This book will prove to be a wealth of information to anyone studying Asian
martial arts, regardless of whether or not they choose to subscribe to the Chinese
approach to healing. The healing and hurting sides of the martial arts are intertwined,
relying on the same theories as a basis to either inflict damage or heal it. But while
pressure points and meridians, chi energy, and the five elements might be referred to
during the explanation of a technique or in the context of a lesson of the day, rarely
are these concepts elaborated on to the point that the student gains a real understanding
of them.
This book does a superb job of thoroughly explaining and uniting foreign
concepts that are typically dispensed in a piecemeal manner in martial
arts education. The book first compares and contrasts the Western and Eastern approaches
to medicine, creating a framework which allows to reader to better understand the
rationale the following theories are grounded in. The authors subsequently explain the
meridian theory and pressure points, concepts in chi and circulation, the basis of herbal
remedy and diet, and the five phases (elements). This book also provides one of the
best, albeit brief, descriptions of yin-yang relationships that I have ever read.
Even more importantly, it attempts to unify all these concepts and show how they are
all intertwined.
The book is a pretty serious read, which is owed more to the subject matter than the
writing. It is for the most part well balanced between philosophy, theory, and detail,
although the herbal and dietary sections became more bogged down with details. There is
a great deal of attention given to the five phases concept at the expense of some of the
other subjects mentioned. Please note that I am not versed in Chinese medicine and
cannot comment on the book's validity as a how-to book, though by the looks of the
detail and thoroughness in some sections it was certainly intended to be a reference in
some manner. But this review finds merit in the book for other reasons.
One of the biggest pitfalls of studying an Asian martial art outside of its parent culture
is that a lot can be lost in the translation, including related and background concepts
that would be assumed to be integrated in the original culture. This book helps restore
some of the conceptual framework that many martial arts theories are based upon, and by
learning about the closely-related field of Chinese medicine, we better understand the
martial arts. Perhaps we even gain a better appreciation for the balance between harming
and healing that needs to be present in our lives.
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