Book Review of ‘Elastic Force Chi Kung’ - created by Mark Rasmus, art and story by Jennifer Nestorovic
To start with a confession; whilst I would claim to be a bibliophile, the fact is in recent years my reading stamina has waned. This is no doubt due to too much scrolling of short-form material. The obsession is still there. I reference books constantly, look at them, smell them and sometimes even read them. Though I don’t devour the material with the speed I used to, I love them no less.
When a book such as this arrives it is such a treat because it is so readily absorbed. Easily completed in a single sitting but deep enough to keep coming back to for instruction and inspiration. It is presented in the manga style and the lovely artwork hits all the marks you would hope to satisfy the manga enthusiast or the casual reader who can’t help but be drawn to the aesthetic. The first time I saw a martial arts book in this format was back in the early 2010’s when some of the classical Japanese texts such as ‘The Book of Five Rings’ appeared in a graphic novel style. It totally blew my mind and I thought it would be unbelievably cool to have a training manual in this style. Unless I missed something it was not until 2020 when Scott Meredith’s awesome ‘Infusion’ would fulfil this wish.
If you are familiar with Mark Rasmus’ material you will know that the engine for his internal power method is grounded in Hermetics. When I first discovered this niche approach to Tai Chi and Chi Kung I was, for a variety of reasons, on the verge of giving up and looking elsewhere to further my cultivation. The Taoist cosmology never resonated with me and the physical forms were flawed and in need of evolution. Whilst I never landed on the Franz Bardon brand of Hermetics, it was back ending internal martial arts with Western magick that re-enchanted my world and suddenly made skills I had been grinding away at for decades start to work…really work! And it has been so validating to see that others on the same path have completely independently adopted a syllabus almost identical to your own (albeit the syllabus introduced by the material in the book appears to have a depth I can only aspire to). Some things in the universe are just ‘true’.
There is a time and a place for a deep dive in to a subject but more often than not it is the practice itself that answers questions, so all that is required is a primer to teach some fundamental exercises and give you the inspiration to get started. This is exactly what Elastic Force Chi Kung provides. You are guided by a cast of characters based in the classical Western pantheons through exercises such as the fundamental energetic exploration building the ball, circling techniques reminiscent of Yiquan/Taikiken and methods of issuing flavoured by various types of energy. There is guidance in there regarding the transmutation of emotions and lots more, it is quite complete. If that isn’t enough it has another layer in as much as there is a fun story narrative that is woven through the text, very clever.
I would be interested to hear a beginners perspective to see how effective this book is as an on ramp to practice. Specifically whether it points to the underlying principles just enough but not too much, it is called the mystery tradition for a reason. I suspect the balance on this is pretty good and the fun energy of the book carries the minimalist instruction.
Apparently there is a print version on the way which is incredibly exciting. Whilst reviews are of course a work of informed opinion, it is a matter of fact that print is superior to digital :-)
Review by Tim Tynan – Head Instructor W.X.T.B.A (Review is of the [print replica] Kindle version)