The holiday crunch is upon us, with the New Year lingering just around the corner. Family, travel, finances, extra hours, cut hours… all this stress adds up quickly. Do you have a method to deal with it? Can you calm your mind, breath, and energy in frantic situations and remain centered? If not do you desire to? Daoist culture has been applying meditative techniques to everyday life for centuries, and Robert James Coons has written an easy to follow text demystifying the intricacies of the practice of internal elixir cultivation.
Though Daoist meditation and qigong is not a new subject matter to be written about, many of the texts are rather scholarly and dry. Without a specific Daoist philosophical background the reader is often lost in a nebulous haze of terms and theories. Even with the best texts their is little instruction on the actual meditative practice. Enter Coons… a student of Yang Hai, and a lifelong student of Chinese culture and language. Coons has written an easy to read and follow book weaving Daoist philosophy with meditative practices anyone can do regardless of physical condition, age, or gender. As a matter of fact all his practices can be slightly altered for those even incapacitated in bed.
Coons lays out a fundamental lesson on aspects of Daoist practice such as the dantian, Microcosmic Orbit, and Yin and Yang, before delving into more advanced practice methods for internal elixir cultivation. Daoist geeks such as myself will not be disappointed either as Coons weighs in with his translation of Lu Dongbin’s 100 character ancestor stone. Lu was an important (arguably the most important) scholar during the Tang dynasty and offered the first guide to Daoist meditation. This poem is rarely translated and Coons offers a great breakdown of the treatise.
The celebration of little Baby Jesus day is exactly one week away and their is still time to get “Internal Elixir Cultivation” by Robert James Coons from Tambuli Media as it is a perfect 5.25″ x 8″ for stocking stuffing galore. So if you have a martial artist, qigong practitioner, or you yourself who is in need of meditation click here to order your copy today!