Articles | YMAA

Introduction to Qi Gong Part 2
August 21, 2017
I was ten years old, lying in my bed.  My dad was standing in the door way speaking in a low deep voice, "10 feel your body relaxing, 9, going deeper now, 8 very relaxed, 7, your body is so relaxed that it feels like your floating on a cloud…" He was guiding me through a visualization.  Every night before bed, either my mom or dad would guide us kids through a deep relaxation technique.
Introduction to Qi Gong Part 1
August 14, 2017
Qi means life force energy. The ancient pictogram of Qi represented mist coming off water or steam coming off rice. The mist and steam signified that Qi was invisible. The rice meant that Qi nourished the body.
Introducing new YMAA Author! Lee Holden, Part 2, In His Own Words
August 7, 2017
For the next month, I would go to Master Chia's house and work out every day. We would train for about an hour and a half, practicing tai chi, qi gong, breathing exercises, and meditation techniques. What I kept realizing again and again was that this practice was not new age fluff, but a body-mind-spirit science. Master Chia was showing me formulas that had been tested for the last 4,000 years. He explained that these exercise and meditation routines were like a well-trodden path to the top of the inner mountain. If you practice them, you will reach the peak and enjoy the expanding vista of a clear mind and radiant health.
Introducing new YMAA Author! Lee Holden, In His Own Words
July 31, 2017
I was ten years old, lying in my bed.  My dad was standing in the doorway speaking in a low deep voice, "10, feel your body relaxing, 9, going deeper now, 8, very relaxed, 7, your body is so relaxed that it feels like your floating on a cloud…" He was guiding me through a visualization.  Every night before bed, either my mom or dad would guide us kids through a deep relaxation technique.  By the time I was 15, I was proficient in self-relaxation and visualization techniques. I would use the technique to help with school, sports and martial arts classes (Karate, Kung Fu, and even Capoeira).
Helen Liang's Triumph Over Tragedy: Healing Cancer with Tai Chi, Qigong, and Chinese Medicine Part 2
June 20, 2017
After a profound year of meditation, qigong, and internal martial arts, Helen's hair had grown back. Still frail, the experience only seemed to make her beauty all the more ethereal. It was then 1997, and promoter Jeff Bolt was having a groundbreaking event in Orlando, a pay-per-view sanshou fight coupled with a live demonstration performance featuring the top martial arts talent of North America.
Helen Liang's Triumph Over Tragedy: Healing Cancer with Tai Chi, Qigong, and Chinese Medicine Part 1 - June 12, 2017
Miracles are in short supply these days, though we seek them daily. Sometimes we find them, or possibly they find us. Helen Liang, a beautiful young girl, lay dying in a Vancouver, Canada hospital bed, the victim of a rare and aggressive form of lymphoma (cancer). After a devastating course of chemotherapy failed to eradicate the disease, doctors told her that she had only two weeks to live.
Taiji Practice Requirements - May 31, 2017
Although you can practice any way you want, the best way to practice taiji or qigong is in a group. It does not matter how big the group is; what does matter is if the group energy is together or in sync when everyone goes the same speed and same direction. In old Chinese tradition, the group energy is very often emphasized.
Introducing YMAA Author: Helen Liang's Early Training Years - May 7, 2017
Bestselling YMAA author Helen Liang was born in a very remote village in China's Sichuan province during the Cultural Revolution, where her father had been forced to relocate after graduating from University for "re-education." Her father, the legendary martial artist Liang Shou-Yu was already a famous kung fu teacher, highly educated, and one of China's top coaches.  Grandmaster Liang was raised on Emei mountain, where he started training at the age of six with his renowned grandfather, Liang, Zhi-Xiang.
Celebrate World Tai Chi Qigong Day with Tai Chi—The Art of Fitness - April 24, 2017
The World Tai Chi Qigong Day will be held on April 29, 2017.  The whole world celebrates this day by participating in tai chi and qigong practice in a natural setting at 10 a.m. in all different cities, from time zone to time zone.  I will be <a href="http://www.taichihealing.org/">celebrating</a> at Bay Front Park, Sarasota, Florida (near Marina Jack.) This is a free event that I highly recommend to people of all ages and all different physical abilities. Come to try and to experience the World Qi Wave; to feel it, embrace it, and to use it to benefit our body, mind, and our spirit.
What is Taiji? - April 3, 2017
Taiji is an ancient Chinese exercise for health improvement, spiritual growth, disease prevention, healing assistance, and self-defense. It involves slow, circular movements; mental concentration; breath control; relaxation; and meditation.