Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao by Mantak Chia
This book clearly describes two meditation exercises to improve the flow of chi through the energy circuits in the body. The first involves sending positive energy to your internal organs and other structures so that they can function better. The second is the "microcosmic orbit," a very ancient practice which moves energy in a circular motion up the spine, over the head, down the front of the body, and back up the spine. At the end of this exercise the chi is then focused in the Tan Tien center, right below the navel.
The microcosmic orbit differs from the Hatha Yoga practice of raising the kundalini energy up the spine in that in the Taoist practice you always bring the energy back down, thus grounding it. Much of the purported danger in these sorts of energy exercises comes from leaving the energy "raised," which sometimes happens in Hatha Yoga, or so I am told.
Thus I don't agree with the warnings that these exercises are dangerous when not practiced with a master. Although I do have a Tai chi/Chi Kung teacher, I started these exercises years ago when I was working alone. The most notable change that I have experienced doing the microcosmic orbit is that I have many more lucid dreams than ever before, plus a sense of having a clearer energy field.
It is important to note that Chia does not make any reference to Taoist yoga as a religious practice. You may do these exercises as a Taoist, a Christian, a Buddhist, a Wiccan, whatever. They are simply exercises to learn about and work with your own life-force energy.
If you are working with a teacher, this book is a good adjunct as it has diagrams of the energy pathways and certain internal organs which you should know about. If you don't yet have a teacher, the book will introduce the subject in a straightforward, simple way that you can easily work with.
An elegant daily meditation book with an environmental and Taoist perspective, 365 Tao makes Taoism accessible and practical through a year's worth of daily poetic aphorisms and teachings in clear, contemporary language.