The last book that I read about TJQ was "Taijiquan: Through the Western Gate" by Rick Barrett. The author in the book is discussing about the internal power (Jin) and how it can be explained with the western (scientific) words. Jin is described as a Tensegrity (tensional integrity of the body) created by "connective tissue system" when then the energy run through it. For this relaxation (song) and mind intent (fang) are essential. I highly recommend this book to anybody that is interested in IMA or how to use internal pover (Jin). My only complaint is that the book is long 250 pages, and the contents could be described in 50 pages (so there are 200 pages of ballast)!
Tensegrity?Any body know if this is the same Tensegrity Carlos Castenada's students were teaching at places like Omega? Wow,oldyang.That four fifths is a lot of filler you waded through.
I think that no. Tensegrity ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity ) is the name for a synergy between a co-existing pairs of fundamental physical laws; of push and pull, and compression and tension, or repulsion and attraction. Carlos Castaneda only used that name for his method! In the book is described the body working as a tensegrity system.
This is tensegrity as in the soft/rigid structure used on cranes and so on. The book is ok, but as you say, a lot of it could be skipped. Certainly useful if you're looking for a possible explanation for what is going on in taijiquan.
Recently finished this book: The Good: Does suggest some useful ways of explaining where internal power comes from (connective tissue wave-like propagation & coherence of motion). The Bad: Some of the "scientific" explanations seem a bit out of the mainstream and a bit kooky. The Ugly: In order to explain a rich and mysterious eastern tradition/practice, even more bewildering and disjointed western concepts and belief systems are heaped on top of it. A mishmash and grab-bag of stuff that does not really clarify much. I agree with oldyangtaiji: If the editor had done their job, this would have been a 50 page book.
