Rick taught me more about harnessing my inner energy in 20 minutes than martial arts had taught me about expending it in 20 years. Taking advantage of Rick’s decades of insightful and inventive study helps me to be healthier and more powerful with every class.
Learning from Rick Barrett’s books, videos and retreats continue to feed my soul, mind and body. Anyone, no matter what age or level of experience, will gain insight and serenity from any of his teachings.
I have been practicing and teaching taijiquan for 42 years. Twenty six years ago I started studying with Rick Barrett. I am constantly inspired, challenged and strengthened by his understanding of forms: the physical, mental, spirtual aspects and energy flow. To me, it doesn’t matter what level you are in your practice, anyone will benefit from his teachings.
Rick’s presentation of Tai Chi principles had a profound impact on my understanding of my primary area of martial arts study in Pencak Silat.
Rick’s teachings on reaching, grounding, and being present are principles I now carry with me in my every day life. The methods I’ve learned in his classes have become an instant means of stress relief to tap into, and have even improved my focus and performance in snowboarding and other sports.
Rick’s Tai Chi work is very high level. I’ve adapted his teachings and specifically the finger pointing into my Hung Ga training and it has helped tremendously. Also improved my golf game.
A teaching so immediately empowering that it feels like Popeye’s spinach can. I ta-da-ta-da-da-ta-da all day.
Rick Barrett has been a martial arts brother of mine for over twenty five years. In these decades we have had the good fortune of studying with some of the most accomplished teachers of external and internal arts. Some were true artists, some true fighters. In the department of internal arts none managed to translate their full skills into an easily translated, digested and integrated teaching. Rick, being a true alchemist, has managed to decipher this black magic term into a methodical and easily absorbed system. His dismantling of the true physics of internal martial arts has managed to show me things that have eluded me in thirty five years of study. The true leap from Newtonian mechanics into Quantum application and magic as promised by internal artists is effortlessly accessed. Most importantly, love is the paradigm through which one is bathed in his transmission of this ancient art form. Empty your cup and take a drink of your true nature while learning to be truly embodied. And need be, kick some effort less butt with a smile on your face and love in your heart.
Rick Barrett’s book on Tai Chi may be the most insightful and informative book on the subtleties of the art that I have ever read.
There is a treasure trove of concise and practical knowledge contained in these pages.
He is articulate, thoughtful and very successful at transmitting many of the underlying principals of this practice. Something that many traditional teachers rarely address.
My students refer to it regularly as a source of inspiration for them.
Make no mistake this book is not just theoretical, he has proven time and again in competition, that what he teaches … works!
Your book has been amazing. Deepest gratitude to you. You have opened new doorways of awareness that are breathtaking. The awareness of the connective tissue and its function physically as well as its energetic mirror are invaluable to any bodyworker…Practicing song. Amazing!
Hi Rick,
I am a big fan of your book. I work with unwell male executives, many of whom have been told to quit their job because their stress level was making them so sick. I work with them using yoga and meditation to rechannel their energy so that they can continue to do what they love without the negative impact.
Your book has provided them some ah-has and specific actions (and then more ah-has) for working with their energy. In turn, it has been a bridge to help me help them really relax as well as become stronger and more stable.
Thank you.