Invest in Embryonic Breathing

The person on the cover of this book is the author, Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming.  The picture to me  is almost comical ... Dr. Yang appears so deceptively tranquil and serene on the cover, but you may rest assured that he is one particularly capable and disciplined martial artist and one especially tough and sharp-minded intellectual.  You should know that he founded the global Yang Martial Arts Academy (YMAA) and continues to serve as the supreme shifu in what is almost certainly the world's preeminent martial arts academy.   Before founding and leading YMAA for over 25 years, Dr. Yang also had the discipline to manage his time well enough to earn a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue -- this background is still evident.  Although he has immense respect for Chinese culture, he still writes and thinks like an intensely skeptical western engineer or scientist.  The ability to excel in two very different cultures is unique; I do not know of anyone who has displayed the resilience, intelligence and discipline to achieve these levels of excellence in two distinctly different cultures.  Yet, Dr. Yang's mind is supple, quick and open enough that he instantly recognizes the medical importance of activities in other cultures such as African music or Native American dancing because of these activities' roles in helping humans to enjoyably and regularly regulate the circulation of biochemical/bioelectric energy in their bodies.

Dr. Yang is one of my favorite authors, but this is one of my favorite books of his.  It is absolutely one of those books that you can't afford not to read, re-read, re-read again and then practice the techniques and think about what you've read ... and then learn Chinese to be able to interpret some of the different ancient texts referenced in this book and then read the book again to learn something new.  In fact, much of the importance of this particular book can be found in Dr.Yang's detailed discussion and annotations of a bibliography of ancient text on qi gong with a particular focus on embryonic breathing.  Dr. Yang makes it clear that he does not have a monopoly on the views of these ancient texts -- he also goes to great it lengths to make it very clear that qigong is a living artform and that others should lend their intrepration.  In this book, he provides a map for future study by others as he lays for the intellectual foundation for others to build upon.