Recommended Reading

The Books of Grandmaster Waysun Liao

Companion reading for our courses, from the lineage our teaching comes from.

Where to start: New to Tai Chi? Begin with T'ai Chi Classics. For a daily routine, add Restoring Your Life Energy.

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T'ai Chi Classics, original 1990 edition cover with red emblem
T'ai Chi Classics, new 2023 edition cover with red calligraphy
T'ai Chi Classics, classic 2000 edition cover in gold
  • Original 1990
  • Classic 2000
  • New 2023
Start here: core Tai Chi principles

T'ai Chi Classics

New translations of three essential texts of T'ai Chi Ch'uan

Paperback

First published in 1977 and in print for five decades, Master Liao's translations of the three essential texts often called the “T'ai Chi Bible” — the treatises of Chang San-feng, Wang Tsung-yueh, and Wu Yu-hsiang — come with his commentary on ch'i and jing and an illustrated sequence of the movements. Now in its fifth publishing and translated into nine languages, it remains the foundation for everything we practice.

Recognize one of these covers? It's the same classic text across three editions.

Restoring Your Life Energy book cover
Best for daily Chi Gung practice

Restoring Your Life Energy

Simple Chi Gung practices to reduce stress

Paperback · Kindle

Simple chi gung movements and meditations to reduce stress and restore your natural energy, short enough to fit into any day.

Nine Nights with the Taoist Master book cover
Best for the Tao Te Ching through story

Nine Nights with the Taoist Master

A teaching story on the Tao Te Ching

Paperback · Kindle

A translation of the Tao Te Ching woven into a teaching novel, so the ideas unfold through conversation between student and master. In the Eastern oral tradition, teachings were woven into story; the full Tao Te Ching is included at the back.

Tao: The Way of God book cover
Best for Taoist philosophy

Tao: The Way of God

Inner Tao teachings for modern life

Paperback · Kindle

The inner teachings of the Tao applied to everyday modern life: relationships, work and finding stillness.

Chi: Discovering Your Life Energy book cover
Best bite-size beginner's companion

Chi: Discovering Your Life Energy

A guide to sensing and cultivating chi

Paperback & Kindle

A clear guide to sensing and cultivating your life energy, explaining what chi is and how practice develops it.

Dimension One book cover
Best for the laws of the Tao

Dimension One

The Laws of the Universe According to Tao

Paperback

Master Liao’s primer on the primary laws of the universe as the Taoist sages understood them, unlocking the Tao Te Ching through accessible analogies you can apply to everyday life.

Pair your reading with practice

Books explain the principles; practice lets you feel them.
Explore our courses to begin.