Title: Unleash the Dragon Within: Transform your Life with the Kung-Fu Animals of Ch’ien-Lung
Author: Steven Macramalla, Ph.D
Publisher: Blue Snake Books
Published: Aug. 29, 2019
Pages: 317 (with lots of references for his research)
Format and price: Paperback ($19.95) and E-Reader ($12.95)
Where to get it: Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble Booksellers
Content
Kung fu is a generic term for success “practiced skill”, not a style of martial art. Kung fu means that one has to put time and effort (and lots of that!) into his or her chosen activity. There are traditions of martial arts, and many of these traditions have much more than fighting skills alone. The practices presented in “Unleash the Dragon Within: Transform your Life with the Kung-Fu Animals of Ch’ien-Lung” are not laden with techniques for fighting. The dragon here is a psychological well-being that comes through from certain practices of mental awareness training and physical training.
Steven Macramalla is a seasoned practitioner of Ch’ien-Lung, one of the many Daoist traditions, for improving one’s life. He is the chief instructor at Six Animals Kung Fu in California, and what impressed me most is that he is a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and lectures at San Jose State University. It caught my attention because the cognitive and neurological explanations of kung fu training are hard to find in a teacher, let alone a book, and a very important aspect of martial arts that is all too often overlooked.
We each have a unique personality that is hard to define scientifically. But through the imagery of his animal archetypes (personalities) can help define, through artistic and imagery means, to help guide us on our life’s path as well as our training.
The book also teaches some basic very important parts to our practice: structure and energy flow. Steven is fairly specific (as professors are) to aid the reader in his/her practice. Although specific, it also goes over what one could feel.
Pros
Technique based martial arts books are honestly published too much. Macramella skips that. He teaches some movements, but it is not the core of the book, they help the reader progress in training. He wants to expand the meaning of kung fu to include our brain, mind and psychological part of the training, not just “bloody knuckles and broken bones” as Master Sifu said in Kung Fu Panda. I really enjoyed the in-depth understanding of the archetype (general personality types) of his lineage’s six animals, and how we can apply them to our lives. It is not a boring psychology class textbook, either. He uses his personal stories and stories of students and friends as examples. He has a fun way of writing that can keep you involved.
It’s one of those books to underline, contemplate, maybe sleep on it, then read some more. These kinds of books are hard to find, and when you do, keep them handy for reference. He is thoughtful in his technical terms combined with storytelling to make it personable and relatable, and he added a lot of appendixes for quick reference for your practice. There is a lot of notes and references from his research.
Cons
I did have a problem with the lack of use of Chinese terms, and the fact that he instead used yoga terms for them. Since it is a Chinese tradition, it took me by surprise. For example, he uses Sanskrit for energy centers and at least one time he used a term for Chinese medical massage (tui-na) for a physical exercise of qi gong called tu-na. (It is an easy mistake, one has and ‘i’ and the other does not.) I am probably nitpicking, but these can cause confusion. And oddly enough, the book’s greatest strength is also it’s greatest weakness. As well written and not boring, it is not an easy read. Many can get lost trying to figure out what the archetypes mean to themselves as well as what other psychological ideas are. And since most people are not into psychology, I feel many might struggle with it. I have to read it slowly, and I’ll have to go back again to see if I truly understand his teachings (which is actually a good thing).
Conclusion
I give it a 4 star. He is trying to tackle a complicated system and explain the psychology of animal archetypes into a person’s daily life. Not an easy task. I truly appreciate all his time and effort he spent into this book. Overall, if you are an open-minded martial artist and want to learn as much as you can, then this is a book for your reading and library and I recommend that you read it!.
Find “Unleash the Dragon Within: Transform your Life with the Kung-Fu Animals of Ch’ien-Lung” here!: https://www.amazon.com/Unleash-Dragon-Within-Transform-Chien-Lung/dp/1623173655
Steven Macramalla, Ph.D
I recently finished writing my book on virtue. Please go to my Facebook page of Virtues Path and follow for more essays on virtue. Also, please visit my website thevirtuespath.wordpress.com
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Dear Mr Snowiss, Thank you for a thoughtful and generous review. I am so pleased you enjoyed the book, and I am grateful you explained what you enjoyed so clearly. It’s not easy to do a review (I know) and this was a great. Thank-you!