Secrets of the Pelvis for Martial Arts: A Practical Guide for Improving Your Wujifa, Taiji, Xingyi, Bagua and Everyday Life

Michael Buhr's book fills an enormous void in the literature of martial arts. Books on martial arts, even those on the so-called "internal" martial arts, tend to be long on description of external positions and movements. Almost none of them (including those in Chinese) even begin to discuss internal bodily mechanics and feelings. Those texts that do often resort to quasi-mystical discussions. Mr. Buhr's book offers no-nonsense discussions exploring the pelvis and surrounding structures, from the inside out. This a detailed book. Detailed descriptions. Detailed diagrams. Detailed discussions of anatomy. Detailed discussions of culture and language. My teacher in Hong Kong used to implore me to "round the crotch" (圓襠, yuan dang), but, perhaps due to my own language limitations, or perhaps due to cultural pedagogical limitations, I never quite learned "how" to do that well. Mr. Buhr not only explains how to do that properly, but includes an entire, and very insightful, chapter on the Chinese concept of "round". Detailed. Thorough. In my own rather long lifetime of explorations, I have found that the "best" arts and the "best" teachers, at least for me, are those that encourage what could properly be called "research"... research into how our own bodies, and our own minds, work, step by baby step. For me, a good learning process is an empirical one: think, plan, do, feel, and then start over again, having gained a bit of information. Test, note, test again. Mr. Buhr's book offers us precisely this paradigm for learning. It also happens to be a good paradigm for doing good science, here one in which our own bodies are our laboratories, and our own perceptions and feelings are the data with which we work. This book is well-structured and well-written. Each section takes us deeper into the body, layer by layer. Mr. Buhr gives us broad overviews, detailed anatomy, and explicit instructions to achieve the "feel" appropriate for a given exploration. He accompanies these analyses with both discussions of his own explorations of his own body, and comprehensive and well-documented descriptions of, and excerpts from, both ancient and modern writings in martial arts, science, and medicine. In an unassuming and low-key manner, Mr. Buhr often frames his analyses with descriptions from his own decades-long paths through the martial arts, up to and including his work in Wujifa (無極法), the most thoroughly internally focused of the martial arts that I have encountered. From what I've read, a guiding principle there is that one should not follow on the footsteps of the masters, but rather one should seek what they sought. Wise advice. Mr. Buhr seems to live it. In sharing his explorations with us, Mr. Buhr also gives us something larger. He gives us a roadmap to what should be the common methodology of the internal arts, a roadmap that takes on our individual journeys deep into our selves. Needless to say, I like this book. If you have an interest in the internal aspects of martial arts, take a look at it. I recommend it most highly.

Don't hesitate reading it if you do really want to get the true spirit of Qigong! It's the best book I have ever read about Martial Arts and Qigong. It's not like some so-called bestsellers with fancy rhetoric to intentionally satisfy the readers. This book has scientific research backup and consolidated description about how to totally relax your body from inside. Along with the contents deepen, the mechanism of Qigong and how it works for your body are well explained from the author's unique perspective. I come from China and have great interest in Qigong. I know where its advantages are compared to variety of healthcare methods. It's an eco-friendly and fundamental way to improve your health instead of some palliatives with chemical process. If you want to really relax your body and do some spiritual cleansing by Qigong, this book is a perfect guidance to lead you to experience the whole process. It's worth reading.

Michael Buhr has really written an eye opening study, or you might think of it as an almost 100 page research paper on the pelvis as it relates to qigong and martial arts. I found the amount of research done on this topic to be very well done and detailed as this book uncovers and looks under every stone and for every bit of information you could think of relating to the topic. I personally find the reference material alone worth the price of this very reasonably priced book as opposed to other much more expensive and lesser detailed publications. Now, as a martial artist myself... I will say some of the topics covered my seem to be "a little unusual" to read about in a book about martial arts. an example of this might be when Mr Buhr covers topics of the pelvis in great detail in regards to the anus and vagina. Although having some experience in various qigong practices, I have seen mention of these although rarely to the detail as shared and covered in this book. Over half of the books bulk is made up from the 5 different very detailed appendices. Each of these are almost like little ebooks in and of themselves. Depending on your interest on the topic your value may very. I found the first 3 of the 5 appendices very interesting and with lots of links so I could read more about each. Here are a list of the three appendices I really found valuable: Appendix A: Refences to crotch, waist, hips in martial arts Appendix B: Qigong - Excerpts from books and articles in English Appendix C American - Chinese cross-cultural analysis of Round I wasn't interested in the other two appendices... That doesn't mean others may not find value in them so I'll list them here: Appendix D: Historical use of medical rectal dilators Appendix E: Chinese martial arts magazines in China As I said the book is well referenced and if I remember correctly at the end of the book the list of used references is a number of pages long with numerous link for further reading on topics covered. I always find it nice to do further read on topics to see what an author gleaned from whom and the sounding context in the referenced materials. Understand that I can be a bit of a nerd when it comes to information, so I personally found the depth and amount of information well worth the price. As always I hope you find this review valuable in your decision to buy this book or not.

useful information about structure and function of pelvic area, lots of references, issues that are not commonly address in martial arts books

It’s a difficult book if you do not experiance Tai Chi in this way . Fortunatly I do from Master Ip , Via master Ding , via ... Some of the URL’s have gone past the sell buy date , yet overall facinating and worth it if you understand your middle drift and and end movements, as it were. Not for the novis unless you are training with John Ding or a IP man practiciner or others who the ‘secret’ has been reveled to pass on !

It's a good read with good information and references to the title

Interessantes Buch mit vielen wissenschaftlichen Quellen, die in kurzen Sätzen die Essenz des Essays wiedergeben. Ich habe einen neuen Blick auf die Funktion und Wirkung der Bewegung erhalten.

Especially from a westerner who understands so much of the nuances of the "hidden" secrets. I would like to meet you in person.

This „book“ is merely a collection of bits and pieces copied together from webpages, books and articles and linked by short, often anecdotical comments by the author. The book does not reveal any „secret“ relating the pelvis to martial arts. It basically states that learning to relax the muscles of the pelvis would be beneficial, but the proposed effects are not plausible, either unphysical (a relaxed muscle conducts pressure better than a tense muscle) or ouright esoteric (qi and and such). It is actually quite hard to understand what the author wants to say. A large part of the book is passages about all kinds of subjects; the author does not work with the source material in any meaningful way, but merely copies the passages he found interesting into his book. Reading the book feels like following someone browsing the internet.