10 min
Music · Li Xiangting
Guangling San on the guqin
Li Xiangting plays Guangling San, the fierce old piece said to have died with Ji Kang, in the concert version he performs.
Overview
What does daoism & internal arts point to?
Daoism & Internal Arts centers on embodied cultivation rather than textual study alone: internal alchemy (neidan), nei gong, qigong and meditation drawn from the Daoist tradition, developed through sustained physical and energetic practice rather than primarily through reading the Tao Te Ching or other classical texts.
Serious training in this lineage traditionally passes from teacher to student over years, often including time spent with a lineage-holder in China alongside ongoing practice abroad. As with other body-based traditions, context and lineage are worth asking about: the language of 'qi' and 'internal alchemy' travels more easily than the training required to teach it responsibly.
Effortless is not the same as passive.A central teaching within Daoism & Internal Arts
Teachers
Voices within this path.
Compare background, approach and format before choosing a teacher to follow.
MG
Wudang Taoist Arts
Master Gu
Headmaster of the Wudang Taoist Wellness Academy in the Wudang Mountains, and one of the few Wudang masters who teaches the Taoist arts in fluent English.
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Daoist Qigong master
Master Zhongxian Wu
Daoist Qigong and internal-arts master, founder of Chinese Wisdom Traditions, teaching internationally since 1988.
View profile →DM
Daoist Internal Arts
Damo Mitchell
British teacher of Daoist internal arts (Nei Gong, Qi Gong and Taijiquan), founder of the Lotus Nei Gong International School, known for his books on Daoist alchemy and Chinese internal medicine.
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Wudang Qigong · Daoist Meditation
Shifu Lindsey Wei
American-trained Daoist lineage holder who spent years living and training at a temple in the Wudang Mountains, now teaching Wudang Qigong and Daoist meditation from her school in southern Oregon.
View profile →NB
Daoist Alchemy · Wang Liping Lineage
Nathan Brine
Canadian teacher of Wang Liping's system of Daoist internal alchemy, offering a structured, English-language online curriculum alongside occasional in-person retreats.
View profile →ST
Daoist teacher & editor
Solala Towler
Daoist teacher, Qigong instructor, and editor/publisher of The Empty Vessel journal of Daoist philosophy and practice.
View profile →Artists
Musicians and singers.
Devotional music and chant from within this path, alongside its teachers.
Upcoming events
Upcoming events in daoism & internal arts.
Retreats, dialogues and online gatherings connected to this path.
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Practicing the Tao Te Ching
Online · Weekly online class
See event pageWeekly online class
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Mystery Gate Daily Morning and Evening Scripture Altar Recitation
Online · Weekly online scripture recitation group
$81Weekly online scripture recitation group
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Tai Chi, Qigong & Taoist Philosophy Class
London, United Kingdom · Weekly class
£17Weekly class
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Master Wu's weekly Zoom class
Online · Weekly online class
See event pageWeekly online class
Talks & videos
Selected talks.
Talks and conversations from teachers within this path.
7 min
Music · Li Xiangting
Yi Guren: remembering an old friend
Seven minutes of solo guqin: Yi Guren, the piece the literati played when they thought of someone far away.
8 min
Music · Li Xiangting
Parting at Yangguan Pass, live on the guqin
Li Xiangting plays Yangguan Sandie, the old parting song, straight through on the seven-stringed guqin before a small live audience.
86 min
Documentary · Chungliang Al Huang
Tao at WuYi Mountain
A feature-length film following Chungliang Al Huang at WuYi Mountain, where he teaches taiji, calligraphy and the Taoist ideas behind them in the landscape they came from.
Reading Room
Source texts
The source texts beneath this path, free to read.
Discernment
Clarity should include the human context.
Internal alchemy and qigong are taught by a wide range of people, from lineage-holders with decades of training under named teachers to instructors with only a weekend workshop's worth of background. Ask directly about a teacher's own training lineage and how long they studied before beginning to teach.
Ask about contextIs a statement philosophical, meditative, relational or practical?
Notice powerHow are authority, money, intimacy and complaints handled?
Include embodimentDoes the teaching make room for emotion, the body and nervous-system limits?
Keep agencyA useful teacher supports clear choice rather than demanding surrender of judgement.