Thunder Dragon Neigong and Alchemical Arts

Few concepts are as grossly misunderstood as the Principle of Gender. Far from a social construct, it is one of the pillars of reality.

The Principle of Gender: The Creative Dance of Yin and Yang And now, in this final installment of our series exploring the Seven Hermetic Principles and their relationship to the alchemical path and the internal martial arts, we arrive at the seventh and last principle: the Principle of Gender.This is easily one of the most misunderstood principles in the mo...

Modern Tai Chi practice has largely become synonymous with slow, gentle movement. Traditional training is quite different.

Soft, Strong, and Balanced: Why Authentic Taijiquan Requires More Than Relaxation Among the many misconceptions surrounding Taijiquan, perhaps none is more widespread than the belief that the art is simply about relaxing. Ask the average person what makes Taiji unique, and they will likely describe slow, graceful movements performed with complete softness. While this image certai...

One of the foremost challenges in a mentally scattered and emotionally undisciplined society is to tame and train the infamous monkey mind.

From Monkey Mind to Mastery: Xin, Yi, and Zhi in Internal Cultivation We live in an age in which people are far more likely to emote than to think. Personal feelings have been elevated to the status of truth, while objective reality has been pushed aside—if it is acknowledged at all. A person no longer needs facts, logic, or evidence. They need only to declare how t...

One of the greatest misconceptions about Taiji is that it is complete softness. Qi cannot flow without softness, but it cannot be cultivated without a sturdy vessel.

Traditional internal cultivation takes place within four distinct but interrelated types of training.

The Four Pillars of Internal Cultivation: How to Organize Taijiquan and Qigong Training for Real Results One of the greatest challenges modern practitioners face in the internal arts is not only motivation, nor even access to instruction—it is organization. Taijiquan and Qigong contain many methods, many training approaches, and many layers of depth. To the typical student, it can quickly become conf...

Modern Tai Chi practitioners often forget that Taijiquan is a martial art. I always say, I can spot from a mile away a Tai Chi teacher who's never been in a fight. The fact is, even if you're only training for health, the same structural alignments, body mechanics, and tissue qualities that make Taijiquan an effective and powerful martial art are the same attributes that make it effective for improving and supporting health. If you've never done any real fighting, I can guarantee you don't have a good grasp of what these qualities are. Without these inner qualities, Tai Chi becomes hollow performance.