How can I learn Taoism?

If you’re reading this, you have likely heard some snippets or whispers that have led you to look closer at Taoism (or Daoism  - just 2 different ways of translating the word into English letters). As a Daoist practitioner and instructor with over 15 years experience I would like to provide you in this article a clear path; a clear Tao (literally means ‘path’ or ‘way’) to understanding Daoism, how to learn about it and most importantly, how to implement its practical wisdom into your daily life. I myself many, many years ago felt an elusive deep yearning and connection to Daoism but I did not know where to look or who to turn to to get started on my journey. This article is a culmination of that yearning and over 15 years of experience practicing and teaching Daoism as a student of an Ancient Daoist School (WuLiupai School in China).

What is Daoism?

Daoism is a way of understanding the world and our place in it. Just as a child needs guidance from their parents as they grow up in order to learn how the world works and how to navigate it, Daoism gives one the wisdom and tools to continue this process of growth and development even after one has ‘grown up’. You are both the child and the adult (more on this later). Daoist wisdom is based on the observation of natural laws. Not just observation (yin) but also the Application (yang) of those laws.

One of the most important laws to grasp is that of yin-yang. Everything in the universe is a combination of yin and yang. Yin and yang is a way of describing how the universe moves, how things change, transform, grow and decay. By observing how the animals behave, how the seasons change and how the human body responds both inside and out, Ancient Daoists gained wisdom about the nature of reality and developed various methods that employ the laws of the universe and live harmoniously. Later in this article we will look in more detail at yin-yang.

Why live Harmoniously? When you hear a musical master play the piano, you feel something beautiful arise. When you look out to the ocean from a cliff, your mind is silenced by the awe of the vastness you see before you. When your body feels strong and you feel full of energy and enthusiasm, you naturally share the enjoyment of life with others around you. This is recognising beauty; we are naturally drawn to it and it is a sign of harmony. We can all cultivate harmony and invite beauty into our lives.

Chinese Mountains

Different Types of Daoism

We can say that there are 3 main types of Daoism and understanding each type will help you to see a clearer picture of which type you gravitate to most and how they relate to each other. To give some cultural context, Chinese culture is based on 3 main pillars: Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism.

Religious Daoism: This form of Daoism involves the following of rituals, praying and worshipping deities. For example, there is a festival in China where many Daoists gather and Laozi is celebrated and honoured/worshipped as a deity on the date of his birth. Laozi is recognised as the founder of Daoism and wrote the Daodejing (Canon of Daoism) about 2400 years ago. 

Philosophical Daoism: Reading, studying and analysing daoist texts.The Daozang is a canon of over 1500 Daoist writings and scriptures from various periods of Chinese History. It is a repository of Daoist thought and wisdom. The most noteworthy text is the Daode jing written by Laozi. The Daode jing (Canon of Daoism) is the most translated text in the world next to the bible and is universally recognised for its timeless, profound and enigmatic contents. There are many people and scholars who have comprehensively studied and written about the Daode jing and other Daoist texts but at the same time have not or do not practice any of the Daoist methods that are described in the texts. This approach is purely scholarly and doesn’t employ the practical component.

(Original) True Ancient Daoism: Learning practical Daoist teachings for enhancing one’s health, wellbeing, personal power and obtaining wisdom and understanding of Life. We can put this into 4 main categories:

1. Spirituality: Self-cultivation involving growth and development of the Spirit and Vitality of the body

2. Health and wellbeing: Improving the condition of one’s body, energy and thus quality of Life

3. Healing: Recovering from illness, injury and trauma

4. Martial Arts: Strengthen the body using Martial Art Principles and learning self-defence

All four of these aspects overlap with each other and it depends on what you are most interested in, drawn to or want to focus on the most.

Laozi being visited by students

Understanding How Daoists Think and Live

So that you can get an insight into the Daoist Way of thinking and living, we will look at some key Daoist quotes from the Daode jing and other Daoist texts.

Chapter 1 - Daode jing:

The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. Nameless, the beginning of heaven and earth. Named, the mother of the ten thousand things. Being empty, see the wonder. Being present, see the appearance. These two are the same but have different names, This is mystery.Mystery upon mystery. The doorway to wonder. (All Daode Jing quotes in this article are translated by Jeff Pepper & Xiao Hui Wang)

The most important detail to highlight in this chapter is that the Dao cannot be spoken. The Dao is the source of life and origin of all things. It is indescribable and infinitely mysterious. If you can name it, it is NOT Dao. Heaven and Earth are not religious references. They are referring to the manifested universe that is composed of yin and yang. Everything is a combination of yin and yang. Heaven is Yang (above) and Earth is yin (below). The human being lives on earth and is being influenced by the Heavenly and Earthly forces.The ten thousand things are the multitude of things that have come into existence/manifestation - those things we can speak of and name. They are the things that we can see and interact with in the physical world. Daoists have a simple and humble view of existence; they do not claim to know God or fully understand what all of creation is. For example, in chapter 25 of the Daode jing Laozi says:“I do not know its name;Its symbol is Dao. If I had to name it, I would call it great.” So, only if one HAS to put a name on it or talk about it, one can (reluctantly) call it ‘Dao’.

Yin-yang

Also from Chapter 25: “People obey earth, Earth obeys heaven, Heaven obeys Dao, Dao obeys what is natural. Because Dao is the source of all things, everything ultimately obeys it. People obey the earth because we live on the earth and rely on it and its resources but the earth is subject to greater cosmological forces from heaven and heaven must follow Dao. As a human being, you can learn to align yourself with these powerful forces that govern life and existence.

Let’s now examine a quote from the Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Internal Medicine:

“Those who knew the way of keeping good health in Ancient times always kept their behaviour in daily life in accordance with nature. They applied the principle of Yin and Yang and kept in tune with the art of adaptation based on the interaction of Yin and Yang. They were able to modulate their daily life in harmony with the way of recuperating the essence and vital energy (Qi), thus they could master the way of preserving good health. Their behaviours in daily life were all kept at regular patterns and they never overworked. In this way, they could maintain both in the body and in the spirit substantiality and were able to live to the old age of more than one hundred years.”

Daoists Living According to Nature

The quote above clearly portrays the healthy and harmonious way of living that emerges when one knows how to listen and live in accordance with the natural rhythms of nature.

Chapter 76 - Daode jing:

People are born soft and weak, They die hard and strong. All creatures, grass and trees are born soft and fragile, They die dry and withered. Hard and strong are disciples of death, Soft and weak are disciples of life. Big and strong dwell below, Soft and flexible dwell above.”

When considering this quote we can specifically consider Daoist practices such as Qigong and Taiji. These methods employ a deep understanding of the human body and how to optimise it. One of the fundamental features of practice is to learn to move the body in such a way that promotes deep relaxation of body and mind. This relaxation leads to some specific internal and physiological changes in the human body that greatly improve the health and strength of the body and sharpen and clear the mind. Interestingly, when we see the words ‘soft and weak’ it seems like it is something negative and when we see ‘hard and strong’ that sounds like something to aspire to. When we consider the approach of ‘modern’ exercise, the goal is to become hard and strong but in the quote above, the ‘Hard and strong are the disciples of death’!. This is because through time due to accumulated bad habits and not looking after one’s body and health properly, one’s body gradually becomes stiffer and harder and inflexible. One can learn to employ the opposite which is a special principle used in Daoist exercise such that the ‘Soft and weak are disciples of life’. This seemingly paradoxical principle is employed in all Daoist methods and it is incredible how effective it is in enhancing one’s health and understanding of the vitality of the body. In fact, learning this ‘softness’ leads to a very strong body with robust health if you learn how to apply this principle. The greatest challenge is overcoming one's owen tension or 'hardness'.

The ‘Big and strong dwell below’ because these characteristics are heavy, sluggish and ultimately lead to death, below and underground (yin) whereas the ‘Soft and flexible’ are light and thrive above the ground (yang). Life is a state of yang and death is a yin state.

Ge Hong (another famous Daoist) said in his book ‘Bao pu zi’:

"Nobody in creation is cleverer than the human being. Possessed of the most accessible techniques, he can make all creation his servant; having attained the deepest, he can enjoy Fullness of Life and everlasting vision. Since he knows that the best medicines are potent for extending his years, he takes them in his search for sainthood. Knowing the great  age attained by tortoises and cranes, he imitates their calisthenics so as to augment his own life span.”

Ge Hong also said:

“Animals in general cannot imitate the tortoise and the crane; therefore they are short-lived. Man, however, possesses intelligence; if he can practice the same divine process as did other great sages; he can achieve the same results." 

And:

“It is clear that in special areas many creatures far surpass man; this is not only true for the tortoise and the crane. Accordingly, when weaving a net, Fu-hsi used spiders for his teachers. Shao-hao relied upon the nine quail to determine the seasons. The Yellow Emperor awaited the cry of the phoenix in order to tune the pitch pipes."

Human beings can learn secrets from nature and apply them in their lives. Humans possess something that animals don’t. The human Shen (spirit) is powerful and has the ability to self-cultivate. In other words, the human can engage in self-guided spiritual work. Animals (and most people) experience spiritual growth through the chaos of life as one navigates through hardships and challenges. To Daoists, the spirit is something that should be encouraged to ‘grow up’, mature and evolve through special techniques of self-cultivation.

Considering the ‘growing up’ of the spirit, one of the defining features of Daoism is that the strength and development of the physical body is not only Not ignored, but it is considered an integral part of spiritual development. This is related to needing energy to be plentiful and flowing freely in order to help the spirit grow because this growth requires physiological resources. Nothing is free. This is the active (yang) part of cultivation; one must be active. Being born as human is considered to be extremely rare and lucky and thus the opportunity should be used for self-cultivation.

If we look at an excerpt from Wuzhen Pian, 'Awakening to Reality' by Zhang Boduan, we can see that Daoists observed something amazing in Nature that humans can cultivate and which forms the basis of Daoist Teachings, Methods and Way of Life:"All people on their own have the Medicine of long life; it is only for insanity and delusion that they cast it away to no avail."

This ‘medicine’ is something that is already inside everyone! Something extremely precious that goes unnoticed by most people for their whole life.Through the Daoist teachings, one can learn how to harness it.

Multitude of Creatures of Earth

8 Daoist Values

Based on the Daoist way of thinking and living, we can summarise what Daoists value most through the ‘8 Daoist Values’:

• Daoist Value 1: Health – Enjoy a calm, sharp mind and strong body

• Daoist Value 2: Longevity – Live with quality and quantity

• Daoist Value 3: Sensitivity – Get more feedback from your body, being able to sense Qi movements, what foods to eat, the inner state of other people, natural cycles, understanding of yin-yang dynamics

• Daoist Value 4: Harmonious Living – Reducing Human suffering due to ignorance through careful studying of one’s self and nature

• Daoist Value 5: Practical approach – Practice must help you in your daily Life and solve the problems encountered by Modern Life

• Daoist Value 6: Self-Reliance – Rely on your inner state as a source of personal power, become a leader to others

• Daoist Value 7: Self-cultivation – Actively practicing and applying the learnings from Internal Alchemy, Qigong, Taiji, Meditation

• Daoist Value 8: Balancing the Internal/external World – Discover the value of finding happiness by balancing the inner and outer world

Daoist Temple in Chinese Mountain

Summary and Our Recommendations Daoism is one of China’s main cultural pillars and its wisdom is embedded in the everyday life of Chinese people. It can be observed in their language, medicine, architecture and daily habits. By virtue of living in China one is already naturally living and breathing Daoism and benefiting from it. To some, that is not enough which is why one can actively take further steps to delve deeper.

At our School, we value practice as the most crucial component. Through practice, one can directly apply the precious knowledge contained in the methods and writings. Only reading the texts leads to a limited form of understanding. Our Daoist School is called WuLiupai; ‘School of Wu and Liu’ also known as ‘School of Immortals and Buddhas’, established during the 16-17th Century. The name is based on the founders who are Wu chongxu and Liu Huayang. Our mission is to preserve Daoist knowledge and help people from all around the world practice Daoism.

Our Western branch is officially permitted to teach classes live online to people around the world! The LIVE online classes started as an experiment and now, 10 years later, we can say that this format of teaching has been just as effective as teaching in-person, using the right approach and methodology. One key aspect to this methodology is that all classes must be LIVE; we do not record classes or post videos of classes. Joining group classes we establish a connection between the instructor, class participants and school. Through this, instructors are trained to carefully observe each student and give individualised guidance and corrections.

The process of practicing and learning together is a LIVING thing and the instructor’s role is to nurture, guide and weave this together into every unique class. This way we ensure maximum benefit and results by moving and growing together. We also organise yearly trips in China to do in-depth Daoist practice together as a group.

If you would like to take the first step into learning about and practicing Daoism, our School has many different classes available every week, all-year round in Daoist Internal Alchemy, Qigong, Taiji, Meditation and Daoist theory. Our mission is to unite people around the world through our growing global Daoist community as we connect, practice, learn and grow together. Aside from the regular weekly classes we also run various seminars each month and free classes for those who want to try out or get a taste of the various methods. Feel free to contact us and schedule a free zoom consultation where you can learn more about our school or sign up to one of our seminars or free classes. Please see some useful links below:

• Free class and seminars sign-up: https://www.daodeqigong.com/seminars-and-free-events

• Daode Jing study guide and 3 different translations: https://www.daodeqigong.com/read-dao-de-jing

• Free consultation sign-up: https://www.daodeqigong.com/free-consult-offer

• Class Schedule: https://www.daodeqigong.com/class-schedule

About the Author

Luis De Florio has been practicing and teaching Daoism for over 10 years. He is a private disciple of the WuLiupai School under the guidance of his teacher Master A.A. Khokhlov.

Instructor profile: https://www.daodeqigong.com/dao-de-qigong-instructor FAQ Q: "I don't need a teacher. Why should anyone claim that they can teach me Daoism? One needs to find their own way".

A: Even if you find a teacher you will still have to ‘find your way’. The teacher won’t learn the teachings for you, the teacher has spent a life-time learning and refining their art and will point you in the right direction and you will need to work it out yourself. It's like when someone is explaining something to you; only you can comprehend the information - no one can do it for you. Do you NEED a teacher? It depends on your goals and of course there's no rule out there saying that one MUST find a teacher; it's more that you should be aware of the possible paths one will find with each option. If you are dabbling on the surface then probably there's no need to find a teacher. Regardless, with any level of interest one will have to sift through correct and incorrect information and having a good teacher makes an immense difference. The very foundation of how the Daoist teachings are preserved and transmitted through time and the reason we are benefactors of its wisdom today IS the transmission between teacher and student. To undermine the importance of this student-to-teacher relationship is to completely overlook the lifeblood of Daoism and the essence of its teachings. if there was no specific structutre or method of preserving and trasmitting knowledge, the knowledge over time becomes corrupt and ultimately fades. That is why Daoist Schools are comprised of Masters who transmit their knowledge to students who in-turn do the same and the people who are part of this process from teachers to students undergo rigorous tests and training in order to be a part of this process such that the purity of the knowledge is preserved for posterity.

We can look at an example from the daode jing - Chapter 64:"A Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". This is the most common translation of this verse and it sounds beautiful and inspirational BUT it is more a translation and interpretation because if you translate it directly, it reads: 千里之行，始於足下; Qiānlǐ zhī xíng, shǐyú zú xià; Thousand | Li | of | go | begin | from | underfoot. This literally reads as: "A Journey of a thousand li (miles) begins from under your feet"! The meaning is completely different. It is much harder to understand what the correct translation means because it has hidden meaning embedded in it. If we apply this same principle to the rest of the text, you can see that you could form a completely different understanding of the text (and Daoism) if you don't consider that it's a translation from Ancient Chinese to Modern Chinese to English or whichever language you speak. Something else to be aware of is that the translator may or may not be a Daoist practitioner and have no experience or first-hand understanding of Daoist methods and teachings and thus be more likely to interpret the text incorrectly.

It is said that "One correction from wise teacher is better than many years of hard labour". One of the worst things that can happen is devoting many, many years into a practice only to find out that you were doing it incorrectly or making crucial mistakes. A perfect example of this is Zhan Zhuang; the famous Qigong exercise whereby one stands still for a long period of time. It is by far the most powerful Qigong type and at the same time the most challenging to learn. One can literally spend years, even decades thinking that they are making progress but in actuality having little to no progress and results beyond the initial level. This is because the mechanisms behind Zhan Zhuang are based on extremely subtle inner workings of the body that are not easily perceived without many years of careful study and training. So what is a master? A Master is someone who has dedicated their whole life to refining their art. Through endless patience and iron discipline they have spent several hours per day, every day for decades doing this. The master would have endured countless hours of monotony and overcoming obstacles in their practice and growth.

Can anyone or should anyone teach you Daoism? Once you understand that Daoism is one of the main pillars of Chinese culture spanning thousands of years, its teachings are profound because they have been developed and refined and passed down over lifetimes, there are official Daoist schools in China that preserve and teach Daoist wisdom with their own structured hierarchy of lineage holders, teachers and students with strict rules of practice, trasmission and preservation of the wisdon, teachings and traditions, if you find the right teacher you will without a doubt get a much, much clearer and deeper understanding of the teachings and you will avoid misunderstandings and huge mistakes that will hold you back for several years.

Do you need a teacher? It depends on the results that you want to achieve.

On that note, it is said that finding a teacher is an inherent part of one's fate. You can find a teacher, but are they an authentic teacher? unfortunately there are countless fake teachers out there. A fake teacher might be knowingly scamming their students or another type of fake teacher might believe that they are a master and have supernatural abilities and are fooling themselves and others and as a collective the teacher and students are perpetuating the fantasy. How to find a genuine teacher? You need to research where/who they learned from and observe if they have achieved real, tangible results from their practice and if they can demonstrate and transmit it to others (do their long-term students have real results?). Also carefully observe a teacher's inner qualities. For example, do they feed off the attention of others? Do they speak negatively about other people? Are they seeking fame or do they genuinely want to to help others? Do they practice what they preach? If we come full-circle back to fate; you get the teacher that you deserve; you need to use your best judgement to find the right teacher. An authentic teacher is a direct link to the heart of Daoism and it core wisdom. Implying that it is wrong to have a teacher is like saying the whole foundation of master-to-student tradition which Daoism is based on for transmitting its teachings is wrong! How can there any kind of standard or quality control on what is being preserved? There is nothing wrong in exploring Daoism without a teacher but it's wrong to say that there is no need for one because that is how the tradition is preserved; through the process of teacher to student transmission and the importance of this should not be underminded.

Q: "Shouldn't the teachings and methods should be freely published for everyone without any restrictions? These teachings should be free. Why do you charge money for classes?"

A: Let's imagine that you were in China and found a teacher; this teacher decided he will teach you and you don't need to pay money. You arrive at his home on the first day eagerly expecting to start delving deeply into learning. The whole day goes by and you end up doing menial tasks around his home and property. The day after that you do hard labour in the field. The third day is the same. You keep stubbornly visiting the Master every day; you could give up and go back home and never come back. Months, even years could go by and the Master may not teach you anything (at least what you were expecting to be taught). Is this a cruel joke or a scam? No. The teacher is testing you. This is the rigorous process of transmitting knowledge; only if you are worthy, will you receive it. What makes one 'worthy'? And should we assume that we must be given everything all at once if we simply demand it? The teacher will test the student to get a deep insight into the student's internal qualities and character; how the student handles hardship and most importantly, how they will handle power. The teachings are powerful and this should not be given freely; even if money is not the medium of exchange, there is a payment to be made. You prove yourself through demonstrating your qualities in the real world. Of course, there are different levels of teachings and a student may have access to a lot of material until they have to pass more trials or demonstrate their progress before they're given more. Money simplifies the process because it is a standard medium of exchange that is easy to measure. Why do WE charge money fo teachings? Our goal is to spread Daoist knowledge throughout the world to help people improve their lives. How would we do that without money? For example, we offer live online lessons that anyone in the world can join. To teach those lessons we need the following: Internet connection, venue, equipment such as laptops, webcams, electricity, uniforms and so on. We also organise yearly trips to China to practice in Daoist mountains. To do that we need plane tickets, we need to pay for food and accomodation and so on. There are a many more expenses to consider but this gets the point across that for teachings to be given, there are real costs involved. Back to the original example of the student visiting the Master at his home; the Master would have spent countless hours over decades learning by travelling and earning the trust of his own teachers. The cost of this kind endeavour is enormous and requires enless patience and resilience. Q: "Why don't you post videos of classes?" A: This is one the most imporant specifics of live online learning that we implement into our teaching philosophy. The instructor MUST be able to do the following things when teaching:

1. Lead by example: The instructor through their dynamic demonstration and interactions with each student not only demonstrates the correct way to perfom the exercises but also the 'essence' behind them. This essence works quietly in the background and can completely transform a person's home practice and progress.

2. Observe each student & give corrections: Everyone will without a doubt make mistakes and everyone will need their own unique corrections. These are adjusted and corrected during the live online classes becasue there is a LIVE connection between the instructor and students. This cannot be done vie pre-recorded video and through only learning from videos students will likely fall into the trap of making mistakes, turning them into habits and never becoming aware of them which brings progress to a halt.

3. Answer questions: Sometimes clearning up unanswered questions can make all the difference in your progress. it can help you to understand where you currently are and how to move forward. It also clears your mind by shedding mental heaviness that may be weighing you down and at the same time have deeper understanding.

Every class is live because the teachings are A-LIVE. The above mentioned points cannot be fulfilled when studenst are learning from pre-recoded videos. To emphasise this A-LIVE methodology, we can appreciate that every day is different and thus, every single class is also different. Why? It is understood that the human being is (and all living things) are in a constant state of change and subject to internal and external forces (for example the weather, changes in a person's energy levels and emotions etc.) As a result, the body and it's amazing living sytems are always responding and adapting to maintain vital balance. The 4th point to add to the points above is - Aliveness - because the class is structured according to:

1. What the students have learned so far and what is next in the program

2. The current state of each student and the collective state of the class

Keeping this in mind, the instructor will structure the class based on a combination of the 2 points above. Sometimes the state of the students and class is more important and sometimes the learning of new material from the program is more important. Using this methodology we all move, learn and grow together in the classes and maximum benefit and results are ensured for every participant.

Q: "Why do you teach online? You can't learn or teach these methods online. Only in person." A: Over 10 years ago we received many requests from people in other countries requesting online classes and originally we thought that it could not be done but after some thought and discussion within the school we decided to try it. We were soon pleasantly surprised by the results! People were getting great results and some were even getting better results learning live online than in-person. Our online teaching method has a specific methodology that we follow strictly to ensure the best results for all students. There are also additional benefits to online learning such as not needing to travel and being in the comfort of your home. When you learn in-person from a teacher there are the aspects that are external and internal. Learning and imitating movements and the external forms is easy; that can be done by watching pre-recorded videos. If it was only about imitating movements, a robot could teach you Tai chi for example. There is a huge problem with this though. Grasping the 'essence' of the teachings is the difficult part and this can only be done through diligence on the student's part and presence from the teacher. This 'presence' is achieved though LIVE online learning. Why can't a robot teach you tai chi? Because a robot does not have qi. A robot does not have meridians, organs, blood. And a robot does not have Shen 神 (spirit)! In our live online classes the instructor brings their presence to every lesson. These methods can be taught online effectively only if specific principles are followed and thus, these methods can defenitely be taught online and not just in person.

Q: "I thought Daoism doesn't require you to do anything to be Daoist? Claiming that you have the answers on how to be Daoist and how to learn it is concerning." This is similar to the first question; a Daoist is not going to tell you that you must do something specific to be Daoist but a Daoist who is studying seriously from a Daoist School and Master will know that it is completely different saying that you are Daoist compared to studying under a teacher. This is because the wisdom of the Daoist Tradition is transmitted and preserved using this very method. You can say that you are Daoist because you connect with the essence of the teachings that you have heard and read about but before saying something negative about someone who is a Daoist teacher you need to look into what they teach and where it comes from. Actually it shouldn't be concerning if there are teachers out there saying that they can teach you Daoism because this means that they are engaged in the extremely important task of preserving and transmitting the teachings. If there was not a stritct and structured way to do this, how do you know what you are learning is valid and not just made up out of nowhere by anyone? THAT is concerning. When considering this point, the real challenge is to find a genuine teacher and not someone who is pretending to be one, taking advantage of people or fooling themselves and others. Just because someone teaches Daoism doesn't mean that they are claiming to have all the answers; it means thay are trying their best to preserve and spread Dao. Use your best judgement when choosing who to learn from and remember that the teachings are preserved by the teacher-to-student dynamic. Do you need to do anything? It depends on your goals. If you are happy reading the Daoist texts that is one way but for example in our school we emphasise PRACTICE. We teach people from all around the world how to improve their health and lives and how to delve deeply into spiritual work through the application of the Daoist methods such as Qigong, Meditation, Taiji and Internal Alchemy.