Christina Barea

This is a great introduction to qigong, with a balance of theoretical information and choreography. I was already exposed to qigong prior to reading this book, and found it a good complement to what I learned in class. Most of the book is taken up with photographs and descriptions of movements, and this is very well done and the instructions are surprisingly clear. If you don’t have access to qigong classes and are looking for a general introduction to one variety of qigong, this would be a great place to start.… (more)

I think exercise books in general tend to be difficult to read. I have a hard time picturing the movements and do much better when I have someone right in front of me showing me what to do. The photo illustrations in Qigong Illustrated were very helpful in getting past this difficulty. When I found the text instruction confusing I could look at the photo and usually figure out the movement.

Barea does a great job at simplifying the Chinese terms used in qigong while retaining the importance of the ideas behind them. I love that she acknowledged what a complex system qigong is while encouraging the reader to not get so caught up in the complexity that you never actually start moving. Her encouragement to just start without worrying about doing everything perfectly is exactly what I needed to hear because I tend to not try something unless I know I can do it the 'right' way.

I really like the way this book is laid out with the initial chapters working through the ideas inherant in qigong, moving through the elements of a qigong routine, and then finally going through a few sets of exercises focusing on different conditions. The exercise routines were well written with the written description of the movement accompanied by a picture and then a picture sequence at the end of each routine which demonstrates the overall flow.

Visually the book is also very well laid out. The text is easy to read with good use of headers and bold font for directions. Various colored boxes are also used to set apart tables and other important text blocks. The photographs are clean without a distracting background so the position of the model can be seen clearly.

Overall, I believe Qigong Illustrated will be a great reference book and I am looking forward to starting my own qigong practice.… (more)

As someone who has always enjoyed yoga, I've long been interested in QiGong but never had a concrete place to start practicing from. (I know what a difference a great or not-so-great teacher can make on a class, and didn't want to jump in to the field without having an idea of what it was like first.) This book is a very nice place to start. While the explanations can be a little uneven sometimes, having color photos of each step in the sequence/movement is incredibly helpful. I'm very glad to have received this book through the ER program and have started incorporating QiGong into my weekly schedule. 3 1/2 stars… (more)