“For all [to practice] this Way: You must coil, you must contract, You must uncoil, you must expand, You must be firm, you must be regular [in this practice] Nei-Yeh (Inward Training), China, 4th century BCE[1] One of the key characteristics of the Chinese ‘internal’ mind-breath-bodywork tradition, is the practice of lengthening or uncoiling (yang) and settling back or coiling (yin). These movements are performed through the whole elastic body, slowly (in synchronicity with lower abdominal breathing), mindfully, with the minimum of muscular tension and not to our full stretched capacity. Indee ..read more

Connecting to the dantian in the lower belly is a core practice in qigong and what are called the 'internal arts'. The following passage is taken from my new book Qigong: Cultivating Body, Breath & Mind   The lower dantian In the practice both of qigong and internal alchemy what is known as the lower dantian – ‘field of elixir’ or ‘cinnabar field’ – is considered a vital energetic store, as well as the centre of gravity in the body.   The importance of the core in modern exercise and movement work is well understood. From the Chinese martial arts perspective, it encompasses the w ..read more

Hi everyone, Can I tell you about my newly published book Qigong: Cultivating Body, Breath & Mind. Long in the cooking it incorporates everything I know about qigong from decades of practice, wide study and immersion in Chinese medicine. It is getting very positive reviews and comes with many hours of linked practical videos. Click the button below for more information, to read reviews and for options to purchase. FIND OUT MORE ..read more

“Flowing waters do not stagnate because they move. The qi and the body are also like this. If the body does not move the qi will coagulate.” The Annals of Lu Buwei, 3rd century BCE “Moving, be like water, still, be like a mirror” Zhuangzi, 3rd century BCE This is the first in a series of blogs about yinyang in the practice of qigong. Though outwardly simple, yinyang theory offers meaning and insight into almost every aspect of our existence and it could be argued that the whole of qigong is an exercise in understanding, embodying and playing with it. [At the end of this first discus ..read more

I keep a copy of the Daodejing (Gia-fu Feng translation) by my bed to dip into when the mood takes me. And sometimes a passage I’ve read many times before suddenly makes a new kind of sense. Of course it is an often opaque text, with unclear meanings, and translated differently in different versions, so it partly acts as a Rohrschach test – we see in it what we want to see. Anyway, I was looking at Chapter 26: The heavy is the root of the light; The still is the master of unrest. Therefore the wise, travelling all day, Do not lose sight of their bagage. Though there are be ..read more

I spent part of lockdown writing a new book, with all profits going to the Chinese Medicine Forestry Trust. It’s a raw and honest account of childhood, teen rebellion, drugs and hippie travelling, transformation into a natural foods pioneer, studying Chinese medicine and more.  It’s available as an e-book from Amazon (you don’t need a Kindle device – you can download a free app for phones, tablets, laptops etc.). Apologies for using Amazon but it’s realistically the best option, with for authors and readers – I guess that’s why they are so successful. Here is a sample from Chap ..read more

“The three months of winter, they denote securing and storing. The water is frozen and the earth breaks open … Go to rest early and rise late. You must wait for the sun to shine. … Avoid cold and seek warmth”. The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic, compiled between 100 BCE and 100 CE Here in the Northern hemisphere, today is the winter solstice – the shortest day when yin reaches its maximum point. From now on, yang starts to grow – a glimmer at first but before too long the days begin to lengthen and we dare to think about spring and all the joys it brings. It is traditionally a time to res ..read more

A new slant on why exercising and moving are so good for us... New Scientist, June 15th, ran an article by Herman Pontzer called ‘Step on it’, subtitled ‘We know exercise is good for us. But how much do we need?’ He points out that most animals are really lazy – resting and sleeping whenever possible to save energy for survival and reproduction. Great apes, for example, rest or sleep 18 hours a day. But as our ancestors began hunting and gathering around 2.5 million years ago, they gained an evolutionary advantage from being able to exert themselves physically for long periods of time. Those w ..read more

“Being strong without letting strength go too far, being flexible without becoming ineffective, strength is joined to flexibility and flexibility is applied with strength.” Liu I-ming, 18th century CE In this second blog discussing the application of yinyang theory to qigong, I want to discuss the complementary opposites of strength and softness. Strength – yang We all need to build and maintain sufficient strength to accomplish whatever we want to do in life. For most of us that doesn’t involve anything heroic. In a varied and ‘natural’ life, we probably want to carry all kinds of things ..read more

So sang Steve Miller and we all know how true it is. We look forward to peak events and can’t wait for them to happen – whether that’s our next meal, holiday, party, sexual encounter, sleep, or for me just now, England’s matches at the World Cup – then suddenly they’re gone, almost as though they never happened. Not only does time keep slipping past like this but we often feel that we’ve not been fully awake through the passing hours and days, and we suddenly discover that another week, month, year of our limited allotment has slipped away, almost in a dream. Time is a flowing river ..read more