CHIA, Mantak 1944-

PERSONAL: Born April 4, 1944, in Bangkok, Thailand. Education: Studied Taoism with various masters in China; also studied Western medicine and anatomy.

ADDRESSES: Office—Tao Garden Health Spa and Resort, 274 Moo 7, Luang Nua, Doi Saket, Chiang Mai 50220, Thailand. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Natural Healing Center, Thailand, founder; Healing Tao Center (originally named Taoist Esoteric Yoga Center), founder and director, beginning 1979; also established centers in other U.S., British, and German cities. Also worked as a manager for Gestetner Co. (office equipment manufacturer).

WRITINGS:

Awaken Healing Energy through the Tao: The Taoist Secret of Circulating Internal Power, Aurora Press (New York, NY), 1983.

(With Michael Winn) Taoist Secrets of Love: Cultivating the Male Sexual Energy, Aurora Press (New York, NY), 1984.

Taoist Ways to Transform Stress into Vitality: The Inner Smile, Six Healing Sounds, Healing Tao Press (Huntington, NY), 1985.

(With Maneewan Chia) Healing Love through the Tao: Cultivating Female Sexual Energy, Healing Tao Books (Huntington, NY), 1986.

Chi Self-Massage: The Taoist Way of Rejuvenation, Healing Tao Books (Huntington, NY), 1986.

Iron Shirt Chi Kung I: Once a Martial Art, Now the Practice that Strengthens the Internal Organs, Roots Oneself Solidly, and Unifies Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Health, Healing Tao Books (Huntington, NY), 1986.

(With Maneewan Chia) Fusion of the Five Elements I: Basic and Advanced Meditations for Transforming Negative Emotions, Healing Tao Books (Huntington, NY), 1989.

(With Maneewan Chia) Chi Nei Tsang: Internal Organ Chi Massage, Healing Tao Books (Huntington, NY), 1990.

(With Maneewan Chia) Awaken Healing Light of the Tao, Healing Tao Books (Huntington, NY), 1993.

(With Juan Li) The Inner Structure of Tai Chi: Tai Chi Chi Kung I, illustrated by Juan Li and Michael Abbey, Healing Tao Books (Huntington, NY), 1996.

(With Douglas Abrams Arava) The Multi-Orgasmic Man: Sexual Secrets Every Man Should Know, HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 1996.

Chi Nei Tsang II: Internal Organ Chi Massage Chasing the Winds, edited by Sarina Stone, Universal Tao Publications (Chiang Mai, Thailand), 2000.

The Multi-Orgasmic Couple: Sexual Secrets Every Couple Should Know, HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 2000.

(With William U. Wei) Sexual Reflexology: Activating the Taoist Points of Love, Destiny Books (Rochester, VT), 2003.

Taoist Cosmic Healing: Chi Kung Color Healing Principles for Detoxification and Rejuvination, Destiny Books (Rochester, VT), 2003.

Tan Tien Chi Kung: Empty Force, Perineum Power and the Second Brain, edited by Colin Campbell, Universal Tao Publications (Chiang Mai, Thailand), 2002.

Tan Tien Chi Kung: Foundational Exercises for Empty Force and Perineum Power, Destiny Books (Rochester, VT), 2004.

(With Dirk Oellibrandt) Taoist Astral Healing: Chi Kung Healing Practices Using Star and Planet Energies, illustrations by Udon Jandeee, Destiny Books (Rochester, VT), 2004.

Golden Elixir Chi Kung, Destiny Books (Rochester, VT), 2005.

Secret Teachings of the Tao Te Ching: Mantak Chia and Tao Huang, Destiny Books (Rochester, VT), 2005.

Also author of Esoteric Taoist Yoga, Taoist Esoteric Yoga Center and Foundation (Chinatown, NY).

SIDELIGHTS: Mantak Chia is a teacher, healer, entrepreneur, and author. He was born to Christian Chinese parents, but he showed an early interest in Buddhism and began studying meditation with Buddhist monks at age six. He went on to study Taoist practices, formulas, and methods of internal alchemy under a master known as the White Cloud Hermit, Master Yi Eng. He has also studied Thai boxing, Tai Chi Chuan, Aikido, Esoteric Taoism, Kundalini yoga, and Buddhist Palm, as well as Western medicine and anatomy. All of these disciplines influence Chia's own methods of self-cultivation and spiritual development, which he calls the Healing Tao or Universal Tao system. To advance this system, Chia established the Natural Healing Center in Thailand and, five years later, the Healing Tao Center in New York. Other centers have since opened in Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, London, England, and Bonn, Germany, and he has certified more than 1,000 instructors and practitioners in the Universal Tao system. In his writings Chia most often focuses on the development of sexual energy. Writing for PositiveHealth.com, Christopher Larthe called Chia "probably the most quoted, misquoted, and plagiarized of writers on esoteric sex."

In the Universal Tao system, meditative and internal energy practices are used to promote physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Concepts include opening energy channels in the body and improving the harmony of energies coming from internal organs. Chia focuses on introducing such ancient and "secret" ideas to Western students, whom he describes as particularly interested in sexual practices. He explains that a blocking of sexual energy creates emotional troubles and illness. Among Chia's titles on sexual well-being is The Multi-Orgasmic Man: Sexual Secrets Every Man Should Know. With coauthor Douglas Abrams Arava, Chia provides introductory chapters about anatomy and then offers exercises and instructions, including how to experience a whole body orgasm that is separate from the orgasm that accompanies ejaculation.

In a review of The Multi-Orgasmic Man for Natural Health, Kurt Tidmore advised that the book is nonjudgmental regarding sexual orientation and habits, and while "written in a how to style not unlike an auto repair manual, is pretty good." Tidmore concluded: "Chia and Arava have written a book that some men might find a little obscure in places but, taken as a whole, seems to be an excellent operator's manual for every fellow's favorite appendage."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

Religious Leaders of America, 2nd editon, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1999.

periodicals

Business World, June 4, 1998, review of The Multi-Orgasmic Man: Sexual Secrets Every Man Should Know, p. 1.

Natural Health, December, 1996, Kurt Tidmore, review of The Multi-Orgasmic Man, p. 144.

Whole Life Monthly, October, 1987, Sam Webster, "Mantak Chia Interview: Taoist Master Teachers Natural Flow of Energy," pp. 28-29.

online

PositiveHealth.com, http://www.positivehealth.com/ (October 13, 2004), Christopher Larthe, "Mantak Chia—A Modern Taoist Master."

Tai Chi Union Web site, http://www.taichiunion.com/ (November 13, 2004), Ronnie Robinson and Bob Lowey, "International Healing Tao: The Work of Master Mantak Chia."*