A very frustrating thing when practicing tai chi, especially when learning, is the space typically required. We take a step this way and lunge that way and turn and now we’ve kicked a bookcase. Add a sword, and it’s goodnight to the light fixtures at the very least.

While a popular suggestion may be “do it outside”, we do not all have the luxury of living in a suitable climate. We also may prefer to practice in private, with no pressing urge to have an audience.

Tsao’s book, therefore, is very welcome. But how does he do it? The very notion of constriction is antithetical to tai chi, after all.

He takes the traditional forms, keeps the movements mostly the same, and simply changes the order of them. This way, the practitioner revolves around a central point. Occasionally, a movement will become a smaller circle than it was, but never in any way that would constrict movement.

Of course, an obvious question for any such book is “can one learn this from a book?” and the answer is complex, but we would lean towards yes, and insofar as one can learn any physical art from a book, this one does a fine job. It helps that it builds up progressively, too.

All in all, this book is a great choice for anyone who’s interested in taking up tai chi, and/but would like to do so without leaving their home.

Check Out “Compact Tai Chi” on Amazon Today!

You may be thinking: “that’s a bold claim in the subtitle; does the book deliver?”

And yes, yes it does.

The “resets” themselves are divided into categories:

1. Mind resets, which are mostly CBT,
2. Body resets, which include assorted somatic therapies such as vagus nerve resets, the judicious use of ice-water, what 1-minute sprints of exercise can do for your mental state, and why not to use the wrong somatic therapy for the wrong situation!
3. Behavior resets, which are more about the big picture, and not falling into common traps.

What common traps, you ask? This is about how we often have maladaptive responses to stress, e.g. we’re short of money so we overspend, we have an important deadline so we over-research and procrastinate, we’re anxious so we hyperfixate on the problem, we’re grieving so we look to substances to try to cope, we’re exhausted so we stay up late to try to claw back some lost time. Things where our attempt to cope actually makes things worse for us.

Instead, Dr. Taitz advises us of how to get ourselves from “knowing we shouldn’t do that” to actually not doing that, and how to respond more healthily to stress, how to turn general stress into eustress, or as she puts it, how to “turn your knots into bows”.

The style is… “Academic light”, perhaps we could say. It’s a step above pop-science, but a step below pure academic literature, which does make it a very pleasant read as well as informative. There are often footnotes at the bottom of each page to bridge any knowledge-gap, and for those who want to know the evidence of these evidence-based approaches, she does provide 35 pages of hard science sources to back up her claims.

Bottom line: if you’d like to learn how better to manage stress from an evidence-based perspective that’s not just “do minfdulness meditation”, then this book gives a lot of ways.

Click here to check out Stress Resets, and indeed soothe your body and mind in minutes!

Many of us will face the challenge of “aging solo”, if indeed we’re not already. The premise of this book is that while it may indeed be a challenge, it can be an exciting challenge rather than a scary one.

Thus, Dawson bids us empower ourselves to tackle it head on, proactively.

To that end, she offers her “EMPOWER” framework:

• Embrace the challenge of living solo
• Manage money mindfully while welcoming desires
• Prioritize vitality and live a vibrant life
• Own your identity; build resilience and confidence
• Weave bonds: build and maintain relationships (solo doesn’t mean lacking connections!
• Energize yourself and discover new passions
• Renew yourself and create a joyful environment

Now, as listed, those may seem a little vague, but rest assured she goes into great detail in the book, with a whole chapter for each.

For example, prioritizing vitality and energizing oneself can seem like a double-up, but the former chapter is about healthy living in the context of the solo life, while the latter chapter is more about avocation lifelong learning, overcoming fear of the unknown, and making sure to actually live this one precious life, not just go through the motions.

The style is energetic and motivational, and yet backed up with 19 pages of scientific references.

Bottom line: this book is, in essence, a roadmap for aging solo and creating the future we deserve, on our own terms. An enjoyable, practical, and uplifting read!

Click here to check out Aging Solo, and thrive as a “Soloist”!