Course Content
Welcome
Welcome to "An Introduction to Qi Cultivation: The Fundamentals of Qigong and Internal Alchemy"! In this section, I'll share my personal journey into Qi and introduce you to the lineage from which this wisdom originates. We'll also go over the course structure and what you can expect. Let's embark on this journey of internal alchemy together!
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Welcome
Introduction to the Lineage of the Information and to your Facilitator, Ryko Kalinko
Course Overview, Structure & Key Takeaways
How to Approach Qi Cultivation for Maximum Benefit
Course Journal
Introduction to Qi: Theory & Practice
In this section, you'll gain insight into the foundational principles of Qigong, its benefits, and how you can begin integrating it into your daily routine.
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Introductory Theory #1: The Energy Body
Introductory Theory #2: Four Key Terms – Understanding the History and Structure of the System
Introductory Theory #3: The Role of Imagination
Introductory Theory #4: Inner Intelligence and The End Goal of the Qigong System
Introductory Theory #5: Principles of Working with Energy & The Two Pillars of Qigong
Practice #1: Feeling the Qi
Practice #2: The Inner Smile
Qigong Warm Ups
Qigong practice has its own unique forms of warm up, including exercises which focus on joint rotations to improve the flow of energy, and the practice of shaking.
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The “Long Life” Set
Shaking: Activating the Body’s Innate Vitality
Posture Notes & Balancing Exercises
This section contains preparatory posture guidance and post-practice balancing tools. The posture notes for standing and seated exercises are designed to improve alignment, balance, and energy flow, and the post-practice balancing tools are designed to ensure that any stored tension that may have occurred during practice is alleviated.
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Introduction
Simple Stance for Standing Exercises
Posture Notes for Seated Exercises
Balancing Routine After Seated Practice: Spinal Stretch Flow
Discharge Technique – Releasing Excess or Disruptive Energy
Energy Centre Breathing
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Introduction
How to find, and breathe with, the Lower Tan Tien
Further Energy Centre Breathing and Awareness Techniques
Enlivening the Organs with Energy
In Taoist practice, the internal organs are regarded as particularly important places to focus Qi, because they are places in the body where key internal processes take place, as well as the place where our emotions are stored.
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Introduction
Filling The Organs with Smiling Energy
Filling the Organs with Qi
Virtue Cultivation Practice
Earth and Sky Breathing
The following meditations use the mind to extend the energy body beyond the confines of the physical body. As you do this, you open yourself to a whole palate of feelings that go beyond normal experience.
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Introduction
Breathing from the Centre of the Earth
Sky Breathing
Earth Meets Sky, Sky Meets Earth
Generating the Qi Ball
The Qi ball is a foundational concept in energy work: the idea that we can generate a quantum of energy which then is, and has, a force of its own which we can direct as we will.
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Introduction
Qi Ball of Earth Energy
Qi Ball of Sky Energy
Qi Ball of Earth and Sky Energy
Working with the Qi Ball
Once we have generated the feeling of a Qi ball in the body, we open up a series of practices that, utilising the quantum of energy represented by the Qi ball, serve to further enhance the ability of the body to attract, store and command energy.
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Introduction
Gathering Qi from the Six Directions
Variation: Filling the Bones with Qi
Variation: Three “Fires” and Six Directions
Dedication Practice
The Microcosmic Orbit
This is a foundational Taoist exercise for health and wellbeing, otherwise called “circulating the light”.
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Introduction
The Microcosmic Orbit Practice
Enhanced Microcosmic Orbit Practices
Understanding Each Point of the Orbit Better
Working with Qi pressure & “Cooking” Qi
This set of exercises involves compressing and refining energy within the lower tan tien, transforming it into a more potent and concentrated form for enhanced vitality, resilience, and internal power.
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Introduction
Qi Pressure Exercise #1: Cultivating Awareness of Qi Pressure
Qi Pressure Exercise #2: Reverse Breathing
Qi Pressure Exercise #3: The Maha Bandha – Ujjayi Breathing
Qi Pressure Exercise #4: Step Breathing
Qi Pressure Exercise #5: Packing Process Breathing
Inner Alchemy
By working with light, breath, and focused intention, we engage in the ancient art of inner transformation, taking a step closer toward our highest potential as beings of energy and consciousness.
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Introduction
Inner Alchemy Exercise #1: Charging the Organs with Light
Inner Alchemy Exercise #2: Transforming Negative Emotions into Qi
Inner Alchemy Exercise #3: Saliva Qigong
Absorbing Qi from Nature
External Qi absorption techniques harness the abundant energy from nature allowing practitioners to replenish, refine, and harmonise their internal Qi for greater vitality and balance.
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Introduction
Absorbing Qi from Trees
Absorbing Qi from the Sun and Moon
Absorbing Qi from Bodies of Water
The Eight Elements Practice
“Empty Force”
In this Section, we begin the sacred work of returning to ourselves — drawing our awareness inward, listening to the subtle movements within, and learning to gather and circulate our innate energy.
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Introduction to Ming-Gong
Practice: “Conscious Involuntary Breathing”
Meridian Slapping
I call this practice "Better Than a Coffee", because it provides a full-body energetic stimulation, but without any side effects!
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Introduction
Meridian Slapping Exercise
Seeing the Qi
It is also possible to see the Qi visually!
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Seeing the Qi: Awakening Your Subtle Vision
An Introduction to Qi Cultivation: The Fundamentals of Qigong and Internal Alchemy
About Lesson

How to Find, and Breathe With, the Lower Tan Tien

 

Taoists describe three tan tiens — energy centres within the body:

  • Lower Tan Tien – located around the navel, serving as the body’s primary energy reservoir.
  • Middle Tan Tien – centred around the heart, associated with emotional energy and compassion.
  • Upper Tan Tien – situated near the pineal gland in the head, linked to higher consciousness and spiritual insight.

 

In the early stages of practice, the lower tan tien is given primary focus (which is often referred to, because of this importance, simply as “the tan tien”). This is because, through the internal experience of lineages of Taoist sages, it was discovered that:

  • All the energy channels of the body meet here; as such it is the central switchboard for the entire energy system.
  • It is the centre at which the most amount of energy can be stored.
  • It is the site of our “original force” – the quantity of energy that we were born with to spend over our lifetime.
  • It is the site where energy can be “cooked” or processed into more refined forms of energy with more potency within the body. For this reason, in Taoist lore it is said that an alchemical “cauldron” sits here.

 

[Image from Mantak Chia]

 

Let’s now look at how to find this centre of energy in the body, and how to breathe with it.

 

Practice Guide

 

Please watch the video below for this practice.

[INSERT VIDEO]

 

Written descriptions of these exercises can be found at the “Exercise Files” tab.

 

After completing the practice, please write your experience in the Course Journal.

 

In the final exercise, or anywhere throughout these exercises, did you feel tingling coming out through your fingers? Could you sense the movement of Qi out through your fingers?

 

If so, congratulations! You have just witnessed the secret behind Bruce Lee’s famous “1-inch punch”.

 

The 1-inch punch is an anomaly – the amount of force with which Bruce Lee could send an opponent flying across the room is more than what is physically possible from that distance using muscle power alone. The demonstration proved that something else was going on – another force is present, beyond the physical.

 

The truth is that Bruce Lee would have had to have spent countless hours filling up his tan tien with energy to have been able to collect enough force to move a man across the room. However, the technique is basically the same as what you have just done.

 

You could say that feeling tingling out through the fingers is like a snowflake’s worth of energy… but many snowflakes together cause an avalanche! And an avalanche can destroy a city. So, yes, a snowflake can destroy a city, but only when packed together with trillions of other snowflakes.

 

In the same way, regularity of practice and cultivation of energy at the lower tan tien can cause enough force to send a man flying.

Exercise Files
Finding and Breathing with the Lower Tan Tien.pdf
Size: 81.51 KB
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