Regarding this long promised third volume of my “Warriors of Stillness” trilogy, I first want to apologize to my baquachang friends, for it is not about baqua as originally planned. Reminiscent of John Lennon’s line that “life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans,” I found I was not meant to travel far down the baqua path. Instead, I continued my growth through deeper study of taijiquan and yiquan under the tutelage of Grandmaster Sam Tam.

The working title of Vol. 3 is “Warriors of Perception: Sensory-Motor Integration in the Internal Martial Arts.” In it I try to elucidate once more both the theoretical basis and practical aspects of the internal martial arts, and correlate them with the findings of modern biology, especially neuroscience. If all goes as planned, publication will occur in late 2009.
If you would like to be notified of the publication date, just drop me an email at (jandiep@earthlink.net).

Contents

• Introductory
  • Taoism and the Polarity Paradigm
  • The Internal Martial Arts as a Way to Health and Enlightenment
• I. The Qi Stage: Cultivating Health
  • 1. The Balancing Act of Bipedal Posture
    • The Evolution of Bipedal Posture
    • The Balance Reflex
    • The Cerebellum –Balance Central
    • Stillness as Movement
  • 2. Standing Meditation
    • Securing the Bottom and Building the Foundation
    • Suspending the Top and Expanding Awareness
    • Cultivating the Center and Breathing Naturally
    • Six Directions Training and Developing the Sphere
    • Standing Meditation and the Startle Response
    • Indications and Contra-indications
  • 3. Posture in Movement
    • Bone & Joints; Levers and Fulcrums
    • Muscle as a Functional Polarity Structure
    • Alpha and Gamma Neurons
    • Muscle Spindles and Tendon Organs and The Stretch & Tendon Reflexes
    • Standing meditation
    • Reflex Actions and Fixed Action Patterns (FAPs)
    • Conscious Movement and the Grammar of Internal Martial Art Movement
    • Movement as Stillness
• II. The Jing Stage: Transforming Health into Power
  • 4. Growing the Frame
    • Connective Tissue Matrix
    • Chinese Internal Arts and Connective Tissue
    • Types of Muscular Exertion
    • Isotonic and isokinetic movement
    • Mutual Innervation and Eccentric Contraction
    • The Practice of Movement
    • The Body as Tensegrity Structure
    • Tendon Strength and Human Tensegrity
    • Tensegrity Strength Training
  • 5. The Power of the Center
    • The Center and Periphery in Biological Pulsation
    • Center and Periphery in internal Martial Arts
    • Musculature of the Abdominal Cavity
    • Air and Water: Pneumatics and Hydraulics
    • The Dome of Power
    • Cultivating the Dome
    • The Limits of Power
• III. The Yi Stage: Developing Awareness to Control the Use of Power
  • 6. The Neurology of Sensory-Motor Integration
    • Polarities in brain structure and organization
    • Evolution of Central Nervous System
    • Intake: The Flow of Perception
    • Output: Motor Pathways
    • Yi as Sensory Motor Interface
    • Yi as polarity structure
    • Evolution of Cortical Specialization
    • Movement and the Hemispheres
  • 7. Sensory-Motor Integration in the Internal Martial Arts
    • The Strategy of Readiness
    • Do You Believe in Magic?
    • The Time it Takes to Move
    • The Doors of Mis-Perception
    • The Perception of Pressure and Capturing the Center
    • The Laboratory of Pushing Hands
    • The Power of Yielding
    • The Power of Sticking
    • Bouncing and Uprooting
    • Unlearning Hardwired Reflexes
• IV. The Shen Stage: Transcending Power through Enlightenment
  • 8. The Path of Wu Wei
    • Master Ting-Carving with the Spirit
    • Wu Wei in the Internal martial Arts
    • Yi and Shen
    • Obstacles on the Path
  • 9. Biology of Transcendence
    • Chaotic Movement
    • Ritualistic Movement
    • The Experience of Non-Being
    • The Experience of a Supreme Being
    • The Experience of Fellow Beings
  • 10. A Modern Grandmaster’s Journey
    • Sam Tam, Martial Artist
    • Shadow Boxing In Seclusion
    • Reappearing in Public
    • Sam Tam, Sifu
    • Sam Tam, Taisi