Awaken Healing Light of the Tao by Mantak Chia
As with many of us, I seek not Enlightenment (yet), I seek to understand qigong. What is qi? Specifically. As a Western scientist, I want to know what qi is/does. Is it physiologic? Is it truly spiritual? Psychological? A mixture? What I do know is that it is not something that someone can teach, or prove/disprove. Once I find the answer, I can have that answer only for myself.
That being said, this book by Mantak Chia is an extremely long, comprehensive, step-by-step guidebook on establishing the Microcosmic Orbit through a series of meditation practices ranging from the beginning to the advanced. Some reviewers are arguing that it is right/wrong, that imagery is right/wrong (let me guess, you're from the Kumar Frantzis camp, right?)-- well I'm here to tell you that I'm simply looking for what works. I don't care about right/wrong. Does it work for me? Chia goes on to explain that eventually, you can dispense with such ancillary tools as focusing on the breath, or imagery, or others, but in the beginning, they help facilitate mastery.
This was a great book. A nice roadmap of things to try. I've been trying now for awhile, and I believe I am feeling my microcosmic orbit, the energies that Chia describes from the earth and cosmic forces. I have even begun experiencing, ironically, what seems very much like the "mindstream" described by BK Frantzis in his Water Meditation Books (which I have also reviewed), by using some of Chia's techniques. Ironical, eh?
So far, I have gathered together an eclectic sequence that WORKS FOR ME. This is a great source of information for meditation techniques. I have adapted some from Frantzis, as well as from translations from Cleary and others. On top of formal instruction in regular classwork.
I doubt I'll use it all, but for any of you out there looking for at least one roadmap, this is a good one, IMO. I think there are many paths to this journey. This is one path. I will probably walk many paths before espousing a route of my own...