Title: A Book of Tai Chi
Author: Calvin E. Dallas
Publisher: PageTurner Press and Media
ISBN: 979-8886220285
Pages: 50
Genre: Educational / Self-Improvement
Reviewed by: David Allen
Hollywood Book Reviews
Walk through any park – especially in spring or summer – and you’re bound to see people assuming unusual postures, moving in strange and beautiful concert with each other and the world around. They are practicing blocks, moves, positions. They are uniting the inner and outer, substance and void by means of contemplation, by physical gestures that mimic the clouds, the trees, the rivers. They are practicing Tai Chi.
Tai Chi (or Tai Chi Chuan) is a venerable discipline, that, arising from the east, has found widespread application in every corner of the earth. Author Calvin E. Dallas teaches and practices and writes about this art from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Calvin Dallas is also a poet. His writing opens the door to a flood of metaphors and imagery that not only illustrates the practice, but provides an amazing field map for meditation and further exploration. He explains his passion for Tai Chi originated in childhood, when he became “magnetized” by martial arts movies. His enthusiasm, innocence and energy shine through on every page of this incandescent volume. Tai Chi is a hieroglyphic form of our relationship with the Universe.
A Book of Tai Chi is an inspiration to those who want to work on themselves; who seek their place in the Universe; who would like to tap into the power of the world at large and access unimagined reserves of energy. The acolyte learns to match the tumult of the outer world with a corresponding reduction of his or her own pace. The ‘simple’ act of tying shoelaces…of doing anything in real space and time…becomes a sacred ritual, a single act of creation set against the backdrop of nature’s contraction, expansion, and flow. The author, using the language of Tai Chi, speaks about ‘vanquishing the opponent.’ This is the language of ‘meridians’, force fields; it is a language that lives and breathes. Visualization is key to the effective practice of the discipline. Allusion to the Book of Changes (the I Ching) adds to the depth and richness of reading Dallas. To his vast credit, Dallas cannily points out that the major opponent is within.
Dallas breaks it all down, serving it up in lyric and accessible portions which stand alone as prose poems, as snapshots of the Universe. His description of The Fire Technique, the Wood Technique, of physical techniques such as circling, such as ‘moving like the clouds’, explain the appeal and charm of this healthful, invigorating technique. But in Dallas’ hands, it is more than a technique. Tai Chi can be a way of life and renewal. Breathe deep, read this book, and let it in.