is a good one, and it works. [If you are not familiar with the topic, there are thousands of qigong systems in China].
I did almost none of the suggested diet changes, and I did all the exercises every day. I completely ignored the recipe section. I have a stressful work situation, and had been sleeping badly for months. I've tried to improve my sleep situation by meditation and exercise - cycling 40 to 60 miles per week. The cycling and gym time were supposed to help me lose weight, too. But it wasn't working - I was getting stronger and my fat wasn't going away
Much to my surprise after three or four days of practicing the exercises in the book I started sleeping through the night, every night, instead of waking up to pee at 3 am and having trouble going back to sleep. I also felt rested when I woke up - instead of dragging myself to my 6:00 am conference calls I was awake and alert. I've also been very sensitive to cold for the past 10 years - I'm usually the coldest person in the room - but suddenly I didn't need extra layers to stay warm.
For me, by far the most interesting thing is that I'm just not as hungry as I used to be, and when I eat, I feel full. Feeling full such as even though its my habit to clean my plate, I feel like I ought to stop eating. Now I'm noticing my habits - a bowl of soup is quite enough, but I buy a sandwich, etc. too., which now I'm not eating.
I bought the book October 2, 2008 and started practicing October 5. As of Feb 19, 2009 I've practiced most every day, and when I can get a really good one I eat a chocolate chip cookie every day.
I've lost 8.6 pounds even with a dramatic reduction in my cycling and almost no weight lifting at the gym. I'm easily able to fit in 34" waist jeans!
I didn't lose much weight for the first 6 weeks, now I'm losing weight effortlessly and mostly stopping eating when full without a struggle. I've also been traveling - business travel - and expense account eating normally goes straight to my waistline. I've also lost a lot of my interest in drinking alcohol.
I'm quite impressed with the book and the author. The author has very nice credentials. As with all such books, the photographs and descriptions of the practices could be better, and had I not had prior qigong and martial arts experience I probably would have spent the $30 for the DVD - available from the organization that publishes the book, not from Amazon. The same author has a book and website on breast cancer health issues, and that website has little thumbnails videos of 10 exercises, several of which are the same as this book - they were helpful to me.
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Top reviews from other countries
Tracy
Brilliant book, very good explanation of chinese medicine
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2017R. Eastwood-stone
This book is more like a novel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2015