Book: Tai Chi Connections

Learn to Practice and Experience Tai Chi as a path to Balance, Integration, and Sheer Joy in your Life

Tai Chi offers you the prospects of better health and vitality, peace of mind, and increased stores of personal energy. To realize this potential you must delve into the world of Tai Chi minutia, which is exactly where the essence of Tai Chi lays in wait for those ascribing to its regular and correct practice.

This book looks deeply into Tai Chi's technical intricacies and nuances, offering guidance and practice tips, replete with step-by-step directions, on how to bring your Tai Chi to a higher level of correct execution. Seasoned Tai Chi teacher and author John Loupos offers wise and helpful guidance in a personable tone to help you recognize connections, feel connections, and keep connections. Tai Chi Connections...will help you to narrow the gap between where your practice is now and where you'd like it to go.

Some of the subjects included:

• Opportunities within slowness
• Attention/Intention as dynamic ingredients
• Tai Chi as a path to congruence
• Tapping into earth force
• Putting the brakes on momentum
• Unspoken nuances of Tai Chi stepping
• Training tips to optimize your Tai Chi experience
• Moral / ethical mandates of being a teacher

AUTHOR(S)

Sifu John Loupos, M.S.Psych, C.H.S.E., began studying martial arts in 1966. As a young teen, John inherited a school of his own and has been teaching martial arts ever since. His studies include Okinawan Karate, Chinese Kung Fu ( Bak Sil Lum, Choy Lay Fut, and Praying Mantis), Yang style T'ai Chi Chuan (108 move set), Liu He Ba Fa, Xingyi, and Bagua, and various Ch'i Kung and energy oriented meditation disciplines. John also has a background in Classical Homeopathy and currently maintains a private clinical practice in Hanna Somatics.

REVIEWS

5 of 5 stars, N. Ross, Excellent book, November 2007

I haven't finished reading this book yet, but it is very readable and I am learning a lot from it. I purchased the book because I liked the DVD so much. I take Tai chi classes and though his techniques are a little different, what he says is applicable to all forms. I love listening to him and find him very inspiring, thus the purchase of the book. I wish I lived in Mass. to take his classes...watching and reading have helped me in my practice.

5 of 5 stars, Magellan - Top 100 Amazon Reviewer, Great book, November 2007

A terrific book by sifu Loupos, covering many important topics and in great detail. The book should be most useful for the intermediate to advanced student. If you're a beginner, I would recommend reading his two other books first. But the first few chapters would also be useful for the beginning student.

The book is mostly text with some photos illustrating the important points, so this is definitely a more substantial and scholarly discussion than your typical tai chi book which is often mostly pictures to illustrate the form. But the more subtle aspects of tai chi can't be shown just through photos and require more serious discussion. This is what that book does quite well and if you're hungry for more detailed and advanced information on how to perform the form and other important aspects of tai chi, you'll probably enjoy this book.

This is the best book I've seen so far in discussing the body mechanics, including balance, how to create and transfer power, the role of momentum, how to step, how to create power, and many other topics. One important point is that many people get stuck on the structure of the final or end move, which is incorrect. As Loupos points out, the transitions are just as important, and in fact, there are really no true "transitions" in tai chi in the sense that a specific element can be identified. All that's important is whether your structure and performance of the entire sequence of movements in a "technique" are correct.

He also points out that there is no one right way to perform each tai chi movement. For example, single whip is performed several different ways depending on the style. What's important isn't the actual details of the technique so much as whether the underlying body mechanics are correct. He illustrates this in detail with his discussion of the cloud hands move, which can be done with three different types of footwork, and how it's performed correctly in each case.

There is also a lot of good general information on tai chi and specific suggestions and lectures on a number of other topics in the last third or so of the book. Very clear photos show proper positioning and alignment and common mistakes. Also, he peppers the text with useful and interesting training exercises to further develop your skills. He points out that the tai chi form itself isn't enough to learn to project power and to fight, so he has advice on that too.

For example, he has a two-person exercise to see if you're smoothly transferring power and not doing anything that would enable your opponent to "split" your power at any point and off-balance you. He includes other exercises to aid you in your development too. Overall an excellent book and a truly high-level discussion of tai chi.

Mark Mincolla, Ph.D., author.

Heaven and earth are both embodied in word and spirit in this book. A remarkable work.

D. Kate Jewell, Reviewer, NAPRA ReView magazine.

Loupos' depth of experience, derived from over three decades of practice and teaching, is abundantly clear...His love for the discipline of tâi chi streams from the page.

Mary Lukas, Reviewer, Taijiquan Journal.

His work is solid and extensive.

Roger Jahnke, O.M.D., author.

With the help of Tai Chi Connections, students and teachers alike will receive practical guidance

Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, author/editor.

Loupos takes readers on a rich and multi-layered journey to the inner structure of Tai Chi so that we can open to the innate wisdom within our Tai Chi training.

B. Persky, NYC

Of all the tai chi books I have read, it is by far the most profound and clear. I am 75 and started Tai Chi 6 years ago...