EXERCISE / MARTIAL ARTSIn the Western world, exercise focuses mainly on physical fitness and developing muscular strength. In the East, exercise systems balance the body, mind, and spirit. This balance is strongly emphasized in the Taoist system of Tao Yin, one of the oldest and most diverse forms of exercise in China. Tao Yin focuses on creating balance between internal and external energies and revitalizing the body, mind, and spirit with a combination of strength, flexibility, and internal energy exercises. Its ultimate goal is for the practitioner to become pure, responsive, and full of energy, like a [...] Energy Balance through the Tao Master Mantak Chia introduces 45 fully illustrated Tao Yin exercises to Western readers. He explains the history behind the practice and its connections to other complementary Chinese exercise forms, such as tai chi. In this book Chia focuses on the lying and sitting positions of Tao Yin, which improve health and structural alignment and, once mastered, strengthen movements and postures in standing positions. The benefits of these remarkably simple exercises include harmonizing chi, developing strength and flexibility through tendon stretching, relaxing the abdominal muscles and the diaphragm, releasing toxins through the breath, and training the "second brain" in the lower abdomen to coordinate and direct these processes.MANTAK CHIA, a student of several Taoist masters, founded the Universal Healing Tao System in 1979. He has taught and certified tens of thousands of students and instructors from all over the world and tours the United States annually, giving workshops and lectures. He is the director of the Tao Garden Integrative Medicine Health Spa and Resort and the Universal Healing Tao training center in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, and the author of twenty-five books, including the bestselling The Multi-Orgasmic Man.