In Qi Gong, we begin with Relaxation, Flexibility, and Inner Alignment

Relaxation is an Instinctual Need

History has been hard. Modern Life is hard.

If you want to relax right now, HERE is a Breathing Exercise.

There is a reason why the oldest traditions of Embodied practices, like Qi Gong, Yoga, Shamanic Dance, Singing, Drumming, Fasting, and Meditating alone in Nature. Our Bodies and Minds NEED times of alert, silent, tranquil, and restorative ease.

Flexibility and Tensegrity

The tone and health of your muscles and connective tissues determine your Vitality and Longevity, more than any other general influence. Qi Gong focuses more on pliability, torsion, alignment and release than trying to stretch too far.

“The hard and stiff are death's companions. The soft and supple are life's companions.” – Dao De Jing, Verse 76

Inner Alignment

How is your inner sailboat?

Do you feel like you are on course, about to tip over, or smoothly gliding through the waves of Life?

Like moving towards the eye off a hurricane for safety, Qi Gong encourages finding a centered, aligned, and somewhat resolute quality of stillness. As well, most practices bring your awareness of your many centers of movement, instinct, emotion, and existential truth.

‘Go dancing and find out where the center of your unique dancing comes from.’

Module One Contents:

Stand Like A Mountain, Bend Like Bamboo, Flow like Kelp in the Ocean

• Qi Gong practices for opening your arms, shoulders, and neck
• Tai Chi exercises to reconnect and coordinate your waist and hips
• The Five Pillars of Standing Qi Gong
• Introductory Animal Play and Shapeshifting
• Floor Work - Reactivating your core, realigning your spine, stretching your whole body
• Improving pelvic floor tone
• The principles and practices of Standing and Seated meditation
• Seated versions of the fundamental exercises
• Fundamentals of Breathwork
• The subtle art of progressive relaxation
• understanding Qi
• Qi Gong philosophy and Wisdom Teachings

Qi Gong, as you probably expect, is going to introduce you to another way of experiencing the world.

In the endeavors of healing, spiritual reunion, or developing martial arts power, a direct and tangible relationship with Qi is necessary. You will learn the skills used by Chinese medicine practitioners and warrior monks to connect with the Qi of your Body and the Qi of the Natural world. Or, at least, another perspective on what to focus on when you want to invest some time on your health and happiness, and when we want to encounter new experiential realms and ways of interacting with the subtle influences in Life

Connecting with Qi

Have you ever listened to the space between the flash of lightening and the sound of thunder…?

Feeling into your physicality, somatic experience, and intuition is a doorway to many things, such as Self-Regulation, being able to relax completely, and embodied or Somatic Emotional Intelligence. You just need a regular and deeply engaging practice.

We all need a practice. If you want more than basic fitness and comfort, find a teacher with a clear, practical, and meaningful (to you) process of learning embodied awareness.

Relearn how to breathe. Fall back in love with stillness and silence. Dance like your Ancestors are watching!

Module Two Contents:

• Cultivating Qi sensitivity and the origin of the Inner smile
• Cultivating your three Dan Tian , energy gates and access points
• Standing Qi Gong Warm Up
• Generating a Qi Ball (La and Na - Pulling Open, Pressing Closed)
• Transforming your Sacred Qi Cauldron
• Cultivating interactive awareness (yi nian)
• The Balancing heaven and earth Qi Gong form
• Clearing turbid Qi and Bathing in Pure primordial Qi
• The Four Oceans of Dao
• Seated versions of the fundamental practices
• Tracing and Clearing Your Microcosmic Orbit
• Lying Qi Gong for relaxation, deeper sleep and dream healing
• Balancing your Three treasures and three regulations
• Daoist cosmology and ontology
• Qi Physiology and Aliveness
• Qi Wounds and Qi Deviation

An important principle in Qi Gong is ‘Stillness in Motion.’ In life, sometimes the slower and more present you are, is what matters the most. Research shows that calm and alert states of stillness and silence can help your nervous system reset itself and your brain physically regenerate. An essential aspect of Longevity.

Module Three Contents:

Have a Seat - Why seated Qi Gong is Essential (Especially for Modern Teachers)

• Office chair embodiment resets
• State Shift and Shapeshifting skills to rediscover animistic wholeness
• The Ten pillars of seated qi gong
• Qi Gong for rehabilitation

The four branches of Breathwork (list)

• Natural Breathing (Shun Hu Xi)
• Reverse Breathing (Ni Hu Xi)
• Vase Breathing
• Sensual Breathing
• Nei Qiang (Inner Flexible Vessel) Breathing
• Spontaneous/unrehearsed Breathing (Zi Ran Hu Xi)
• Underwater Breathing
• Water Surface Breathing
• Water Stalking Breathing
• Pore Breathing
• Bellows Breathing
• Tortoise Breathing

Seated Meditation

• The Barrier of Sitting and the Three narrow passes of the spine
• The 3 moments of Chan/Zen Meditation
• Introductory Daoist Inner Cultivation (Nei Gong)
• Introductory Self Healing (Nei Yang Gong) skills

Falling in Love with Repetition, Flow, Connection, and Meaning

Traditional Qi Gong forms, or choreographed routines are the most popular on common aspect of modern Qi Gong practice. Falling in love with repetition is the best way to include and refine the internal awareness practices and principles of more advanced Qi Gong training.

Module Four Contents:

Qi Gong Principles

• The three Treasures
• The three regulations
• Your Three Selves
• The Three Basins
• The Four Layers of Interaction
• The Five Pillars of Qi Gong
• Ting Jin – The Power of Listening
• Opening the Kua System
• Fundamentals of the Yi Jin Jing (Fascial Tensegrity)
• Your Inner Landscape (Nei Jing)
• Your Five Spines
• States of Being and State Shift
• Ba Gua circle Walking Qi Gong
• Daoist Principles of Conscious Becoming

Selected Qi Gong forms

• Balancing Between the Sky and Land (Tian Di He Yi Fa)
• 8 pieces of Brocade (Ba Duan Jin) (For Kids)
• Ba Duan Jin (Shaolin version)
• Ba Duan Jin (Daoist Swimming Dragon version)
• Tai Chi 18 gesture qi gong (Taiji Shibashi) First sequence

This Module focuses on Qi Gong practices that, not only take your practice deeper inward, but also help you with your Bone Body. The third layer or level of Qi Gong skill development is called Gǔ Fēn 骨分, or the ‘Distinctly Skeletal’ part of your practice.

Module Five Contents:

• Qi Gong routine for Agility and Balance
• Joint Pliability and Tone Review
• What is Silk Reeling (Chan Si Jin)?
• The Eight Core Silk Reeling gestures
• Exercises to connect your shoulders and hips
• To coordinate your elbows and knees
• Moving from your center through your fingers and eyes
• The Inner Art of Standing Meditation (Zhan Zhuang)
• The 8 primary postures
• The 16 inner refinements of Zhan Zhuang
• An introduction to Yi Quan
• 100 Days of Meditation – A Traditional Rite of Passage and Progress

Five Animal Frolics – State Shift and Shape-Shifting Qi Gong has a very long history of imitating animals. Being playful, becoming a Dragon or a Monkey, and allowing your body to dream it has infinite possibilities is very good for your Spirit. Breathing with intention, until you feel altered enough to see the Universe as a friend is also very good for your Spirit.

The famous TCM doctor Hua Tuo formalized this ancient Indigenous practice almost 2,000 years ago. Dr. Hua Tuo was also the first Chinese medicine  surgeon, being the first in the world to developed the use of anesthesia, and furthered the knowledge of anatomy.

Hua Tuo's incredible life ended at age 97 by being poisoned by a jealous official. His primary student lived to be well over 100 years old.  in an unfortunate manner.

Five Animal Frolics is one of the oldest forms of Qi Gong is imitating and playing like an animal. This opportunity to lose yourself while turning into a Panther, Bear, Tortoise, Ape, or Phoenix can connect you with some deeper instincts and free you from feeling stuck – on many many levels. These forms can be practiced slowly like Tai Chi or with the agility of a martial artist. The more you challenge your agility, balance, and coordination; while keeping your muscles and tendons toned and pliable the longer you will live. More importantly, the more alert and physically fit you can be up until your last days of Life.

Module Six Contents:

• Animal Frolics and the Origins of Qi Gong
• Shapeshifting and State of Being
• The Classic Five Animals (Deer Dragon, Tiger, Monkey, Crane
• Inner Nature and Outer Aliveness
• Standing Frolics
• Seated Frolics
• Sky Frolics
• Becoming An Iridescent Panther
• Becoming A Black Bear
• Becoming A Red Phoenix
• Becoming A White Ape
• Becoming A Golden Turtle

Longevity practices should bring aliveness, playfulness, and gratitude into a very long and healthy life.

NEVER stop Playing!

The Chinese characters for Yang Sheng Fa (養生法) describe feeding your leftovers to your goat, just in case you need to eat your goat to stay alive. Some aspects of Chinese philosophy are very pragmatic. Said another way, Yang Sheng Fa is a lifelong daily practice of self-care that involves all aspects of your life, even the humble and seemingly unimportant things. This approach to living a conscious and healthy life is more about flow and seasonal alignment.

The Yang Sheng Tradition can be described as Chinese Medicine 101 – if you are ill and want to understand how to get healthy, you need to know what went wrong. To understand what went wrong, you need an understanding of how your internal organs, glands, metabolic and immune systems, and your circulation works.

Becoming a Professional Qi Gong teacher is about both, the ability to be more specific, and the ability to speak to the broadest and most impactful challenges of our time. Because I am speaking about becoming a health care professional, even if it is just for yourself, your family, and friends, I want to encourage you to keep learning about health.

Module Seven Contents:

The Yang Sheng Tradition of TCM

• The Four Constitutions and The Five Taxations
• A Seasonal Diet
• Metabolic and Spiritual Fasting
• Seasonal Fitness strategies for young and old
• Mental and Emotional Hygiene
• Conscious Parenting
• Sacred Intimacy

The Ten Steps to Abundant Health

• Start with the Do’s, Work on the Don’ts
• Design Your Personal Health Journey
• Get Enough Sleep, Rest, and Play
• Fitness, Fat Loss, and Fasting Strategies
• Stabilize Your Metabolism (Jing and Shen)
• All Disease Starts in Your Gut        
• Resetting Your Immune System
• Support Your Liver’s Detoxification Pathways
• Increasing Elimination and Circulation
• Restore Your 60 Trillion Cells

In this final Module, we will spend some time having a converstation and learning about the more advanced practices of Qi Gong, Dao Yin, and Inner Cultivation (Nei Gong).

Nei Gong Meditation and Your Six Innate Minds (Yuan Xin)–Nei Gong is a life-long path of meditation and learning to become a more adaptable and present human being. If there is one final attribute to add to your Traditional Qi Gong training, it is to find some guiding wisdom and Spiritual practices to cultivate an agile and self-aware Mind, as well as a collaboration of your instinctual, intuitive, adaptive, feeling, egoic, and existential Minds.

I will also offer additional Webinars on the teaching process for any sport or skill, the ethics of teaching a Spiritual practice to those in a vulnerable place, and what I have learned about beginning and building your online presence.