Tai Chi Dynamics - (Martial Science) by Robert Chuckrow

About the Book

Intended for intermediate level Tai Chi players. The author, a thirty-seven year Tai Chi practitioner with a Ph.D. in experimental physics, applies logic and basic scientific principles to clarify many perplexing concepts in Tai Chi such as force, muscle contraction, breathing, and more. Discusses self-development, Tai Chi massage, how diet effects Tai Chi, the role of a teacher and many more common concerns of intermediate Tai Chi students. Supported with photographs and drawings throughout.

Book Synopsis

Tai Chi Dynamics is intended for intermediate and advanced Taiji players.

The author Robert Chuckrow Ph.D. experimental physics, has been a Taiji practitioner for over forty years. He applies logic and basic scientific principles of anatomy, physiology, and physics to muscular action, breathing, and alignment in Taiji movement and push-hands.

He clarifies many perplexing concepts such as "correct force" by utilizing detailed explanations, illustrations, and photographs.

Sayings from the Taiji Classics are quoted throughout, and exercises are provided to give readers a chance to confirm their understanding.

Over a dozen self-defense applications of the basic Taiji movements are illustrated, and the effectiveness and completeness of Taiji as a martial art is candidly analyzed.

Suggestions for many aspects of teaching Taiji are provided, which stem from over three decades of practical experience. A chapter on Zheng Manqing (Cheng Man-ch'ing), with whom the author studied for five years in the early 1970s, sheds light on Zheng and his students.

A special chapter deals extensively with aspects of self development from a personal perspective, discusses how doing Taiji correctly is a precursor to spiritual growth, and compares religion, science, and spiritual teachings.

A detailed chapter on health, self-massage, and healing discusses fasting (including the author's own experience with a twenty-eight-day fast), differences between Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine, and provides exercises and methods of self-massage for head, legs, feet, and back.

There is even a section on how to make your own footwear suitable for practicing Taiji.

The book includes personal anecdotes and stories, and has over one hundred photographs and illustrations by the author.

Review Quotes

...if you are interested in T'ai Chi Ch'uan and want to become informed, you should stop reading this review, and run, don't walk, to the book store and purchase Dr. Chuckrow's book.--...if you are

...thoughtful, perceptive, open-minded. Robert's book provides Tai Chi practitioners with many fascinating avenues of practical exploration as a way to discover for themselves the truth Robert writes about.--...thoughtful, perceptive, open

It is with great pleasure that I recommend this notable work. This book is an important contribution to the body of Tai Chi literature.--It is with great pleasure that I recommend this notable work. Th

Using simple tools of physics. . .to explain Tai Chi movements makes the healing and martial value of Tai Chi more understanding to the modern mind.--Using simple tools of physics. . .to explain Tai C

About the Author

Robert Chuckrow has been a Taiji practitioner since 1970 and has studied Taiji under the late Cheng Man-ch'ing, William C. C. Chen, and Harvey I. Sober. He has studied I Liq Ch'uan with Sam Chin Fan-siong, Ninjutsu with Kevin Harrington, Kinetic Awareness with Elaine Summers, and Healing and Re-evaluation with Alice Holtman. He has taught Taiji extensively and has written four other books: The Tai Chi Book, Historical Tuning of Keyboard Instruments, The Intelligent Dieter's Guide, and Tai Chi Walking. The Tai Chi Book was a finalist in the 1999 Independent Publisher Book Awards as "among the three best books in the health/medicine category."

Chuckrow is certified as a master teacher of Kinetic Awareness, has a Ph.D. in experimental physics from New York University, and has taught Physics at New York University, The Cooper Union, and The Fieldston School in Riverdale, New York. He currently teaches Taiji in Westchester, NY.