Women and Asian Martial Traditions
Edited by Michael DeMarco
Via Media 2016
US$18.95 paperback, 174 pages, illustrated 

 The Journal of Asian Martial Arts continues to compile special-interest anthologies of material from past issues. The latest offering is a group of twelve articles about women in the martial arts:

 • The Role of Arms-Bearing Women in Japanese History by Ellis Amdur

• Martial-Acrobatic Arts in Peking Opera With a Brief Analysis of Fighting Movement in a Scene from The Three-Forked Crossroad by Haishing Yao

• War and Worship: Evolution of Martial Music and Dance in India by Bandana Mukhopadhyay
• Ulla Werbrouck: Olympic and European Judo Champion Retires by David Finch

• The Art of Conversation: Random Flow Training in Visayan Corto Kadena Eskrima by Majia Soderholm
• The Ki to a Lasting Marriage: The Application of Internal Martial Arts Principles in the Marital Dojo by Richard Vogel

• North Korean Kye Sun Hui, An Extraordinary Olympic Judo Player by David Finch

• The Maiden of Yue: Fount of Chinese Martial Arts Theory by Stanley E. Henning
• Fighting Women of Kabuki Theater and the Legacy of Women's Japanese Martial Arts by Deborah Klens-Bigman
• Learning India's Martial Art of Kalarippayattu: Unsettled Ecologies of Gender, Class, Culture, and Ethnicity by Sara K. Schneider
• Why Women Need Sunzi's Book The Art of War by Becky Sheetz-Runkle
• Silat-Based Randai Theatre of West Sumatra Makes Its U.S. Debut by Kirsten Pauka

The Professor: T'ai Chi's Journey to the West

"The Professor:  T'ai Chi's Journey to the West" chronicles Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing's decade in the United States. Told in the words of Cheng's direct students and family, this feature documentary film casts a spell that brings the 1960s to life again...."The Professor" is highly recommended for anyone interested in t'ai chi, Asian martial arts and spiritual disciplines, Chinese-American history, later twentieth-century America, and in understanding the nuances of global cultural exchange on a very personal level. Beyond this, "The Professor" is an intimate look at how big an impact one person can have on so many lives."
Read the complete review of this recently released movie at the Cheng Biography blog.

World Tai Chi and Qigong Day 2016

Join people from across the globe in this great health-inspiring event! At 10 in the morning, local time, on Saturday, April 30th, people will gather to practice Taiji and Qigong of all styles, in an effort to share these wonderful healing exercises from ancient China. Taiji and Qigong help balance your energy, strengthen your body, focus your mind, improve your balance, and help you relax!

Check your local newspapers for information, or check the organizers' website.

Mother Earth News on Tai Chi

 
A great article on the benefits of tai chi:

"My senior year of college, a friend and I signed up for a tai chi class offered on campus. We thought it would be an entertaining hour or two every week, and it gave us a few extra course credits. But a week or two in, I realized that the classes were actually something I really loved and valued as a part of my week. I looked forward to the few hours each week where I got to calm my mind and move my body at the same time." Read the whole article by Chelsea Clark at Mother Earth News.

Tai Chi Wisdom

 

Here's cartoonist James Sturm's take on longtime teacher Maggie Newman's tai chi wisdom. See Medium for full cartoon story.

Books and Media Received Fall 2015

The Mind Inside Tai Chi: Sustaining a Joyful Heart by Henry Zhuang (YMAA 2015)
Taichi: The Story of a Chinese Master in America by Marc Meyer (Booklocker 2014). A novel about a Chinese-American family and their immigrant uncle, and the martial arts.
The Nature of Daoist Meditation by Robert James Coons (Tambuli 2015)
I Ching: The Book of Change by David Hinton (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2015). A unique rendering of the divination classic by an experienced translator. See our full review at Contemplating I Ching.
I Ching: The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Oracle and Book of Wisdom (Penguin Classics 2015)
The Qing Dynasty and Traditional Chinese Culture by Richard J. Smith (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 2015)

Kung Fu Bear Form

 Pure inspiration!