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Zen Body-Being: An Enlightened Approach to Physical Skill, Grace, and Power | 
 enlarge | Authors: Peter Ralston, Laura Ralston
Publisher: Frog Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $9.70
You Save: $7.25 (43%)
New (26) Used (13) from $5.04
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 205576
Media: Paperback
Pages: 200
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 1583941592
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.8019
EAN: 9781583941591
Publication Date: July 27, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Brand New Book! Excellent condition. Ships quickly!
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Product Description
In this inspiring guide, Peter Ralston presents a program of "physical education" for anyone interested in body improvement. Using simple, clear language to demystify the Zen mindset, he draws on more than three decades of experience teaching students and apprentices worldwide who have applied his body-being approach. More of a transformative guide than a specific list of exercises devoted to any particular physical approach, Zen Body-Being explains how to create a state of mental control, enhanced feeling-awareness, correct structural alignment, increased spatial acuity, and even a greater interactive presence. Exercises are simple, often involving feeling-imagery and meditative awareness, which have a profound and sometimes instant effect. Where similar guides teach readers what to do, this book teaches readers how to be.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
"It" in a Book September 13, 2008
V. K. Lin (Eugene, OR United States)
Level: Beginner to Advanced
I have got to get to a Peter Ralston seminar... I've always admired Ralston's attempts at capturing the essence of internal martial arts-- that is, that "secret" component to achieving effortless power. His "Principles of Effortless Power" is on my "must read" list for those aspiring, as I am, to attain that magical ability to absorb/redirect/emit force, and make it seem effortless. But it's a dense read, and it's largely a conceptual framework without practical exercises. Still, it always made me believe that Ralston knew what he was talking about. His "Art of Effortless Power" is a further expounding on more esoteric concepts, then a techniques book that shows exercises that Ralston has adapted from aikido, Tai Chi, and Ba Gua, primarily. They're sensitivity exercises best employed with a partner who has also developed some sensitivity.
But in Zen Body-Being, Ralston has made a breakthrough. A fabulous, clear book wherein he returns back to the important basics, and describes how he understands "it"-- that magical body-sense-- that we are all striving for. His wife, Laura, has clearly helped him articulate his ideas in terms we can understand. Even better-- a goodly number of exercises that help us expand our awareness, and give us a direction to follow in forwarding our internal development.
The magic of this book is its clarity. At last, Ralston has found a muse we can understand clearly, with exercises and practices that we can relate to. A strength of this book is that it is geared for everyone-- not just the martial artist. The exercises are do-able by anyone, and relate what Ralston is trying to convey about his conceptual framework-- his understanding. It isn't magic. It's fine-tuning what he calls "feeling-sense", "body awareness", and "body-being" among other concepts. It's turning our attention inward, and letting it just go-- living in real time, and doing it.
Anyway, I've already started using his exercises in my martial arts/Tai Chi practice. Yes, I was doing something like it all along-- but somehow, another way of trying it, another perspective, always helps. And Ralston's has really helped me. This book is great for the yogic practitioner, any athlete, dancers and other performing artists-- musicians! And those who just want to meditate! Bravo! Read this book, then do it, then read it again.
Written in simplified form... April 22, 2008
Jonathan Boutelle (Utah)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Over the years I have read all of Peter's books--many times each! This is the first book not written in Ralstonese...no doubt due to his wife's ability to translate his language into English. I also love the fact that Peter shared many personal stories and experiences that lead up to his discovery of Cheng Hsin and road to mastery. In a way, it helps us as a road map with checks and balances to make sure we're all heading down the right road.
The book is also a prelude to his other books such as "The Principles of Effortless Power". In other words, READ THIS BOOK FIRST (Zen Body-Being)!
I have studied with Peter face-to-face, taken his online courses, read/studied his other works, and met his apprentices and other students. I can only say he is top notch and has incredible ability. I highly recommend any serious student to study with Peter in a "Live" setting.
However, start first by reading this book. Then email Peter with any questions that might come up (he is very personable) and last make a trip to his ranch and get schooled in Cheng Hsin by a legit master.
Zen Body-Being March 31, 2008
Qaesar Elhaj (dubai UAE)
This book is an excellent bridge for anyone who has read 'Cheng Hsin: Principles of Effortless Power'. Or indeed for anyone interrested in internal martial arts in general. The light almost casual approach to this work, makes reading it and understanding it a joy.
I recomend this book to anyone witha a body who is interested in using it better.
A book worth studying... March 27, 2008
a student of life (SF Bay Area)
The concepts explored in this book are very hard to communicate in writing as, by their very nature, they can only be truly grasped by personal experience.
That being said, this book does an excellent job of exposing the reader to a much deeper level of what is possible in the realm of human experience.
For internal martial artists, this should be considered mandatory study material.
For anyone who is into digging beneath the surface of the experience of one's self, this book is a handy guide.
Although it is much more accessible to the average reader than his other books, it defiantly not to be considered "light reading."
Valuable guide December 28, 2007
A. L. Anderson (Albuquerque, NM)
This book is more than a good read. It provides the key groundwork for an investigation into one's body. The book deftly manuveurs one away from the usual ingrained habits, and instead gives a grounded framework from which we can become more in tune and masterful within our own bodies.
There is no secret potion found within this book. What one will find though is an effective and broken down approach to body awareness. Everything in this book is presented clearly and concisely so that in practicing these techniques one will be able to extract the valuable nectar given in the teachings. If you are seriously interested in improvement of your body awareness and functionality, then let this book be your guide.
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