Monday, January 8, 2007

Thich Nhat Hanh’s Mindful Movements: Gentle Contemplative Exercises With The Monks & Nuns Of Plum Village

QiGong: Traditional Chinese Exercises For Healing Body, Mind, And Spirit, 1996
Sounds True
NR
3 Stars

Thich Nhat Hanh’s Mindful Movements: Gentle Contemplative Exercises With The Monks & Nuns Of Plum Village
Sounds True
NR
3 ½ Stars

Qigong (Chi Kung) is the ancient Chinese system of meditative postures and gentle, focused movements in order to channel chi—the energy of the universe—into and through the body. These age-old techniques improve posture, breathing and flexibility while detoxifying, energizing and healing the body. Not only do these exercises—the grandfather of Tai Chi and the building blocks of Chinese martial arts--provide relaxation, they also raise awareness of self and the environment.

In QiGong: Traditional Chinese Exercises For Healing Body, Mind, And Spirit, Ken Cohen, recognized master of qigong healing, demonstrates, in easy-to-understand language, his complete four-part workout. With a relaxing soundtrack of Chinese folk music to set the tone, Ken Cohen, in his soothing, peaceful voice, guides us through the fundamentals of posture and breath control. He teaches how to enhance chi flow in the body, relieve stress with self-massage, vibrate away inner toxins with the healing sounds, cultivate inner peace through walking meditations and, ultimately, how to cleanse and heal the body by circulating chi.

In Thich Nhat Hanh’s Mindful Movements: Gentle Contemplative Exercises With The Monks & Nuns Of Plum Village, Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches ten “meditations in motion” that calm the body and emotions. This, Hanh teaches, will not only restore you, but will restore peace to the world around you. From the beautiful, serene garden in his French monastery, Hanh and the monks and nuns explore, step-by-step, these ten graceful exercises that incorporate simple stretches, controlled movements and mindful breathing.

Both of these tapes are from the Sounds True library, and, unlike many meditation tapes, these are actually taught by recognized masters.

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