Zen Body-Being: An Enlightened Approach to Physical Skill, Grace, and Power [Paperback]

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-Beingexplains 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 tobe."Working with Peter changed the way I move my body. I exercise, dance, and live differently…it’s not only a powerful way to live in a body but a powerful way to live in a body but a powerful way to live. His knowledge and application of body mechanics is more relevant than anything I learned in seven years of medical education."—Kate McQueen, MD; Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UTHSC-Houston"Zen Body-Beingis clearly stated. Peter’s ideas, concepts, and truths help you transform your skills, balance, grace, power, and the experience of being in your body."—Howard James, founder Hawaii T’ai Chi Ch’uan AssociationPeter Ralston has black belts in judo, jujitsu, and karate. The founder of the martial arts tradition Cheng Hsin and the school dedicated to it, he leads workshops on a wide range of disciplines.Laura Ralston is an editor, model maker, and collaborator with her husband. They live in San Antonio, TX.US