Chi gung is a 3,000-year-old physical discipline that practitioners consider to be more essential to health than cardiovascular exercise. The ancient system, called the "internal martial arts," emphasizes improving the life force flow, chi, by opening the body's energy centers. These simple exercises derive their power from repetition. They are illustrated in more than 300 watercolors based on ancient Chinese scrolls and cave paintings.

SHEN: PSYCHO-EMOTIONAL ASPECTS OF CHINESE MEDICINE fully explains how the emotional, mental, and physical elements of Chinese Medicine in illness are an extremely effective therapy in dealing with cases where the alterations of the shen are both obvious and subtle. The book focuses on the psycho-spiritual aspects of patient's conditions and is purposely constructed to facilitate practitioners' formulations of diagnosis and treatment. It reflects throughout on the patient-practitioner relationship, resources, and various characteristics, inherent problems and qualities of acupuncture. Offers clinical guidelines for treating people with psycho-emotional symptoms. Includes researched material and clinical applications concerning emotions and movement. Describes the causes and progression of psycho-emotional symptoms in terms of etiological and pathological mechanisms, specific symptoms, and classical syndromes. Features in-depth description of 29 clinical case studies with discussion on points, ongoing treatment, and problematic situations.

Offering practical instruction on how to perform the Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation, which will take only minutes a day, many practitioners have experienced benefits, including increased energy, weight loss, better memory, new hair growth, pain relief, better digestion, and feeling overall more youthful. Legend has it that hidden in the remote reaches of the Himalayan mountains lies a secret that would have saved Ponce de Leon from years of fruitless searching for the Fountain of Youth. There, generations of Tibetan monks have passed down a series of exercises with mystical, age-reversing properties. Known as the Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation or the Five Rites, these once-secret exercises are now available to Westerners in Ancient Secret of the Fountain Of Youth. Peter Kelder's book begins with an account of his own introduction to the rites by way of Colonel Bradford, a mysterious retired British army officer who learned of the rites while journeying high up in the Himalayas. Fountain of Youth then offers practical instructions for each of the five rites, which resemble yoga postures. Taking just minutes a day to perform, the benefits for practitioners have included increased energy, weight loss, better memory, new hair growth, pain relief, better digestion, and feeling overall more youthful.

A comprehensive study of the practice of combat sports in the ancient civilizations of Greece, Rome and the Near East.

If exercise is healthy (so good for you!), why do many people dislike or avoid it? These engaging stories and explanations will revolutionize the way you think about exercising—not to mention sitting, sleeping, sprinting, weight lifting, playing, fighting, walking, jogging, and even dancing. “Strikes a perfect balance of scholarship, wit, and enthusiasm.” —Bill Bryson, New York Times best-selling author of The Body • If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible? • Does running ruin your knees? • Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training? • Is sitting really the new smoking? • Can you lose weight by walking? • And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded? In this myth-busting book, Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a pioneering researcher on the evolution of human physical activity, tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise—to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts without jargon how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion. Exercised is entertaining and enlightening but also constructive. As our increasingly sedentary lifestyles have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and diseases such as diabetes, Lieberman audaciously argues that to become more active we need to do more than medicalize and commodify exercise. Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman suggests how we can make exercise more enjoyable, rather than shaming and blaming people for avoiding it. He also tackles the question of whether you can exercise too much, even as he explains why exercise can reduce our vulnerability to the diseases mostly likely to make us sick and kill us.