Peaceable Dragon Teachers’ Book Recommendations – Part 1

Breath

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor, Riverhead Books, 2021.

There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Modern research shows that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can help athletic performance, rejuvenate internal organs, halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease, and even straighten scoliotic spines. Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about breathing on its head.

Breathe In, Breathe Out: Inhale Energy and Exhale Stress by Guiding and Controlling Your Breathing, by James Loehr, Jerome Agel and Jeffrey A. Migdow, Time Life Education, 2000.

Breathing deeply and fully is one of our body's basic strategies for maintaining well-being. But many of us breathe incorrectly, taking only shallow breaths. Doing so, we lose our most natural resource against emotional and physical imbalance.

The Breathing Book: Good Health and Vitality Through Essential Breath Work, by Donna Farhi, Hold Paperbacks, 1^st edition, 1996.

The author presents a simple and practical guide to reestablishing proper breathing techniques that will dramatically improve your physical and mental health. As we age, we unconsciously alter our breathing in response to stress and other demands in our lives, leaving the natural breathing of infancy behind. In this comprehensive manual you will learn how to get in touch with your lost natural breathing and develop effective strategies for using your breathing to relax your body and calm your mind in stressful situations.

Conscious Breathing: Breathwork for Health, Stress Release, and Personal Mastery, Gay Hendricks, Ph.D., Bantam, 1995.

Conscious Breathing draws on more than twenty years of research and practice to present a simple yet comprehensive program that can be used every day to improve energy, mental clarity, and physical health. The author has refined the most important practices into a mainstream healing tool that can provide dramatic benefits--ranging from lowered blood pressure and pain reduction to elimination of depression and anxiety--in as little as ten minutes a day.

Mindfulness

Deep Listening: A Healing Practice to Calm Your Body, Clear your Mind, and Open Your Heart, by Jillian Pransky with Jessica Wolf, Rodale, 2017.

Deep Listening is described as paying close and tender attention to our body, our mind, and our heart so we can meet our "stress" differently. Deep Listening allows us to pause and truly hear what our bodies and minds are telling us. It initiates our relaxation response, setting the whole body up for deep healing, growth and repair. The author integrates guided meditation, journaling and restorative yoga poses to help the reader learn to deeply listen.

A Walk in the Wood: Meditations on Mindfulness with a Bear Named Pooh, by Dr. Joseph Parent and Nancy Parent, Disney Editions, 2018.

Life lessons grounded in the simple act of slowing down and observing what is around us. Stories and goals, with easy exercises to begin or continue your journey toward mindful living.

Qigong and Tai Chi

The Art of the Straight Line: My Tai Chi, by Lou Reed, HarperOne, 2023.

For you rock fans - A collection of Lou Reed’s writings on Tai Chi, and conversations with friends, teachers and fellow practitioners. Reed started practicing martial arts in the 1980s. This work contains his unpublished writings on the technique, practice and purpose of martial arts, along with essays, observations and thoughts on meditation and life.

Cheng Tzu’s Thirteen Treatises on T’ai Chi Ch’uan, by Cheng Man-ch’ing, translated by Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo and Martin Inn, Blue Snake Books, 1985.

Contains thirteen essays on the author’s insights into T'ai Chi Ch'uan, oral secrets from his teacher, Yang Cheng'fu, and commentary on the T’ai Chi classics.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to T’ai Chi & QiGong: Illustrated, by Bill Douglas, Alpha, 4^th Edition 2012.

The author makes difficult concepts easy to understand, making T’ai Chi understandable to Western culture without requiring a grounding in Chinese culture and history.

Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain: The Essence of Tai Ji, by Chungliang Al Huang, Singing Dragon, reprint 2011.

A classic of Tai Chi literature, written with passion and eloquence, the book richly conveys the subtle yet profound principles underlying Tai Chi.

Exercising the Soul: How T'ai Chi Connects You to Your Authentic Self, by David-Dorian Ross, My Life Fitness, 1^stedition, 2012.

Learn how the movements of this art teach us to connect to our authentic self through the pathway of finding, maintaining or restoring the experience of Harmony. When we find ourselves able to create harmony amid life's constant chaos, then we unlock the doorway to our inner authentic self - our Soul.

The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi: 12 Weeks to a Healthy Body, Strong Heart, and Sharp Mind, by Peter M. Wayne, PhD, Harvard Health Publications, 2013.

A presentation on the science of the benefits of Tai Chi as well as a practical daily program for practitioners of all ages.

The Healer Within: Using Traditional Chinese Techniques to Release Your Body’s Own Medicine, by Roger Jahnke, OMD, Harper One, 1999.

Using breath techniques, meditation, gentle movement and self-massage, Jahnke invites readers to awaken their own internal healing abilities with a four part self-care routine. Translating Asian traditions of self-care for the Western mind.

The Healing Promise of Qi: Creating Extraordinary Wellness Through Qigong and Tai Chi, by Roger Jahnke, OMD, Contemporary Books, 2002.

Clear and simple explanation and overview of Tai Chi and Qigong principles and practices. Provides guidelines for tailoring a self-healing and empowerment practice to your unique goals, age, body type, personality and medical condition.

Qigong: Essence of the Healing Dance, by Francesco Garri Garripoli, Health Communications, Inc., 1999.

Gives some basics of the outward ‘exercises’ that are often associated with Qigong practice, as well as detailing movements from such systems as Wuji Qigong, Bagua Xun Dao Gong and Shaolin Qigong. The book explores the essence of this healing practice. Highly respected qigong teachers share their personal experiences with qigong. The book emphasized that we all carry within ourselves the ability to heal.

T’ai-Chi: The “Supreme Ultimate” Exercise for Health, Sport, and Self-Defense,

by Cheng Man-ch’ing and Robert W. Smith, 1st edition 1967, 11th printing,

Charles E. Tuttle Co. 1973.

Introduces T'ai-Chi as a means to a healthier life, as a sport, and as a method of self-defense. A complete step-by-step manual for beginners.

The Way of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing, by Kenneth S. Cohen, Ballentine Books, 1997.

A comprehensive work on Qigong that includes history, theory, and practice. Written by a noted scholar, this is considered by many to be a classic work on Qigong.

The Way of Virtue: Qigong Meditations to Cultivate Perfect Peace in an Imperfect World, by Robert Peng, Sounds True Adult, 2024

A guide to Qigong meditations designed to channel healing energy precisely where it is most needed. Peng describes the nature of the mind and guides you toward the awakening of Spirit, inviting profound changes in well-being. He presents Qigong meditations focused on the organ system and meridian network, as well as healing sounds, paving the way to a deeper connection with one’s spiritual practice. This work contains illustrations and audio.

Warrior Walking: A Guide to Walking as Exercise, Meditation, and Self-Defense, by Josh Holzer, Multi-Media Books, 2000.

The author integrates the essentials of the disciplines of yoga, qigong and meditation into his Warrior Walking program. A guide to using the simple act of walking to strengthen the body, calm the mind, and create a sense of protected awareness.

Reiki

Essential Reiki: A Complete Guide to an Ancient Healing Art, by Diane Stein, Crossing Press, 1^st edition, 1995.

This work presents information on all three degrees of this healing system. Some of the information contained in this work was considered secret and only to be revealed to the practitioner during Reiki training and attunements. Teaching from the perspective that Reiki healing belongs to all people, Diane Stein broke new ground in her classic guide to this ancient practice.

Sound for Health and Healing

The Humming Effect: Sound Healing for Health and Happiness, by Jonathan Goldman and Andi Goldman, Healing Arts Press, 2017.

Humming affects us on a physical level, reducing stress, inducing calmness, and enhancing sleep as well as lowering heart rate and blood pressure and producing neurochemicals such as oxytocin. The authors examine the science behind sound healing, showing how self-created sounds can rearrange molecular structure, and how humming also increases lymphatic circulation and melatonin production, releases endorphins, creates new neural pathways in the brain, and releases nitric oxide. The book details conscious humming and breathing exercises.

Sounds of Healing: A Physician Reveals the Therapeutic Power of Sound, Voice, and Music, by Mitchell L. Gaynor, M.D., Broadway Books, 1999.

Sound, voice, and music are potent tools for restoring the inner balance of the body and awakening the spirit. Dr. Gaynor was a pioneer in the field of sound medicine, exploring the science behind how and why sound and vibration affect us on a physiological level. The book outlines the sound traditions and practices that promote relaxation and body-mind healing. Dr. Gaynor was an oncologist and director of integrative medicine at the Strang-Cornell Cancer Prevention Center.