Internal Martial Arts Nei-gong

Cultivating Your Inner Energy to

Raise Your Martial Arts to the Next Level

By

Bill Bodri

John N ewtson
 Copyright
© 2011, William Bodri.
Second Edition
All Rights Reserved Worldwide in All Media.

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Thanks go to David Farmer for his helpful comments and quotes which we've included
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to share, please send them to bill@meditationexpert.com and we'll try to include them in
the next edition.

For more titles like this, please see www.MeditationExpert.com. We particularly

recommend "Measuring Meditation" ("How to Measure and Deepen Your Spiritual
Realization") for case studies of advanced cultivation practitioners at the level of Taoist
Immortals.

You might also pick up the following on Amazon.com by William Bodri: "The Little
Book of Hercules," "Twenty-Five Doors to Meditation," "Spiritual Paths and Their
Meditation Techniques," and "Tao and Longevity" by Nan Huai-Chin.
 Table of Contents

Introducti on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 1 : The Two B asi c Approache s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Chapter 2 : Core Practi ces for Devel oping Inner Power :

Anapana, Pranayama and Vi sual ization Practi ce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Chapter 3: The Rol e of Sex i n Chi Devel opment :

Celib acy and S ex on the Path of Inner Gong-fu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Chapter 4: The Mythi cal Marti al Arts - Are They Real ly Possible? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Chapter 5 : Modern Trai ning S ecrets for Perfecti ng Anci ent S ki l l s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5

Chapter 6 : How to Speed Up the Proce s s :

Detoxifi cati on Supplements for Cl eansing the B ody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Chapter 7: Fi nal Questi ons and Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5

 Introduction

The reason for thi s b ook on marti al arts and i nner gong-fu, al so known as i nner energi es and i nner
power, is b ecause most marti al arti sts don't know anything ab out how to cultivate their i nner
energi es past a superfi ci al stage, and there are many deep l evel s possible to cultivating thi s i nner
energy . Thi s is what the traditi onal path of marti al arts entai l s , and if you cultivate these energi es
you can do incredible thi ngs past what people even consi der as the normal l evel of marti al arts.

Unfortunately there i s no cl ear expl anati on ab out how marti al arti sts can do some of the amazing,
al most supernatural feats that you read ab out i n anci ent b ooks and see represented in the movi es,
such as seeming to fly through the ai r, so I wanted to di scuss why they b ecome possibl e after you
cultivate your energi es to that deep l evel , and how you can cultivate those abi l iti e s yourself.

In marti al arts, whi ch are cal l ed wushu i n Chine se, people usually start upon the path of perfecti ng
vari ous external form s of movement, and vari ous postures and stances, through external exerci ses.
Thi s i s cal l ed wai-gong, meani ng the external marti al arts. It has to do with the masteri ng the
exteri or form of the b ody with its positions, moti ons and movements such as stri kes, chokes and
b l ocks . You are trying to devel op body mechani cs and coordinati on . As people start practi cing
wai-gong they al so l earn how to stand moti onl ess as wel l as stretch thei r bodies and move them in
vari ous way s, and they l earn how to thi nk i n term s of strategi es for attack and defense such as
moving thi s or that way, or positi oning yourself for a certai n stri ke or angl e . The i niti al emphasi s i s
o n mechanics, and optimization o r peak p erformance goal s such a s how t o b e stronger, move faster,
l ast l onger and the like.

Eventual ly, however, no matter how well you practi ce external marti al arts to perfect your form,
and no matter how amazi ng are the thi ngs you can end up doi ng, peopl e usually reach some pl ateau
for their l evel of ski l l s and get stuck with thi s type of approach, and thus their progress eventual ly
reache s a standsti l l .

T o break through the plateau, many martial arti sts turn t o breathing practi ce exerci ses that often
deal with superfi ci al energy streams in the b ody, and thi s type of practi ce i s at fi rst cal l ed qi-gong.

Qi-gong encompasses several different thi ngs . The true qi-gong i s when you start to actual ly feel
the chi
(qi) i n your b ody b ecause of your marti al arts practi ce, perhap s i n your palms, sol es of your
feet, ski n, or even tendons and bones. Many marti al arti sts who reach a physi cal pl ateau start
practi cing pranayama breathing exerci ses in order to try to open more energy channel s in thei r
b ody , and l earn how to match the movements of thi s chi energy with thei r muscl es to reach a
higher ski l l l evel , and thi s i s the practi ce of qi-gong, too, whi ch can help your marti al arts practi ce.

There are other vari eti es of qi-gong as well, and traditi onal ly these qi-gong exercises were kept
separate from the external marti al arts forms and movements, and never i ntegrated i nto the
standard practi ce routi nes and trai ning regi mens. However, many high l evel marti al arts experts,
from thei r own experiments, l earned how to eventual ly graft a qi-gong or energy work method
onto thei r physi cal practice, but these fi ndings were very rarely passed down in many traditi ons .

3
When y ou reach thi s stage of practi cing qi-gong methods al ong with your external marti al arts, you
wi l l not only b egin to feel the chi of your b ody but someti mes you wi l l start devel oping minor
super powers or minor p sychic powers, but not the real ly big stuff. Thi s depends on the i ndivi dual .
Usual ly you are j ust opening up minor chi meridians in a superfi ci al way . When you are practi cing
the parti cular breathing styles of S outhern Shaol i n or Fukien White Crane, for i nstance, thi s i s
trying t o l i nk certai n types of chi movement with your muscul ar movements.

With qi-gong you are sti l l at the l evel of the superfi ci al sensati ons of chi and the superfi cial chi
fl ows throughout the b ody, and thi s i sn ' t the "real chi" of the b ody cal l ed "kundal i ni" or "yang chi"
whi ch you read ab out in spi ritual texts that truly opens up your channel s at a deep l evel . Thi s l evel
of practi ce is cal l e d wi nd chi b ecause it is rather superfi ci al , and not the deep life force itself. To
activate thi s level of i nternal energy, which tap s i nto the b asi c force b ehind life itself, you have to
go even deeper in term s of energy practi ce, whi ch is cal l ed nei-gong.

The key principle of chi cultivation techni ques are that your chi and consci ousness are l i nked, so as
you cultivate your chi you wi l l develop changes in your state of consci ousness. Thi s is a sci entific
principle, and so many people cultivate thei r chi to calm their minds, or cultivate thei r minds
(consci ousness and thoughts) to cal m their chi . It works b oth way s .

Cultivating your chi cultivates your consci ousness.

Cultivating your consci ousness cultivates your chi .

If your chi purifies then consci ousness purifies by b ecoming empti er.
If your consci ousness b ecomes empti er then your chi can further purify .

The entry way of using breathing exerci ses i n marti al arts i s because they affect your chi directly,
and so they are a way to help y ou cultivate the chi of your b ody whi ch, because thi s is connected
with your muscl es and phy si cal form, can help you reach a new level of marti al arts cultivati on . If
you cultivate your chi you can experi ence the results of qi-gong, and then nei-gong in ti me.

When you start cultivating your b ody ' s i nner energi es at the l evel of nei-gong, whi ch i s the deeper
step of chi practi ce, thi s finally unl ocks the ability to start achieving those mi raculous marti al arts
feats such as flying through the ai r and so forth which you read ab out in marti al arts novel s . Thi s i s
a l evel where you real ly g o deep i nto i t and start cultivating the deepest internal energi es of the
b ody - l ife force itself - having used marti al arts as the entry way i nto thi s, b ecause otherwi se y ou
would never have gotten thi s far.

Thi s smal l b ook is al l ab out enteri ng into the cultivation of nei-gong, or the i nternal marti al arts, as
an entryway i nto those speci al abi l ities, and the pathway of cultivating (purifyi ng) your mind
b ecause of the connecti on b etween chi and consci ousnes s . Specifi cally, when you reach a point in
your nei-gong practi ce that you open up the body ' s central energy channel meridian, cal l ed the
sushumna in Indi a and zhong mai in Chinese, and then afterwards open up the River Chari ot
rotati on cal l ed the microcosmic circul ation in Taoi sm, then afterwards all the body ' s energi e s
meri di ans wi l l start t o open up and you can b egin t o enter the sphere o f supernormal marti al arts
capab i l iti e s . Your mind wi l l al so open up to become empty, and free of attachments to wanderi ng
thoughts, you can react in your movements and strategi es much quicker than ever b efore .

4
Opening up the sushumna central channel and other meridians within your b ody i s the engine
enab l i ng thi s to al l happen, and after thi s accompli shment you can start inventi ng al l sorts of
speci al marti al arts techni ques and unusual abi l iti e s on your own after the mi crocosmi c and
macrocosmi c and other ci rcul ati ons have all opened. But thei r opening, at the l evel of nei-gong, i s
the mini mum foundation nece ssary for these types of achi evements.

It would take countl ess b ooks to go i nto thi s i n detai l , so our onl y goal in thi s b ook is to j ust
i ntroduce the topic in brief since y ou wi l l find very littl e el se in pri nt. When you read stori es of
marti al arti sts who can fly and wal k through wal l s and move at incredible speed s - al l the thi ngs
that you usually see i n Japanese Manga and C hi nese marti al arts fi l m s - that' s al l a product of
nei-gong whi ch I hope you work to achi eve .

As stated, i n order t o do that, i n order t o get that far, there are certai n thi ngs you have t o cultivate
and a certai n l evel you have to reach as to the mastery of your i nternal energy cultivati on . Marti al
arts i s an entryway to achieving thi s l evel of mastery and experti se over your i nternal energi es, or
nei-gong. And then once you get your i nternal energi es to a certai n stage of purifi cati on from your
cultivati on, nei-gong marti al arti sts soon real ize that there' s a stage yet higher cal l ed Tao-gong,
whi ch i s b asi cally cultivating the Tao.

Tao-gong is totally spi ritual and has to do with cultivating pure, pri sti ne awareness without a b ody,
unattached to chi . You sl owly di scover thi s b ecause your mind gets progres sively empti er and
more pure on thi s path of nei-gong cultivati on, whereupon you start to recognize that only
awarene ss or pure consci ousness is operati ng. A pure bodi l ess awareness, or pure consci ousness,
is the real you, and you start to get a glimpse of i t after y ou proceed suffici ently at nei-gong.

When you start to cultivate that as your goal , whi ch i s to experi ence your true nature or true Self,
that' s cal l ed " cultivating the Tao," or Tao-gong. And when you succeed at Tao-gong, you tum
around agai n and compl ete the cultivation of the phy si cal b ody to a yet higher stage than could b e
reached through the practi ce o f nei-gong al one and i t s cultivati on o f i nternal energi es for purely
phy si cal reasons . In Buddhi sm, the accompli shment of real izing the Tao is cal l ed attai ning the
dharmakaya, and then turning around to fini sh the transformati on of your b ody is cal l ed cultivati ng
the sambhogakaya, or Reward b ody of your practi ce.

Thi s whole path from wai-gong to qi-gong to nei-gong to Tao-gong is actual ly the compl ete path
of the real marti al arts. It doesn't stay at the l evel where someone i s j u st cultivating their body with
external exerci ses, after whi ch they can break through twenty bri cks or ten b oards or knock out a
l ot of peopl e . You start with the external exerci ses, or wai-gong, and then you eventual ly start
feel i ng your chi , or qi. Sometimes thi s happen s b ecause of your phy si cal practi ce, and someti mes
b ecause you start cultivating your breath, or breathi ng, i n special way s . Sci ence say s your chi
doesn ' t exi st, but y ou soon prove it to y ourself by feel i ng it, and then you can enter i nto the stage of
chi cultivati on with firm belief.

If you start combi ni ng those chi experi ences with your practi ce, that' s qi-gong, and you can start
cultivating your i nternal energi es in a non- superfi ci al way from there . You start feeling those chi
energi es and combine them with your muscul ar movements, but then you proceed i nto cultivating
j u st those i nternal energi es al one whi l e ignori ng the b ody, and hence we then have nei-gong.

5
At the apex of marti al arts, at its highest echel on, one goes from nei-gongto Tao-gong. The people
who get that far, reaching these two l evel s, are the ones who can do al l those miracul ous thi ngs that
you read about that are at a l evel above excepti onal phy sical ski l l that can be cultivated, as usual ly
seen i n TV documentari e s . Yes, it is possibl e to do those supernormal thi ngs. Yes, you can trai n to
achi eve them but you have to get to the level of nei-gong whi ch requires a certai n mindset, an
understanding of some basic pri nci ples, and certai n exerci ses we' re ab out to supply .

In order to do that, in order to have those unusual super p ower abi l iti es ari se -- and we'l l get i nto the
way s that people cultivate for that specifi cally -- you have to, numb er one, open up the energy
meridians in the b ody, known as the chi channel s of the b ody, and total ly transform your body ' s
chi . That transformati on i s actual ly a detoxification of the phy si cal b ody, as coarse and subtl e
poi sons are expel l ed, and a refi nement and purifi cati on of your chi .

You have to ab solutely open up the central channel of your i nner subtl e b ody, cal led the zhong mai
in C hi nese, or the sushumna central channel , and then the ful l set of i nternal meri dians after that.
Attendant with thi s, of course, i s a transformati on in consci ousness wherei n your mind b ecomes
more open, cl ear, free, empty, aware and natural .

Thi s i s not a proces s that can be achi eved instantly b ecause to fully open up al l the channel s of the
b ody and compl etely transform its form takes ab out ten to twelve years in total . That doesn ' t mean
you won ' t make great stri des in progre ss and experi ence amazing thi ngs unti l twelve years are up,
but that for a fi rst go at compl etely transformi ng al l the cell s, channel s and so forth of the b ody,
numerous school s cite twelve years as the common requirement for the compl ete circuit.

After you open up the sushumna central channel of the b ody, whi ch kick starts these advanced
transformati ons, i n a matter of day s you can eventual ly i niti ate what Taoi sm cal l s the
"mi crocosmi c ci rcul ati on," or the River Chari ot rotation, whi ch is al so menti oned i n the Bible. Al l
cultivati on school s in the worl d menti on thi s rotati on of chi within the b ody because it exi sts and
can be felt when it is finally i niti ated . The rotati on is real , and often compared to the orbital
movements of the pl anets in the sky, but you j u st cannot feel it unti l y ou di ssolve away al l the
ob structi ons bl ocki ng your chi channel s and the ci rcul ati ons within them . It i s a phenomenon you
feel whereas when the sushumna opens it i s something you have to be shown through an i nner
vision. The Indian and Tib etan school s of spi ritual cultivati on emphasize the sushumna's opening
whereas most other traditi ons, b ecause you can actual ly feel the results without any self-decepti on,
emphasize the commencement of thi s rotati on . In my view that' s a b etter signpost or progress
marker.

After thi s rotati on opens up, you can feel the chi energi e s going up your spine and then down the
front of your b ody in a circul ar orbit, though of course the sensation dies as those ci rculatory
pathway s are fully cl eared of ob structi ons so that the chi ci rcul ati on b ecomes smooth . Thi s
pathway i s the ouroboros snake biti ng its tai l in Greek symb oli sm, or "Levi athan of Vast F ace" i n
Judai sm, and i n Taoi sm it' s the circul ation o f your chi up your dumai b ack channel and then down
the jen mai of the front of your b ody , al so known as the mi crocosmi c ci rcul ati on .

You ' l l find the same phenomenon menti oned in western al chemy and other spi ritual school s as
wel l , i ncluding the many tantric yoga school s of Indi a, Buddhi sm, and so forth . Once that
b ack-to-front mi crocosmic ci rcul ati on opens up, then your chi energi es only afterwards can
eventually open up more and more ci rcul ati ons throughout the b ody in very subtl e detai l , i ncluding

6
through the arm s, then down to the feet. The main crux of thi s can happen in a matter of day s once
the mi crocosmi c ci rcul ati on is cl eared . The ful l set of ci rcul ati ons i n the b ody i nvolving all the
chakras, chi channel s and meri dian routes is cal l ed the macrocosmi c ci rcul ati on to reflect the
l arger, macro pi cture . B ecause these i ncludes al l sorts of orbits, thi s is compared to the universe i n
general .

In Chinese Taoi sm, which i s the origin b ehind many marti al arts, thi s enti re opening of the body ' s
chi channel s l ay s the foundati on for the nei-gong, or the i nternal energy cultivati on work. Taoi sm
describes thi s stage of i nner energy cultivati on not in term s of chakras as done in Indi a and Tib et,
but in terms of energy fields and chi energy tran sformati on . Taoi sm say s yourjing transform s i nto
chi , whi ch corre sponds to your generative energi es becoming chi energi es that can open up
meri di ans in your b ody, and the fact your muscl es and cel l s and phy si cal nature starts transformi ng
b ecause they are made ofjingo

Next chi transform s i nto shen because shen, meaning a type of no-thought awarene ss wherei n the
mind is qui et and empty but fully awake and aware, happens b ecause there is a rel ati onshi p
b etween chi and consci ousnes s . As chi purifies your consci ousness purifies, so the empty
awareness of shen i s b orn . Next, shen (awareness or no-thought) transform s i nto a real state of
mental empti ness wherei n thoughts don ' t seem to ari se anymore, and then by cultivating
empti ness (empty mind or bodi l ess awareness of pure consci ousness without an obj ect) you can
real ize the Tao, whi ch is your original nature or true Self.

Buddhi sm j u st cal l s that whol e proces s of i nner energy cultivati on the transformati on and
purifi cati on of the five el ements of the phy sical b ody, which is what you're doing with marti al arts
if you do it correctly . It' s real ly a proces s of detoxifying your i nner chi channel s of occlusions and
ob structi ons and purifying your chi and channel s to reach a stage of purification and i nternal
harmony of your i nner energi e s .

Thi s i s o n e way i n which m arti al arts differs from ordinary exerci se, l i ke weightl ifting o r tenni s,
where there' s no spiritual component or i nternal energeti c component of cultivating the life force
of your b ody to its deepest l evel s and highest l evels of excel l ence with all the capabil ities those
entai l . As you do thi s you get healthier and younger, whereas with most Western sports and
athl eti cs you j u st get older. Unl i ke we stern sports, the marti al arts route hel p s you stay young and
fit wel l into your elder years, and parti cul arly so if you travel the road of nei-gong. Thi s i s
something that western athl eti cs and competitive sports cannot clai m .

I f you do marti al arts correctly according t o the right princi ples, then your c h i channel s wi l l start to
open natural l y . But you have to tum to certai n nei-gong exerci ses to start cultivating your deep
i nternal energi es, and once the i nternal ci rcul ati on of the River Chari ot rotati on commences you'll
feel that ci rcul ati on conti nue for years . It'll b ecome more subtl e and it wi l l deepen as ti me goes by,
opening new areas of the b ody as it proceeds. That' s the entry way i nto these speci al paranormal
abi l ities if you conti nue cultivating your wai-gong al ong with thi s i nner effort. The wai-gong effort
hel p s you b ecome healthy to prepare y ou for i nternal cultivati on, and if you conti nue cultivating
b oth together, there ' s al most no limit to what you can achieve.

That' s the genuine progres si on of marti al arts to thei r highest potenti al , whi ch starts from external
marti al arts, to chi marti al arts, to the i nternal marti al arts of deep i nner energi es cultivati on, and
then Tao-gong. The many detai l s to these stages are described in " The Little Book of Hercules"

7
and in Master Nan Huai Chi n ' s b ook, "Tao and Longevity," but that' s an i ntroducti on for the
marti al arts path in general .
 1
The Two Basic Approaches

One of the i s sues ab out the trai ning in marti al arts that seem s very rel evant to thi s i s that a lot of the
marti al arts trai ning and practi ces can be grouped i nto two huge categori e s . One would be a
Buddhi st marti al arts focus, such as for the Shaol i n school and so on, that came out of the Buddhi st
tradition in terms of the underlying culture and mindset. On the other hand, y ou would al so have a
Taoi st marti al arts approach, such as found in Tai Chi C huan, Ba Gua Chang, Liu He Ba Fa,
Ai ki do, and Hsi ng-Yi .

Of course these traditi ons overl ap and the divi sion i s arti fi ci al , and you real ly cannot say that vi ew
X or approach X b el ongs to thi s tradition and view Z or methodol ogy and approach Z b el ongs to
the other traditi on . You al so cannot say that thi s or that exerci se or form of marti al arts b el ongs to
thi s group and has no origins in the other. Over ti me many different approaches have b orrowed
from one another and b ecome somewhat i ntegrated .

What I a m saying i s that there are two different approaches t o cultivating your i nternal energi es
that can b e summarized by referencing two school s - Buddhi sm and Taoi sm. We can make a
di sti ncti on b etween how you approach the cultivati on of the b ody and its energi es by referencing
these two school s . S o, when it comes to cultivating your i nternal energi e s to reach the heights of
marti al arts greatness, there are the same two basic approaches summarized by the terms
Buddhi sm and Taoi sm, and there i s al so a difference in the expl anations and terminol ogy used i n
marti al arts approaches that represents thi s different focus

There's a l ot of differences b etween the vi ewpoints of Buddhi sm and Taoi sm and how that has
b ecome refl ected in the marti al arts . Even so, these two school s have somewhat converged and
combi ned over the centuri e s where i n many cases the approache s are the same, and there i sn ' t any
difference b etween the two school s at al l . There are alway s commonaliti es and overl ap s b etween
diverse traditi ons, and adepts from one tradition alway s sought out schooling from the other,
combi ni ng the two and refi ning what they l earned to produce the many school s and techniques and
approaches we have today . Thi s is an admi rab l e trait, and something you shoul d al so do.

If you end up cultivati ng correctly i n either school, which means either " approach," you'll end up
cultivating your body ' s i nternal energi es. But if we l ook at the traditi ons of these two school s and
thei r two approaches to i nner energi es, then you can understand why we say there' s a basic
difference i n philosophy b etween them .

Taoi sm, for instance, from its earl iest stages, has alway s b een ab out how to cultivate a human
phy sical b ody so that the phy sical b ody doesn't have to die but can live forever. The emphasi s
within Taoi sm has alway s b een ab out immortal ity - how to produce an immortal phy si cal b ody,
rather than an immortal spi ritual b ody . Many branche s of Hi ndui sm focus on an immortal spiritual
b ody, whi ch is an emphasi s in C hri stianity as well even though people don ' t expli citly say so. The

9
i dea of dying and going to heaven, to experi ence everl asti ng happiness, entai l s a spiritual b ody that
does not peri sh .

With l ongevity to the extent of i mmortality as the obj ective, and the fact that life extension alway s
i nvolves di et, exerci se, and ri dding oneself of sickness, the Chinese Taoi sts have alway s b een
trying to di scover exercises, herb s , mineral s, foods, diets, routi nes . . . b asi cally anything that an
i ndivi dual might cultivate that could help transform hi s human b ody to a higher stage of
perfecti on . Taoi sts would see the pl anets in the Heavens whi ch have orbits that seemingly l ast
forever, and would l ook at the nature of gol d that doesn ' t rust or tarni sh and al so seems to l ast
forever. Then they would ask, "How can I cultivate the energi es in the human b ody and
supplement them so that they work forever as i n these examples of nature?"

Al ong these l i nes, they reasoned, " Si nce gol d l asts forever, is it possi b l e that al l of the
phy siol ogi cal functi ons of the human b ody coul d be transformed i nto a nature l ike that of gol d
whi ch does not decay?" As an expl anati on of j u st one of thei r many approaches to pursuing
phy sical immortal ity, they would research how you might use the components of certai n pl ants to
try to transform pure gol d i nto liquid form, and then might gradual ly i ngest it so that it could b e
sl owly ab sorbed i nto the b ody . I ' ve col l ected b ooks from anci ent Indi a and Tibet with al l sorts of
such secret reci pes and many other thi ngs j u st to re search al l the strange approaches people would
take for things l i ke thi s, as thi s pursuit and the sci entific findings that came out of it were the
earl i est b eginning of ancient sci ence in vari ous culture s .

After a l ong peri od of time, i ngesting formulas like thi s would i ndeed transform al l o f the
phy siol ogi cal functi ons of the b ody, for b etter or worse, j u st as happens when we i ngest
vitami n-mineral -nutriti onal -herb al supplements today on a daily b asi s . Thi s was a perfect example
of trying to use external products - rather than external marti al arts exerci ses - to transform one ' s
i nner energi es. The external marti al arts approach was another route they took b ecause done
correctly, i n ti me thi s hel p s open up the body ' s channel s so that they are free of ob structi ons, l i ke
the orbits of the pl anets that occur in an empty, starry fi l l ed sky .

The early Taoi sts would al so experi ence the rotati on of the chi within thei r b odies, which they ' d
compare to the orbits of the planets. They would al so reason that the physi cal b ody passes away
whereas the orbits of cel esti al bodies l asts forever, so how might they suppl ement these i nternal
rotati ons so that they b ecome fri cti onl ess and never cease?

That type of reasoning, and the sub sequent research, became the basis of many Taoi st approache s
t o cultivating i nternal energi es that are only experi enced a t the highest l evel s o f marti al arts. Taoi st
would try al l sorts of thi ngs, and thei r many approache s b ecame the b asi s of the theory of Taoist
i nternal marti al art s . As my teacher once wrote in "The Story of C hi nese Taoi sm,"

The ci rcul ati on through the front and b ack chi channel s Uen mai and du mai] forces
coordinati on with the theory of the Heavenly Stem s and Earthly Branches i n the
illustrati ons and numerol ogy of the Book a/Changes. Thi s is known as making one
microcosmic orbit (al so cal l ed turning the water wheel ) . Later, al l those who
expl ai ned how to turn from the mi crocosmi c orbit to the macrocosmic orbit and
coordinate the green dragon, white tiger, l ead, mercury, yin, yang, etc . , the most
my steri ous of the my steri ous, the most spiritual of the spiritual , and who aspired to

10
 be Immortal s without excepti on, brought forth an unsurpassed al chemi cal method
that they diligently cultivated. In the end they verified cultivati on by means of
reversal (the mal e sexual organ was contracted, and the breasts of femal es were
restored to b ei ng like those of a young girl ) . A further step was attai ning the ab ility
to transform chi i nto spirit (shen), sending the yang spirit out, and having the spirit
wander outsi de the b ody . Thi s was the achi evement of the golden immortal .

There were many methods that had very great i nfluence. General ly speaking, the
views and terminol ogy of opening the governor and concepti on channel s and
"bei ng possessed" that were hel d by the renowned martial arti sts of the S outhern
S chool (internal ) and Northern S chool (external ), practitioners of qi-gong, those
who focused on qui et sitti ng and nouri shing health, and the i ndivi dual s describ ed in
marti al arts novel s, were al l derived from the theori es, terms and methods of thi s
sect of al chemy .

B asically, the early Taoi sts real i zed that you can go al ong with nature, and then supplement nature
wherever it' s possibl e, to l engthen a life span . Al ong the way, they di scovered many sci entific
principles that helped transform the b ody, too, and of course they di scovered the exi stence of the
body ' s i nternal energi es b ecause many of the avenues they i nve stigated l ed to thi s same common
i ntersecti on . Thi s di scovery of the body ' s i nternal energy meridians, and the chi flow among them,
b ecame the b asi s of many positi ons and movement practices within the marti al arts j ust as
happened with the devel opment of yoga.

A l ot of the phi l o sophy of Tai Chi and other martial arts fol l ows a deep strategy of b asi cally going
al ong with nature such as fol l owing the fl ow of these natural i nternal energi es (or using an
opponent' s energi es agai nst him), and cultivating those forces so they do not dimini sh b ecause
they encounter no ob structi on to thei r flow, or even trying to suppl ement them . Thi s di rectly ti es
i nto the nei-gong stage where you're cultivating the i nternal energi es of your b ody .

The Taoi sts wanted to know how to transform their bodies so that they might live forever, so once
you tap i nto those energies, the questi on ari ses how you can use those energi es specifi cally to
cultivate the b ody? What exerci ses might you do, in line with those energi es, to keep healthy or
even to defend yourself in martial arts?

The Buddhi st marti al arts came ab out through different origins with a different obj ective and
mindset. Typically people trace the origins of Buddhi st marti al arts to the S haol i n Templ e where
the Indian Z en master B odhidharma taught the monks how to strengthen their bodies through
tendon exerci ses, though of course there are other origi ns as wel l .

Shaol i n has a l ong tradition of marti al arts whi ch primari ly starts from thi s ti me. At that time, there
were inactive monks who were meditati ng al l day l ong at Shaol in and they were pretty sickly, the
story goes, b ecause they weren't exercising but j u st sitti ng there al l day . You would compare them
to the b ookworm s of today or computer addi cts who don ' t move. They would be compared to
couch potatoes who get out of shape and b ecome overweight, but in thi s case vegetari an monks
didn ' t have enough food to become fat, but were sitti ng there meditati ng al l day without exerci sing.
In short, there was a tendency to b ecome sickly and weak.

11
You have to be healthy to get the Tao, so B odhi dharma b asi cally started to teach them the tendon
stretches and other methods for making the body healthy . These monks forgot the fact that even
Shakyamuni Buddha was wel l known for hi s marti al arts ski l l s b efore he took up hi s path to
enl ightenment, and you can read ab out hi s marti al arts capabil ities in the stori es ab out how he met
hi s wife and got marri ed.

If you j ust cultivate meditati on al l the ti me and you don't exerci se the b ody, it' s possibl e to reach
stages of empti ness and what' s cal l ed the dharmakaya, whi ch means real izing your origi nal nature
or true S elf - a primordi al state of base awarenes s that is our real b ei ng and the basis of the mind -
but that doesn ' t fully transform the phy sical b ody . It will i ndeed tran sform it to a certai n extent,
b ecause otherwi se you could not reach high spi ritual states and attai n enl ightenment in the first
pl ace, but attai ning enl ightenment doesn ' t nece ssarily transform the body ' s i nternal energi es and
its chi , channel s and chakras al l the way to the extent you can fly through the air, wal k through
mountai ns, move with the speed of wi nd, and so forth . That requires further cultivati on !

As the Z en master Han Shan sai d, "It i s easy to easy to set foot in the thi cket of brambles, but it i s
hard t o transform the b ody under the curtai n i n the bright moonlight . " You can real ize the i nherent
empti ness of your true b ei ng, but even so it' s hard to transform thi s phy si cal b ody even though it i s
not your true S elf.

The Tao school i s al l ab out transformi ng thi s physi cal b ody of ours, as i s done i n martial arts, so
Taoi sts want that achi evement because it enables them to b ecome healthy and live a l ong life . The
emphasis i n Buddhi sm i s not on cultivating your phy si cal body, however, because it i s not the real
you but j u st a vehi cl e for i nfi nite pure consciousness to be abl e to manifest, and hence Buddhi sts
ignore it to search for a di rect experi enti al real izati on of the source of b ody, mind and the universe
to become enl ightened. But after enl ightenment, what then? There ' s sti l l a b ody there, which i s
your vehi cl e for l iving and accompli shing good works i n the worl d . You don ' t want t o b e sick but
healthy, do you not?

According to Buddhi sm, after self-real izati on y ou can work on cultivati ng your phy si cal b ody
unti l its nature b ecomes l i ke pure energy because the greater, superi or, pri mary obj ective of
attai ning the Tao has first b een real ized . So many masters fi rst put al l thei r efforts i nto attai ning
enl ightenment and then go i nto retreat to transform their b odi es. Thi s work at transformi ng thei r
b ody, whi ch i s es senti ally what the Taoi sts ai m to do from the start, as thei r pri mary focus, i s cal l ed
perfecti ng the sambhogakaya or Reward B ody in Buddhi sm. The purifi cati on work of cultivating
the physi cal b ody i nto a Reward B ody, the sambhogakaya, pertai ns to cleari ng al l its channel s,
chakras, whi ch rej uvenates the b ody or gives it "new life . " Then it can perform all those wonderful
capab i l iti es we read ab out in anci ent stori es of marti al arti sts with super powers . But Buddhi sm
never starts out focusing on the obj ective of cultivating the b ody, where Taoi sm doe s .

Buddhism emphasizes the m i n d , and only after you attain the right view o f the m i n d b ei ng empty
and the b asi s of al l thi ngs, and the fact that spiritual cultivati on has to do with the mind rather than
the phy si cal b ody (whose changes come al ong free duri ng the ri de), only then can you throw a lot
of your ti me, energi es and efforts i nto cultivating the b ody . Otherwi se your emphasi s will b e
mi spl aced b ecause you have the wrong vi ew, and your cultivation wi l l tend t o go astray .

Buddhi sm therefore say s : first cultivate the mind, recognize your origi nal nature of bodi l e s s pure
pri sti ne awarene ss - the dh armakaya - by detaching from your phy si cal b ody and even your i nner

12
energy b ody, or subtl e chi b ody or whatever you want to cal l it. After that achi evement of
self-real izati on, only then is it safe to work on transformi ng your b ody and cultivati ng the i nternal
energi es as an obj ective in itself b ecause if y ou concentrate on that from the start, you wi l l mi s s the
ulti mate achi evement of dharmakaya real izati on . You ' l l m i s s the pri mary achi evement b ecause of
a misplaced emphasi s that stol e al l your practi ce time, and you most prob ably won ' t end up
cultivating the phy sical b ody to the neces sary state of excel l ence either !

The Taoi sts start from an opposite angl e and say, first l et me cultivate the b ody to a state of
perfection, and from that I ' l l end up cultivati ng my chi , and thereby consci ousness, and get the Tao
that way . I ' l l cultivate the b ody, get healthy, and then it won ' t cause any ob structi ons to my
spiritual practi ce. I ' l l activate the i nternal energi es within me, and by masteri ng non-cl i nging whi l e
they ari se I wi l l eventual ly cultivate Tao-gong and fi n d m y true nature, and then I ' ll have b oth
pearl s in my hand.

The Taoi st approach produces i ndivi dual s l i ke the flying Immortal Lu C hunyang (Lu Dongbin),
founder of the Eight Immortal s Swordpl ay style, who had to b e awakened to enl ightenment by a
Z en master, and the Buddhi st approach produces i ndividual s like Mil arepa or Chi Kung who
cultivated real izati on and awakened, and then had al l sorts of speci al abiliti e s l i ke the famous
Taoi st Immortal marti al arti sts. Most people studying marti al arts don ' t know anything ab out these
dual roads, so I ' m trying to make thi s cl ear.

The difference b etween the two school s or approaches is summari zed by sayings from Taoi sm and
Buddhi sm. The Fifth Patri arch of the Z en school sai d to the Sixth, "If you don ' t cultivate a
real izati on of your original nature, al l your cultivation work i s in vai n . " After one attains
real izati on of one ' s origi nal nature, or dharmakaya, then Buddhi sm stresses the completion of the
sambhogakaya, or transformi ng the phy si cal nature .

Taoi sm says, " Cultivati on of phy si cal al chemy without the cultivati on the real izati on of your
ab solute nature is the first error of practi ce. However, if one only cultivates real izati on of your
original nature and does not cultivate i nner al chemy, then it wi l l b e difficult to real ize sagehood
even in ten thousand kalpas . "

O n e o f these schools of marti al arts came from thi s tradition o r approach o f cultivating empti ness
first as the primary focus, whi ch means cultivating an empty mind. You can al so cultivate the
phy sical b ody as wel l , simultaneously, to accompany that so as to keep the b ody fit and healthy .
It' s common sense and there ' s nothing agai nst thi s, but you throw most of your focus i nto mental
cultivati on to purify the mind and i nve stigate the ulti mate origins of consci ousness rather than
cultivate physi cal exerci ses al l day l ong.

The difference comes down to emphasi s, degree and type of work. You b asi cally meditate, you
start watchi ng your thoughts and they calm down and your mind empti es natural l y . To keep i n
shape, you al so exerci se, and i n thi s case the b est type o f exerci se i s marti al arts rather than the
more stati c yoga, but you don ' t overly focus on it. Your goal , rather, is enl ightenment.

The practi ce of meditati on that shoul d accompany marti al arts is that simple, but people don ' t want
to put the ti me i nto doing it b ecause they thi nk it' s b ori ng, so other methods get around to the same
end result using different princi ples, such as vi sual izati on practi ce where you to concentrate on an
i mage unti l y our mind empti es of wanderi ng thoughts except for the image . After you reach a state

13
of stabil ity through vi sual izati on practi ce, it means the mi scel l aneous monkey thoughts in the
mind have died down, the i nternal dial ogue has qui eted, and then you are supposed to ab andon that
stabl e image you ' ve cultivated to experi ence the empty mind. You try to vi sual ize an image unti l it
b ecomes stab l e in the mind, and when that happens, you l et go of hol ding on to it. That' s cal l ed
vi sualization practi ce, or one-poi ntedness practi ce since you need to cultivate one-pointed
concentrati on to succeed on thi s route.

The other approach to marti al arts comes from the traditi on of cultivating the b ody directly rather
than the mind. You cultivate the b ody first, and then l ater the mind, or b oth si multaneously with
more of an emphasi s on masteri ng the phy sical nature and cultivati ng its energi e s . Thi s i s the route
of the normal marti al arti st who knows nothing ab out meditati on, or the i deas of qi-gong, nei-gong
and Tao-gong. S o the doorway i s either of the b ody or the mind.

Of these two, actual ly the road of cultivating the mind (consci ousness) i s qui cker and more
effi cient and has produced the most succe sses for the target of self-real izati on AND cultivati on of
the physi cal b ody to its utmost excel l ence . But that' s another i s sue enti rely . Of those two traditi ons,
b oth of them have people who definitely succeed and attai n the Tao. You can approach it either
way, but 0 succeed on the phy si cal road of transformati ons you need an excepti onal teacher.

B eing perfectly honest ab out it, you'd have to l ean more towards the Buddhi st approach to find the
l argest number of i ndivi dual s who actual ly succeeded in the Tao, and yet many of them used the
Taoi st approach of cultivati ng thei r b ody as the foundati on, and then turned to Mi nd-only
cultivati on after they found thi s l acki ng. As for the people who actually succeeded i n transformi ng
the b ody from the standpoint of Taoi sm, unl ess they cultivated the same principles of pure
undifferenti ated consci ousness and empty awarenes s mind found in Buddhi sm - since they are
non-denomi nati onal rather than religious or sectari an principles - they usually did not succeed with
that as wel l .

People get thi s i dea that these principles o f emphasi s are al l sectari an but they are j u st pri ncipl e s of
sci ence, such as the principles of weight l ifti ng. Whether you are Buddhi st or Taoi st, Asian or
Western, man or woman, young or old, Buddhi st or C hri sti an or Jewi sh or Mosl em or whatever, if
you start lifti ng weights then your muscl es wi l l develop to get bigger and stronger. Thi s is a fact of
science. It doesn ' t have anything to do with your tradition, race, culture, rel igi on, gender, mindset,
what you b el i eve, whatever. It' s j u st a fact or basic sci enti fi c principle.

Al l the principles of i nternal cultivati on are al so principles of sci ence and apply to al l traditi ons, al l
peopl es, al l culture, rel igi ons, etc . in the same way . People get confused ab out thi s, but thi s i s the
case and you have to put your prej udices asi de.

Thi s fact al so therefore l ends credence to the principle of b enchmarki ng wherei n if you find some
practi ce or techni que i n some school that is b etter than in another school or tradition, then you
should quickly use it to make further progres s . Ju st take the best from every tradition and put it
together to help yourself make more progress. That' s cal l ed i nnovati on, and it' s how the worl d
moves forward .

It i s ridi culous to be stubb orn and insi st one ' s l i neage or tradition or cultural heritage i s b e st, and
refuse to adapt by incorporati ng ski l l s and knowl edge from other school s i nto one ' s practice. Thi s
i s not the road that enab l e s you to perfect yourself as a human being, or help elevate your tradition

14
either, whi ch should be one of your responsibiliti es if you are truly proud ab out your traditi on .
Learn from the best, use the b est; j ust pul l from the b est and use the b e st from wherever you find it.
The key is to devel op the human b ei ng to its highest phy si cal and spiritual and ethical potenti al , so
use whatever virtuous teachings you find to do thi s regardless of thei r origi ns. Who cares?
Prej udice is the ob stacl e !

In term s of the marti al arts, that parti cular philosophy has helped develop b oth of those paths, the
Taoi st marti al arts and the Buddhi st marti al arts . The two school s have b een mixed and approaches
have b een b orrowed from each over the l ong centuri e s . However, as a practiti oner you must
understand that two roads approach the cultivati on of marti al arts from a different emphasi s, but at
the very end of the day, progress i s nondenominati onal and the stages of gong-fu people wi l l pass
through are nondenominati onal as wel l . You j u st have different angl es avai l ab l e for pursuing your
search for progre ss, and you should use what' s best for you .

S o for i nstance, a Taoi st might approach thei r progres s and practi ce through the i dea, "Let me j u st
start cultivating the body , " and then eventual ly they wi l l end up cultivati ng the mind. But a
different mental approach, whi ch we cal l Buddhi st, wi l l say, " Let me cultivate the mind to find its
cl ear foundations and then l ater, as I succeed i n that, cultivate the body, " or "Let me cultivate the
mind, with meditati on as my pri mary focus, and the b ody al ong with it so that I stay healthy and so
forth . "

I n Shaol i n today, most o f the monks are actual ly cultivating the b ody and the guts o f deep
meditati on practi ce is only now returning. Shaol i n ' s situati on has b ecome simi l ar to a money
making corporati on, so the spi ritual focus has devi ated over the l ast decades. Nob ody ' s real ly
cultivating the mind anymore, whi ch is the traditi onal Buddhi st approach, b ecause every one i s
focusing o n phy si cal exerci ses and the b ody . Neverthel ess, the Buddhi st emphasi s i s sl owly
returning once agai n . Thi s whol e tradition was b asi cally gutted of its spi ritual content b ecause of
the Communi st Cultural Revolution, but of the monks who visit my teacher in China, it' s b ecome
apparent that there is an attempt at a return to the true emphasi s of Zen master B odhi dharma, whi ch
was cultivati on of the mind to real ize one ' s true nature . In any case, I hope that explains some of
the differences b etween the two approaches or types of emphasi s .

T h e other poi nt t o real ize i s that in Chi na, b ecause the traditi ons have come together so much,
Buddhi sts would tal k ab out enl ightenment or original nature i n terms of "the Tao," and it' s not j u st
the Taoi sts who use that termi nol ogy . For the people who don't quite have a real ly deep
understanding of the way the cultural conversati on devel oped over thi s target, you must recognize
that it' s not j u st the Taoi sts who tal k ab out "the Tao . " Thi s refers to enlightenment, the pathway to
enl ightenment, how to live in line with that pathway, and how to act after enl ightenment.
Buddhi sts would use that phrase, too, so it' s very i nterchangeab l e .

If we go t o Indi a, they're using a n enti rely different set o f words and vocabul ary that mean exactly
the same thing. They're j ust using the words "true Self' or "Parabrahman" to tal k ab out
self-real izati on, enl ightenment, original nature, dharmakaya, S ource nature, God, the Tao, and so
on . The we stern religions use yet another set of vocabul ary that refers to the same thi ng. Buddhi sts
might say the ab solute nature, or they might actual ly say the true Self, true nature, original nature,
primordi al essence, dharmakaya, dharmadhatu, etc . It' s all b asi cally referri ng to the same thing,
and every si ngl e i ndivi dual al ong thi s path, regardless of their tradition, wi l l start experi encing the

15
gong-fu of thei r chi or internal energi es al ong thi s road of cultivati on . The gong-fu of the path i s a
common, nonsectari an affai r.

In short, the phenomena of wai-gong, qi-gong, nei-gong and Tao-gong is pretty universal, with
different practi ces and approaches found i n different traditi ons, but si milar experi ences are found
al ong the way with one of them b ei ng the supernormal phy si cal powers you read ab out for
Immortal martial arti sts, who i n other traditi ons might j u st b e saints or rel igious figures b ecause
they didn ' t bundl e thei r practi ces with external exerci ses and use that as an entryway i nto the Path .

If we b ack-track it, it' s al l b asi cally referri ng to the fact that there i s a pri mordi al es sence of the
human b ei ng and spirit. And it's the same fundamental nature or fundamental e ssence for al l l iving
b ei ngs, and al l matter as wel l . That fundamental essence has, as one of its natural characteri sti cs or
cap abil ities, the functi on of awareness, so it is pri mordi al awarenes s or base awareness. That i s
why i t i s someti mes cal led pure consci ousness, whi ch has n o b ody o r content o r form but i s empty
and therefore, free of thought. That' s what pure means. And somehow that has become mani fe sted
as the i ndivi dual human b ei ng and hi s capacity for i ndivi dual consci ousness or awareness, but i n
es sence w e are j u st pure empty awarenes s . T h e i ndivi dual consci ousness can b e traced b ack,
through cultivati on (meditati on), to an underlying i nfi nite pure awareness that is the sub strate of al l
being s .

F or us as human b ei ngs within thi s whol e universe, the key i s how t o fi n d that origi nal source of
whi ch we ulti mately are "a manifestati on . " S ome peopl e cal l that origi nal essence God, some
people cal l it Al l ah, some peopl e cal l it the original nature or Tao or true Self or what have you .
And there are a l ot o f different approaches for how t o real ize It, and marti al arts i s one o f those
entry way approaches. That road proceeds from wai-gong to qi-gong to nei-gong to Tao-gong.

Unfortunately, most marti al arti sts don't even know that there i s thi s i nternal gong-fu side to thei r
practi ce that can ultimately morph i nto thi s higher obj ective of Self-real izati on or realizing
enl ightenment i nto thei r true nature . That' s b ecause they're b asi cally hij acked by thi s whol e i dea of
b ei ng a b ody and cultivating the b ody . On top of that we have thi s heavy emphasi s on cal i stheni cs,
b ody sculpting and weightl ifting today . There ' s an emphasis on peak athl eti c performance from
the field of sports p sychol ogy and there is thi s i nherent i dea of strength training connected with
b odybui l di ng where people are scul pti ng their b ody and want to show every one their ab s .

People thi nk these tight mu scul ar bodies show you are real ly healthy, a n d it certai nly hel p s attract
the opposite sex, so of course people are attracted in thi s directi on since they have to do some
devel opment in that directi on anyway . But is that really the apex demonstrati on of health and the
highest capabi l ity of the human phy si cal nature? It does not i nvolve your chi , channel s or chakras,
so I don ' t thi nk so. I don ' t thi nk it can save you i n a b ar fight for your life either. We haven ' t even
menti oned the fact that consciousness, moral ity and b ehavi or are l eft out of the equati on as wel l
when we have thi s misplaced emphasi s . With marti al arts a phy si cal cultivati on emphasi s of many
different dimensions comes together, whereas thi s is j ust cultivating the ti n of the b ody - the outer
showcase of muscl e s .

As my teacher alway s says, when people do a l l that weightl ifting and b ody sculpting, w e might
thi nk they l ook great but there' s no chi l eft over to open up al l thei r chi channel s ! Al l the chi has
gone i nto buil ding muscles, so there ' s none l eft over for i nternal al chemy and a higher stage of
i nternal and external marti al arts progress. Yet thi s i s what people are after, so they go for

16
masteri ng the external form rather than cultivati ng their i nternal energi es in conj uncti on with
external appearance .

The other thing ab out thi s i s that anyone who i s at al l fam i l i ar with the hi story of the l iterature from
traditi onal marti al arts understands there' s thi s i dea of the "inner door" and " outer door" students.
There's the students who get the outside basic forms or elements of the marti al art. That' s
perfecti ng the wai-gong in terms of the external app earance such as the movements. However,
traditi onally, only a very small handful of the top l evel students would ever be all owed to get the
i nner secrets of a marti al art. And in many cases, those secrets are real ly thi s domesti c technol ogy
of qi-gong and nei-gong and rel ated topics whi ch we wi l l soon be di scussing.

These are j u st a few reasons why crucial knowl edge of i nternal marti al arts i s not very common . A
l ot of the people that have b een teaching marti al arts in the West may have never even seen these
ki nds of secret teachings within thei r traditi ons, yet they exi st.

Nei-gong i s cal l ed " The Internal Door" or " i nternal al chemy, " or " i nternal energy cultivati on . " And
that' s why I put the enti re sequence of the phy si cal changes that happen al ong that course in " The
Littl e B ook of Hercul es, " b ecause even i n the Tao school it's not cl ear what the ful l sequence of
channel openings is within the b ody that is cultivated i n the right way . With al l sorts of colorful
terminol ogy having b een used in the past, it' s not even cl ear what the transformati ons of chi within
the b ody are at around the cruci al stage of the River Chari ot openi ng. It' s not cl ear i n Tib etan
Buddhi sm, Vaj ray ana or tantri c y oga either, whi ch a l ot of peopl e fol l ow, as to what a map of the
seaml ess sequence of achi evement stages entai l s . It' s not cl ear in any marti al arts school or
tradition either - ab solutely NONE .

Neverthel ess, there i s a nondenomi national sequence of particul ar channel openi ngs, in a
parti cul ar order, producing specific phenomena of a special nature of a general pattern . After the
chi starts rotating in the b ody, then there ' s real ly no need for big discussions anymore b ecause the
general pattern after that i nvolves further stages of empti ness real izati on and channel openings that
natural ly occur without the maj or overt signs that ari se duri ng the i niti al opening de scribed by
most spi ritual school s . These openings are more subtl e anyway, and very diffi cult to describe, so
they are j ust de scribed by saying you must cultivate for such-and-such a period of ti me. Thi s is a
point where it i s sai d dakini s, Immortal s, Buddhas and B odhi sattvas, dharma protectors, Heaven
and so on wi l l help gui de you . In any case, you now have that pattern for the marti al arts tradition
as wel l l i sted i n "The Littl e B ook of Hercul e s . "

People don ' t recognize that Hercules was the model example o f the perfect marti al arti st o f the
West because of hi s strength, intel l igence, ski l l and b ecause of the great deeds he performed. He
represents a different form of gong-fu than we see in Karate, Judo, Tai Chi, wushu and so forth, but
we shoul d sti l l consi der him a marti al arti st, or wrestl er at the mini mum . Hi s deeds were important
b ecause the Greek i deal was to cultivate your marti al abi l ities not j u st for fighti ng but to use them
to accompl i sh great deeds for the worl d . Thi s ti es in with the C l i nt Eastwood l one Cowb oy figure
of the West who ri des i nto town to cl ean it up, or the i dea of the Japanese samurai or roni n . In
China we have the same image where a l one marti al arti st of excepti onal ski l l and cl ear mind,
personal vi rtue and i n control of hi s emoti ons, roams from here to there fighti ng b andits and
righti ng wrongs .

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In the ol d days, that was one of the inspi rati onal or motivati onal images that expl ai ned why people
cultivated them selves, and it sti l l has that attracti on magi c today . The i dea has b een captured i n the
comic b ook ethos that "with great power comes great responsibil ity," and that re sponsibility is to
use it to fight i nj u sti ce, help the weak agai nst the strong, and right wrongs rather than simply to
pick fights or seek bloodshed or revenge.

In any case, Hercules the marti al arti st goes through the exact same sequence of phy si cal b ody
transformati ons as described in vari ous spiritual school s, and in hi s story of the Twelve Lab ors you
even find what' s happening in terms of the i nternal energy, gong-fu, or the stages that you go
through and the signs and marks that will appear al ong the path . So you'll even find thi s common
marti al arts sequence of i nternal phy si cal transformati ons of the chi and channel s, when someone
enters i nto the path of nei-gong, in the We st ! You don ' t have to go to the East to find thi s
descripti on, and the funny thing i s that the West has the cl earest presentati on of al l these i nternal
changes of al l of school s one might choose from .

The big thing i s that you start out in marti al arts, of course, doing your physi cal exerci ses. You
practi ce your stances, forms and techni que s . . . you learn al l these vari ous exerci ses, stretches, and
b ody movements and they l oosen and strengthen your b ody . That' s important in l aying a
foundati on for i nternal marti al arts .

After doing these phy sical exerci ses for a whi l e you can eventual ly b egin to feel your chi, and then
you start to real ize there' s more to it, and you enter i nto the stage of feeling the energi es in your
b ody . You can start to feel the chi even though sci ence say s it doesn ' t exi st. At that point no
sci enti st, no doctor, no one can tel l you that chi is a figment of your imagination b ecause you start
feel i ng it for yourself and you can read al l these b ooks from countl ess traditions tel l i ng you it
exi sts, so you know who' s i n the wrong, and it i sn ' t you . You know it b ecause you can experience
it and authenti cate it for yourself without any possibility of error. It' s not a nervous sy stem or
hormonal phenomenon that you feel or anything l i ke that but actual chi or life force of the body
that you start feeling in a definite but superfi ci al fashi on as compared to nei-gong.

At thi s l evel you b asi cally are progressing with y our marti al arts. But then eventual ly, even for
someb ody who has b een practicing for 20 or 3 0 years or i s consi dered a worl d cl ass expert, you
wi l l reach a plateau . Hence, how do people commonly break that plateau? When you read the
hi stori es of so many peopl e who have founded school s and so forth, they'll tel l you they went from
wai-gong i nto qi-gong i nto nei-gong. They start with the qi-gong, meaning the pranayama route or
simply the road of feeling chi and cultivating chi or thei r breath in a superfi cial manner, and then
entered i nto meditati on to start cultivating their inter nal energies at a deep level.

One traditi onal Taoi st classifi cation, explained by B . K . Franzi s in hi s b ook, "The Power of
Internal Marti al Arts" (B lue Snake B ooks, B erkel ey : CA, 2007, pp. 63 -64) b reaks the internal chi
practi ce i nto 1 6 parts :

1. Breathing methods .

2. Feel i ng, movi ng, transformi ng, and transmuti ng i nternal energi es along b oth the
descending, ascending and connecti ng energy channel s of the b ody .

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 3. Preci se b ody al ignments to prevent the flow of chi from b ei ng blocked or dissipated
- practi cing these principles brings excepti onal ly effective bi omechanical
al ignments.

4. Di ssolving bl ockages of the phy sical , emoti onal and spiritual aspects of ourselve s .

5. Moving energy through the main and secondary meri dian channel s of the b ody,
i ncluding the energy gates .

6. B ending and stretching the b ody from the inside out and from the outside i n al ong
the directi on of the yin and yang acupuncture meridian lines.

7. Opening and closing parts of the body ' s ti s sues Goints, muscl es, soft ti s sues,
i nternal organs, glands, bl ood vessel s, cerebrospinal sy stem and brai n), as well as
al l the body ' s subtl e energy anatomy .

8. Manipulating the energy of the external aura outsi de the b ody .

9. Maki ng ci rcl es and spi ral s o f energy inside the b ody, control ling the spi ral i ng
energy currents of the b ody, and moving chi to any part of the b ody at wi l l ,
especi ally t o the gl ands, brain, and i nternal organs .

1 0 . Ab sorbing energy i nto, and proj ecting energy away from, any part o f the b ody .

1 1 . Control l i ng all the energi e s of the spine.

1 2 . Gai ning control of the left and right energy channel s of the b ody .

1 3 . Gai ning control of the central energy channel of the b ody .

1 4 . Learning to devel op the capabil ities and al l uses of the body ' s l ower danti en (hara
or elixir/ci nnab ar field)

1 5 . Learning to devel op the capabil ities and all uses of the body ' s upper and middle
danti ens .

1 6 . Connecting every part o f the physi cal b ody i nto one uni fi ed energy .

My personal preference i s to cal l most of thi s qi-gong practi ce UN TIL you actually and truly open
up the sushumna and River Chariot (mi crocosmi c) circul ati ons to a deep l evel , whi ch entai l very
speci fi c phenomena rarely menti oned in marti al arts texts, but whi ch y ou can find in " The Littl e
B ook of Hercul e s . " Most spiritual traditi ons date the b eginning of the completion stage of the path
from these same achi evements, so there i s a tie-in b etween the phy si cal and spi ritual cultivati on
traditi ons when you use thi s identification scheme .

Most people who thi nk they are cultivating the l eft, right, central , front a n d b ack channels o f the
b ody are never real ly doing so, even though they feel wi nd energie s in those ci rculations and can

19
match it with their movements for excepti onal marti al arts ski l l s . It' s sti l l consi dered superfi ci al
unti l you get the real gong-fu past the sembl ance gong-fu .

I f you real ly want t o attai n the higher stages, it would b e b est if you started meditati on practice
al ong with your wai-gong from the b eginning. Or, j ust start it now rather than wait for later. S i nce
we' re tal ki ng ab out marti al arts as a path where peopl e are i nitial ly attracted to the nei-gong
through the cultivati on of thei r phy sical b ody, since they didn ' t know anything ab out meditati on or
it didn ' t hol d any attracti on to them, thi s is something they don ' t normally start with .

Neverthel ess (and thi s i s the case with my own teacher who gets the b est marti al arti sts vi siting
him al l the ti me so that they can receive gui dance on improving thei r practi ce), practiti oners who
want to progre ss further and go b eyond thei r current l evel of ski l l s need to learn meditation . They
al l eventual ly recognize that they need to start cultivating thei r mind through meditati on, but thi s
recognition u sually comes l ate after they start feel i ng thei r chi and then recognize there i s
something t o it. Meditati on gives you a sure and true entryway i nto cultivati ng nei-gong, and then
Tao-gong, or the Tao. It doesn ' t mean you drop marti al arts, but you di scover that there i s
something higher than j ust external phy sical marti al arts t o pursue, and that i n pursuing it, i t wi l l
al so h e l p your marti al arts devel op t o the highest possibl e excell ence which i s achievab l e i n n o
other way .

Of the breathing practi ces that many people tum to when they final ly decide to cultivate thei r
i nternal energi es, there' s two maj or way s they can do thi s . Actual ly, there' s many way s they can do
thi s but i n terms of using breathing to start cultivating one ' s chi , there' s anapana and there' s
pranayama practi ces .

Anapana i s where you sit and meditate, and duri ng meditati on you watch or you're aware of the
breathing in your b ody and the energi es in your b ody . You don't hol d to your b ody or cl i ng to it i n
any way, but you s i t there i n meditati on witnessing the i nternal energi es and where they are
starti ng with the doings of the breathing and breath . When you j u st shine awareness on them,
without clinging pre ssure, those bl ockages wi l l tend to di ssolve b ecause y ou chi channel s i n that
regi on wi l l tend to open .

In Taoi sm you have many meditati ons where you sit and perform i nner watchi ng, but in these
techni ques you usual ly try to see the i nternal organs of your b ody . In Buddhi sm you have b asi c
meditati on practi ce, vipassana, where you watch your thoughts . That mi ndfulness i s simi l ar to
Confuci an mindfulness in giving you alway s watchi ng your mind, and there are al l sorts of rel ated
techni ques l i ke ob serving the sensati ons of your b ody without cli nging to them, or ob servi ng the
breath in your b ody without getti ng attached to it or trying to push it or l i nk up with it in any way .
When you do that, it smoothens out by itself and opens up al l the chi channel s at a certai n l ayer
within your i nner subtl e chi b ody . Thi s is a b asi s i n many martial arts practices, too, whi l e you are
doing standing poses . As an alternative to watchi ng your thoughts, thi s type of practi ce hel p s to
cultivate your b ody real ly fast. You sit, or stand, and l et go of your b ody as it reacts, and simply
watch without clinging.

Do you know what mental cli nging actual ly i s? If you are i n front of a two l ane road and notice the
cars going by i n b oth di recti ons without b ei ng b othered, that' s witnessing or watching. Let' s say
that al l of a sudden all your fri ends come al ong in a convertible with the top down, and you start
watchi ng that speci fi c car to the exclusi on of al l others, and watch it go down the road whi l e

20
ignori ng al l the other cars . It capture s your attenti on and you start fol l owing it with particul ar focus .
That' s mental cli nging o r attachment. That' s what you should N O T d o .

In anapana you s i t there and you watch not the sensati ons o f the b ody, but rather you watch the
breathing through the nostri l s with non -attachment. You practi ce witnessi ng, so it' s j ust a state of
presence where you even forget the " I" and j u st noti ce the breathing. That' s the fi rst step .

What happens i s you're j ust aware of thi s breathing and j u st b ei ng aware of it, you know you're
breathing through your nostri l s . That' s it - it' s j ust awareness, as if there ' s a third person ob server
i ndependently witnessi ng, so that you are detached from the b ody, j ust watchi ng the breathing.
That' s the practi ce. You don ' t try to l i nk with your breathing or push it or anything l i ke that. You
j u st sit, watch and know, " There ' s the breathing. There ' s the breath . "

Eventual ly the focus al so encompasses the breath within the b ody, meaning the chi o r energi es, a s
wel l . But you alway s start with the respi ratory breathing b ecause at the start you cannot feel your
i nner chi energi e s . Concentrati ng on the breath, by j u st witnessing it, wi l l keep your mind focused,
stationary, and prevent it from wanderi ng.

In order to do anapana correctly, you must end up l etti ng go of your b ody and not cli nging to any of
the energi es within the b ody . When you don ' t cl i ng to them, whi ch means you are n ' t cri mping
your chi channel s, then your energy channel s can start to open fully and your chi wi l l eventual ly
start to ci rcul ate as b est it can . It doesn ' t happen right away but takes ti me to l earn how to do thi s
correctly, j u st as it takes ti me to master certai n techni ques of marti al arts, so you shoul dn ' t expect
results i nstantl y . The rul e i s :

Pati ence + Time + Effort + Diligent Practi ce = Results.

If you l et go of your b ody, you're not holding on to it. Hence al l your chi can start ari sing i n your
b ody and opening channel s because you're not hol ding onto any muscle s or sensati ons that would
i nterrupt or bl ock that natural fl ow whi ch you j ust al l owed to happen .

Thi s i s the actual secret b ehind the " d i s solving blockages " methods of marti al arts, but very few
real ize thi s secret or its usefulness for the highest l evel s of marti al arts attai nment. By witnessi ng
without attachment you can know where energy bl ockages are within your b ody . By shi ning
awareness on them without grabbing, they will simply open .

Anapana i s the highest secret of Z en school dhyana- samadhi practi ce, that transforms the phy si cal
b ody, but few know thi s fact either. Whether for marti al arts attainments or high spi ritual practi ce,
anapana hel p s open up the chi channel s in the b ody, and thus hel p s transform the phy si cal nature
quicker than most other cultivati on techni que s . But not if you are pushing or hol ding on to your
chi . . .

Here' s the main secret. You cannot open up all the ti niest of chi channels i n your phy sical b ody
unl ess you l et go of your chi by cultivating an empty mind through medi tati on . That detachment,
whi ch means you are not i nterfering with your chi , al l ows it to flow freely without mental
entangl ements that would b i as its ci rcul ati ons through habitual ly used, i ncorrect channel routes . If
you cultivate a mind of detachment that i s not enforced b l ankness or thought suppressi on, then
your channel s wi l l open . If you try to force them i nto opening, you'll alway s m i s s them as you

21
cannot force chi i nto the ti niest channel s .

F orce wi l l simply shunt energi es i nto the large st al ready opened pathway s, whi ch i s why force, and
vi sualization of chi orbits, is not the correct way to truly open the chi channel s of the phy si cal b ody .
You train and practi ce, l etti ng go al l the whi l e, and fi nal ly your real yang chi will ari se and do what
it natural ly wants to do without i nterference . That' s when it will open up al l the proper channel s as
explained in " The Littl e B ook of Hercul e s . "

At some poi nt of true nei -gong practi ce, after opening up all your maj or channel s b ecause you
attai ned the true stage of macrocosmic ci rculati on, your chi wi l l start runni ng through al l your
l arge channel s simultaneously, and you wi l l feel thi s ful l b ody ci rcul ati on everywhere . It will
conti nue to do thi s for years, and only sl owly wi ll you make further progre ss from j ust the ti me
i nvolved i n the prol onged rotati on . If you lose your chi through sexual dissipation, natural ly the
force of thi s rotati on wi l l b e reduced .

To progre ss qui cke st at thi s l evel of attai nment, you need to meditate to reach a higher stage of
l etti ng go, at whi ch point a new degree of yang chi seems to ari se, and it can purify even further.
Even more channel routes wi l l open from thi s achi evement that cannot b e opened i n any other way .
Thi s i s a ti me when practi cing such Zen and Vedanta techni ques that cause you to detach from all
the skandhas real ly b ear fruit. They seem l i ke incredibl e hurdles of practice, but only if you reason
through "What was I b efore I was b orn, " "Who am IT', "I am Awarene ss-only, " "Everything I see
is j ust my mind, " and use such i n sight real izati ons to let go of everythi ng, only then can you j ump
several stages of detachment so that even more channel s and chi routes i n the b ody can open . Thi s
nece ssitates a whol e b ook in itself because of the compl exiti es, so I can only give the b arest of
expl anations as thi s i s the stage of Tao-gong cultivati on .

Progre ss in chi cultivati on wi l l proceed very sl owly unl ess you strive to attai n a new stage of
empti ness real izati on, and for each breakthrough in l earning how to l et go of our thoughts and the
b ody, the re sponse will be l ike a new sudden kundal ini ari sing withi n . That new ari sing wi l l open
up yet more channel s at a higher stage of refi nement, although the i niti ally new rotati on feel s l i ke a
sl ow movement in mol asses since more channel s are opening at a new l evel, and the new rotati on
of chi wi l l i niti ally encounter ob structi ons . Thi s explains why many marti al arti sts, and meditators,
feel their energi es stuck inside after a new stage of progres s . At thi s poi nt, someti mes
non-ej acul atory sex wi l l restore a smooth ci rcul ati on of chi i n the channel s, and help one pass to
the next stage of progres s .

As you proceed o n cultivati ng higher a n d higher stages of l etti ng go a t higher a n d higher l evel s of
refi nement, you can eventual ly transform your enti re b ody i nto chi , at which point you wi l l
b ecome abl e t o make it app ear and di sappear a t wi l l , as many great Buddhi st monks and Taoist
practiti oners were sai d to do. Thi s is one of the highest l evel s of marti al arts achi evements. Si nce
chi and consci ousness are l i nked, one wi l l then start to be abl e to cultivate the real ly mi raculous
marti al arts capabil ities menti oned in anci ent stori e s .

Therefore if you want t o attai n a higher stage o f practi ce, wherei n a yet higher, more refi ned, more
etheri c, purer l evel of chi is reached, and many more channel s open, the rul e is that you can only do
so by cultivating a higher stage of emptiness attai nment by a new l evel of mental ly l etti ng go of chi

22
and consciousnes s . The b ody i s not you, so l et go of it and its energi e s . You are simply pure
awarene ss without a b ody, pure consci ousness, and you have b een hol ding on to the b ody and
mind and i dentifying them as your self. Consci ousness is not you, but j u st thoughts that ari se and
pass by, so you l earn how to let go of consciousness through meditati on practi ce, and since chi and
consci ousness are l i nked, with each stage of l etti ng go a new l evel of chi rotati on can commence i n
your i nner etheri c subtl e b ody . A new l evel o f bright m i n d o r empty m i n d , o r shen, can b e reached
as wel l b ecause consciousness purifies as your chi puri fi e s . The cultivati on of the b ody and mind
proceed together, step-by-step, through thi s route of practi ce.

Anapana i s a practi ce of watchi ng or witnessi ng whi l e l etting go and refusing to attach to the chi
energi es that are witnes sed . People thi nk anapana only refers to the phy si cal breath, but after the
i nternal embry o breathing commences, thi s refers to chi flows and chi ci rcul ati ons within your
b ody as wel l , whi ch can only b e felt at the higher, non-i ntroductory l evel s of practi ce . It is very
si m i l ar to the Taoi st practi ce of " i nner viewi ng . " If y ou can witness your enti re b ody as one unity
of chi , through anapana practi ce, you wi l l connect the enti re chi of the b ody in one unity or whol e .
You wi l l feel , witness, s e e o r real ize the b ody as o n e si ngl e b ody o f c h i extending from the trunk to
the arms and l egs and including the head - al l one si ngl e b ody unity whol e . So j u st witnessing wi l l
enab l e a n opening up o f al l the tiny c h i channel s that wi l l l i nk the body ' s unconnected o r slightly
ob structed channel orbits and produce one uni fi ed inner chi b ody .

Thi s will, of course, l i nk the energi es of the upper and lower regi ons of the b ody, and so you wi l l
b e abl e t o feel them as o n e unity i n term s o f a n i nner chi b ody, whi ch i s o n e o f the nece ssiti e s in
marti al arts practi ce. It i s an i nfal lible technique for i ntegrati ng the upper and l ower torsos i nto one
whol e, stressed ti me and agai n i n marti al arts traditi ons .

When people practi ce alternate nostri l breathing pranayama, whi ch i s typi cally what i s taught i n
Indi a, they don ' t real ize that it i s meant t o b e pranayama-anapana practi ce for the enti re l eft s i d e o f
the b ody, from head t o foot, and then right s i d e o f the b ody, alternately . You breath in the l eft
nostri l and feel the entire chi of the l eft side of the b ody from head to foot in one whol e, and
ob serve it with anapana to note where it is stuck, smooth or coarse so that it al l links and fine
channel s ob structi ons are di s solved . Natural ly it can only b e perfected after someone really opens
up the l eft and right channels to the real l evel explained i n "The Littl e B ook of Hercul es," but thi s
i s the b asi s of extremely advanced marti al arts practice. With alternate nostril breathing, after you
do thi s for the l eft side of the b ody, you do thi s for the right side of the b ody . Then you do it for the
l eft and right si des of the b ody simultaneously, without l i nking them as a whol e unity . Then you
l i nk them as a unity, then . . . there are al l sorts of vari ati ons, each of which di scovers different
ob structi ons that are di ssolved by the awarenes s of mental shining and knowi ng.

Thi s type of anapana-pranayama practi ce can b e done for the front and b ack of the b ody,
alternately, and even for the b ody trunk and your indivi dual arms or l egs whi ch can b e secti oned
i nto halves or quarters . It is possibl e to do thi s using a parti cul ar chakra as the center of the
breathing to get the practi ce started . In advanced anapana practi ce you fi rst start knowi ng the
breath going in and out of the nostri l s, then you noti ce it in the mid-secti on of the nose, and finally
you switch your focus to noti ce it at the Third eye Aj na chakra position when you are more
advanced . There are other vari ati ons b eyond that as wel l . In ordi nary pranayama practice, people
don ' t real ize that when you are hol ding you breath, you shoul d b e practi cing anapana at that ti me

23
whi l e remai ning detached from the b ody and rel axing it as much as possibl e . Thi s i s why they
never make progre ss using traditional Indi an pranayama techni que s . The different rati os of
i n-breath, out-breath, and holding patterns enab l e you to practi ce anapana for different peri ods of
ti me and eventually, as your chi channel s open, you can gai n control over those energi es j u st as
you can i n marti al arts . But no one ever teaches pranayama practiti oners the secret of the techni que,
whi ch is anapana used together with pranayama.

In any case, anapana practi ce is how one di scovers ob structi ons i n the chi circul ati ons of the b ody
parts that would remai n unnoti ced unl ess you empl oy thi s sort of techni que . Normally you only
noti ce the l arger chi route ci rcul ati ons and tend to cl i ng to these b ecause the sensati ons
predomi nate . Thi s is the qui ckest way to di scover ob structi ons i n tinier ci rcul ati ons and al l sorts of
chi routes not de scribed i n texts, but whi ch defi nitely exi st. The technique, i n general , can only be
truly practi ced to the l evel of mastery after someone real ly opens up the l eft and right channel s to
the real l evel expl ai ned in "The Littl e B ook of Hercul e s . " Regular people who simply practi ce
pranayama cannot do thi s . Neverthel ess, thi s is why some people i n Indi a - such as Buddha' s
students Rahul a, Ananda and Mahakasyapa - were not only abl e to attai n the Tao but transform
thei r bodies to those of Immortal s and attai n al l sorts of marti al arts type phy sical superpowers as
wel l .

Only if you open u p al l the channel s at extremely refi ned l evel s o f chi can thi s happen . The highest
tantri c stages of thi s practi ce are accompli shed with the help of deiti es, and few di scuss thi s either.
When asked why he had many superpowers, Shakyamuni Buddha once repli ed, as part of hi s
answer, b ecause of help and teachi ngs of the deiti es. "Deiti e s outsi de, deiti es insi de" - only if you
get to thi s stage of practi ce wi l l you be abl e to real ize the meani ng. Thi s refers to the road of the
highest transformations possibl e for the phy si cal nature, and of course at thi s l evel you should
consi der the deiti es great Bodhisattvas and dharma l ords for the help they render i n helping you
purify and learn to control the chi ci rcul ati ons of channel s, orbits and chakras.

As to the stage of ordinary practi ce below thi s level of achi evement, i n truth not much progres s
goes t o people who practi ce alternate nostri l breathing because they never combine thei r practi ce
with meditati on to cultivate an empty mind. You must combine meditati on with your phy si cal
practi ce. The same goes for ordinary yoga practiti oners . I have met countl ess yoga masters who
started practi ce from age five who, in their twenti es and thi rti es, had supple bodies but no feel i ngs
of chi at all , and no understanding of emptiness. Furthermore, they were alway s complai ni ng that
thei r bodies were sore and with one yank you could di sl ocate thei r j oi nts because they had
stretched thi ngs too much . Thi s is yet another set of reasons that I prefer marti al arts, and mastery
of chi through thi s route, over the path of yoga, though of course yoga i s extremely helpful and
commendab l e . It is j u st that people who practi ce yoga do not match it with meditati on or chi
cultivati on . As to bodies that are too supple, thi s is simi l ar to the marti al arts error of damagi ng the
knee, shoul der and wri st j oints from overextension or pounding exerci ses that ai m to de stroy and
then rebuild the b one s .

I have al so met peopl e w h o have sp ent two years i n o n e o f the three monasteri es i n Indi a total ly
devoted to pranayama practi ce for hours a day . While I was extremely i mpressed with the many
pranayama techni que s combined with special yoga asana positi ons they showed me, whi ch do not
appear in texts, they had some of the dirti est chi I have ever encountered, once agai n b ecause they

24
never matched their phy si cal practi ces with meditati on and true mind empti ness cultivati on . Of
course martial arti sts who hol d on to thei r chi too tightly al so tend to devel op a darkened
countenance, and can b ecome case s of "dirty chi" as wel l .

When you practi ce meditati on and anapana i n conj unction with your marti al arts gong-fu
(kung-fu), you wi l l eventual ly be abl e to feel the pul sation of the i nner embry o breathing b ehind
thi s macro ci rcul ati on of chi i n the orbits unti l it smoothens out and you ascend to the next l evel ,
after whi ch you must repeat the proces s al l over agai n until ulti mate empti ness of the b ody i s
reached. Duri ng these processes you wi l l al so feel the breathing at vari ous other chakras, too, as
speci al ci rcul ations are opened . One can and should shuttl e b ack and forth b etween vari ous
formless samadhi empti ness cultivati ons, and the still b ody-dependent dhyana attai nments that
cultivate the chi of the b ody, to make the most progres s in thi s techni que for transformi ng the b ody,
a very high secret. There are many detai l s and nuances to thi s whi ch cannot b e expl ai ned i n thi s
i ntroductory b ook.

In regular life you ' re i nterferi ng with your chi fl ow ci rcul ati on and bl ocki ng it all the time.
Clinging to thoughts b i ases the proper chi ci rculations as wel l . In thi s practice, you're j u st a
b ody-less awareness watching your breathi ng, and eventual ly you switch to witnessi ng, knowi ng,
watching, ob servi ng - however you wi sh to word it - the i nternal chi energi es of your b ody .
S ometimes they ' re stuck here or moving there or they are hot or cold, and you ' l l feel it, but you
don ' t i nterfere with it or even try to touch it with your mind but in a detached manner j u st
recognize it, note it, witness it. B ecause of that di spassi on of watching without i nvolvement, what
can happen i s al l your chi can start opening up your chi channel s .

When your chi starts t o open u p y our i nternal chi channel s, acupuncture meri dians, energy
channel s, nadi s or whatever you want to cal l them -- every school has a different terminol ogy for
them -- that' s transformi ng the i nner subtl e chi b ody that' s l i ke a superstructure framework within
your b ody . As these channel s open up, they al so open up i n your muscl es whi ch thereby b ecome
softer, more flexible, free of knots and entangl ements, etc . - and that' s how you then b egin to
break y our plateau . As the chi opens up the muscl es, they al so heal of i nj uri es and y ou get healthy
as a byproduct of your practice.

Another way that people approach thi s i s they tum to actual artificial phy si cal breathing methods
i n themselves rather than j u st watchi ng the breath and i nternal energi es di spassi onately, as a
bodi l e s s ob server without a center and without attachment. The b e st school of b reathing methods
for thi s doesn't neces sari ly come from Chi na, though of course the Chinese have devel oped many
such techni ques over the centuri e s . To l earn these techni ques, called pranayama breathing
methods, you really must tum to Mother Indi a, and of course, to whatever i s considered the cream
of the cream of the top pranayama exerci ses found within the other different cultures of the worl d .

There's hundreds o f pranayama breathing methods from Indi a wherei n people b asically d o
alternate nostri l breathi ng, with vari ous rhythms and o f vari ous l engths o f i nhal ation and
exhal ati on, where they're al so hol ding thei r breath . You can find many such exerci ses menti oned
i n yogi c b ooks such as the "Hatha Yoga Pradi pi ka," although there are hundreds more . You
b asi cally breath i n one or b oth nostri l s over a certain l ength of ti me, hol d your breath for a certai n
peri od of ti me, and then expel it for a certai n peri od of ti me.

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You might be taught to expel the breath from one or b oth nostri l s, and to expel the breath qui ckly
or sl owly, but the most important part is actually hol ding your breath for certai n rati os or peri ods of
ti me duri ng the exerci se . You al so might i nhal e your breathing whi l e in a certai n stati c position s or
moving b ody positions, but these are the b asi cs. There are so many different derivati ons of the
main i dea that the methods are countl ess.

Those techni ques have a numb er of different features, but the big feature within them, as
menti oned, i s something cal led kumbhaka, which i s a peri od of forced re spi ratory pausati on where
you hol d your breath without hol ding your muscl es tight. You real ly want to exhale b ecause
you ' ve used up al l the oxygen i n your lungs, but you don't l et yourself exhal e . You j ust hol d y our
breath, whi ch is kumbhaka. Then finally you l et yourself exhale .

Kumbhaka i s that state o f forced respi ratory cessati on where you j ust hol d the breath without
l etti ng it out, and thi s i s key b ecause duri ng that hol ding period many of your chi channel s are
forced to open . If you can remai n rel axed duri ng that peri od, whi ch means l etti ng go of your
muscl es rather than hol ding them tightly, then many chi channel s can open that wi l l help your
marti al arts gong-fu. In real high stages of meditation the breathing or re spi rati on stop s natural ly,
and there is no external i n breath or out breath . S o pranayama kumbhaka practi ce is actually a type
of prel imi nary trai ning for thi s experi ence, whi ch can only happen when someone is healthy, such
as someone who has approached the Tao though the vehi cl e of marti al arts or the p ath of rel axed
witnessi ng meditation .

You don ' t need to have fol l owed the path of marti al arts to experi ence the natural state of
kumbhaka where the cessation of breathing happens natural ly without force, because you can j u st
cultivate meditati on and reach that state of pausation natural ly, called tai-hsi in Taoi sm. That' s the
state where your i nternal embry o breathi ng, or kundalini, real ly starts coming up, which is a
precursor to the opening of the sushumna and River Chari ot rotati on, so you want to trai n for that
accompli shment.

The b est way is to trai n is through meditati on i n conj uncti on with pranayama, so now you know
the b asi c practi ce principles and techni ques and why they are done. Pranayama, or hol ding your
breath, wi l l help open up the bl ocked chi channel s of your b ody, and that will give a boost to your
marti al arts practi ce, and al so pave the road for l ater qi-gong and nei-gong attai nments.

In pranayama techni ques you l earn to hol d your breath for one mi nute, two minutes, three minutes,
then four mi nutes, then five mi nutes and so on . There's a l ot of people now who do freediving or
deep sea diving. They can hol d thei r breath up to several mi nutes and when you see thei r bodies
you can feel the chi coming off because they ' ve opened up many channel s and mastered some type
of concentrati on or mental scenari o to b e abl e to l et go of thei r b ody duri ng these periods. They
real ly develop healthy bodies from these practi ces, though of course there are safer way s to l earn
how to hol d your breath without ri ski ng your life .

Hol ding your breath for l ong peri ods of ti me, if you l earn how t o d o that correctly, wi l l help your
gong-fu practi ce as well as any type of spi ritual practi ce of meditati on you're doing b ecause you'll
feel thi s opening up al l the tiny chi channel s i n your b ody . I alway s recommend peopl e learn the
Tibetan 9-bottled wind kumbhaka pranayama practi ce from the "Diamond S ow" Buddha,
Vaj ravarahi . In thi s pranayama practi ce you i nhale sl owly through one nostri l , hold your breath for

26
as l ong as possible, and then exhal e through the other qui ckl y . There are a l ot of detai l s to the
practi ce whi ch you can find on the web .

Every one hate s the practi ce but alway s b enefits, and I ' ve had quite a few people who had practiced
pranayama for years tel l me it' s the b est si ngl e pranayama technique they ' ve ever found, and I can
say the same. I ' ve met three i ndivi dual s, who al l had lung tests performed, and every one tol d me
thei r doctors sai d thei r lung capacity i ncreased 20+% b ecause of the techni que . That' s incredible
that three separate i ndivi dual s al l had thei r lung capacity measured and were tol d it had increased
by 20-3 0% ! What' s even more incredible was the fact they were n ' t even devoted practiti oners of
the techni que, but j ust did it from ti me to ti me b ecause every one hates it.

Most of the entryway s into nei-gong for i ndivi dual s who are devoted to body cultivati on practi ces
- the marti al arts, Tib etan Buddhi sm, yoga practi ces, sports and athl eti cs -- is through breathing
methods to cultivate qi-gong first. One of the big secrets of the Vaj rayana school of Tib etan
Buddhi sm and its emphasi s on transformi ng the phy si cal b ody i s that most al l the prel iminary
techniques are b ased on breathing methods . Most al l the wonderful gong-fu you read ab out, after
people have b een doing vi sual ization, prostrati ons, mantra recitati on and meditati on, are actual ly,
at thei r root, b ased on the foundation of those techni que s in conj uncti on with breathing or chi
practi ces .

There are a vari ety of practi ces in the worl d to help you step forward agai n and start making
progre ss, and the entryway they al l use has you eventual ly cultivating a superfi ci al level of your
chi whi ch you can grab hol d of through qi-gong. You either approach it from the standpoint of
cultivating your breath, due to the connecti on b etween your i nternal chi and b reathing (respiration),
or you l earn how to cultivate those chi energi es di rectly using your mind. On thi s road you
cultivate stabil ity of the mind through states of one-pointedness, at whi ch point it wi l l b ecome easy
to sense and feel chi energi e s .

When you cultivate states o f one-poi ntedness, such as through stationary (non-movi ng)
vi sual izati ons, for instance, you can eventually feel the chi as it starts worki ng through the
meridians in the b ody, and can b egin to grab hol d of it and move it because of the connecti on
b etween chi and consci ousnes s . The principle is that wherever your mind (thoughts or
consci ousness) goes, your chi wi l l fol l ow, so when your chi b ecomes free and you start moving
your mind, your chi wi ll go al ong with it. F ocus on a b one and it wi l l go to that b one, focus on an
i nternal point in the body and it wi l l go to that point. Hol d your mind in one place on an image and
the chi of your thoughts will be held stati onary for awhi l e, but the chi energy of your i nternal
phy si ological functi ons wi l l be free of thought i nterferences, and start to move. You ti e up the chi
of di scrimi nati on with concentrati on, and then you can b egin to unleash and feel the chi of your
b ody .

These are b asi c principles of science and are especi ally used in the tantri c yoga school s and
Tib etan Buddhi sm. Many marti al arts techni que s emphasize these factors as wel l , so they are not
unknown secrets. They j u st are n ' t wi dely known . Chi and consci ousness (mind, or thoughts) are
l i ke a ri der (the mind) and hi s horse (the chi ) . Wherever the ri der tel l s the horse to go, it will go
there .

The point i s that you can l earn to grab hol d of some of your chi energi es and di rect them with your
mind, but i niti ally in al l marti al arts and meditati on practi ce thi s is never your real chi , j u st

27
superficial wi nd-chi energi e s . That' s the mi stake most practiti oners make but they don ' t b el i eve
you b ecause they can move thi s chi and its descri pti on seem s to fit that of yang chi . But it i sn ' t the
real kundal ini yang chi life force . People who make thi s mi stake have not gotten to the higher level
where thei r real yang chi comes up, after whi ch they then real ize that what they thought was thei r
"real yang chi" wasn ' t at al l .

At the b eginning stages of marti al arts the chi you feel i s aki n to wi nd i n the b ody . It' s j ust a
semb l ance dharma that matches the descripti ons of the real yang chi , or kundalini, but i s j ust
superficial chi , or wi nd chi . Once agai n, and thi s cannot be overemphasized, it resembles the real
chi but i s not. Even marti al arts masters who can somewhat control their chi make thi s mi stake
b ecause they haven ' t gotten to the real stage of nei-gong chi cultivati on .

Most people in these routes get lost after they b ecome abl e to mani pul ate the wi nd chi of the b ody
in vari ous way s and thi nk thi s i s the real thing, but the real yang chi never comes up unti l after y ou
open up your root chakra and your real yang chi , known as kundalini, opens up your central
channel and the River Chari ot circul ati ons and you have a painful ful l b ody kundal ini awakening,
cal l e d the Big Knife Wind i n Buddhi sm . Even after that it takes a l ong whi l e for the real yang chi to
fully ari se and transform al the cel l s of your b ody . You never get to the real stage of cultivating
nei-gong unti l you reach thi s l evel of opening the great energy meri dians inside you, and not
reaching thi s phenomenon you wi l l spend years playing with the wi nd chi .

Thi s i s why Buddhi sm never emphasizes these phenomena from the start, as shown in " The Littl e
B ook of Hercules" and " Tao and Longevity," because peopl e alway s thi nk thi s i s the Tao, the real
way of cultivati on, but it' s so far away it' s ridi culou s . Thi s i s j u st l earning how to manipul ate the
superficial wind chi of the b ody, but since you can get some results from thi s and certai nly feel it,
you can ' t di sl odge these people from thi s noti on . Even if you can grab hol d of the real yang chi of
the b ody, thi s is a type of phy si cal cultivati on that tries to bring consci ousness i nto the b ody when
the real you is everywhere, so it is mi stakenly connected with the i dea that the b ody is the real you .

Thi s i s why Buddhi sm doesn ' t teach people t o cultivate thi s unti l after they ' v e " seen the Tao" and
real ize that the b ody is not their true self, and all the vari ous b ody energi es are not thei r true self or
the way to cultivate the real izati on of their original nature, or true Self. Only after they know the
correct vi ew and understand the correct path can they take thi s road of cultivati ng thei r b ody
di rectly, but Taoi sts alway s get l ost and start spi nning thei r wind chi energi es and play with these
thi ngs al l day l ong. At the end of thei r l ives, they never get anywhere and have to start al l over
again next ti me. They don ' t extend thei r l ongevity or reach the real l evel of marti al arts we are
talking ab out al ong thi s route when we menti on nei-gong, but they thi nk they are, so hardly anyone
can devel op the super powers of someone l i ke the Tib etan Milarepa who could fly and have b ody
doubles and perform al l sorts of miracul ous tran sformati ons .

Once agai n, you can only develop those real abi l ities when you reach that l evel and g o far past the
opening of the sushumna and microcosmic and ful l macrocosmi c ci rcul ati ons . You need to b e
cultivating some degree o f empty m i n d t o do so.

In any case, thi s i s how and why i n bri ef you can start upon a road to break your plateau and reach
a new l evel of marti al arts ski l l s and excel l ence by doing breathing practi ces .

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 2
Core Practices for Developing Inner P ower:
Anapana, Pranayama and Visualization Practice

Most marti al arti sts who've done some ki nd of breathing exerci ses general ly were tol d to start by
counti ng their breaths . Thi s counti ng i s not real ly necessary, but i s j u st a device to get you to
actually practi ce for a whi l e and to keep your mind on the practi ce rather than wandering
everywhere el se . The key is to stop wanderi ng thoughts, and if you have to count then you are
paying attention to the counti ng and they aren ' t wandering al l over everywhere and can qui et down .
With consciousness qui eti ng down, and your breathing cal mi ng down, the two together wi ll cal m
your chi and consci ousness, and hence you have the reci pe for cultivation . It' s as simple as that.

The "neces sity" for counting doesn ' t exi st. It i s an expedi ent method to j ust get people started and
help then concentrate on the witnessi ng without wandering. If your mind doesn ' t wander, you
don ' t have to count. You only need to keep watchi ng the breath without waveri ng and l etti ng the
mind roam el sewhere . And in the watching, you should not be putti ng energy i nto muscl es or get
caught up in b ody sensati ons and somehow connect them with you, but j u st witness as if you were
a bodi l e s s ob server, a universal awareness without a b ody that simply chooses to watch the breath
of thi s b ody .

Here ' s how to practi ce - j u st rel ax right now and you close your eyes and l et go of your b ody .
Loosen your b elt, take off your watch, sit in a cross-l egged position or upright in a chair, and rel ax .
There shoul d be nothing tight constricting your b ody so that you can generally ignore it. You ' re
going to concentrating on your respi rati on, watchi ng your breathing without force, and thi s wi l l
cultivate your chi i n al l the c h i channel s o f your b ody . You j u st noti ce, you ob serve, you witness -­
that' s a b etter word -- you witness that the breath is going i n and out of your nostri l s . That' s it.
There's nothing el se you have to do. You ' l l noti ce l ots of thi ngs but ignore them without rej ecting
them, j u st don ' t focus on them but lightly know they are there . That' s called " shining" awareness
b ecause y ou don ' t cling or use force .

Thi s i s anapana practi ce. You don't try to move your chi . You don't try to smoothen the chi in your
b ody . You j u st noti ce wherever you feel chi/energy i n your b ody by lightly noti cing it with
pressurel ess awarenes s . That' s cal l ed "knowi ng . " In some places it feel s stuck, so you know that
fact. In other places it feel s a l ittl e warm, or wetti sh, or coldi sh, and you noti ce al l those thi ngs . Just
noti cing it in a regi on wi l l tend to fill the chi channel s in that regi on and smoothens thi ngs out, but
you do not - I repeat - do not have to try to smoothen thi ngs or move your chi in any way . Just shift
your attenti on and hol d that pres surel ess attenti on on the regi on without putti ng mental pressure on
the regi on itself.

When you start doing thi s, eventually you wi l l noti ce energy moving or exi stent in an area. It' s
awarene ss that l ets you noti ce anythi ng, and that bodi l e s s awarene ss that doesn ' t grab on to

29
anything and doesn ' t cl i ng but i s j u st i nvi sible, effortl ess, empty, j u st al lows you to know. If you
settle for a mi nute or so you'll feel stuff in your body . You might feel dul l or stuck in certai n
regi ons . You might feel the outl ine of your b ody . You might feel energy in your b ody . You j u st
noti ce it without getti ng i nvolved in any other way other than to know it' s there by witnessing it,
recognizing its exi stence there . Period. You don't try to move anything.

When you notice your chi , the more you can let go of hol ding onto it and notice it, the more it wi l l
b ecome abl e t o natural ly open up al l the chi channel s i n a regi on because you aren ' t i nterferi ng
with it. Eventual ly regi ons of chi connect and b ecome a whol e l ayer of the energy channel
meri di ans open . Your subtl e b ody has l ayers and l ayers and l ayers of chi . The more you l et go of
your chi in these l ayers, whi l e noti cing its movements or sensati ons, the l e s s you're cri mping it i n
any pl ace and the more the chi i n o n e parti cul ar regi on o f a l ayer can connect with al l the chi i n
another regi on by linking up with it through the opening o f ob structed chi channel s . Thi s i s the best
anal ogy I can provide that wi l l help you practi ce correctly and make progress. From thi s practi ce
you'll b asi cally b e abl e to l et your real yang chi i n your b ody fi nal ly awaken, by cl eari ng away al l
the l ayers of cli nging ob structi on that stand in its way, and then your real kundal ini wi l l ari se .

What happens i s when the real yang chi i n your b ody ari ses i s the fol l owing : it ari ses from your
root chakra, goes up to the top of your head through the du mai channel i n your b ack, and then
comes down agai n through thejen mai or chi channel in the front of the b ody . Then from there al l
sorts of other phenomena wi l l ari se.

Much of thi s progress depends upon a degree of celib acy so that you don't lose your ''jing elixir, "
so t o speak, and you must l et go o f hol ding onto consci ousness and the chi o f your b ody . Duri ng
thi s witnessi ng of your breathing practi ce, whi ch then proceeds to a witnessing of your i nternal chi
energi es practi ce after you make progres s and can actual ly feel something al ong those l i nes, you
l et go of b ody sensati ons, alway s never hol ding y our muscl es tight. If you can do that, then the chi
energi es within you wi l l automati cally open up what' s supposed to be opened up in your b ody i n
terms o f the correct chi channel s and chakras i n the correct, natural order. You don ' t have t o gui de
anything. In fact you must do the exact opposite - j u st l et everything go and see what happens, and
j ust witness it.

When you wal k around, you can see there' s a l ot of martial arti sts who l ook real ly tight, but they
don't have a l ot of chi . What they have cultivated are muscl es and strength, but not necessari ly thei r
chi or i nner power.

You can someti mes see people i n regul ar life whose faces are ful l of energy, and they're alway s
very happy and thei r minds seem empty in the sense of not-cl i nging very much . Therefore thei r chi ,
b ecause they're not hol ding onto it, has b asi cally opened up thei r channel s to some degree. That' s
why thei r faces seem ful l , for the chi ri ses i nto the head .

If those people sit in meditati on, and if they meditate for a l ong peri od of devoted practi ce ti me,
eventual ly the root chakra wi l l open up and you'll get the b eginnings of al l thi s progre ss - and they
didn ' t need to travel the road of martial arts to do thi s . However, the b enefit of cultivating the
marti al arts and meditati on at the same ti me is that you can quicken your progress in b oth these
dimensions by combining the practi ces .

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F or marti al arti sts, b ecause they've al ready worked on the muscl es, it means they've al ready been
doing a l ot of b ody cultivati on, and they have probably al ready opened up some channel s from thi s
work. If they are real ly healthy - b ecause marti al arts are supposed to improve your state of health
- they can start feeling the chi in thei r bodies whereas ordinary people who don ' t practice normally
cannot feel anything; they have what we cal l " dead ' or " dumb" b odi es. Thi s type of anapana
practi ce wi l l help open up thei r channel s even more and get them to a higher l evel of practi ce. If
you do thi s practi ce wel l , you real ly, real ly will start opening up your chi channel s at the stage of
qi-gong, whi ch i s pretty rare since most people never get these i nstructions . Eventual ly your true
yang chi will ari se and start to open up al l the other channel s as wel l .

When that happens you will start t o experi ence vari ous purification phenomena, and the chi
channel s that run acros s the whol e course of your b ody, throughout your muscles, will start to
change. At fi rst these changes wi l l be for a superfi ci al degree of channel s, but eventual ly if the
sushumna opens then you can start opening up al l the maj or and minor meri dians in the b ody ­
whi ch i s the enti re macrocosmi c ci rcul ati on . It al l starts from thi s si mple sort of practi ce appl i ed
diligently, but duri ng thi s practi ce you need to rel ax your muscl es and not hol d them tight. After
they transform your muscle s wi l l be rel axed and soft when you don't need to use them, and when
you need to use them they'll be hard and strengthened i nstantl y . They don't have to be hard al l the
ti me, whi ch i s losing energy .

Another method that peopl e use for cultivating nei-gong are visualizatio n practices. My teacher
tol d me the story of one marti al arti st in China who was very famous . He used j ust one si mple
vi sualization practi ce, whi ch was the white b one skel eton meditati on techni que . He b asically
vi sualized that hi s whole b ody was j u st a white skel eton without flesh, and when you stab i l ize that
vi sual ization (whi ch cultivates al l your chi and chi channel s al ong the enti re extent of your b ody
where the b ones reach), you are afterwards supposed to rel ease that image to experi ence an empty
mind l i ke empty space . The skel eton b ecomes dust in your imaginati on that b l ows away so that
you j u st experi ence empty space .

From j u st that one practi ce, nothing el se, he was abl e to have such agi lity in hi s b ody that thi s
marti al arti st coul d j ump six or seven feet tal l , or even from the ground to a roof. He could turn hi s
head al most 1 8 0 degrees b ecause the muscle s b ecame so soft and fl exibl e . He got al l sorts of other
super powers as wel l . One time someone broke i nto hi s room whi l e he was sleeping and he j ust
rolled over and poi nted a finger at him, and the man froze in that position unti l morni ng. There are
a l ot of stori es ab out thi s guy and hi s marti al arts abiliti e s . My teacher met him when he was very
young, and asked thi s famous marti al arti st, "What did you do? " He sai d, " I j u st cultivated thi s one
si ngl e techni que, the white skel eton vi sual ization, and nothing el se. I never even practi ced speci al
wushu. That' s it. "

The vi sual izati on technique works through a different method than anapana or pranayama where
you hold your breath . The practi ce of kumbhaka b asi cally force s your b ody to try to pry open some
chi channel s when you refuse to exhal e agai n to bri ng i n more oxygen . The Tib etan 9-b ottl ed wind
practi ce is the b e st si ngl e pranayama techni ques you can add to your marti al arts routi ne for thi s
route. Anapana, by watchi ng it and letti ng go, j ust lets your chi fl ow and via the knowi ng of pure,
pressurel ess, empty awareness, the chi opens up the channel s all by itself.

Once agai n, how vi sualization practi ce works i s that when you vi sual ize something and fi nal ly
produce a stab l e vi sual izati on, within that stab l e vi sual izati on mindset al l the extraneous thoughts

31
of your mind are gone b ecause there's j ust that one stab l e vi sual izati on . There' s j u st one mental
i mage you are hol ding to.

If you vi sual ize an apple, there's not 1 , 000 thoughts going through your mind. You ' re not thinking,
"What am I going to do tonight for dinner? " " What am I weari ng tomorrow for work? " There' s not
al l these other thoughts that race through your mi nd. You're j u st trying to vi sual ize that one i mage
so you b ani sh al l these other thoughts . When you get good at it - b ecause you can ' t do it right away
- you can hol d an image with some stabil ity and not a l ot of random thoughts wi l l be running
around i n your head .

The practi ce i s for busy minds so that your mind can reach a state of stabil ity where there's not a l ot
of wanderi ng thoughts . B ecause there' s j u st one thought (the vi sual izati on), when you l et go of that
vi sual ization then your mind can be empty because al l the other thoughts that usual ly run around
are al ready gone. They aren ' t there anymore . In that state of empty mind, whi ch is l i ke empty
sp ace, then once agai n al l your chi can start ari sing and open up al l the body ' s chi channels or
energy meri di ans. So it's a very effective practi ce for some people, and for others not so. You never
know unti l you try .

Thi s type of practi ce i s typi cally used by people who have very, very busy minds because you have
to ti e up the mind to keep it from wanderi ng. What a l ot of people don't real ize is that the white
skel eton vi sual izati on i nvolves your skel eton, whi ch runs the whol e course of your b ody, and
that' s why it' s such a great practi ce.

Si nce it forces y ou to study the human anatomy, thi s is a great practi ce for marti al arti sts who are
alway s trying to memorize acupuncture points for stri king, or what the Indi ans cal l marma points,
and other criti cal b ody regi ons . As stated, the marti al arts should b e combi ned with traditi onal
ori ental medi cal knowl edge, parti cul arly from the school s of China and Indi a, and thi s requires a
phy sical and energeti c knowl edge of the b ody . Of course the marti al arts purpose of stri king
i nvolves destructive obj ectives, such as how can I di sarm thi s opponent or ki l l them or i ncap acitate
them in the qui ckest possible way .

The equival ents to the white skel eton vi sual izati on practi ce are some of the tantras that y ou see i n
Indi a o r Tibet where you're tol d t o vi sual ize that you're a Buddha a n d that there' s vari ous chakras i n
your b ody . T h e tantri c yoga vi sual izati ons from Indi a i nvolving a l l o f the body ' s chi channel s and
chakras are es senti al ly the same thing, but people get so lost in these practi ces, and fal l i nto the
my sti cal and superstition, that I don ' t l i ke to recommend them except for the " Six Yogas of
Naropa" commentary by Tsong Khapa. Thi s i s an excel l ent b ook to study . There' s al l these chi
channel s and chakras in the b ody where you're tol d to vi sual ize all thi s underlying superstructure
with stabil ity, and those are cal l ed tantri c vi sualizati ons . As T song Khapa explai ned, the main
vi sualization i n the Six Yogas of Naropa, is as fol l ows :

In general , al l sy stem s of highest yoga tantra' s completion stage i nvolve the

prel iminary process of control ling the vital energi es flowing through the two side
channel s,rasana and lalana, and redirecti ng them i nto the central channel ,
avadhuti. Thi s i s indispensable .
There are numerous means for accompli shing thi s, b ased on the traditi ons
of the Indian mahasiddhas, who drew from the various tantri c sy stem s . In thi s
tradition (i . e . the Six Yogas of Naropa) the main techni que i s to arouse the i nner

32
heat at the navel chakra, the "wheel of emanati on," and then through controlling the
life energi es by means of the AH-stroke m antric syll ab l e (l it., "the short AH "), to
draw the subtl e life-sustai ning energi es i nto the central channel . When these
energi es enter the central channel the four blisses [emphasized i n Tantri c
cultivati on] are induced, and one cultivates meditati on on the b asi s of these in such
a way as to give ri se to the innate wi sdom of m ahamudra.
Otherwi se, if one does not rely upon a profound path of thi s nature (i . e . , in
whi ch the b asi s of the meditati on is not the innate ecstasy conj oined with wi sdom
awareness), but instead engages a samadhi that m erely maintain s a state of
non-conceptual ab sorpti on for a prol onged peri od of ti me, no great signs of
progre ss will be produced. Firm concentrati on pl aced in a state of pleasant, clear
non-conceptual ity is a practi ce common to b oth the Hinayana and Mahay ana; and,
within the Mahay ana, it is common to b oth the Paramitayana and Mantrayana. It i s
i mportant not to confu se the two types of samadhi .
Thus, when Mil arepa and Gampopa met for the first ti me and Gampop a
commented that he coul d sit in m editative concentrati on for m any day s at a ti me
without di stracti on, Milarepa replied to him, " You cannot get oil by cru shing sand.
The practi ce of sam adhi is not suffi ci ent in and of itself. You shoul d learn my
sy stem of inner heat y oga, whi ch redi rects the subtl e life-sustai ning energi es i nto
the AH- stroke mantri c syl l ab l e . " One should understand thi s point well .
In thi s traditi on the expression "the inner heat, the foundation, " i s well
known . Thi s is b ecause in the compl eti on stage y ogas one uses the inner heat
technol ogy from the very b eginning in order to collect the subtl e life-sustaining
energi es into the central channel , and thereby arouse the innate great ecstasy . Thi s
i s the actual b asi s upon whi ch all practi ces rely, and upon whi ch all l ater
completi on stage y ogas are founded. The inner heat doctrine estab l i shes thi s b asi s .
The practi ce o f the inner heat doctrine entail s directi ng the life- sustaining
energi es into the central channel . Here the energi es enter, abi de, and are di ssolved .
When one trai n s well in thi s techni que, the strength of the experi ence has the power
to give control over loss of the b odhimind sub stance Uing] . Then, b ased on thi s
power, one can rely upon a karmamudra as a conducive conditi on to arouse the four
bli sses. On thi s foundati on, innate ecstasy i s aroused .
Arousing thi s innate ecstasy i s the purpose of the practi ces of the inner heat
y oga [kundalini y oga practi ces] and karmamudra y oga [ sexual cultivati on
practi ces] . . . .
One refl ects, "For the b enefit of living b eings as vast i n number as the
measure of the sky I will achieve the state of a Buddha Vaj radhara. F or thi s purpose
I now take up the practi ce of chandali, the inner heat y oga. " Meditate l i ke thi s until
y our stream of b eing i s infused with the b odhimind, the b odhi sattva aspirati on .
Vi sualizing y ourself as the m andal a deity, sit on y our meditati on seat, put
on y our m editati on b elt, cross the legs, and set the b ackb one erect. The neck i s b ent
slightly forward, and the eyes cast downward at the angl e of the nose . The tongue i s
hel d gently agai nst the upper palate, and the teeth and l i p s set in their natural
[closed] p ositi on. The b ody and mind are p ostured al ertly, with the chest somewhat
extended, and the hands in the meditati on posture, pl aced j u st under the navel .
One now vi sualizes the three energy channel s . Firstly the central channel,

33
avadhuti, i s envi sioned. It begins at a point four fi ngerwi dths below the navel at the
center of the b ody j u st in front of the spi nal column . To its right is the channel
known as rasana, and to its l eft is lalana. These channel s proceed up the b ody to
the head, l i ke pill ars supporti ng the four chakras .
One imagines that the l ower ti ps of the side channel s curve up i nto the b ase
of the central channel . Thi s is done i n order to draw the vital energi es i nto the
central channel . Not understanding thi s purpose, some teachers have sai d that the
three channel s j ust come to an end and stop at a di stance four fi ngerwi dths below
the navel . Others have sai d that the two side channel s j u st stop there (at the navel ) .
(One vi sual izes the channels i n thi s way for the purpose o f meditati on . But
i n fact) the channel s conti nue on down, eventual ly coming to the ti p of the j ewel
[ sexual organs] . Above the central channel comes to the point b etween the
eyebrows [whi ch is why thi s is a common focus point for meditati on] , and the two
side channel s come to the i nner passages of the two nostri l s .
At the site s o f the four chakras, the two side channel s, rasana and l al ana,
wrap around the central channel , formi ng knots. Otherwi se they (all three) run
straight (up and down the b ody) .
As for the s i z e o f the channel s, thi s varies a t ti mes o f meditati ng and not
meditati ng. There is no certai n, fixed size.
Moreover, as for the col ors of the channels, a Harvest of Oral Tradition
Teachings (Skt. Amnaya manjari) quotes The Mystic Kiss Tantra (Skt.
Chaturyogini samputa tantra) as stati ng that duri ng the meditati on for arousing the
i nner heat, the central channel should be seen as having the color of the flame
produced by burning sesame oi l . Pri or to that point i n the trai ni ng, however, the
right channel shoul d b e seen as b ei ng red, the l eft white, and the central channel
blui sh .
Now one vi sualizes the four chakras . Firstly at the navel i s the chakra cal l ed
"the wheel of emanati on . " Its shape i s somewhat tri angul ar, l i ke the (Sanskrit)
syl l ab l e EH, and it has sixty-four petal s . They are red in col or, and stretch upward .
Meditate upon it in thi s way . Here the arrangement of the petal s i s only roughly
described. Detai l s are not menti oned; but thi s is enough .
At the heart i s the chakra known as "the wheel of truth . " Its shape i s
somewhat ci rcul ar, l i ke the ( Sanskrit syl l ab l e) BAM, and i t has eight petal s, white i n
col or, extending downward .
At the throat i s the chakra known as "the wheel of enj oyment, " al so
somewhat circul ar i n shape, l i ke the syl l ab l e BAM. It has sixteen petal s, red i n col or,
reaching upward .
At the crown i s the chakra "the wheel of great ecstasy . " It al so i s somewhat
tri angul ar, l i ke the syl l able EH, and has thi rty-two petal s, i s multi -col ored, and its
petal s extend downward .
The meditati on should hol d each of the (two) pairs of chakras within an
according embrace of method and wi sdom .
When one b egi ns the trai ning of vi sual izing the three energy channel s there
are two aspects of the practi ce to which one should attend, namely, the radi ance of
the i mage and the meditative placement. That i s to say, one must produce a
col l ecti on of two factors : the radi ant appearance of the envi sioned channel s ; and

34
the firmness of the meditati on .
The most important site for the pl acement of one ' s awareness at the
b eginning of practi ce i s the point in the region of the central channel where the
three channel s j oi n .
B ased o n thi s, one proceeds t o vi sual ize the four chakras, with their
according numb er of p etal s, and to fix the mind on them . With persi stence i n the
meditati on the chakra petal s b ecome i ncreasi ngly cl ear (i n one ' s mind), and the
mind more firmly pl aced upon them .
If after consi derab l e effort no cl arity i s achi eved with the chakras, pl ace the
mind sol ely on the image on the three channel s . C oncentrate e specially on the
porti on ab ove the heart chakra. If sti l l no progre ss is forthcoming, prol onged
appli cati on can incur dangerous ob stacles . One therefore shoul d rel ax the
appli cati on, and pl ace the mind i nstead on the point where the three channel s j oi n
(at the l ower part o f the body ) .
In thi s tradition there are two approache s t o t h e practi c e : first t o e stab l i sh
stabl e cl arity in the radiant appearance of the channel s and chakras for a prol onged
peri od of time; and not to do so. The former is the most effective approach. The
(Indian) mahasi ddha Lawapa al so gave the advice that we should cultivate the
radi ant appearance of the channel s .
Here if o n e wi shes t o conj oi n the practi ce with that o f retai ning the breath,
one should do as explained earl i er (with the breath techni que i nstructi on) . It, the
phy sical exerci ses, and the meditation on the b ody as an empty shel l , can b e
engaged i n rotati on . Thi s should al so b e appl ied t o what comes l ater . . . .
In the practi ce of the i nner heat yoga one meditates on al l four chakras.
More preci sely, one meditate s upon the three energy channel s, four chakras, and
al so a mantri c syl l able at each of the four chakras.
Thi s is the i nstructi on given i n b oth The Hevajra Root Tantra ( S kt. Hevajra
mula tantra) and The Sambhuta Explanatory Tantra ( S kt. Samputa tanbtraraja
tika), as wel l as i n other sources . Moreover, it i s al so the transmi s si on handed down
to us from many of the [Indi an] mahasi ddhas of old, i ncluding Kri shnacharya
himself.
General ly speaking, the practi ce for envi sioning the mantri c syl l ables at the
chakras can be done either el ab orately or el se simpl y .
I n the former method, one vi sualizes a syl l ab l e at the center o f each chakra,
as well as on each of the petal s . However, the oral instructi on s of thi s tradition do
not eluci date thi s more elab orate process. Instead, they advocate that we shoul d
simply vi sual ize a mantri c syl l ab l e at the center of each of he four chakras . Thi s i s
al so the proce ss taught i n The Sambhuta Explanatory Yantra and i n the wi ri ngs of
many of the Indi an mahasi ddhas .
Therefore solely to meditate on the AH-stroke mantri c syl l ab l e at the navel
chakra [as some teachers today recommend] , or to meditate on the AH- stroke at the
navel chakra together with HAM at the forehead chakra, is not suffi ci ent. One
shoul d al so bri ng in meditati on on the syllables at the heart and throat chakras. Thi s
i s imp ortant.
The manner of thi s meditati on i s as fol l ows. One sits in the bodily posture
described earl i er. The pl ace where the AH- stroke mantri c syl l ab l e i s to b e

35
 vi sual ized i s the center of the central channel , j ust in front of the spi nal column, at
the pl ace where the channel runs through the navel chakra. One shoul d only
meditate on the syl l ab l e as b ei ng at that point.
The proce ss is as fol l ows. One ob serves the navel chakra, known as "the
wheel of emanation . " At its center one envi sions the AH-stroke syllable, standing
upon a tiny moon cushi on . It is i n its S anskrit form, whi ch re sembles the Tib etan
character shad in the Tib etan cl assi cal scri pt [i . e . , the verti cal stroke that divi des
Tib etan sentences] . It is red i n col or, and stands upright.
As for the syl l ab l e at the heart chakra, known as "the wheel of truth, " whi ch
has eight petal s, the pl ace of thi s chakra is at the central channel j ust in front of the
spine, at the point mi dway b etween the two nippl e s . One meditates only on the
point at the center of the central channel . In thi s proces s of meditati on one ob serves
a tiny moon disk at the center of the chakra, and upon it a blue syl l ab l e HUM, its
head poi nti ng downward . One meditates that is has the power to cause the
b odhi mind sub stance to descend l i ke falling snow.
Next one concentrates on the chakra known as "the wheel pf enj oyment, "
whi ch has sixteen petal s . The pl ace of thi s chakra i s at the throat [i . e . b ehind the
Adam ' s appl e] , and agai n the central channel runs through it, j u st in front of the
spinal column . It is there that one place ' s one concentrati on, and ob serves a tiny
moon di sk, a ti ny red syl l ab l e OM standing upright upon it.
Fi nally one focuses upon the chakra at the crown of the head, known as "the
wheel of great ecstasy," whi ch has thi rty-two petal s, the central channel running up
the center of it. One ob serves a moon di sk at its center, a white syl l able HAM
standing upon it, its head poi nted downward .
With al l four of these chakras it i s important to remember that the central
channel runs through the center of them, and the side channel s wrap around and
constri ct the central channel at the places of the chakras. It i s important to conduct
the meditati ons at the l evel of the knots, and to envi sion each mantri c syl l ab l e as
b ei ng at the center of the central channel . . . .
Although most oral transmi ssion [of thi s Six Y ogas sy stem] teach that one
shoul d meditate on the mantri c syllables at the center of the chakras, i n some it i s
not cl early taught that one shoul d meditate only from within the center of the
central channel . If thi s poi nt s not emphasized and one meditates without doing so,
the vital energi es wi l l not b e drawn i nto the central channel . Consequently one wi l l
i s the es senti al purpose o f the i nstructi on .
As for the size of the mantric syl l ables such as the syl l ab l e HUM
[menti oned ab ove in the quotati on], it i s a standard practi ce to vi sual ize them as
b ei ng the size of a mustard seed . However, the smal l er that one can envi sion them,
and the more cl early one can do so, the easi er it becomes to draw the energi es insi d e .
[Tsongkhapa' s Six Yogas of Naropa, Glenn H. Mul l i n ( Snow Lion Publi cati ons,
New York, 1 996), pp. 1 3 9- 1 64 . ]

You can see thi s b asi c method o f cultivation, which i s used i n a vari ety o f different spi ritual
school s that focus on b ody energy cultivati on, even i l lustrated in a western al chemy b ook by
Michael Maiers, the A talanta Fugiens. The b asic i dea i s to concentrate on vi sualizing the four
main chakras of the b ody that run up the sushumna . . . or a littl e fl ame, l etter, seed or other tiny

36
shining point of concentrati on at the center of those four chakras . The l etter can be Hebrew,
Tib etan, Greek, S anskrit - it doesn ' t actual ly matter b ecause al l you want i s j u st a provi si onal
point of focus for the vi sual i zation practi ce. One should only do such practi ces AF TER they have
spent a several years with prel iminary cultivati on practi ces such as empti ness meditati on, anapana,
pranayama, and the white skel eton vi sual i zation . These practi ces wi l l slowly open up many of the
body ' s channel s pri or to thi s techni que, whose usage al l al one, without thi s pri or opening of
channel s, can l ead to energeti c results whi ch most people cannot handl e .

You can al so reduce t h e set o f chakra poi nts from four t o three by concentrati ng o n j u st the third
eye chakra, heart chakra, and belly chakra. You can see pi ctures of these i n "Tao and Longevity"
by Nan Huai -chin. S ome nei-gong school s in China take thi s approach and say you should recite
the mantra "mmmm" at the regi on of the third eye, the mantra " ahhh" at the regi on of the heart, and
the mantra "hunn" in the danti an, the belly chakra.

You are tol d to recite these mantras at those l ocati ons, and match the practi ce with your breath to
draw the chi i nto your sushumna central channel . What most Chinese practiti oners don ' t recognize
is that thi s is al so a Tib etan Buddhi st practi ce, whi ch is to recite the mantra "Ah Om Hung" [Om =

Ohm, Hung = Hun = Hung = Hum, etc . ] S amantabhadra ' s mantra, for opening up the central
channel . Practitioners of Tib etan esoteri c yoga are tol d to do thi s for years, so thi s " secret Chinese
nei-gong exerci se" is basi cally the very wel l known S am antabhadra mantri c approach to helping
open the central channel combi ned with the i dea of the three Taoi st elixir fields and three chakras
of Buddhi sm that separate the Desire, F orm and Formless cultivati on real m s . Once agai n you can
find thi s in " Tao and Longevity" and recognize it' s b asically the same thing.

These practi ces are thus usually kept secret in most traditi ons b ecause people who do them, if they
are young and keep a check on thei r virility through sexual restrai nt, can with concentration
unleash all sorts of energy streams i n thei r b ody . Those yang chi energy streams, al so known as
kundal ini energi es, wi l l push through the body ' s chi channel s to open them and cl ear them of
ob structi ons . That process suddenly experi enced with i ntensity all at once, rather than
accompli shed sl owly over time, will be extremely hot and painful . Most people cannot b ear the
transformati ons engendered unl ess they have first cultivated their b ody for several years pri or to
thi s sort of practice, whi ch marti al arts, when comb i ned with empti ness meditati on, hel p s you
accompl i sh . Thi s i s the l evel of real yang chi ari sing in the b ody, and few marti al arti sts ever reach
it.

37
You're supposed to have an empowerment to do such practi ces, and do l ots of preparatory work
pri or to them, because that neces sity gives teachers the chance to make sure the wrong peopl e
don ' t l earn thi s materi al unti l they ' re mature enough and thei r bodies are ready to handl e the
painful consequences of al l the channel openings suddenly happeni ng. The correct sequence of the
openi ngs, and the vari ous phenomena that ari se when you cultivate correctly, are detai l ed in " The
Littl e B ook of Hercul e s . "

You need the right view o n what' s supposed t o happen as t o b ody changes and how you shoul d
cultivate your mind duri ng such practi ces, otherwi se you ' l l alway s be cli nging to the phy si cal b ody
and thinking it' s y ou as you cultivate thi s stage of transformati on . If you cultivate such
vi sualizati ons correctly al ong with the attendant exerci ses, al l y our chi energi es wi l l come up .
You'll get the gong-fu j ust l i ke we sai d b efore, and then b ecause you're getti ng the gong-fu that all
sorts of super powers and thi ngs like that can happen. You can al so rel ease energy streams that
your b ody i s not ready to handle, so these materi al s are usually restri cted to students who have
b een practi cing for years, and thus cl eared their channel s to some pri or extent.

If you want to practi ce the white b one skel eton vi sual izati on, whi ch i s a l ot safer, has no
empowerment requi rement and offers the marti al arts b enefits I menti oned, then al l you real ly need
to do is buy a littl e skel eton from some pl ace l i ke the An ato mical C h arts C o m p any, and
memorize the b ones so you can close your eye s and vi sual ize the skel eton i n your b ody . You
alway s start the vi sual izati on with the l eft big toe, and you work from below upwards to the top of
the b ody . You vi sual ize the l eft toe b one, then the bones in your l eft foot, then the b ones i n your
right foot, and then the b ones i n your l eft leg and so forth ri sing upwards .

You can switch the order around t o what' s conveni ent t o you in the upper areas o f the torso, but
you shoul d alway s start the vi sual izati on at the feet, and in parti cul ar with the left big toe . With thi s
si mple techni que you ' ll cultivate al l the chi channel s throughout y our whol e b ody in ti me. As
menti oned, it doesn ' t happen instantly or right away . Everything take s time, especially when it
comes to cultivating a mind of stabil ity and the i nner energi es of your b ody . Thi s is harder to
cultivate than j ust the wai-gong or external marti al arts. But thi s is the path to becomi ng a great
marti al arti st, one of those who get the secret transmi ssions and b ecome a l i neage holder of a
school or even skilled enough to become the founder of a new school or traditi on .

I alway s tel l people, if they 're going to do thi s, to al so concentrate on thei r hands b ecause a marti al
arti st needs to use them, too . Don ' t j u st focus on the feet but al so do the hand b ones carefully
i ncluding the pal m s and fingers, and the sacrum as wel l because it is al so ultra important. The
shoul der b l ades, rib s, pelvi s and spine shoul d al so not b e ignored . Most peopl e wi l l usual ly have
some difficulty with the chi penetrating through the shoul ders and al so the buttocks, so don ' t
ignore these regi ons .

There are so many sci enti fi c studi es out there i n the field o f peak sports performance whi ch wi l l
tel l you, even for golf o r for sports l i ke l acrosse and so forth, that if you practi ce vi sual izing a
parti cul ar movement that you want to perfect, the vi sualizati on wi l l help you achi eve it qui cker and
to a higher skill l evel than what you normal ly can achi eve j ust by practi cing that movement al one .
You can master it quicker and to a higher degree of excel l ence.

Thus, Arnol d S chwarzenegger used vi sual izati on whi l e weight lifting to help bui l d his muscle s
and perfect hi s routines. Many, many people have u s e d vi sual izati on i n thei r quest for sports

38
performance, and you constantly hear thi s from great athlete s . If you're stuck on trying to perfect a
marti al arts form and you real ly can't get the movements right, you shoul d sit down and do
vi sualization practi ces of someb ody who is doing correctly what you are trying to master in
movement. You vi sual ize yourself doing the movement from within the b ody l ooki ng outwards,
and al so as a third person watchi ng you execute it correctly, or you can j u st keep tracing the other
person ' s perfect movements in your mind. And b el i eve it or not, you'll get real ly good at it that
way - it wi l l help you transform your marti al arts practi ce i ncredibly so. In short, mental rehearsal
wi l l defi nitely i mprove your ski l l l evel . It wi l l defi nitely enhance your athl eti c performance. That' s
a l ittl e tri ck that they never tel l you, but it' s extremely useful .

There are l ots of vari ous applicati ons of vi sual izati on practi ces, and many types of vi sualizati on
exerci se. F or instance, we know a very traditional B aguazhang teacher who alway s recommends
two vi sual ization practi ces . The first type of vi sual ization involves i magi ning that you ' re correctly
empl oying the specific b ody weapons you are trai ni ng, l i ke a specific strike. The vi sual izati on
method is for you pick a target spot you want to master hitti ng, and you alway s vi sualize going
after it. F or months at a ti me, for every person you see - whether you meet them or see them
wal king at you on the street - you vi sual ize hitting that target spot on their b ody b ecause the mind
fi l l s with chi and so you sort of build that i nto y our nervous sy stem . The mind doesn't know any
difference b etween the vi sual ization of wh ether you did it from the event of actually phy sically
doing it. S o i n practi cing thi s way with vi sual izati on, it i s as if you actual ly did it, and thus your
practi ce i mproves.

The other method that he taught was that even if y ou're sitting on an ai rplane somewhere, you can
sit there and you shoul d be going through your techni que in your head using your imaginati on .
You ' l l know you're doing it right b ecause your b ody wi l l start to want to move with the techni que .
You might start to even j erk a littl e bit j u st doi ng the vi sual izati on techni ques over and over agai n .
F or whatever reason, because there are different theori e s o n the matter, mental training i mproves
motor ski l l s, so I highly recommend i ncorporati ng it al ong with phy si cal practice as it wi l l elevate
your marti al arts ski l l s and performance l evel . Even if you don ' t cultivate your i nternal energies, I
want you to have new dimensions of trai ning for that whi ch you pick up from thi s b ook.

I can tel l you many, many stori es about hockey teams, golfers and others who did vi sual izati on
practi ces, and excel l ed b ecause of that practi ce. There are studi es where they would take
b asketb al l players and put them i nto three group s : those who j u st practi ced shooti ng hoop s four
hours a day, versus those who did vi sual ization s for one of those four hours, and the group whi ch
did the vi sual izati ons alway s scored b etter. In field hockey, those who used rel axati on with
vi sual ization practi ce i mproved thei r goal shooti ng by 1 60% versus 70% for those who j ust did the
phy sical practi ces.

In Olympic golf trai ni ng, one group vi sualized thei r b al l going i nto the hol e al l the ti me, and their
results showed a 3 0% putti ng i mprovement. Another group vi sual ized thei r b al l going away from
the cup, and their results drop by 2 1 % and a third group, whi ch j u st did regular phy sical practi ce,
only improved their results by 1 1 % with that al one.

In another Olympi c trai ning study performed by Russians, one group of athl etes did j u st physi cal
exerci ses, or phy si cal trai ning. A second group spent 7 5 % of thei r ti me in phy si cal trai ning and
2 5 % in mental trai ning. A third group did 5 0% phy si cal trai ning and 5 0% mental trai ni ng, and a

39
fourth group did 2 5 % phy si cal trai ning and 7 5 % mental training. Those who spent 7 5 % of their
ti me on mental trai ning i mproved the most and performed the b e st.

Because the neural pathway s you bui l d i n the brai n tend to fol l ow the mind, through vi sual izati on
practi ce you're b asi cally creati ng ci rcuits in y our b ody, neural pathway s that your b ody is going to
end up using. Therefore if you model your movements on a marti al arti st l ike Jet Li and you j u st
play those i mage s over and over and over again in your mind from having vi ewed a movi e or
whatever, that' s going to start to be i mpri nted in your mind and it wi l l b ecome easier to actual ly
phy si cally devel op that ski l l i n the same fl ow style as Jet Li .

The i dea i s to vi sual ize specific b ehavi ors over and over agai n to help trai n muscl e memory
b ecause the mental images can act as a prelude to muscul ar performance . Do it sl ow at first, and
then faster l ater. Warni ng : Never repeat a wrong image hundreds or thousands of ti mes or y ou wi l l
j u st b e i ngrai ning the wrong habit.

You must know the opti mum results you want, vi sual ize those re sults, and work towards them i n
your practi ce routines. What you vi sual ize should repre sent a perfected state o f achi evement -
perfecti on in form and flow . Thi s might be your footwork, or arm movements, or how you twi st or
turn and so on .

Vi sual izati on practi ce ti es in with the principles of "deep practice," which we ' l l al so di scuss,
where you shoul d l i nk the se two i deas together. In short, no one teaches you thi s but you can use
thi s mechani sm of vi sualization i n masteri ng the marti al art s . It wi l l defi nitely speed up your
progre s s . It ' s a type of mental training that can b e used duri ng your off hours or even duri ng the
course of rehabilitati on from some hurt or i nj ury .

Today in sci ence we talk ab out the mi nd-b ody phenomena, but scienti sts don't recognize the
mi nd-b ody phenomena means consci ousness and chi . The chi of your b ody - your b ody energies,
your life force - and consci ousness (your thoughts or your mi nd) are l i nked . That' s the basic
unstated princi ple. They represent a coi n with two sides .

Wherever you put your mind in your b ody , y our chi i s going to go to that point or regi on . If you
thi nk of a point outside of your b ody, it wi l l go there, too . If you think of your l eft thigh b one right
now and you vi sual ize it, al l your chi i s going to go there . When someone practi ces the white
skel eton vi sual izati on, after they l earn how to vi sual ize all the bones of the b ody simultaneously,
then all of thei r chi is going to go to al l those b ones . . . and the chi channel s al ong those l engths will
start to open b ecause chi is rushing there . With one vi sual izati on you therefore end up cultivating
al l the important chi channel s and meri dians throughout your b ody . What marti al arti st could
obj ect to that, especially b ecause you are learni ng anatomy at the same ti me?

Not only does thi s sort of practi ce transform your b ones, whi ch is hard to do since they represent
the densest earth element of your b ody, but thi s cultivati on or meditati on or vi sual ization practi ce ­
however you want to cal l it - wi l l actual ly help open up al l of the chi channel s al ong those b ones,
whi ch is b asi cal ly the enti re extent of the b ody . Thi s is why thi s type of vi sual ization practi ce i s
real ly i ncredible for cultivating the yang chi of the b ody . S o much energy comes u p that thi s
practi ce tends to sti r up sexual desi re, too, and we ' l l soon di scuss that as well .

40
When sexual desire i s sti rred up as the result of some exerci se, it i s starti ng to touch on the outski rts
of yang chi cultivati on . If y ou make very good progres s in your i nner marti al arts practi ce, there
wi l l come a ti me when sexual desires, anger, depressi on, i rritati on, fierce vi ol ent tendencies,
j umpi ness, short temperedness, edgi ness, hatreds and mood swi ngs wi l l all tend to ari se as your
raw (not refi ned) yang chi finally starts ari sing in the b ody .

B ruce Frantzi s once wrote that Fukien White Crane masters, and any marti al arti sts who empl oyed
vi sualization and self-hypnosi s practi ces, would especially encounter these problems. Thi s i s
b ecause i n using meditati on cultivation techni ques, thei r true yang chi would final ly ari se, and its
i niti al ari sing is provoki ng i n nature since the chi flow i s alway s encounteri ng ob structi ons . Thi s i s
expl ai ned i n the F ourth Lab or of Hercules, whi ch repre sents thi s raw chi a s a fi erce boar o r wi l d
half human, half ani mal centaur. Hercul e s was only abl e t o final ly conquer the fi erce b oar i n his
Lab ors by chasing it i nto a snowdrift, and the whiteness of that snow represents the cultivati on of a
pure mind or empty mind through meditati on . My teacher would give me l iver medi cines at thi s
stage, such as Lung Tan Xie Gan pill and ox b i l e cap sul es, but whatever you use to help cl ear
l iver heat and fire should depend on your own personal situati on .

These problems of i rritati on, annoyance, angry outbursts and vi ol ent tendenci e s wi l l especi ally b e
the case as your liver meri dian starts t o cl ear due t o these ri sing raw yang energi es, and thi s i s often
a troubl e some i ssue unti l the channel s final ly cl ear of ob structi on and your chi tends to purify
b ecause you no l onger hol d to it. Duri ng thi s ti me it i s recommended to undergo detoxification
routi nes for the l iver, such as eati ng l iver drai nage formul as, to help l i mit the prob l em . But in
es sence, the qui ckest way of getti ng ri d of the prob l em is to reach a higher stage of empti ness
meditati on by l etti ng go, i n whi ch case the chi channel ob structi ons wi ll open and your chi wi l l
purify further.

Pranayama practi ce b asi cally i nvolves trying to hol d y our breath, whi ch i n tum tri es to force open
chi channel s . Anapana is b asically l etti ng go of the b ody whi l e keeping consci ous of your
breathing. Eventual ly you b ecome conscious of the presence of chi energi es within in the b ody and
by refrai ning from clamping on them, the channel s wi ll open up natural ly j ust by you remai ning
aware .

As to vi sual izati on practice, it works on an enti rely different modus operandi . F or nei-gong, rather
than marti al arts performance, vi sual izati on practi ce requires that you focus on creati ng a
stati onary, stab l e vi sual izati on within your mind. If that i nvolves a point within your b ody, then
your chi goes there and that hel p s to open up a parti cul ar area of the body .

There i s a whol e field of meditati ons cal l ed "kasina medi ati ons" b ased o n vi sual izati on practi ce
that marti al arti sts can use to stabil ize thei r minds as a form of trai ning. The white skel eton
vi sual ization practi ce, cal l ed the b ody i mpurity practi ce in Buddhi st term s, i s one of these
vi sualizati ons . You can find many other kasi na practi ces i n the b ook cal l ed " The Path of
Purifi cati on " (" Vi suddhi magga, " by Buddhaghosa) which gives people a numb er of vi sual izati ons
that often l eads to super powers at the expert l evel . As I wrote in "How to Measure and D eepen
Your Spi ritual Real izati on," al so known as "Measuri ng Meditati on,"

As an example, someone can cultivate a certai n mastery of the earth element by

using it as the field (obj ective support) of focus i n thei r meditati on (ex . the " earth
kasina") . If they attai n the corresponding earth element samadhi , they wi l l achieve

41
 the superpower of b ecoming abl e to sit in the sky by having the earth element
appear wherever they want, namely underneath thei r feet. Thi s i s how someone i s
abl e t o wal k o n water; i t i s not due t o l evitati on, but b ecause of masteri ng the earth
element samadhi . Masteri ng the earth element samadhi wi l l al so enab l e them to
make visible (non-livi ng) repli cas of themselves.

S omeone who masters the water vi sualization samadhi wi l l devel op the ability to
create rivers and l akes, make the earth and buil dings quake, and have water appear
wherever they want. Masteri ng the fire el ement samadhi vi sual izati on i s the b asi s
for such powers as b ei ng abl e to burn other obj ects, burning one ' s b ody at the ti me
of death, counteri ng fi re with fire, and so on . The wi nd samadhi contemplation i s
the b asi s for b ei ng able t o wal k with the speed of wi nd and causing wi ndstorm s .
Masteri ng the space contempl ation enables a n i ndivi dual t o wal k through wal l s and
earth, create space inside rocks and mountai ns, or see hi dden obj ects. Then we even
have the light, red, blue, white and yel l ow samadhi vi sual izati on accompli shments.
F or instance, the yellow kasi na i s the b asi s for b ei ng abl e to create yel l ow forms, or
having something turn i nto gol d .

These sup er powers are often the very same ones you read ab out i n marti al arti st novels, and whi ch
you see in the Hong Kong, Taiwanese and C hi nese gong-fu movi es, l i ke b ei ng abl e to fly in space,
or sit i n space, and dive i nto the Earth, and run with the speed of the wi nd.

" The Path of Purifi cation" secti on on the kasi na meditati ons actual ly tel l s you what stab l e
vi sual izati on you have t o cultivate t o b e abl e t o accompl i sh certai n extraordinary supernormal
powers, or marti al arts skil l s . But it won't work for you unl ess you al ready have l ai d the neces sary
prel imi nary foundation in nei-gong. That' s the secret no one tel l s you ! If you don ' t open up the
macrocosmi c ci rcul ati on, it' s usel e s s .

You won't get those re sults unl ess, l i ke I sai d previ ously, you get t o that stage where you open u p
the central channel, and then the mi crocosmi c circul ati on (the River Chari ot rotati on), and then the
ful l macrocosmi c ci rcul ati on . That' s the most minor set of requirements for l aying the foundati on
for these sorts of achi evements, though it requires more nei-gong progress than even that !
Neverthel ess you now know the start and how it' s done.

Once you achieve suffi ci ent nei-gong then you can get the big results from the kasina meditati ons,
and thus get the marti al arts super powers. If you don't open up the central channel and the River
Chari ot rotati on, however, it's never going to happen . It doesn't mean that it' s not good practi ce for
you, it' s j ust never going to happen . You have to l ay the foundati on and from that start cultivating
samadhi attai nments.

The two techni ques of anapana and the white skel eton vi sualizati on, by the way, are real ly two
treasures, and secrets, of Chinese culture . They account for part of the reason why Buddhi sm was
abl e to enter China without b ei ng b arred by the government. It was b ecause people cultivated those
two methods and they actual ly transformed thei r bodies so much and achi eved samadhi
attai nments that al l of a sudden al l of these abi l ities came out. And that' s why people started
accepti ng Buddhi sm so easily .

42
China at that ti me had Confuci ani sm and it had Taoi sm, and Buddhi sm was a foreign import. The
i ntel ligenci a of the ti me had the response to its entry i nto the country, " Wel l , we don't need thi s
foreign import coming i n . It' s not home grown . " But the regular peopl e would take these two
practi ces j ust by themselves, and they ' d practi ce them religiously, and they would get the results
they were promi sed i n Buddhi st sutras . They got al l of these super powers and then nob ody could
say anything. When that happens, what can you say? It' s all fake? It doesn't work? It' s all nonsense?
No one could say anything agai nst the cl ai m s of Buddhi sm, and so it was finally accepted i nto the
nati on .

The prob l em today i s that people don't cultivate . It' s not that they don ' t cultivate anapana and the
white skel eton vi sualizati on, but they don ' t even cultivate the si mple medi ati on of watchi ng their
thoughts ! Another of the prob l em s, even if you do practice, is that sometimes progress comes
down to a matter of celib acy .

Now I don ' t want you to thi nk that ulti mate success in the high marti al arts, or for the spi ritual path,
is ulti mately a matter of celib acy, b ecause that' s a mi stake and not what I sai d . People alway s get
confused ab out thi s and misi nterpret thi ngs, i nterj ecti ng thei r own opi nions and b i ases . You don't
have to b e celibate to succeed . You j u st have to refrai n from losing your energi es carel e ssly and in
abundance. Masturb ati on is the worst affront al ong these lines.

A l ot of marti al arti sts read these ol d cl assi cs, especi ally i n Taoi sm, and they don't understand thi s
emphasis on celibacy called "not l osing the elixir" or "not l eaki ng jing." In Indi a, thi s i dea of
retai ning the semen i s cal l ed brahmachary a . What it b asically mean s is the foll owing . . .

If you're a marti al arti st and you start upon the road of meditati on and pranayama and you don't
real ly feel any i nternal energies, it' s prob ably b ecause you haven't sat l ong enough or your mind i s
prob ably not empty enough . I f y our mind i s empty, that' s a state o f y i n . Yang wi l l defi nitely ari se
when you cultivate yin, or mental empti ness, so your yang chi energi es wi l l ri se if you do thi s
correctly and suffici ently and l ong enough . That yang chi wi l l work to open up your chi channel s,
and you ' l l pass through the stage of qi-gong to nei-gong qui ckl y .

I f you're young and y ou're ful l o f vital ity and you're not leaking your elixir with exces sive
masturb ati on or ej aculation within i ntercourse, those chi energy forces wi l l b e very strong and
pronounced . If you practi ce pranayama exerci ses then thi s, too, wi l l tend to force your kundal ini or
yang chi to ari se. You ' l l often get a stronger effect if y ou ' ve b een celibate and retained your
generative energi es and have b een meditati ng, whi ch hel p s them transform i nto chi .

Your cel ibacy produces a l atent power that i s ready to ari se, so there ' s a dragon there who can
awaken . But if you're not accumul ating and stori ng thi s energy (b ecause you avoi d ej acul ati on),
there ' s no dragon there . It' s l i ke a fi re hydrant which doesn't have any water pre ssure inside it, and
therefore no water can fl ow through the outl et when it' s opened . That' s how cel ib acy hel p s you
cultivate the stages of qi-gong and nei-gong.

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 3
The Role of S ex in Chi Development :
Celibacy and S ex on the Path of Inner G ong-fu

In my b ook " Twenty Five Doors to Meditati on," I go over 25 different meditati ons that people can
cultivate, i ncluding the topic of Taoi st sexual practi ce wherei n you l earn not to lose your energi es
duri ng sexual rel ations. Thi s is important on the marti al arts path, and actual ly is another form of
marti al arts, but b etween coupl e s .

As t o celibacy, o r stori ng your sexual energies, cel ib acy i s l i ke stori ng water in a b oi l er wherei n the
water can evaporate to be steam in the pipes that can run through and open up the chi channel s . It' s
only if you open up the chi channel s, which means opening up your chakras and purifying your chi ,
and going through al l of these b ody transformati ons of the qi-gong and nei-gong stages, that' s
when you can start to get a l ot of the supernatural miracul ous powers that you read ab out in some
of these b ooks.

They're not fi cti onal achi evements at al l . It' s j u st that most peopl e never cultivate to the neces sary
stages of attai nment. Part of that cultivati on i s marshall i ng your sexual energi es so that they can,
via a sort of pressure, produce a force that can open up your chi channel s . F ai l i ng at thi s, you
cannot get to real nei-gong, and thus these abi l ities are out of reach .

A l ot of young men in their teens and twenti es have so much vital ity that it doesn't real ly matter
whether they're celibate or not, even though masturb ati on and exces sive ej aculation duri ng
i ntercourse defi nitely harm s them . In term s of energy l oss, masturb ati on is the worst of the two by
far and should b e elimi nated from your life if at al l possib l e . Traditi onal C hi nese medicine and
Ayurveda b oth state that many prob l em s, b oth mental and phy si cal , ari se due to excessive
masturb ati on by men. Perhaps whi l e not young, but when you're older, you start to b e abl e to
defi nitely feel the loss of i nternal chi , energy and power when you ej acul ate and lose your semen .
That' s how people arrived at these principles since the robustness of youth someti mes masks one ' s
ability to noti ce changes in i nternal energy .

In any case, Taoi sm teaches men who have a sexual partner how to have sex without l eaki ng
b ecause it' s not a matter of stri ct celibacy, but it's a matter of no l eakage, of not l osing energy . Of
course at the highest l evels it is al so ab out no-thought, and therefore not l etti ng your mind b e
di sturb ed by thoughts o f sex either. There are a l ot o f different approache s t o thi s and you can read
in some marti al arts novel s where the hero actual ly takes a consort to help him get over sexual
desire or as a partner where the two can practice together. On the other hand, someti mes the novel
wi l l say that a man l ost hi s powers and abi l ities because of sex, l ike S amp son in the Bible, which
represents thi s i dea perfectl y .

44
S ome b ooks wi l l give you a story line of, " Oh, wel l . The wife taught him how to do tantri c sex
where he di dn't l ose hi s power and he ended up maki ng more progress . " Thi s is because the woman
was al so a cultivator with an excell ent stage of chi purifi cati on, and the two were abl e to use sexual
cultivati on as an adj unct, and someti mes alternative, to anapana for opening up channel
ob structi ons and cultivati ng i nternal energy . But who can find such a ski l l e d partner with excell ent
chi and channel s who i s qual i fi ed for such practi ce - no one ! So the topic of sex i s a confusing
i ssue for most people .

Thi s i s what people don't understand. F or most people, it's stri ctly a matter o f 1 00% celibacy, but
actual ly it' s more than that - you should not even sti r your mind with sexual desires and l ose your
energi es carel essly in any way . On the other hand, you can still have sex if you j u st l earn how not
to lose the energi es through ej acul ati on, and yet without restrai ning them or trying to stop thei r
outward fl ow by pressing on acupuncture points if ej aculation has started . That popul ar techni que
wi l l screw up a man ' s prostate and bl adder. Women don ' t even need to worry ab out orgasm
b ecause a woman ' s b ody is designed differently, and the l o s s of energy through orgasm doesn ' t
hurt her as much a s a man, so the i nj uncti on o f no orgasm does not hol d .

A l ot o f marti al arti sts have yet t o learn ab out thi s topic b ecause it's only i n the l ast 20 years that the
i nformati on has finally b ecome availab l e - through Taoism, marti al arts, yoga, TCM and the l i ke -­

that cel ib acy is a real b oon to your spi ritual practi ce. Pri or to thi s, people didn ' t even real ize that
l osing too much semen could cause eye fl oaters, headaches, dizzi ness, feel i ngs of l i stl e ssne ss,
weak muscl es, knee prob l ems, l ower b ack pain, and so on .

Many cases of mental instability and depre ssion are al so l i nked to an exces sive l o s s of semen,
usually from masturb ati on more than i ntercourse . As you can get older you can feel the effects of
thi s loss inside your b ody and know it to b e true, but the western worl d is al l ab out the enj oyment
of sex so say s very littl e ab out thi s . Western doctors would never b an a drug l i ke Viagra, whi ch
makes sex possibl e for men duri ng the years they shoul d be treasuri ng theirjing, even though it has
responsible for hundreds of cases of b l i ndness and even death .

Once agai n, to make thi s concept cl ear I want you to rememb er the image of these ol d houses
where they have radi ators. The ol d radi ators are gi ant metal heaters standi ng agai nst the wal l s that
heat ol d homes in wi nterti me. These ol d radi ators start knocki ng furi ously when the steam goes
through them . They go, " Ti nk, tink, tink, ti nk ! " and shake furi ously b ecause there is a b oi l er down
below sending thi s steam through the pipes. It hits al l these ob structi ons and so the pipes shake and
rattl e . If there' s no water in the boil er, however, you can't get any steam in the pipes to heat the
house.

With that i n mind, if you're losing your jing, semen, generative forces, elixir, treasure or however
you wi sh to cal l it, it' s the same thing as emptying al l of the water out of the b oi l er. Your chi
channel s won ' t be abl e to open because there wi ll be no force avai lab l e to push through the
ob structi ons . Jing transform s into chi within your b ody, and without any jing you won ' t have any
chi avai l ab l e to open up your chi routes.

In short, you must practi ce cel ib acy now and then to accumul ate your energi es, or simply learn
how to have sex without l eakage. S ex, it i s sai d, often destroy s the health of young men when they
l ose energy to the point of di s sipati on . S ome queens or concubines in Chi na, when the son of a
contender was due to b ecome the next Emperor, would try to ki l l him by sending him pretty

45
maidens as a gift, knowi ng that he could not control hi s sexual energi es and thus might b ecome
weak and die from sexual di ssipation . Tal k ab out strategy ! If it didn ' t work the unknowi ng young
pri nce would sti l l thank the Queen mighti ly and thi nk highly of her forever for the gift !

My own teacher tol d m e a story that when h e went t o military school , h e had two speci al marti al
arts i nstructors who had b oth sworn off women and attributed their ski l l s to thi s fact. One of these
marti al arts teachers had a big, fat belly . One day after al l the students were gone and the room was
empty, thi s teacher cal l ed him over and sai d, "Nan Huai Chin, I want you to punch me i n the
b el l y . "

My teacher sai d, "No, Sifu . I can't . I can't. I dare not. " He sai d, "Punch me in the stomach . " "No, I
can't. " "Punch me in the stomach, it' s an order ! " So he sai d, " Al l right. "

My teacher punched him in the stomach and the teacher l ifted him up, using hi s stomach, as he
connected with the punch, and Nan Huai -chin went flying acros s the room . And hi s teacher sai d
afterwards, " I used t o b e sick al l the ti me unti l I stopped l osing m y energy though sex . That
cap abil ity comes from not fool i ng around with women . "

If you can conserve your energi es and transmute them, and you trai n, then you can l earn l ots of
speci al ski l l s accordi ng to how you trai n . But most people never train suffi ci ently and most people
never conserve thei r energi e s . Neverthel e s s thi s i s the principle for b ei ng ab l e to get to those high
stages i n marti al arts. It doesn ' t mean you never have sex, but that you don ' t lose your energi es
carel essly, too frequently, or i n volume. You can go read the Yel l ow Emperor' s conversati on i n
the Plain Girl Sutra to understand thi s .

Rememb er that there ' s a fl i p side t o thi s too. Celibacy i s not everything. I f you j ust cultivate
cel ib acy but you don't cultivate the opening of the chi channel s by cultivating mental empti ness
and you don't train with martial arts, you'll j u st get healthy from conserving your semen, and that' s
ab out al l . It doesn ' t guarantee a l ong life if you cannot transmute it from cultivati ng empti ness
meditati on so that jing transforms i nto chi .

S ome men who are ol d try to regai n their lost vital ity through stimul ant formul ati ons, but they
never work and j ust cause the prob l em of excitati on . Taoi sm and TCM suggest they eat se same
seeds, so you can find sesame milk in Korean stores that some people drink. In Indi a they say that
pi stachios wi l l help men store thei r l ost jing . S ome people say l amb b one marrow wi l l help restore
it, too . Liu Wei Di Huang Wan hel p s some men b ecause it' s de signed to repl eni sh sexual energi es
and help the ki dney s .

Actually, the b est way i s t o practi ce empti ness meditation for awhi l e, and then your jing wi l l tend
to become restored, but most people don ' t know thi s si mple practi ce and search for al l sorts of
sti mul ants in hopes it wi l l help them become renewed . The big secret i s that sil ent i nner witnessi ng
meditati on, that opens up the chi channel s, i s the one thing that brings ab outjing and chi renewal .
That' s another reason to emb ark upon the path of nei-gong, b ecause as y ou get older you wi l l find
the b enefits quite worthwhi l e j u st for the mundane concerns of sickness, health and l ongevity that
stri ke someone who i s agi ng.

When you're making a soup, you have to know what i ngredients you want i n it if you have an i dea
what you want it to taste l i ke . S o for marti al arts, you can design y our own practi ce schedul e if you

46
know what you are trying to achi eve . The most important thing for you to understand from thi s
smal l b ook are the principles for attai ning these certai n higher stages of gong-fu, and how to trai n
for that. Part of the road to the neces sary foundati onal nei-gong i s marshal l i ng your sexual energi e s
t o some degree, and not l osing them carel e ssly . I t i s a matter o f not l osing energi es and thi s i s a
bigger prob l em for men than for women .

After you get the Tao, of course, you can recover quickly if you ever lose your semen, so the focus
is on getti ng there and how to do so. What you do after you achi eve it is al l up to you .
 4
The Mythical Martial Arts
Are They Really P ossible?

One of the thi ngs we can now di scuss are some of the super powers and super normal powers that
you normally hear ab out when it comes to l egends in marti al arts. You can actually achi eve these
speci al abi l ities - it' s not sci ence fi ction - after you fi rst reach the l evel of nei-gong and then keep
cultivati ng.

These are such powers as where you see swordsmen who can fly through the ai r and thi ngs l i ke
that. There are l ots of stori es of peopl e who cuI ti vated thei r i nternal energi es to a I evel where they
could such thi ngs, and the i ndivi dual s are al most alway s connected to spi ritual traditi ons b ecause
these capabil ities requi re you to cross over from purely phy sical chi cultivati on to the cultivati on
of the metaphy si cal , whi ch is the pursuit of the Tao.

The famous Tib etan Milarepa, for instance, coul d fly through the ai r. You can read of hi s story in
"The Life of Mi l arepa" by Lob sang Lhalungpa. He had all sorts of unusual abi lities he cultivated
from hi s i nternal energi es, such as b ei ng abl e to proj ect b ody doubles and so forth .

The monk Chi Kung in Chi na, who was al so an Arhat, demonstrated many mi raculous sup er
powers as wel l, and if he had b een a marti al arti st we would have cited him as an Immortal .
B asically, these were guy s who cultivated the i nternal energi es of thei r bodies. They opened up the
central channel . They got the mi crocosmi c ci rcul ati on, the River Chari ot going, and then the
macrocosmi c ci rcul ati on, and then they went on to cultivate mental abi l ities, cal l ed samadhi
attai nments, and super powers from there .

Most people who tread these roads al most alway s end up using breathing methods of some type.
Whatever thei r type of practi ce, it' s al most alway s mixed with anapana and pranayama. At the
higher stages, they alway s practi ce anapana and l et the b ody transform on its own . You don't need
to pranayama anymore at the high stages but you need it at the early stages to try to force some
channel s i nto openi ng. As to anapana, you use anapana to detach from the body ' s energi es and you
shi ne awareness on them, b ei ng aware of them without grabbing them, so that al l the channel s
open natural ly without force .

T h e people who can open up thei r channels a n d transform thei r fi v e elements a t thi s l evel can do
miracul ous things, such as move at super human speeds . In the marti al arts movi es, you can see
them cl i mb high wal l s . They can use i nner energi es for attack, though of course at that l evel they
have no need to do so because they usually avoi d the karma of fighti ng. They can make b ody
doub l e s . Al l sorts of paranormal effects are possibl e .

People say, " Wel l , thi s i s a l l nonsense, " but it' s not nonsense . It' s j u st that regular peopl e don ' t
know the principles b ehind these thi ngs, aren ' t familiar with cultivati on, aren ' t cultivati ng

48
them selves to even know there i s a thing called chi , and don't meet anyb ody who's cultivating to
these stages . There's a b ook cal l ed "Nothing Ever Happened " by a Hi ndu sage Papaj i , and he tal ks
ab out meeting someone l i ke thi s who achi eved these abi l ities j u st from hi s yoga cultivati on .

When you read hi s modern b ook, you know that Papaj i (H.W . L . Poonj a) i s not a l i ar ab out
anything. In hi s travel s he meets a young guy who had l earned to l evitate, and demonstrated thi s
attai nment. He could make b ody doubles, speak in any l anguage, and sai d he could travel to other
worl ds, . . . al l the thi ngs that Taoi sts tel l you that you can do with suffi ci ent practi ce . He could
achi eve these thi ngs because he started practi cing when he was young, practi ced cel ib acy for the
nece ssary stages, and he l earned how to cultivate hi s i nternal energi e s through meditati on .

It' s alway s b etter to start cultivating these things when you're younger than when you're older
b ecause you have more vital ity, but no one ever hands you thi s i nformati on and the key i ngredi ents
as we' re di scussing in thi s b ook. In any case, you can accompl i sh thi s sort of thing if you set your
mind to it, and j u st have to ask whether it' s worthy of you . The Indi an yoga school s alway s tal k
ab out these abi l ities and catal ogues many such super powers whi ch they cal l siddhis.

There are eight siddhi s i n particul ar you can cultivate, such b ei ng ab l e to reduce your b ody to a tiny
size, or make it very l arge, or very heavy . I've seen marti al arti sts who have cultivated that one in
parti cul ar, but not to the extent capab l e from mastering nei-gong. They kneel on the ground, and
you can't lift them up . Another si ddhi is that you can become weightl ess, and there are al l sorts of
other possibl e abi l ities l i ke that.

There ' s another b ook cal l ed " Sky Dancer" ab out Yeshe T sogyel, who was a femal e meditati on
practiti oner in Tibet. She was cultivating a l ot of the form practi ces of Tib etan Buddhi sm and i n
thi s b ook, whi ch describes h e r life story, there was a very big dharma b attl e b etween the pri ests of
the B on rel igi on and the accompl i shed Tib etan Buddhi sts . It doesn ' t make sense to have a dharma
b attl e unl ess we are tal king ab out real ized practitoners.

In any case, the Tib etan Buddhi sts won hands down, but duri ng thi s b attl e a l ot of the adepts ended
up showi ng thei r super powers i n order that the Buddhi st side would wi n, l i ke b ei ng abl e to run l i ke
the wi nd, wal k on water, proj ect things you could see i nto the sky, or summoning ani mal s . Al l
these abi l iti e s were the speci al marti al arts attai nments you read ab out and everyone goes after.
The rel evant secti on runs as fol l ows :

Then the ti me arrived for the competItI On in evi dence of siddhi

[ supernormal abiliti e s] . Vai rotsana held the three real ms in the palm of hi s hand .
Namkhai Nyi ngpo, ri ding on the sun ' s ray s, demonstrated many mi racl e s . S angye
Yeshe summoned mal evol ent spirits with a gesture of hi s purbha, slew hi s enemies
with a movement of hi s phurb a, and pi erced a stone with a thrust of hi s phurb a [j u st
as in the Story of King Arthur] . Dorj e Dunj om ran l i ke the wi nd, enci rcl i ng the four
conti nents i n a fl ash, and offered the King seven different kinds of treasure as proof
of hi s feat. Gyelwa Chokyang proj ected Hayagriva, the Horse-necked, from hi s
fontanel l e, instantaneously fi l l i ng the microcosmic universes with the sound of hi s
neighi ng. T sang-ri Gompo conquered the three real ms in an i nstant, and offered the
god B rahma' s nine- spoked wheel as proof of hi s feat. Gyelwa Lodro walked on
water. Denma T semang conclusively defeated the B on in rel igious deb ate,
explai ni ng the Kanjur Rochok from memory, proj ecti ng the form s of the vowel s

49
 and consonants i nto the sky . Kab a Peltsek ensl aved the l egions of arrogant spirits .
Odren Zhonnu swam l i ke a fi sh in the ocean . Jnana Kumara drew ambrosia from a
rock. Ma Ri nchen Chok ate pebbles, chewi ng them l i ke dough . Pelgyi Dorj e moved
unimp eded through rocks and mountai n s . S okpo Lhapel summoned a femal e tiger
i n heat from the south by means of hi s hook-mudra, hi s mantra of summons and hi s
samadhi . Drenpa Namkha summoned a wi ld yak from the north . Chokro Lui
Gyeltsen i nvoked the mani fe st form s of the Three Lords of the Buddha ' s Three
Aspects in the sky in front of hi m . Langdro Konchok Jungden brought down
thi rteen thunderb olts at once, and despatched them l i ke arrows wherever he wi shed .
Kyeuchung caught and b ought al l the Daki ni s with hi s samadhi. Gyel mo Yudra
Nyi ngpo di sci pli ned the B on in grammar, l ogi c and science, and overpoweri ng
external appearances through the penetrating insight of his samadhi, he effected
many transformati ons . Gyelwa Jangchub l evitated in l otus posture . Ti ngdzi n
Z angpo fl ew in the sky, hi s vision encompassi ng the four conti nents
simultaneously . In thi s manner al l of the Twenty-five Mahasi ddhas of Chimphu
demonstrated evi dence of thei r siddhi [attai ned through the practi ce of dhyana] .
Furthermore, the Eight Si ddhas of Yerpa, the Thi rty Tantri c Pri e sts of S hel drak, the
Fifty-five Recluses of Yong Dzong, etc . , al l showed a parti cul ar di s si m i l ar sign of
siddhi . They transmuted fire i nto water and water into fire. They danced i n the sky,
pas sed unimpeded through mountai ns and rocks, wal ked on water, reduced many to
a few and i ncreased a few i nto a multitude [like Jesus' feeding of the l oaves of
Bread to the multitude] . All the Tibetan peopl e could not help but gai n great faith i n
the Buddha, and the B on could not h e l p thei r defeat. T h e B onpo mini sters amongst
the mini sters were speechless.
Concerni ng the detai l s of my contest with the B on i n evi dence of siddhi the
B on were defeated. But afterwards they wove nine evi l spel l s cal l ed The Magi cal
Odour of the Skunk, F l i nging F ood to the Dog, Snuffing the Butter Lamp with
Bl ood, B l ack Magi cal Leather, Proj ecti on of Pesti l enti al Spirits and Proj ecti on of
Devi l s, etc . With these curses they struck down nine young monks at once, but I
spat i nto each of the monks' mouths, so that they stood up fully restored, showi ng
greater ski l l in the play of wi sdom than b efore . Thus agai n the B on were defeated .
Then poi nti ng m y i ndex finger i n gesture o f threat a t the nine magi cians, and
i ncanti ng PHAT ! Nine ti mes over, paraly sed, they l ost consci ousnes s . To re store
them I i ntoned HUNG nine ti mes . Levitati ng in l otus posture, etc . , I demonstrated
my ful l control over el emental forces. Spi nning fire wheel s of five col ours in the
ti p s of the fingers of my right hand, I terrified the B on, and then ej ecti ng stream s of
five-col oured water from the ti p s of the fingers of my l eft hand, the stream s swi rl ed
away i nto a l ake. Taki ng a Chi mphu b oulder, breaki ng it like butter, I moul ded it
i nto vari ous image s . Then I proj ected twenty-five appariti onal form s si m i l ar to
myself, each displaying some proof of siddhi. [Sky Dancer, Keith Dowman ( S ow
Lion Publi cati ons, Ithaca : New York, 1 996), pp. 1 1 2- 1 1 3 . ]

These thi ngs are not impossible but once agai n, if you don't get to the genuine stage of nei-gong,
you can't do them at all . You cannot even approach them, and so they ' l l seem ficti onal . If a marti al
arti st proceeds al ong the marti al arts road of practi ce and then cultivates nei-gong and samadhi,
they can demonstrate thi s sort of thing, and we thus put thi s i n the category of i nternal marti al arts .

50
If the i ndivi dual who cultivates i s not a marti al arti st but achieves them, then we cal l it spi ritual
attai nments. What people don ' t get i s that the two are the same and you are simply approaching the
attai nments from two different roads of practi ce, as I explained earl i er - the "Buddhi st" or
"Taoi st. "

I f you want t o know what the genuine stage o f opening the chi channel s entai l s whi ch l ay s a
foundati on for the real nei-gong and samadhi attai nments enab l i ng these thi ngs, you've got to read
the "Littl e B ook of Hercul e s " and then do all the prel iminary practi ces to get there . The
prel iminary practi ces alway s i nvolve pranayama and they usual ly i nvolve the white skel eton
vi sual ization practi ce, or some other tantri c vi sual izati on involving the chi channel s and chakras of
the b ody .

Usual ly they use a skel eton vi sual ization of some type, whi ch i s why you see, in many school s,
pi ctures of skel etons . You'll see thi s i n Tib etan Buddhi sm . You'll see it i n the Greek myth s . You'll
see thi s i n countl ess traditi ons b ecause you usually wi l l see various vi sions when you pass through
certai n stages of nei-gong cultivati on. When you are transformi ng the dense earth element of the
b ody, whi ch i s transformi ng the skel eton chi of the b ody, that' s when you ' l l see vi sions of
skel etons . It means that the earth chi of your b ody i s b ei ng transformed.

If you don't do the prel iminary practi ces that prepare you for enteri ng i nto these accompli shments,
it' s impossible to do these thi ngs . You can do some amazi ng thi ngs, for sure, but not real ly the
super powers at these l evel s of achi evement. You need i nternal cultivati on and samadhi
attai nments to get that far. As stated, you have to go from the external marti al arts through chi
cultivati on to i nternal energy cultivati on (wherei n you total ly transform your phy sical nature) to
Tao-gong cultivati on . That' s the secret. It' s not that thi s is impossible, but that few ever b other to
cultivate thi s far.

Once agai n, b asi cally the princi ple is that these speci al feats are possible, but only if someb ody
real ly starts succeeding in nei-gong. And that' s real ly the big principle that people don't know.
How do you get there? Wel l , you have to start with marti al arts so that you get healthy . And then
you have to go then through the qi-gong route, whi ch is to get you to the stage where you start
feel i ng the chi of your b ody . And then you must make progress in the vari ous practi ces such as
meditati on, anapana, pranayama and vi sual izati on . If you l earn how to let go of your thoughts from
these practi ces, and l et go of your mind, your chi wi ll ri se. You'll start opening up the channel s and
chakras within your b ody and you'll start b ei ng abl e to enter i nto thi s pathway .

If you don't do that however, then it' s never going to happen no matter how hard you try and how
hard you vi sualize. And b efore we go i nto other i ssues, that' s real ly the main thing I thi nk that a l ot
of marti al arti sts don't know. They see some of these speci al abilities fi cti onal ized in cartons l i ke
"Naruto" and "Dragonb al l Z, " and they wi sh they coul d do some of them. They b el i eve and yet
they don't believe. Once agai n, you've got to get to the stage of nei-gong and cultivate samadhi and
then al l sorts of supernormal abi lities become possibl e, but not neces sari ly the ones you see on TV.

On a mundane l evel, one of the more mythic martial arts abi l ities is Dim Mak where a marti al arti st
can either touch someone at a certai n spot and either ki ll them with a touch, or knock them out, or
freeze them or whatever. Thi s type of practi ce i s unusual , but i s sti l l in the real m of the mundane
achievements even though it requires ski l l , practi ce, and i nternal energy cultivati on .

51
My teacher, when he was younger, was i nvited to l earn thi s . There was a l i ttl e town in China that
b asi cally had its own traditi onal knowl edge of how to do thi s marti al arts ski l l . There are many
different marti al arts school s in China and a l ot of them have a hometown . My teacher had b een the
marti al arts champion of all eighteen weapons for his enti re province, and the representative of thi s
town came to him and sai d, "We want y ou to l earn thi s b ecause we only teach it to one person per
generati on, and we think you can do it. " My teacher was i nterested, of course, and asked them how
l ong it would take and they sai d, " Thi s take s several years . " And he said, "Wel l , I'd l ove to l earn it,
but I don't have that many years because I have another mi s si on in my life that I want to do. " So he
had to pass on that.

Such thi ngs as Dim Mak are possibl e . He knew I was i nterested i n l earning ab out thi s ski l l , so once
he sent me i nto China to see a p sychol ogi st who was trying to take what he had read of those
anci ent traditi ons and then reestab l i sh them i n Chinese culture . They ' re shown i n al l the martial
arts movi es, but people have l ost the origi nal teachings, so thi s man wanted to try and reconstruct
them, and see if he could use them in a useful way .

And so I was there was there with three fri ends in the room with thi s p sychologi st and hi s diluted
versi on of Dim Mak, and he started using thi s methodol ogy he had rei nvented on a pati ent, whi ch
i nvolved j u st m i l d pres sure on some points on the chest and arm - the exact points I don ' t
rememb er cl earl y . When he started doing that o n hi s p ati ent, who was sitti ng o n a chai r, one o f my
compani ons standing in the room j u st fai nted due to the energie s . I actual ly thought she was faki ng
b ecause he wasn ' t worki ng on her at al l , but in any case I had to catch her as she fel l . Perhap s it was
b ecause of the energi es i nvolved si nce she was very sensitive, but i n any case I had to catch her and
make her lie down, and that was j ust from seeing the demonstrati on . I didn ' t feel anything and it
had ab solutely no effect on me at al l .

S o there i s stuff l i ke that out that sti l l works, and whi ch doesn ' t require a l ot of nei-gong cultivati on
but j ust the right knowl edge of pre ssure poi nts, acupuncture meri dians and so forth . You sti l l must
do a l ot of trai ning and practi ce to l earn ski l l s l i ke that, and usually such ski l l s die away because no
one wants to practi ce them anymore or no one wants to teach them, so I ' m hoping thi s littl e b ook
provi des enough insights to help marti al arts b l ow open thi s field of i nternal energy, even though
it' s dangerous to go down that pathway without a wi se teacher. That' s another i ssue enti rely
b ecause I thi nk my view on the phy si cal form cultivati on school s is well known . If you don ' t have
the right view or right understandi ng, it' s dangerous to pursue these routes b ecause i ndivi dual s
usually get fascinated by al l the powers they can devel op, and thereby get l ost and di stracted from
the big pi cture . Or, they j ust hurt them selves with the energie s they rel ease unl ess they do a l ot of
preparatory cultivati on work ahead of ti me.

There are a l ot of ski l l s l i ke Dim Mak that take a l ot of ti me to l earn . And it' s j u st an i ssue i n your
life that you have to say to yourself, "Wel l , I only have so many years to live. What do I want to
master b efore it' s over? What do I want to l earn with my valuab l e ti me? " B ecause nei-gong l eads
to Tao-gong, thi s route is highly commendab l e, but j ust to l earn a super power or ski l l for no
reason at al l , you real ly have to rethink it.

There's a famous story of the monk Xuan Zang from China whi ch b ri ngs up thi s same i ssue. The
whol e b ook " The Journey to the West" is a fi cti onal account written ab out thi s monk who went to
anci ent Indi a to bri ng the Buddhi st sutras b ack to China. When he was there he met one of the
students or grand students of the Esoteri c master Nagarj una. Nagarj una, who was the real founder

52
of the Esoteri c school of Buddhi sm, l ived for a coupl e of hundred years and thi s student had
al ready l ived for a coupl e of hundred years .

Xuan Zang sai d, " Gee, I'd l i ke to l earn how to do that. " And the student said, " You're wel come to it,
but you're going to have to change your b ody and l earn medicine for the fi rst 20 years to do so. "
Xuan Zang said, " Well, I'm going to have to pass on thi s opportunity then b ecause I vowed to bring
al l the se sutras b ack to China, so I have to get b ack to China with al l of them and I can ' t waste
twenty years here . "

Another story concerns m y teacher and an Immortal swordsman . My teacher traced thi s man down,
I b el i eve he found him in Hangzhou at the ti me, and asked thi s fel l ow to show him hi s
accompl i shed "flying sword" techni que where you can proj ect cutting energi e s at a di stance . The
master b rushed him off several ti mes, but b ecause of hi s sincerity he fi nally brought hi s numb er
one student out and sai d, "Watch thi s . " The student took i n a deep breath, held it, and then
forcefully expel l ed it from his nostri l s . Puffs of dust arose from the ground where two hol es started
to form from the energi es b ei ng rel eased.

My teacher sai d, "That' s fine but I real ly want to see your flying sword," b ecause at that ti me he
was young and i ntere sted i n al l sorts of marti al arts gong-fu . China was fighting a war with Japan
and my teacher felt that if he knew how to do thi s, he could j ust sit there and fl i ck hi s hand and cut
the tai l s off the Japanese planes in the sky so that they ' d fal l to the ground . Thi s i s alway s the type
of i dea a twenty year ol d has, but you never see people at thi s sort of l evel doing anything l i ke that,
so you have to ask yourself why . In any case, the master swordsman took him to the top of a hill
and poi nted to a set of trees acro ss the way, and tol d every one to watch the top s of the trees . He
then poi nted at them with a swi ng, generati ng a sli cing b olt of i nvi sible chi , and the top s of the
trees immediately fell off.

When my teacher asked him to teach him the method, the Immortal swordsman sai d he didn ' t want
to fi l l hi s mind with al l sorts of nonsense . He kept tel l i ng hi m not to fill hi s mind with more and
more thi ngs, but to start l etti ng go, for empti ness was more important than thi s sort of ski l l . "Don ' t
waste y our preci ous ti me trying t o l earn thi s sort o f thi ng," he sai d, "but cultivate the great voi d
i nstead . "

H e somehow knew m y teacher w a s tal ented i n that direction and so he w a s trying t o tell hi m that it
was b etter to spend hi s ti me cultivating the Tao than trying to accumul ate al l the se ski l l s . In life
you have to choose what you ' l l cultivate with the littl e ti me you have. The supreme cultivati on
achi evement is to real ize the Tao, and then fini sh off the b ody cultivati on, after whi ch all these
skil l s come much easier. Marti al arts is a great way of getti ng y our b ody half way there, then
switching to Tao cultivati on, and then coming b ack to finish it up . But if you remai n whol ly fixed
on cultivati ng the b ody, that' s the only achi evement you ' l l have.

Ulti mately there' s a l ot of thi ngs you can put your energi e s i nto through trai ning and practi ce and
ti me. And you j u st have to ask yourself, " I s it worthy of me? " B ecause there are methods in Indi a
where you can go i nto a pit for several years and l earn how to create fi re by thought or by touching
something. And it might take you ten years to learn how to do that, to harne ss the power of the sun
with certain mantras and whatever. But you have to ask y ourself, " Is it worthwhi l e to spend ten
years of my life learning how to do that or can I j u st buy a cigarette l ighter and have a fi re wherever

53
I want? Is it wi se to spend twenty years learning how to wal k on water, or can I j ust hire a b oat
when I need one? "

Thi s all gets b ack to the i dea of trai ning. If you're a marti al arti st, there' s a b ook that I highly
recommend that you read whi ch is not ab out marti al arts, but ab out trai ning. I don't care how l ong
you ' ve b een practicing marti al arts and what school or tradition your fol l ow, but you should read
thi s b ook cal l ed " The Tal ent C ode" and recommend it to your fri ends, b ecause the knowl edge
within it wi l l have a great beari ng on your practi ce and thus ski l l s .
 5
M odern Training Secrets for
P erfecting Ancient S kills

"The Tal ent Code," by Daniel Coyle, i s a special b ook that al l marti al arti sts should read, and
whi ch al l marti al arts teachers should make thei r students read . There are three other b ooks with
si m i l ar content that b asi cally say, " It doesn't matter what your i niti al l evel of talent i s, it' s how
much you practi ce that counts, " and that' s the mes sage of thi s b ook.

They are fi nding that thi s conclusi on is true for al l fields of endeavor. Sports, musi c, dance, stock
tradi ng, . . . worl d class experti se comes down to either ten years of practice or 1 0,000 hours of
deep practi ce done in a particul ar, special way . If you want more on thi s topic there' s " The
B ounce, " " Tal ent is Overrated, " and " Outl i ers " but the b est of the l ot is " The Talent Code . "

The i dea of thi s b ook i s that i f you repeat a ski l l over and over and over agai n, myel i n insulation
wi l l bui l d up around the nerve circuits i n the brai n and b ody that are activated by that ski l l , so you
alway s want to repeat y our marti al arts forms correctly from the start, and in a slow fashion, so that
you are practi cing in the right way .

If you practi ce in the wrong way, myelin wil l bui l d up around those wrong ci rcuits, and then it wil l
b e difficult t o change those habits once they are i ngrai ned i n deep myel i n coati ngs . I f you practi ce
correctly over time, however, you're going to create new circuits - the correct one s . If you do it
over and over and over agai n for 1 0, 000 hours, you can devel op a worl d class skil l .

Re searchers have consi stently found thi s result i n musi c, i n sports, i n dance, i n stock tradi ng, in
pai nti ng, . . . in any fiel d . If you do " deep practi ce" l i ke thi s for 1 0, 000 hours, you can devel op
worl d class ski l l s, and that i ncludes ski l l s for marti al arts. Hence you can see the b enefits of
starti ng young . If you started marti al arts when you were six years old, by the ti me you're a
teenager, if you were practi cing every year, you're defi nitely through to expert territory if you
real ly went with it.

If you start at age twenty and you keep worki ng at it and you put the " 1 0,000 hours" in, then
however l ong it takes after that, you can al so develop a worl d cl ass ski l l . It doesn't matter when
you start, though of course, earl i er is b etter than l ater for a l arge number of reasons . It j ust takes
trai ning and practi ce hours .

Thi s ti es in with the i dea of sports p sychol ogy, peak performance trai ning and fl ow. The whol e
i dea i s that tal ent i s not b orn, but it' s grown . I don't care what your l evel i s at marti al arts right now.
If you j ust keep practi cing and practi cing and practi cing, it will get b etter. That understanding can
help someone mai ntai n their commitment to years of trai ning and practi ce to where they can
fi nal ly reach a high l evel of competence. You need that understanding. And usually, the 1 0 ,000
hours turns i nto ten years of practi ce, but it can b e less ti me, too .

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The whol e i dea al so within thi s concept of practi ce i s that you have to break a ski l l i nto component
pi eces, l i ke when you are memorizing a routi ne or circuit. You memorize the i ndivi dual pi ece s .
You practi ce each o f those pieces unti l it' s correct. You don't move o n t o other pieces unti l y ou get
the pri or pieces of the ci rcuit correct. And you practi ce sl owly, correctly, so that you real ly get it
down and the myel i n and nerve ci rcuits bui l d up around that correct movement or form .
Furthermore, you can add vi sual ization i nto the mix, whi ch wi l l real ly help you with your mastery
of a movement.

You should never keep practi cing something wrong b ecause then you're bui lding up thi s myel i n
sheath a n d i ngrai ned habit for the wrong pattern . You practi ce unti l something's correct and then
you l i nk the pieces together i nto progres sively l arger groups, and that' s it. You only practi ce what' s
right, not wrong, and you alway s slow down to catch the errors so that you're practi cing alway s
what' s right.

Thi s often explains why if you watch b oxing or MMA or any of the fighti ng, they'll have
someb ody who is obviously a very wel l trai ned fighter. But for some reason, they alway s do some
stupi d thing, l i ke they keep thei r hands too l ow so their face is open . They alway s do that no matter
how many ti mes someone tel l s them not to b ecause they 've b een trai ning wrong and now it' s hard
to correct the b ad habit, whi ch was an i ncorrect form from the start. They've built the circuit i n
thei r brai n t o do it wrong b ecause they di dn't trai n correctly, and now it' s hard t o unl earn i t .

I f someone had i ntroduced thi s i dea a n d thi s b ook " The Tal ent C o d e " t o me when I was young,
everythi ng would be total ly different in my life . I ' m the type of person who needs expl anati ons, as
most Westerners do, and thi s supplies the reasons and motivati on to work harder at your marti al
arts or other areas you want to master, and more careful l y .

A l ot o f the people who are appeari ng o n " American Idol , " for i nstance, have b een si nging since
they were y oung . But many went to the same singing coach i n Texas, Linda S epti en, who b asi cally
ran them through certai n exerci ses that made them i nto b etter si ngers . They put i n those 1 0,000
hours. S o people don't real ize it, but i n nearly every si ngl e field of endeavor thi s rule of mastery i s
universal .

"The Tal ent Code" i s therefore a wonderful b ook to put in the reach of students when they are
young so they understand the importance and role of practi ce, and why they have to practi ce
correctly, and recognize that talent is built so that they don ' t b ecome di scouraged . If you're a
marti al arts teacher, go buy it so that you have the proof and expl anati ons that wi l l help you tal k to
your students and convi nce them to try harder, b ecau se the author goes through dozens and dozens
of sports examples. You'll have the proof that you need to tel l p eopl e that they have to keep
practi cing to a deep l evel .

The great qual ity ab out the b ook i s that it di spenses with thi s i dea of natural tal ent b ei ng nece ssary
for superi or performance. After reading thi s b ook you wi l l never say to yourself, " Oh, geez, I ' m
terrible. I j u st don't have the natural ski l l . " That' s the wrong i dea. You j u st need to practi ce
correctly, and for enough ti me, and then the skill wi l l come. You have to break each ski l l into
component pi eces, practi ce each secti on sl owly but perfectly, and then l i nk them al l together, and
if you throw vi sual izati on of the movement into thi s type of practi ce, that wi l l hel p .

56
To do that you might need to view a video recording of the movement done correctly and watch it
over and over agai n, l i ke watching someone ' s gol f swi ng or tenni s return until the movement
penetrates i nto your sub conscious, and in the case of vi sual izati on practi ce you vi sual ize yourself
doing it.

My teacher often tol d me the exampl e where the worst guy i n hi s own marti al arts cl ass was made
a master i n some town . He was shocked when he heard thi s and was perplexed . Thi s guy was the
l ousi e st one i n hi s cl ass, and no one could have predi cted thi s outcome .

M y own teacher went t o vi sit him and sai d something akin to, "What happened that al l these
people take you as thei r master? What gives? " And the guy sai d, "Wel l , hit me with thi s pol e . " So
my teacher was l i ke " OK . " My teacher tried to hit him with a pol e and hi s fri end put up hi s arm to
bl ock it, and hi s arm broke the pol e .

H e sai d, "Wel l , I real ized I wasn't that tal ented. S o what I did was I j ust kept hitti ng m y arm with
chop sti cks and then other devi ces every day (a practi ce known as pai da) to bui l d up the chi flow
through the area, al l the ti me i ncreasing the number of hits and number of hard items I used to
strengthen my muscle s and b ones. I b asi cal ly took that to a ski l l l evel where it b ecame something
where I can break everythi ng without feel i ng any pai n . So, now they consi der me a master. "

Thi s i s a textb ook example of traditi onal Iron Shirt trai ning method where you start by gently
hitting the part of the b ody you want to be abl e to re si st stri kes. Over ti me you move sy stemati cally
from tiny sti cks, to bigger sti cks, to rods and so forth . It i s consi dered a l ower form of Iron Shirt
l argely b ecause of the damage it does to the b ody , but many marti al arti sts have used these
methods to devel op fi sts that can punch through anythi ng, and Mui Thai B oxers use it to develop
hard shi ns for kicking and so.

Mo st of these marti al arti sts real ize too l ate that the natural consequence of thi s l ower method is to
suffer early onset of arthriti s, l o s s of movement in the j oi nts and other negative side effects. Thi s i s
another reason why you have t o l earn ab out the exi stence of vari ous b odywork modalities, or
suppl ements for the j oi nts such as pharmaceuti cal grade glucosamine sulfate, Super C i s sus, or
even gin soaked yel l ow rai sins. Too many marti al arti sts, e speci ally in j udo, karate, and the other
hard school s of practi ce, real ly damage thei r knees or shoul der j oi nts unl ess they know how to
practi ce correctly and fix problems b efore they b ecome permanent disab i l iti es. So I ' ve given you
pl enty of indicati ons for that whi ch you won ' t normally encounter such as Z-Health, b odywork
and special supplements.

The higher form of Iron Shirt practi ce i s when it moves to qi-gong and then nei-gong, where rather
than damagi ng a part of the b ody to make it stronger the practiti oner uses hi s mind to move chi to
an area to protect it - whi ch has the added b enefit of helping to open up the channel s in that area
and increase your health as wel l as your martial arts ability .

There are l ots of different types of marti al arts that you see over and over agai n i n the movi es and
it' s simply b ecause someb ody took an exercise and they did it in the right way, so they didn't hurt
them selves, and they built up i nternal energy and appl i ed it to the exerci se. They b asi cally kept
practi cing for so many hours that they devel oped a speci al ski l l or excel l ence that, when we see it,
we go "Wow ! That' s amazi ng . " It might have i niti ally started from an i nkl i ng of tal ent, but it' s al l
due to deep practi ce .

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It' s l i ke Iron Pal m marti al arts trai ning routi nes where you practi ce sl ow, gentl e exerci ses of
slapping the surface of water or a bucket of b eans, sand or i ron with your palm, all the whi l e
keeping y our m i n d o n your hand. I n conj unction with breathing exerci ses devel oped t o help push
chi to the hands, you do thi s everyday . If you keep your mind on your pal m as you sl owly exercise
it thi s way, the chi capabil ities of the palm bui l d up sl owly over a l ong peri od of ti me and b ecause
it wasn ' t forced, the chi b ecomes abl e to freely fl ow to thi s part of the b ody . If you do thi s
i ncorrectly your hand devel ops calluses . If you do it correctly, your hands wi l l stay normal l ooki ng
or even b ecome softer, l i ke a woman ' s hands, and yet you ' l l sti l l be abl e to penetrate several bricks
with a sl ap . Your capabi lities al l depend on the sl ow, deliberate, eventual bui ldup of chi cultivati on .
If you are too eager or stubb orn in your approach, y ou wi l l devel op health problems.

Many skil l s of i nternal gong-fu, l i ke Iron Pal m and Iron Shirt, Gol den Bell Cover and Dim Mak
can be devel oped if you keep at it. You can alway s develop speci al abi l ities if you keep at it.
However, the ski l l s of l ocal ized gong-fu often di s sipate i n l ater years unl ess you learn i nternal
gong-fu, meditati on and so forth . If you don ' t learn meditati on, qi-gong and then nei-gong, you
wi l l never perfect your gong-fu to the highest l evel s possibl e .

I n any case, part o f thi s achi evement i s practi ce, so how t o keep the spirit o f practi ce al ive?
Through motivati on, inspi rati on and al so by tel l i ng people to read "The Tal ent Code" so that they
understand its importance.

I al so alway s tel l people, " If y ou're young, there are three movi es that are fantastic for teaching thi s
principle of the necessity for constant practi ce for attaining gong-fu . "

The fi rst movi e i s Jacki e C han' s "Drunken Master. " If you ' ve seen it, you ' l l prob ably remember
the scene where he does sit-ups hangi ng upside down, fi l l i ng up a bucket of water with tiny cup s .
Al most every young ki d getti ng started i n marti al arts rememb ers that scene b ecause they're l i ke,
" O h my god ! " But that' s the type of devoted practi ce that you need to do.

F or instance, few people can stand i n a semi horse stance with arm s extended for several mi nute s,
l et al one 3 0 -60 mi nutes or several hours, and yet that' s what builds up your abi l ities i n Tai Chi .
What takes place on an external and i nternal l evel as you do thi s i s no different than what most
experi ence as they go through the pai n of l earning cross-l egged sitti ng meditati on . Your mind
hurts, your b ody hurts, you que stion why you are doing thi s and even cry . These are al l natural
reacti ons and you j ust have to keep practi cing and go through it.

That i dea of practi ce al so comes across beautifully i n another famous movi e cal l ed " The 3 6th
Chamb er of Shaol i n " or " Shaol i n Master Ki l l er" starri ng Liu Chi a-Hui (Gordon Liu) . It goes by
several different name s . It had highly fi cti onal ized trai ning sequence s for vari ous stages of Shaol i n
trai ning. These trai ning sequences are the real ly cool thing ab out the movi e even though it' s si lly
stuff. As a kid you see these strange trai ning exerci ses corre sponding to different stages - they ' re
al l fi cti onal , mind you - and you're l i ke, " Wow ! There are stages of practi ce and I have to l earn how
to do them in sequence. I have to strengthen my arms by carrying buckets of water, learn how to
step on floati ng l ogs without fal l i ng in the water, use my eyes instead of moving my head if I'm
going to b e a good marti al arti st," and so forth . In a way it' s l i ke the "Karate Ki d" i n that certai n
preparatory marti al arts exerci ses are hi dden in the daily life of the monks and thei r normal chores.

58
The whole i dea i s that you need a teacher and a slow trai ning sy stem that wi l l put you through
these practi ces for a l ong period of ti me, j u st l i ke assuming the horse stance position for hours .
That' s going to bui l d up the muscl es y ou need strengthened, and it' s going to help heal your b ody,
too . If you do it wrong, if you practi ce wrong, you're screwed.

If you do it right, then you can b e l i ke Jet Li i n the movi e " Shaol in Templ e, " whi ch is the third
movi e I alway s recommend . There' s a wonderful scene i n thi s movi e - it' s very bri ef but I l ove
watchi ng it over and over agai n b ecause of its beauty - where the seasons change from summer to
wi nter to spri ng to fal l and in each season they show Jet Li practi cing. It' s l i ke a two-mi nute
trai ning scene where he' s practi cing a different marti al art form duri ng each of the season s . It' s very
b eautiful .

The whole i dea once again, through these movi es, i s that you real ly j u st have to keep practi cing
correctly over time, and then you wi l l sl owly develop a ski ll to a high l evel of excel l ence . I don't
want anyb ody to come to thi s i dea that, "Wel l , thi s is al l b eyond me. I'm not skilled i n marti al arts
or sports or athl eti cs so I shoul dn ' t even start. " Nei-gong i s the same way . Everyone can reach
these stages. You j u st have to practi ce and keep at it. It' s l i ke the movi e " The Karate Ki d" where
you start out with zero knowl edge of the subj ect. Everyone initi al ly starts with a tal ent l evel of zero
in thi s area.

After revi ewi ng thi s b ook whi l e i n its prep aratory stages, a marti al arts teacher and fri end, D avi d
F armer, wrote me to say the fol l owi ng. Thi s once agai n touches upon the importance of standing
practi ce for opening up the energy channel s i n the l egs, whi ch is one of the secrets to devel oping
real i nternal power for the marti al art s :

In the ol d day s, if a n i ndivi dual w a s al l owed t o b ecome a marti al arts student o f a

Master, usual ly the student performed mundane thi ngs for some ti me. Many ti mes
these usel ess chores designed by the Master al l owed the unnoti cing student to bui l d
kung fu [gong-ful

Fi nally after some ti me, the Master i nstructed the student to b e taught by one of hi s
senior students. Most of the b eginning exerci ses, as si mpl e as they seem, are the
most profound. An example i s that students would spend many hours a day for
many years doing nothing but standing sti l l i n different stances and posture s .
Standing exerci ses are more profound than o n e realizes . Students i n the traditi onal
marti al arts di dn't start out by l earning a bunch of fancy form s . Everythi ng was
stati c . Standing meditati on, as was taught, was one of those forms and must have a
focal point. But thi s focal point was not taught in the b eginning phase for students
l earning marti al arts .

First a person had to learn how to stand, they had to l earn the proper technique how
to stand. A person had to l earn how to rest, j ust l i ke in sitting meditati on, their using
of the fal se mind, the fal se mind of concepti on, in order to real ize the real mind, the
uncompounded mind and devel op thei r chi . When one devel ops correctly, one rests
the b ody on the perfectly al igned b ones, the muscl es remai n neutral , the tendons in
perfect poi se, the monkey mind is tamed and great awarene ss has b een brought to
the forefront and remai ns when the birth and death of thoughts comes and goe s .

59
More importantly , the b ody has developed a l ot of chi whi ch fl ows unob structed
now. A p erson feel s li ght, but appears very heavy so that many ti mes through
thought another person can't push them off center.

Once a person coul d stand for l ong peri ods of ti me and their b ody stopped j erking
around, they stopped b obbing b ack and forth, and they appeared qui et on the
outside, they then would be taught the m ental aspect of the stance. Withi n thi s new
found peace they u sually are taught to concentrate on their b reathi ng. Just like in
anapana practi ce they were taught to b ecome aware and watch the breath, but not
force their breath .

Much of what happens after thi s stage i s j u st a natural spontaneous reacti on of b ody,
whi ch must occur. We can only stop it from happening when we practi ce
incorrectl y . In tim e a person notices that thei r breath b ecomes very soft and
penetrati ng. All thi s ti me thei r power of awareness b ecomes stronger, in that it
noti ces the coming and going of wi nd and the coming and going of the occasi onal
fal se thought. In ti m e a practitioner fall s away from awareness to j ust knowi ng or
witnessing thi s whol e proce s s .

Many ti mes during thi s process one ' s feet start t o get warm, h ot etc. M y own feet
developed red patche s resembling bli sters. In ti me thi s goes away and one finds
m ore peace and witnesses m ore qui et knowi ng unti l it seem s that with an inhal e the
pores of the skin open and with the exhal e the pores close. Whol e b ody breathing i s
a byproduct of a l evel that one attai n s in standing meditati on .

All thi s ti m e the Master i s watching y ou, so by now he starts to give y ou a hand
p osition to hold with the stance. What many marti al arti sts don't real ize is that most
of these positi ons rel ate to a specific set of meri dian s or chi channel s . Traditi on
hol d s that there are 1 0 8 positi ons that if practi ced successfully work every channel
in the b ody . The chi channel s of the b ody can be cleaned by certai n positi ons
coupl ed with m ental practi ce that, cultivated together, all ow one to become an
Immortal .

Only after havi ng " 1 0,000 hours" of practi cing one posture, namely a l ot, di d y ou
get taught another posture. Thi s went on until y ou l earned the 72 postures that m ade
up one form, and only then di d y ou get to link them together. Once y ou practi ced
the m oving l i nkage y ou tri ed to hol d onto the emptiness that one exp eri ences in a
static position. In the old day s it was not hard for a m onk to m aintai n thi s . Today ,
we s e e people running thru a form and they are all out o f breath at the end .

I am not going to say that standing i s harder than sitting meditati on, only that one
must throw themselves into the one that b est suits them . It has b een taught, that the
faithful in the past woul d cultivate real ization for tens of years, thru al l kinds of
hardshi ps, but in the end they would need to conquer themselves standi ng, walking
or lying down, whi ch, in the end, require s meditati on .

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You cannot over-emphasize the importance of l earning how to stand, in the proper posture or
position, for hours at a ti me in order to i ncrease your prowess and powerful abilities in martial arts .
Thi s al one will help you open up your leg meri dians even without meditati on practi ce, whi ch i s
nece ssary for true nei-gong, though meditati on wi l l advance your practi ce yet further.

If you put i n the practi ce with the proper techni que over the right ti me with commitment, you'll
eventually attai n high gong-fu, but you must noti ce that there is a great mental component to the
practi ce that very much sounds l i ke meditati on, only it is eventual ly l i nked with movement. Now,
if you don't put in the right ti me and you don't put in the right exerci se and effort, you're never
going to get the targeted end results . It doesn't mean that the speci al abi l ities and the gong-fu don't
exi st. It j u st means y ou haven't worked hard enough and gotten to that l evel .

There ' s a marti al arts story that remi nds me of thi s pri nciple, and whi ch ti es i nto the i dea of the
1 0, 000 hours we ' ve b een tal king ab out, whi ch is b asi cally the i dea of repetiti on . If y ou want to
l earn somethi ng, and l earn it wel l , you must trai n yourself through suffi ci ent repetition and you
must concentrate on the basi c s . The basics, for nei-gong, start with hours of wai-gong standing
practi ce to help open up the foot channel s . Standing practi ce is l i ke hol ding a yoga asana posture
for a long peri od of ti me, only you are standing straight up . Thi s practi ce generates l ots of power,
and has untol d b enefits if you l earn how to do it correctly and can hol d it for a l ong p eri od of ti me.

They say the secret i s i n the basics, and the basics i nclude standing practi ce to help open up the foot
channel s, as wel l as for a wi de vari ety of other reasons as wel l . If you want great marti al arts, do
l ots of standing practi ce so you can hol d a horse stance for hours, if possibl e . In any case, whi le it
refers to karate, thi s story from busine ssman Chet Hol mes once agai n it b ri ngs home the
imp ortance of constant trai ning starti ng from " ski l l l evel zero" to master a ski l l :

When I was 1 5 years old, I tri ed a new method for i ncreasing my karate ski l l s . I had
a high vaulted cei l i ng in my b edroom . I screwed a cowhide rope i nto the peak of the
cei l i ng and attached a softb all to the other end, at chest l evel . My i ntent was to kick
and chop the b al l and then to be abl e to defl ect it, bl ock it, kick it, or chop the b al l
agai n when it came b ouncing b ack .

With my first karate chop at the ball with my hand, the b al l b ounced out to the edge
of the rope and b ack fast, smacki ng me in the head . Thi s wasn ' t going to be as easy
as I thought. I tri ed al l ki nds of kicks - hook ki ck, front ki ck, b ack ki ck, side kick -
but agai n and again the b al l fl ew to the end of the rope and then b ounced b ack,
hitting me in the head, elb ow, shoul ders or chest.

I worked on thi s for several weeks and made very littl e progres s . After a month,
there were a coupl e of ti mes when I could actually cl ock the ball from hitting me.
After three months of doing thi s every si ngl e day , I could hit the b al l with any one
of the body ' s weapons - my hands, my feet, my elbows, and my knee s . I coul d even
do a spinning b ack kick and hit it agai n, then bl ock it expertly as it flew at me from
a different angl e .

After s i x months, the b al l never touched me. I coul d s p i n artfully i n the air,
fl awl essly bl ocking the b al l at every angl e . It was amazi ng. I could literal ly catch,

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 kick or swat the b al l with every move any ti me I l i ked and faster than I woul d ' ve
ever though possibl e . My b ody was operati ng l i ke a machine, responding to the b al l
as if preprogrammed to anti cipate every possibl e move the b al l could make.

Imagine my ski l l l evel when that ball would ri cochet around the room with
l ightning speed and my reflexes were even faster. It was thri l l i ng . I felt such power.
I real ized that becoming a master of karate was not ab out l earning 4,000 moves but
ab out doing j ust a handful of moves 4,000 ti mes . [The Ulti mate S al e s Machine,
Chet Hol mes, (Penguin Group, New York, 2007) p. xix . ]

Thi s i s the big, b i g l esson that I want people t o l earn whi ch either nobody ever b others to tel l them,
or j u st i sn ' t stressed enough . I don ' t care what you want to l earn, but don ' t hop from technique to
technique unti l you put hours and hours i nto masteri ng the b asi cs. Y ou'll find thi s i dea explained in
" The Tal ent Code" for many areas of life . Pi ck up " The Tal ent Code" whi ch you can get on
amazon . com, and it wi l l real ly help your progress.

Another story that comes to mind, rel ated to thi s, was tol d to me by a fri end who had a marti al arts
teacher from China. Thi s man could move at l ightning speeds, and he explained it was b ecause he
had done speci al exerci ses for hi s rib s and upper torso.

It' s hard i n marti al arts to connect the energi es of the upper torso with those below on through to
the legs so that the top and b ottom half of the b ody are i ntegrated . Most school s focus on the
movements of the wai st, and negl ect the chest somewhat. Thi s man, using the model of a tiger
whose enti re chest cavity and rib s move when it breathes, mastered the ability to contract al l hi s
rib s and generate a power from the chest cavity that most people never cultivate . It' s a forgotten
skil l in marti al arts and take s years of trai ning and practi ce to be abl e to do thi s .

To train, every day h e would extend hi s hand i nto a contrapti on h e had built that was l i ke a cl othes
hanger on a stretchable, el asti c cord that hung from the cei l i ng . It would hang directly i n front of
him at the l evel of hi s outstretched arm . Every day he would extend hi s arm so that the wri st rested
in thi s hol der, and he would try to move it downwards j ust by contracti ng hi s rib s al one, and
without using any other muscl e s . Natural ly he did al l sorts of other exerci ses to l oosen the
connective ti ssues around his rib s, and eventual ly he devel oped tremendous abi l ities from thi s
practi ce.

He taught the basics to my fri end and l amented, as I menti oned earl i er, that no one i n China wanted
to l earn thi s type of martial arts b ecause it took too long. No one wanted to practice. He could not
find a si ngl e Chinese who wanted to l earn the tradition, and had found that only Ameri cans were
i nterested in thi s type of l earni ng, yet he coul dn ' t find anyone to transmit it to before he di ed.
Everyone wanted j ust si mple stuff you could learn qui ckly, or wanted l arge vari ety of fl ashy
techni que s without l earning any of them wel l , so he could not find anyone for the transmi ssion.

Once again, for real ly great achi evement you must understand that it comes down to sl ow,
del ib erate, steady practi ce of the right form performed in the right way . I cannot find a b etter
example than thi s one of how long it might take to l earn somethi ng, and yet you can do it if you set
your mind to it.

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In additi on to thi s i dea of practi ce, there are several little known disciplines I ' d l ike to i ntroduce
that can help people achieve a higher l evel of physi cal practi ce. There are a couple of different
thi ngs that are real ly wonderful for your marti al arts practi ce whi ch few people know ab out.

F or the j oi nts of the b ody and maxi mizing thei r flexibility and degrees of motion, I thi nk the
Z-Health videos, whi ch are b ased on the work of Scott S onnon, are fantasti c . One of my pet
peeves ab out the Ameri can educati onal sy stem when it comes to sports and athl eti cs i s that a l ot of
what we teach cannot be practi ced as peopl e get older, and that' s when people need to keep
moving and need exerci se the most. Tai Chi, yoga, and Z-health are thi ngs you can find seniors
doing that keep the j oi nts and muscl es active and help el iminate aches and pains, but instead we
put all thi s emphasi s on team sports that you can only play in your y ounger y ears, and you need
team parti cipation as wel l . What' s that going to do for you when you are old?

I would want my chi l dren to b e i ntroduced to a type of exerci se that is si mple and b ecomes second
nature to them so that when they ' re older they can pick it up agai n, and have no qual ms ab out
doing so from feari ng it i s too new and strange (such as how many people view yoga if they
weren ' t i ntroduced to it when young) . Z-Health fal l s i nto that category , and it real ly i s fantastic for
helping to heal the j oint i nj uri e s that marti al arti sts suffer, many ofwhom, through its use, can once
again enter into and win world class competitions at a higher skill level than before they were
injured

It only takes ab out 1 0 mi nutes to practi ce thi s per day, where you b asi cal ly put each of your j oi nts
through a si mple ci rcul ar range of moti on exerci se with three rep etiti ons . Thi s is easy to add to
your routi ne, and y ou j u st do that every day . After a year, it' s incredible what thi s does for your
mobil ity, your flexibil ity, and it hel p s heal i nj uries, too . If you want to i mprove your marti al arts
skil l s, it's i ncredibly simple, easy, and super effective in way s I cannot describe. You j u st have to
keep at it with the principles of deep practi ce.

I have not seen it or tri ed it and therefore cannot evaluate it, but for stretching many peopl e tel l me
they l i ke the work of Lou Gross (www . b ackfixbodywork. com) for connective ti s sue s . The
important point is that for stretching and i s sues with your connective ti s sues or muscl e prob l em s, a
l ot of marti al arti sts are never introduced to the i dea that you should go to a b ody worker now and
then . That' s the principle I want you to know. I alway s tell them, " Go to your l ocal health food
store, and find a good chi ropractor and muscul ar bodyworker from thei r b oards or ask other sports
peopl e, and visit them for a session . "

Nine out of ten people i n any professi onal aren't really that great so it alway s takes a whi l e to find
a real ly good chi ropractor or bodyworker to put your b ones i n the right structural positi on, and
help real ign connective ti s sue s . You have to find one through someone who has tri ed many,
b ecause if you ' ve tri ed two dozen or more you can tel l who ' s good, but most people have only
tri ed two or three, and so thei r opi nions don ' t real ly count as much (because from l ack of exten sive
experi ence they therefore don ' t real ly know) . That' s one of the rul es to pass on - ask p eopl e for
thei r opini on if they have done something a l ot, and tri ed different techni ques, and you ' l l usually
get a better answer than someone who has only done it a littl e .

F or i nstance, I feel that o n e o f the top chi ropractors i n the enti re USA i s Al ex Belfer, who works i n
Brooklyn (New York City), and having used several dozen osteopaths, chi ropractors and b one

63
setters, I genuinely know who i s good and who i s not. Al ex can defi nitely help people with
structural problems due to skel etal i s sues (pol arity@optonl ine . net) .

If your b ones are structural ly mi saligned, your muscl es are going to be too taught in some pl aces
and y ou're not going to get the highest l evel of marti al arts excell ence possibl e because your b ody
i s not in its natural state. Fi rst fix the b ones, meani ng thei r structural alignment, and then you can
use b odywork for your tendons, muscl es and connective ti ssues such as IMT or Rolfing, Egoscue,
and so forth . There' s l ots of different b odywork therapies that I alway s recommend peopl e go
check out for their conditi ons, and of course you can al so practi ce yoga, Pilates and Fel denkrai s
Therapy to help stretch your muscl es and l earn how to al ign yourself with gravity duri ng your
natural movements.

The fi rst thing to check when you are having troubles with a form or stance i s to check your
skel etal alignment, and if you have aches and pains you shoul d not j u st check your muscl es but
your skel etal al ignment as wel l . Only then, after that is fixed, shoul d you go to acupuncture and
other techni ques b ecause everythi ng is stretched across the framework of the bones. You have to
get that right, first. It' s hard to align al l the parts of your b ody properly, or l earn a movement
correctly, if the skel eton i s not al igned or the j oi nts are damaged and causing pain or have
restri cted ranges of moti on .

It' s amazing how many people in the marti al arts, esp eci ally in the hard marti al arts l i ke j udo and
karate, damage thei r knees and thei r shoul der j oi nts whereby they have to go to an Egoscue
therapi st or IMT practiti oner or someb ody el se to fix it. They don't even know that these b odywork
methodol ogi es are avai l ab l e to help heal i nj uri es b ecause nobody tel l s them, but the i dea of going
to b odyworkers is something that should go hand i n hand with marti al arts trai ning and practi ce.

If you need to find a b asi c b odywork practiti oner i n your area, there ' s a $ 1 0 di rectory cal l ed the
"Inter natio nal Associatio n of Healthcare Practitio ners Directory" whi ch l i sts who is avai l ab l e
and what their ski l l s are i n each area code o f the country . There are usual ly dozens o f practiti oner
l i sted per regi on, so there ' s alway s someone within a few miles of your home. If ! don ' t have any
personal recommendati ons from anyone for a city, I alway s recommend that you start l ooki ng for a
practiti oner by picking someone from the di rectory who i s l i sted as having undergone l ots of
trai nings (al l thei r trai nings are l i sted), as - with nothing el se to go on - a l arger number of trai nings
suggests they have l ots of ski l l and experi ence . Timothy F erri s, i n hi s b ook " The 4-Hour B ody, "
h a s some great bodyworker recommendati ons, too, and where t o fi n d them .

I al so alway s tel l people to order a basic, or basic and advanced Z -Health CD vi deo, and do the
simple daily rotati onal routi nes for their j oi nts, and try to do connective ti ssue stretching b efore
trai nings. Thi s al one will help your marti al arts get to the next l evel , whi ch i s another of the
purposes of thi s smal l b ook. Z -Health i s a mi l l i on dollar ti p for you in terms of structural
mechani cs of movement, and i ncreasing the range of motion of your j oi nts .

You have to thi nk outside the b ox and tap i nto different techni ques and methods to reach a higher
standard of excel l ence where you b ecome the b est in your fiel d . For instance, Arnol d
S chwarzenegger l earned b al l et in order to wi n some Mr. Olympia championshi p s b ecause it
helped him make hi s movements more graceful as he switched from posing position to position.
He sai d to him self, " How am I going to wi n Mr. Olympi a and all these contests unl ess I l earn how

64
to be more graceful? B allet wi l l do it. " S o regardless as to what his he-man fri ends would say, he
wanted to wi n competiti ons so he started to l earn b al l et. A l ot of people don't know that.

Hi s competitors i n b odybui l di ng would never have done thi s at that ti me i n hi story, thinking it
unmanly, but S chwarzenegger was smart enough to real ize thi s extra trai ning would help him, so
he went to thi s different modality and tradition j ust as he had used vi sual izati on practi ce . That' s an
i dea I ' m trying to teach you, too, whi ch is to take up vi sual izati on practi ce to make your training
ti me shorter.

If you real ly want b etter marti al arts ski l l s, b orrow, b enchmark, cros s-research, take from whatever
el se might help you whether its pranayama or vi sual ization or Z -Health or supplements or
whatever. For a whi l e there, a l ot of pro footb all team s were having thei r l i nemen practi ce b al l et
movements, too . These big 3 5 0, 400-pound l i nemen were doing b al l et to get more graceful and
i ncrease thei r agil ity, too .

There are al l sorts of techni ques you can use to get b etter at marti al arts . Recently I was sent a pi ece
of equipment that had bli nking lights on a pole, and you had to sit sti l l and watch thi s b eam as the
lights b l i nked, without moving your head, to learn how to increase your vi sual acuity and widen
your field of vision. It sort of remi nded me of the scene i n " 36th Chamber of Shaol i n" where
Gordon Liu (Liu Chi a-Hui), playing the monk S an Te, had to sti ck hi s head b etween sti cks of
burning i ncense or metal spikes - I don ' t remember whi ch it was - and l earn how to extend the
peri pheral vi sion of hi s eyes without moving hi s head . There are al l sorts of equi pment, techni ques
and modal iti e s avai l ab l e to help improve littl e thi ngs l i ke thi s i n your practi ce, and then of course it
comes down to the trai ning to use them and master them .

There's even a b est sel l i ng Cli ckb ank eb ook out there on how you can l earn how to j ump higher,
"The Jump Manual ," by Jacob Hi l l er. There' s al l sorts of techni ques today for peak performance i n
athl eti cs and sports b ecause o f scienti fi c studi es o n "what i s b e st," and I ' m sure you have seen T V
programs o n some o f these thi ngs. We've got studi es o n the sci ence o f b ody mechani cs and marti al
arts that i nvolve al l sorts of thi ngs except one - nei-gong.

What you've got to do i s find the expert for what you want to excel at and then l earn thei r method,
model it or dupli cate it as the field of NLP (neuro-l i ngui sti c programmi ng) would tel l you to do,
and then practi ce, practi ce, practi ce, and link it smoothly to all the other stuff that you're doing. But
if your b ody structure is off b ecause of the bones b ei ng out of al ignment, then you ' l l have muscl e
and connective ti ssue i s sues that wi l l affect your ability to dupl icate a form with grace and execute
the movement in the proper manner.

Most peopl e who go through marti al arts end up hurti ng thei r bodies and they can't move thei r
bodies in certain way s b ecause of damage or the fact that thei r structure i s mi saligned . So here' s a
big hint that a l ot of people don't know ab out. Your b ody i s goi ng to try to protect, in a certain order,
vari ous structures within it. The pri mary thing that your b ody i s going to do i s it' s going to try to
protect its arteri es, then its b ones, then its veins, then its nerves, then the i nternal organs, then your
lymph sy stem, then the j oi nts and the muscl es i n that general order. There is a ranking of pri ority
for the thi ngs that need protection, and your muscl es are at the b ottom of the l i st. Your b ody will
sacrifice your muscle s to protect arteri es, b ones, veins, j oi nts and so on, so you have to know how
to fix the muscl es by fixing all these other thi ngs through b odywork, suppl ements, or even
meditati on .

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Take your arteri es for instance. Your arteri es are l i ke tub es, they're l i ke a tel ephone line whi ch can
get twi sted. If your arteri es get wound up with tension, then they might ri p or suffer from micro
tears if suddenly pul l e d . Chol esterol i s there to patch some of the holes, but y our b ody wi l l tighten
muscle s to protect an artery that is al ready stretched too much.

Let' s take your caroti d artery . It' s pretty l ong, and if it has tension on it for any reason, you know
what your body ' s going to do? It' s going to tighten your muscl es to prevent you from having a ful l
range o f neck moti on so that you avoi d ri pping o r putti ng micro-tears i n your caroti d . Hence, you
won ' t be abl e to turn you neck very far, and al l the exerci ses you do to loosen it won ' t help a bit.

Only with a b odywork techni que l i ke strai n/counter strai n, whi ch takes ab out two mi nutes to apply
for thi s particul ar prob l em, is the caroti d artery going to b asically rel ease that strai n, and al l of
sudden you IN STANTLY have a ful l er range of motion i n your neck and will b e abl e to turn it
around . Al l the exerci se i n the worl d woul dn ' t enab l e you to do that. Incredible, right?
Unb el i evab l e but I ' ve seen thi s result several ti mes after the five mi nute therapy was performed
right b efore my eye s . I've al so seen people where, if they get thei r knee b ones reset (whi ch take s
ab out a mi nute), they can immediately touch their toe s where ten years of yoga stretches coul dn ' t
enab l e them t o d o it. B odywork i s amazing if you know the right techni ques and have a good
practitioner. If you have an unski l l ful practiti oner, you don ' t get good results. Only 1 - 5 % of
practiti oners in any field can ever be consi dered outstanding, so the odds of fi nding one are littl e
unl ess you ask around .

That' s the key - you must know the right techni que s to use and have acce ss to an experi enced
practiti oner. Rolfing, for instance, is worki ng on the muscl es, but actual ly the prob l em might
tighten up agai n even after it di sappears through Rolfi ng sessions. B asically, muscl es surrounding
an overstretched artery or vein are going to constri ct and b ecome tighter as a defensive mechani sm
i n order to prevent phy si cal movements that might stretch the bl ood vessel s further. B odyworkers
them selves tel l me that sci ence doesn ' t recognize thi s pri oritizing sy stem yet, but they ' ve found it
works . .

There's an ultra valuab l e b ook you can get that shows how to do some of these simple
strai n/counter strain bodywork correcti ons on your own b ody, and marti al arti sts may want to pick
it up . It' s cal l ed " Integrative Manual Therapy for the Autonomi c Nervous Sy stem and Rel ated
Di sorder, " by Sharon Gi ammatteo. Most of these b odywork mani pul ati ons are real ly simple, easy
to do on someone else, and only take ab out five mi nute s api ece . You j ust l ook at the book and
there' s step-by-step instructi ons on how to do a si mple muscul ar rel ease on someone for a muscl e,
or i nternal organ .

These tension-rel ease, strai n/counter strain movements b asi cally put pres sure on two ends of a
muscl e or other part of the anatomy, and then squeeze the two ends together so that the ti ssues can
unwi nd. When you perform thi s si mple form of mani pul ative rel ease, then all of a sudden muscl es
that have b een l ocked get a ful l range of motion agai n .

I often tell people, once agai n, that you've got t o know that these sorts o f heal i ng therapies are
avai l ab l e if you want to b ecome the b est marti al arti st possibl e . Thi s simple method can real ly help
heal muscl es and b rui ses, and that wi l l restore range of movement as wel l as strength and
fl exibi l ity . Imagi ne what it wi l l do for your practi ce when your shoul der or knee doesn ' t hurt
anymore !

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There are al l sorts of assi sts l i ke thi s that you should know ab out. For instance, there are thi ngs you
can do to open up your feet and your hands that you might not normal ly encounter in a doj o . I
could write an enti re b ook or create an enti re trai ning course on what to do j ust to sl owly open up
the muscl es and chi channel s in your feet or hands.

F or instance, to open up y our feet there' s tendon stretches (in additi on to the b asi c horse stance
whi ch people l earn to hol d for hours). I al so have a piece of equipment cal l ed the Prostretch I
alway s use for Achi l l e s tendon stretches, and used to use the E lgin Archxerciser to create
fl exibility in the b ottom of the foot although y ou can simply do thi s with foot rol l s them selves.
There's wobble b oards, too, and al l sorts of equipment you can train with j ust for extra flexibility
and dexterity . It' s important to do everythi ng y ou possibly can to open up your feet for marti al arts.

You can use these i nexpensive pi eces of equipment, along with the i dea of deep practice, to sl owly
help open up your feet, as well as the skel eton meditati on to help open up chi channels to thi s
regi on . Needl ess to say, there are thi ngs that you could for your hands as wel l .

Another i ssue i n marti al arts i s b rui sing because peopl e are alway s getting hurt. They're alway s
getti ng b rui sed, and someti mes the b ody doesn ' t flush out the i nternal blood cl ots in an area that
formed in an area that was damaged from sparring. The l onger you've b een in competitive marti al
arts, the more l i kely you ' ve col l ected i nj uri es that have never quite fully heal ed unti l you b asically
go to a bodyworker or doctor who's going to help you . Egoscue i s a wonderful method that can
perform heal i ng miracl es for thi s as wel l .

One of the thi ngs you should know i s that i f you get b rui sed i n marti al arts, the homeopathic
formula Arni ca Montana is real ly good for brui ses. It' s used by ski ers, it' s used by Olympi ans, it' s
used by al l sorts of sports athl etes who experi ence frequent b rui sing . It' s fantasti c .

I ' ve met quite a few Chinese doctors i n Taiwan, Mal ay si a, Hong Kong and C hina who have deep
knowl edge of marti al arts, since most are practiti oners, and who had speci al formulas I would try
for vari ous b ody ai lments . I ' ve tri ed hundreds of different concoctions from pl asters to oi ls,
l i ni ments, suppl ements, acupuncture, b odywork techni ques, . . . you name it.

I remember I had a Taiwanese herb al and b one doctor make a concocti on for me of raw Tienchi
powder together with high grade Korean ginseng, whi ch I would mix up for myself i n New
York, and I took thi s for several months to get ri d of i nternal b rui ses and bl ood cl ots . The important
i ngredi ent was the Tienchi powder, so I would have it ground up and take that on its own, too .

I had one marti al arti st/doctor, who used to fight a l ot in hi s youth when he b el onged to a Tri ad
gang, tel l me that at one ti me hi s arm was practi cally ri pped off from a knife fight and he thought
he would need an amputati on . However, it was Ti enchi powder that saved hi m . You can read a
short arti cle ab out Ti enchi powder at www . pl antcure s . com. and I am anxi ously awaiti ng
publi cati on of thei r b ook on herb al medi cines. I truly believe that every marti al arti st shoul d
b ecome ski l l ed to some degree in bodywork or herb al medicine, and b ecome knowl edgeab l e as to
how different marti al arts techni ques affect the chi of the b ody . Thi s b ook starts to give you some
si mple information al ong these lines. One should al so devel op knowl edge of true meditati on
practi ce, and how the road of marti al arts and its techni ques can l ead to genuine spiritual practi ces
and attai nments.

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Many people al so try to di s solve bl ood clots in thei r b ody through an amazi ng supplement cal led
Nattokin ase. I' m sure the p owers that b e wi l l b an it one day not b ecause anything is wrong with it,
but b ecause if it b ecame more popul ar it would make a big dent i n the profits of drug compani es. In
my opini on only one producer for nattoki nase is best, and that' s the All ergy ResearchlNutri col ogy
brand.

After you start using it you ' l l get a slight headache after ab out 2-3 day s b ecause the blood clots are
dissolving away inside your veins and arteri es and al l thi s extra bl ood volume i s making its way to
your brai n . Your cranial arteri es have not stretched that much in awhile, so for 1 -2 day s there ' s a
littl e bit of pres sure there unti l the cranial arteri es adj u st to a greater el asti city . That, by the way, i s
how chel ati on works, too . Chelation hel p s t o removes the cal cium and mineral scaffol ding that has
made arteri es i nfl exible, and once that rigidity is gone, arteri es start pumping more bl ood
everywhere . It works b ecause it restores fl exibility to arteri es.

I ' ve tried dozens and dozens and dozens of different types of therapies to either treat problems i n
my b ody o r j u st t o s e e what they would do - hot castor o i l packs that penetrate the b ody t o di ssolve
cy sts and adhesi ons, cupping and scraping to bri ng out external wi nd, al l sorts of different types of
massage therapy, many types of acupuncture, moxibustion, Mongoli an knife scrapi ng, vi sceral
massage, chi nei tsang, chi ropracti c manipul ati on, C hi nese b one re setti ng, cranial sacral work,
NMT, IMT, myofasci al release, B arnes method, St. John ' s work, Rolfing, Hel l erwork, refl exol ogy,
shi atsu, appl i ed ki nesi ol ogy, neurocranial restructuri ng, TENS devi ces, MORA therapy, and so
forth . Once you try a b odywork modal ity, you ' l l know what it can do for you or others who may b e
hurt.

I definitely recommend you get exposed to b odywork at a young age b ecause it wi l l help you
correct structural abnormal ities whi ch in tum, once they are el imi nated, enables you to perfect
your posture and stances, and knowl edge of the vari ous modalities wi l l al l ow you to pick the right
one to help heal inj uri es and help others such as your sparri ng partners, students, or fri ends . If you
get hurt in your marti al arts practi ce, it may take many months to heal internal damage unl ess you
know of the proper external and i nternal therapies and approaches that wi ll help speed the proce s s .

As t o sprai ns and b rui ses, for many years I used t o l i v e i n Hong Kong where marti al arts o f many
school s ab ound, and there' s l ots of liniments and oi l s for sprai ns and b rui ses on the market from
Hong Kong, Malay si a, Taiwan, Indonesi a, Burma, Thai l and and now China. There ' s bl ack ghost
oi l , trauma l i ni ment, XO oi l , U-I oi l , and so forth . A great b ook on thi s topic i s "A Tooth From the
Tiger' s Mouth, " by Tom B i si o, that goes i nto al l sorts of therapies and formul ati ons to help the
marti al arti st heal from i nj uri e s . Pick it up and keep it handy ! Most of these materi al s can b e
ordered o n the i nternet, but the cheapest way t o buy them i s t o vi sit some city with a Chinatown
and buy them when you ' re there .

The other thing I wi sh to menti on on thi s topic i s that the various oi l s and pl asters and other
formul ati ons that are coming out of China today are amazi ng. I coul d not say that five years ago,
but right now, real ly fantasti c formul ati ons are coming out that can real ly help people in al l sorts of
way s .

I n the Western worl d, w e don't usually stres s the u s e o f the oi l s, l i ni ments and pl asters . The cl osest
we usual ly get i s B en Gay, Icy Hot or Salonpas. When it comes to things like sprai ns, athletes wi l l
often use a supplement l i ke W o benzym o r Vitalzym, whi ch b asi cally reduce i nternal

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i nfl ammati on . But real ly experi enced people know how to use all these other treatments, too, and
if a l ocal e has had a marti al arts tradition for al ong ti me, such as i n Hong Kong, you can ask what
the doj os are using because people pretty much weed out the bad from the good and use what
works.

In any case, the fi rst thing I do if a marti al arti st comes to me who has b een worki ng for years is get
a really good chi ropracti c to work on hi m . After one or two sessions hi s b ones are real igned and hi s
structure i s much b etter so he can do hi s forms and stances and movements with much more ease .

If he has any deep i nj uri es or muscular problems, I then send him to get b odywork for hi s
connective ti s sue s . You can start watchi ng a Z-Health CD at any ti me, so I al so start him or her on
that right away because in as short as a week or two they start getti ng a ful l er range of motion i n
thei r j oi nts for b etter performance, and thi s hel p s heal i nj uri es, too . Thi s hel p s them achieve a new
l evel of excel l ence al l by itself, and you can start on it right now even if your b ody is not perfectly
al igned or i s in bad shape. In fact, it i s used to heal inj uri es, whi ch i s another reason why I so highly
recommend it at j u st a few mi nutes per day . I can do the whol e routi ne i n ab out 1 0 mi nute s .

As t o supplements, it a l l depends o n the i ndivi dual , but I usually recommend a detox regi me that
i ncludes nattoki nase in some form or another, and other supplements depending on thei r personal
health situati on and the family genes . F or instance, if the i ndivi dual has a health prob l em of the
heart, and the father or uncl e or grandparents al so had cardio prob l ems, I might put them on a
speci al supplement or set of suppl ements for heart i ssues as a preventive and in some cases there
are many supplements whi ch actually functi on as curatives.

Si nce thi s i s a compli cated topic, we ' l l l eave it to the next chapter b ecause what I real ly want
people to do i s use suppl ements mainly for detoxificatio n . In term s of standard suppl ements, the
fewer you take the b etter in life b ecause I l i ke people to get thei r nutrition from food rather than
suppl ements, unl ess, as I sai d, there i s a geneti c predi sposition, in whi ch case a smart person take s
some nutritional supplement preventatives that are specific to thei r situation . F or regular people, a
multi -mineral multi -vitamin supplement, and perhap s a green powder and/or oil are the most y ou
should be taki ng, if even that. You might be taki ng a prob i oti c for a short peri od of ti me, but not
alway s . If you ' ve hurt your j oi nts, there are a number of supplements you can try for pai n rel i ef or
to help rebui l d carti l age, and you wi l l never know whi ch of the many choi ces wi l l work for you, so
buy the highest quality possibl e to give yourself the b est chances of rul i ng something out.

One manufacturi ng company with high qual ity products i s Jarrow because it' s sti l l privately
owned . When compani es get b ought out by large compani es, they sub stitute the high qual ity
i ngredi ents in formul ati ons for l ower pri ced and l ower qual ity, and then things don ' t work as wel l .
You alway s see thi s tendency of qual ity decline due t o the profit motive . The private owner of a
company i s u sually very proud of hi s product, however, whi ch i s why you tend not to see that
prob l em when they sti l l retain control over their company . Hence you have great products l i ke A. c .
Grace ' s Ulti mate E (best vitamin E o n the market), prostate formulas from B eachwood C anyon
(bcn4Iife . c om), and so on . Jarrow and the NOW brand (the l arge orange b ottl es) don ' t usually
have qual ity prob l em s, and they ' re ab out a third less i n pri ce, too .

The topic of suppl ements i s so compli cated that it deserves a chapter in itself, so we shoul d
approach thi s topic next.

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 6
H ow to Speed U p the Process :
D etoxification Supplem ents for Cleansing the
Body

I don't l i ke people taki ng supplements to bui l d muscl e but would rather they bui l d thei r bodies
through a b etter di et instead . Most muscl e supplements are protei n supplements, and a l ot of ti mes
when you take these supplements you bulk up but you lose your chi energy b ecause it all goes i nto
buil ding more muscle s . If you want to bui l d a mu scul ar ki l l i ng frame then that' s fine, but if you
want an el egant b ody starti ng with your natural form, that' s usually not the right approach.

The other thing i s you wi l l usually get a l ot of sexual desire as you take more and more vitamin and
herb al supplements b ecause a lot of them are sti mul ative . And then, of course, if you are a man
then b ecause of the i ncreasing sexual desire you wi l l lose your semen and ej acul ate - either
through i ntercourse or masturb ati on - and then you won't have suffici ent chi to open up your chi
channel s to get to the qi-gong and nei-gong stages if y ou want to get these other extra abiliti e s .

Shakyamuni Buddha, 2 , 0 0 0 years ago, said, "Look, there's a l ot o f these guy s that have these
speci al abi l iti e s . There are actual ly ten categori es of them. After they succeed i n thei r practi ce,
they don ' t want to b e b othered with the human worl d anymore and they live wel l away from
regular people in the forests and remote locati ons . They can live for a l ong time i nto the hundreds
of years and from thei r cultivati on have devel oped a l ot of super powers . " Even Shakyamuni
Buddha tol d us thi s .

H e al so sai d, " And they usually d o thi s i n ten way s . " H e sai d, " S ome o f the way s are that they eat
speci al herb s , or they eat special foods, or special mineral s, or they use speci al breathing exerci ses,
or speci al sexual techni ques, or try to ab sorb the energi es of the sun or moon, and so on . " But he
sai d, " If they don't transform the speci al foods, mineral s, herb s , etc . when they i ngest them, and if
they cannot transform the energi es rel eased b ecause of these speci al techniques, they can't get to
these l evel s . "

In hi s b ook, "The Story of C hi nese Taoi sm," my own teacher wrote :

It i s here appl i cab l e to explai n a prob l em i nvolving Chinese hi story . S everal

emperors and famous i ndivi dual s of the Han, T ' ang, Ming and C h ' i ng dynasti e s
who sincerely b el i eved i n the Taoist arts a n d the taki ng o f al chemi cal drugs such as
Han Yu (76 8 - 8 24 A D . ), Su Tung-p ' o ( 1 03 6- 1 1 0 1 A D . ), and Wang Yang-ming
( 1 427- 1 5 2 8 A D . ) brought ab out thei r early deaths by i ngesti ng the al chemi cal
drugs of the ''fang-shih'' of the Taoi st S chool . What was the reason for thi s? We
wi sh to sincerely warn each of our fri ends here today who superstitiously b el i eve i n

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 modern patent medicines, who take l arge amounts of toni cs, and take speci al
i nj ecti ons of restoratives that they should pay careful attenti on to thi s prob l em .

The ''fang-shih'' i nvented and refi ned mineral drugs made from metal s and other
sub stance s . In terms of medical and pharmaceuti cal worth, they made doses for
phy sically treati ng the human b ody, and only if suitab l e doses were appli ed, not
only would it be correct but it would be extremely valuab l e . However, these types
of drugs refi ned from mineral sub stances were al l i rritati ng i n nature, and moreover
they acted to fi ercely develop phy siol ogi cal functi ons much l i ke modern vitamins.

The fi rst important point i n the methods of ingestion by the ''fang-shih'' orthodox
Taoi st S chool i s the need to very thoroughly "purify the mind and restri ct the
passi ons" in term s of p sychol ogi cal b ehavior and one can ab solutely not b e
covetou s o f sexual activiti es a n d the con sumpti on o f meat b efore b eginning t o take
the drug s . Otherwi se, one wi l l have a very i ntense tonifying yang reacti on as soon
as the drug i s consumed, whi ch wi l l neces sari ly promote sexual i mpul ses. There i s
n o doubt that thi s b ecame an amul et for hastening o n death b y those emperors and
famous nob l e s who spent their day s dallyi ng in wine, women and song . Thi s is not
at al l surpri sing !

The second important point i s that the al chemi cal drugs consumed by the Taoi sts
requi red fi rst practi cing up to the l evel wherei n the spi rit was fixed and the chi
accumulated, grai ns were avoided and one did not eat the food cooked in the worl d
of men. Only then could one ab sorb and fuse the drugs, otherwi se one could
actually b e poi soned by food or di e from the i ngesti on of the drug . In sum,
general ly those who took al chemi cal drugs were unab l e to cut off the desire for
"food and sex," but rather, on the other hand, they came to rely upon the effects of
the al chemi cal drugs to realize the pl easures of " food and sex . " Then "the taki ng of
drugs to seek immortal ity contrari ly b ecame a mi sunderstanding of the use of these
drug s . "

Once agai n, even you try thi s approach o f special herb s, foods, mineral s and suppl ements, if you
don't use thi s i dea of cultivating empti ness or j u st meditati on cultivati on in general , you can't
transform these elements. You cannot transform your b ody i nto the level that' s necessary for the
nei-gong to real ly commence . You ' l l definitely experi ence sexual desires that wi l l lead to your
undoing if you don ' t transcend them.

To b e abl e to use these thi ngs to get to the stage of qi-gong and nei-gong, your mind shoul d b e
empty and then your yang chi can come up a n d al l the requi site gong-fu can happen natural l y .
Furthermore, once agai n you have the b arri er of l osing your energi es too frequently b ecause o f sex,
and so you can once agai n see how thi s i ntersects with the requirements of the path y ou must
fol l ow if you want to cultivate these higher marti al arts abi l iti es.

The nei-gong cultivation path i s real ly divorced from the i dea of i ngesti ng special formulas or
concocti ons, i ncluding modern suppl ements. It' s real ly not a path of bulking up at al l , or
sti mul ating y our chi through any type of sub stance . It' s not a path of i ntoxicati on either. Actual ly,
it' s real ly a path ofdetoxification, or elimi nati on of poi sons from the b ody b ecause that' s what your

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yang chi does when it ari ses . It' s poking through your chi channel s and pushing out ob structions to
the flow of chi , so that your energy meri dians fully open, and thi s i s a proces s of detoxificati on .

Kundalini, when it ari ses, pokes through your body ' s chi channel s to open them . They ' ve got chi
impacted inside them so that stuff gets pushed out when the yang chi (kundal ini) starts ci rculating
everywhere . That' s why you feel heat, because you feel the fri cti onal aspect of thi s cl eari ng
process. That' s cal l ed purifi cati on, or detoxifi cati on in our modern terminology . You're pushing
out all these poi sons and y ou get al l sorts of phenomena that happen such as summari zed in "The
Littl e B ook of Hercules" and "Tao and Longevity" or even i n "Measuri ng Meditati on . "

Hence, what I tel l people t o d o , if they real ly want t o h e l p their marti al arts practi ce, i s t o take some
suppl ements that help with detoxificati on . I don ' t l i ke people buying a l ot of suppl ements b ecause
I don't l i ke people buying a l ot of thi ngs. However, I do l i ke them to try a few thi ngs that help with
detoxifi cati on and cleansing the b ody .

Fi rst, many people take Candisol, whi ch i s a suppl ement that wi l l b asically ki l l a l ot of the yeast i n
your b ody . A n d you'll noti ce it within a week o r so if you ' ve had Candi da because your m i n d wi l l
b e l ighter and cl earer and more empty, and easier t o concentrate after you start taki ng i t .

When you have a yeast i nfecti on, al l the toxins and byproducts that the yeast give off get
reci rcul ated in your b l ood. Your l iver can't handl e these extra detoxifi cati on demands so your head
gets cl oudy, but you get used to that uncl arity and thi nk it' s natural . If the yeast are ki l l ed off
through Candi sol or some other supplement, they're not excreti ng al l thi s matter agai n anymore,
and your mind tends to b ecome pri sti ne cry stal cl ear . . . and you wonder why you never knew it
could be thi s way . It' s b ecause you got used to the uncl arity that you di dn ' t even recognize it.

You only need one or two b ottl e s of C andi sol to do the j ob . A b ottl e is very i nexpensive and most
people, if they have a Candi da yeast overgrowth, can feel the re sults within a week, someti mes i n
as short as two o r three day s . I f you have a real ly strong case o f Candi da, you might al so have to
buy a b ottl e of Oregacillin P hysicians Strength if your yeast overgrowth probl em is seri ous and
take it si multaneously . I used to use Capry l i c aci d and Thorne Re search SF722 to el imi nate yeast
but thi s i s the approach I now favor. Hence, C andi sol i s the first thing to try .

I al so have people take one or two b ottl es of any good glutathio ne compound to see if their b ody
experi ences any noti ceab l e detoxifi cati on reacti ons . There ' s Dougl as Lab s GSH2 5 0 , Tyler Lab s
Recancostat and other products with glutathi one b ei ng developed al l the time, such as LivOn Lab s '
Lypo-Spheri c Glutathi one where it i s encased i n nano-spheres a s a delivery mechani sm . Al l ergy
Re search has a new glutathi one product as well called acetyl -glutathione.

Glutathi one, al ong with al pha l i poi c aci d, are used by your b ody extensively i n the rol e of
detoxifi cati on, so thi s hel p s your b ody detoxify harmful chemical s you may have accumul ated
over ti me. Chlo rella hel p s bind heavy metal s for excreti on from your sy stem, and glutamine al so
hel p s you heal your stomach l i ni ng, i nte sti nes and hel p s detoxify your b ody, too. There are many
detoxifi cati on supplements you can try whi ch al so help heal and bui l d your b ody at the same ti me.

I al so tel l people that they might want to try a l iver or ki dney flush and a col onic to help cl ean the
i ntestines. It' s not real ly too i mportant to me if they don ' t want to do thi s right away, but over ti me,

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thi s hel p s detoxify the b ody, too . S ometi mes the Pekana homeopathic drai nage remedi es such as
apo-Hepat, Itires and Renelix can help the b ody detoxify, too .

A supplement I alway s favor i s 2-3 b ottl es o f Nature' s Pure Body, b ecause that' s the o n e herb al
formul ation proven to start cl eari ng out the poi sons l odged in your connective ti ssue s . When your
yang chi starts ari si ng, al l its energi es i niti ally don't go i nto spi ritual transformati ons or anything
l i ke that. It j u st b asi cally goes to cleaning out your chi channel s and your b ody ti ssues, so anything
you can do to help with the i niti al task of detoxifi cation and speed that al ong as much as possibl e i s
a wi se strategy .

It' s b est to estab l i sh a yearly detoxification routi ne as a habit b ecause al l the poi sons your i ngest
wi l l collect as you age, and produce al l sorts of di sease and i l l ness as a result if you don ' t help your
b ody excrete them . If you take one month per year to flush accumul ated poi sons out of your b ody,
Springti me b ei ng a l i kely candi date, it wi l l produce a big effect i n your practi ce .

Rememb er, if there' s anything el se you can do al ong these l i nes (suppl ements, far i nfrared saunas,
col oni cs, etc . ) to help cl ean out your b ody and its ti s sues, the l e s s your energi es wi l l b e diverted
i nto havi ng to cl ean out these materi al s them selves. The qui cker you remove accumul ated poi sons
and toxins, the qui cker your chi energi es can b ecome diverted toward cl eari ng out your chi
channel s .

A t advanced stages o f cultivati on after your chi channel s have b een cl eared, you usual ly avoi d
coarse dredgi ng method s such as col oni cs and the l i ke b ecause they cause you to l ose too much
energy . Even overly hot showers will cause you to lose too much energy, and of course you know
that ab out sex as wel l . So at the upper level s you usually avoi d the coarse methods .

A t the upper l evel s it' s a matter o f not l osing energy because your b ody i s more and more
composed of pure chi rather than muscul arjing. Your chi i s energy, so y ou parti cul arly feel the
l o s s . You b ecome very sensitive b ecause of your chi and opened channel s, and that' s why masters
can l eave l e s sons for people who don ' t feel these thi ngs due to the fact that thei r bodies are cl ogged
up . A l ot of peopl e cannot feel anything inside thei r bodies and thi nk they are healthy whereas it' s
b ecause thei r bodies are in terrible shape i nstead of good conditi on . These are the type of people
who never get sick and then one day they di scover they have cancer, and it turns out to b e the
incurab l e ki nd. Those whose channel s are open, however, tend to easi ly get col ds, headaches, and
the flu due to wi nd i nvasions, and that sickness gives thei r b ody an opportunity to rev up the
immune sy stem and push out al l the accumul ated poi sons.

An important point i s not to take sti mul ants like gi nseng and the muscl e powders and the bulking
agents b ecause you'll feel closed up after using them and they'll al so sti mul ate your sexual desire s .
That' s a big prob l em, as we 've di scussed, for higher marti al arts practi ce. Then agai n, if you have
al ready depl eted your sexual energi es from too men semen l oss, a C hinese formul a l i ke Liu Wei
Di Huang Wan (B eij i ng Tong Ren Tang is the b est brand) can real ly help a l ot, e specially with the
ki dney and l eg channel s as you get older. The basic i dea i s that you don ' t want to lose too much
sexual energy for marti al arts practi ce, and ej acul ating semen is cal l ed losing the treasure or elixir.
If you want your chi channels to open up, you've got to have water i n the b oi l er.

Then agai n, thi s doesn't mean, as explained, that you cannot have sex . If a man you can have a
gi rlfri end-wife-l over, but y ou have to l earn the " l eft hand" Tao school practi ces whi ch mean y ou

73
l earn to have sex without ej acul ati on . You can have sexual intercourse, but you al so preserve your
energi es at the same ti me. Once mastered, it' s actual ly more pleasurab l e for b oth parti es, and thi s
type of sexual rel ati ons can actual ly help you open up your channels as wel l . Most people aren ' t
even i ntroduced to these concepts, whi ch are a bl essing t o di scover if you are young with many
more years of active sexual rel ati ons ahead of you .

S o i n summary, the big view i s that the marti al arts progressi on i s from wai-gong t o the qi-gong to
the nei-gong, whi ch i s i nternal marti al arts practi ce i nvolving the deep kundal ini or yang chi
energi es of your b ody, to Tao-gong, whi ch is cultivating spi ritual enl ightenment.

At the qi-gong stage, where you're j ust starti ng to contact the chi energi es of your b ody, you're j u st
making an initial i nroad i nto cultivati ng your body ' s chi in conj uncti on with movement, and in the
nei-gong stage you progre ss to the point where the central channel has opened up and al l the other
energy meri dians start openi ng. Afterwards the higher marti al arts b ecome within the realm of
reach .

However, you need to cultivate not j u st chi , but mental empti ness to accompl i sh those speci al feats,
and that comes from meditati on practi ce though you can use anapana or vi sual ization practi ce to
get started . When you suffici ently progress at thi s level , one of the route s is that you can cultivate
al l these special powers . It' s b etter at that ti me to focus on cultivating the Tao but you can al so keep
doing your marti al arts practi ce at the same ti m e . And that' s how you can b ecome an Immortal
swordsman or a marti al arti st with all these speci al powers.

The marti al arts path is b asi cal ly that you cultivate the b ody and the mind, and i n thi s case we are
saying that to get to the i nner energi es stage you must be cultivating your mind to di scover the pure
nature of consci ousness, because that l evel of consci ousness purity is connected to the chi purity of
your b ody . You use the b ody and its energi es as a starti ng poi nt, starti ng with your cultivati on of
the muscl es in marti al arts exerci ses, but then you go i nto cultivating your i nternal energi es via a
route of mental cultivati on such as vipas sana, vi sual izati on, and anapana.

If you cultivate correctly, your b ody wi l l b ecome healthi er, softer and more flexible. Your chi
channel s wi l l open, your mi crocosmi c (River Chariot) rotati on will commence, and you can
b ecome an immortal swordsman, immortal marti al arti st, or whatever. There' s al l sorts of
di recti ons in whi ch you can proceed once you l ay the suffi ci ent foundati on .

Many school s have thi s basic sequence. If you go thi s far, and if you j u st keep it with marti al arts,
then there' s many, many thi ngs you can do with it. And that' s the thing whi ch peopl e should know .
I thi nk it' s knowl edge that you don't usually find in marti al arts ci rcl es, thi s topic of i nternal energy
and how to cultivate it, so it' s a di recti on that most people should know ab out.

Si nce that basic i dea has b een communi cated, al ong with al l sorts of l ittl e known assi sts to help
your practi ce, it's ti me for que sti ons .

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 7
Final Ques tions and Ans wers

Jo h n : Wel l , I thi nk a big thing i s, first, thi s concept of where marti al arts fits i nto the overal l path
of spiritual transformati ons, and where the i nternal phy si cal changes happen duri ng the course of
marti al arts devel opment i s pretty profound. I've b een in marti al arts for a l ong ti me and read much
of its l iterature and there's not a lot of stuff that real ly goes i nto most of these topi c s . There are only
a few b ooks on nei-gong and topics l i ke that and none have made the requi rements for thi s cl ear, or
even provi ded i nformati on on how you could help the rest of your ordi nary practi ce .

I guess one of the thi ngs that I wanted to ask i s the fact that there's teachings out there ab out
playing with your chi and trying to force the chi to move with your mind. And there' s al l ki nds of
people who have b een taught thi s sort of materi al in the sense of the mi crocosmi c and
macrocosmi c orbits whi ch you menti on . They try to make them appear by spinning their chi , as
you cal l it. There are people who are tel l i ng you that you should j u st try and imagine these
rotati ons and mentally try and make them happen by forci ng it, by pushing the chi . What would
your comment b e on that ki nd of practi ce and approach to those thi ngs?

Bill : I would say thi s is useless for real

nei-gong. My teacher alway s tol d me thi s is usel e s s, too,
and once you start going through the real gong-fu transformati ons of nei-gong and the opening of
the meri dians at the l evel of genuine yang chi and real kundalini energi es, rather than playing with
surface wi nd chi , you find out why . I alway s l i stened to him, but I al so used to practi ce that stuff to
see for myself and it got me nowhere, j ust l i ke he sai d, except for sensati ons of wi nd chi in the
b ody whi ch never real ly open up anything. You can only get mi nor results from that.

The whol e i dea i s b el i evab l e, however, because it has a l ogi c and a phi l o sophy b ehind it, but that
doesn ' t make it true. Just b ecause something sounds l ogi cal doesn ' t make it necessary the truth,
does it? That i s where people go wrong, fal l i ng in l ove with the theory rather than actual ly
achi eving any sort of succes s with thi s type of practi ce.

The l oveab l e i dea i s that you are taki ng the physi cal end results of the path and you're bringing
them i nto the causation of the path . You're bri nging thi s idea of what should happen as a result i nto
the causal mechani sm, and trying to force that mechani sm i nto producing the result you know
ab out, or expect. You are fruitl essly trying to bri ng the end results of the path i nto the causation
vehi cle of the path thinking that wi l l make thi ngs happen qui cker. However, what usually happens
is that i n 999 out of 1 , 000 ti mes, or 9,999 out of 1 0,000 ti mes and so on, people who do thi s j u st
end up spi nning thei r chi and not getti ng anywhere .

Can you make pub erty occur earl i er, and can you pass through it qui cker by vi sual izati on and the
l i ke j u st because you know what is supposed to happen? No, you cannot. And that' s the same
prob l em here i n term s of the natural devel opments within the b ody .

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What you real ly need to do, rather than vi sualizi ng the movements of chi within the b ody, i s focus
on stab l e vi sual izati ons where there i s non-movement. That i s, of course, if you want to use
vi sualizations i n your practi ce. F or instance y ou don ' t want to spend your ti me vi sual izing the chi
moving in areas of your b ody or in loops around orbits and thi ngs of that nature . If you j ust try to
vi sualize your chakra points with stab l e one-pointedness, such as vi sualizi ng a bright light coming
from one of these points wherei n you l earn how to create a stati onary imagination without
waveri ng from the i mage, that wi l l do more for opening up y our chi channel s than vi sual izing chi
movements.

Wherever you mind goes your chi wi l l go, so if you hol d a focus of imagination on a vi sual ized
point within your b ody , your chi will run to that area and natural ly try to open up al l the energy
channel s in the vici nity . That' s why you are alway s tol d to focus on fixed points rather than
moving images when you want to cultivate your chi , channel s and chakras. As menti oned
previ ously, the best sort of practi ce for i nternal vi sual izati ons comes from " The Six Yogas of
Naropa : Tsongkhapa' s Commentary," whi ch Gl enn Mul l i n authored . Even b etter as a form of
practi ce i s to j u st keep the mind empty, but I ' m alway s tal king ab out speci fi c techni ques so I ' m not
even di scussing empti ness meditati on in thi s b ook.

Essenti al ly you are concentrati ng your powers of awareness and focusing them on a si ngl e point or
regi on, such as al l the b ones in your b ody when you empl oy the white skel eton vi sual izati on
technique. When you do that, your chi wi l l run to these regi ons and you wi l l be devel oping the
original chi capabil ities of your i nternal phy siol ogi cal functi ons . There wi l l be natural phy si cal
effects within the b ody that i nvolve the sti mul ation and movement of energi es, but at i niti al stage s
thi s i s not nei-gong but qi-gong.

Because you want to trai n to have your mind empty or stable, since that' s when you can ti e up
consci ousness with i ntent and the phy siol ogical chi flows of the b ody can fi nal ly fl ow
uni nterrupted, you shoul d cultivate vi sual izati on practi ces on stati onary i mages . When there ' s
only one image i n the mind and you ' re fixated on that image, other wandering thoughts and thei r
as soci ated mental chi fl ows di sappear.

In vi sualizi ng movements and playing with b ody energi es, however, you're actual ly defeating that
purpose b ecause thoughts are moving al l over the pl ace, wandering here and there once agai n . That
can help you master an outer phy si cal movement, but i s that real ly the correct di recti on that your
energi es shoul d go? You think it i s, but since the channel s aren ' t open, how do you real ly know
that? You don ' t ! You should focus on a stab l e image, and l et what is supposed to happen j u st
happen, and it will open up the channel s .

After they ' re opened u p you can l earn t o gui de the energi es if you like, but not before . That' s a
l ower ty pe of practi ce even though it can produce what you feel are sub stanti al results . Unti l you
unleash your real yang chi by fully opening up you root chakra, sushumna and macrocosmic
ci rcul ati ons, thi s isn't the highest you can obtai n .

I n p erfecting a stabl e i magi nary vi sual izati on o n a point within your b ody , your chi wi l l eventually
mass at that p oint. And b ecause the chi masses at a particul ar poi nt, it wi l l open up the chi channel s
in that vicinity . So if you consi der your whole b ody a hydraulic sy stem of chi channel s, then you're
concentrati ng on certai n ob structed points to l oosen up the whol e sy stem, whi ch i s why people
general ly choose specific chakra l ocati ons for thei r vi sualizati on practi ce.

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If you concentrate on certai n nexus points that are cl ogged and somewhat free them or l oosen them,
then al l of the sudden they can pop open and the chi wi l l start flowing, sort of l i ke water being
rel eased that can then push through the rest of the pipe, so to speak.

If you're concentrating on phy si cal movements and energy movements al l the ti me, however,
you're not going to get anywhere in term s of actually i niti ating those energi e s . That' s why when we
get b ack to the breathing exerci ses we say you don't count the breaths . You j ust practi ce awareness,
you witness, as a bodiless mind, that the breath goes i n and out. You don ' t focus on the moving
energi es, the ins and outs, but j u st witness it.

You can feel the b ody and y ou know its sensati ons, so it' s b asi cally a sensati on-ob servati on
practi ce. You can witness that your chi is hot in one area of the b ody or you feel your energy i n
another area. And you witness it without pushi ng, and whi l e keeping your m i n d relatively empty
and free of thought.

The fact that you witness what your chi i s l i ke in a region without pre ssuri ng it al l ows it to l i nk up
to other chi regi ons that are di sconnected to it. That' s how the whol e b ody gets cultivated from thi s
sort of practice. Thi s i s al so why those people who practice thi s succeed, rather than the people
who push and strai n, trying to move their chi here and there or spin it i n a meridian orbit they
i magi ne. Your b ody knows how to l i nk thi ngs up, but you don't. You have to create a situati on
where those energi es are given a chance to make the proper l i nkup without your gui dance . Hence,
j u st watch thi ngs without pushi ng. Just let go and remai n empty and moti onl ess except for the
watching .

Thi s i s actual ly al l rel ated to how standing postures i niti ally help open up your chi channel s in the
b ody . Your chi channel s wi l l start to open when you start to practi ce the correct form of stance
trai ning and remain empty duri ng the exerci se ! Through stance trai ning in marti al arts we are
trai ning the phy si cal b ody . The muscl es b ecome stronger, the connective ti ssues b ecome stronger,
the b ones b ecome stronger. Stronger doesn't mean bigger, however, the muscl es do re spond with
exerci se but they don ' t get pumped up l i ke they woul d with a b ody buil der. C onnecti ng ti s sues
b ecome more el asti c, the b ones b ecome hard but the marrow b ecomes cl ean of fatty and noxious
deposits.

People i n the b eginning stages of stance trai ning feel pain, and devel op soreness even i n thei r
b one s . People feel soreness usual ly in the thighs, hips and shoul ders which can last for any l ength
of ti me depending on a person's p sychol ogi cal makeup or whether they do the exerci ses i ncorrectly .
Just a very smal l change i n the position of the posture can produce dramati cally different effects i n
the experi ence of the practiti oner.

Whi l e you are standing moti onle ss, the mind during thi s ti me is usual ly going crazy, l i ke a monkey
hopping from here to there trying to grab everything. Your mind hurts, your b ody hurts, and you're
thinking thi s i s all crazy . . . "what am I doing?" You can't get ri d of your thoughts of the feelings
and sensati ons you ' re going through, and the thought crosses your mind that these thi ngs can't b e
good for you . Your m i n d even thi nks that you are doing yourself harm and you have a l l sorts crazy
noti ons running around inside y our head . In the b eginning you feel pain, and once you i dentify
with that pain, and give up by surrenderi ng to it and l etti ng it happen, then thi ngs get b etter.

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Ju st as surely as the sun sets and a moon ari ses, you eventually progress from pain, to burni ng,
feel i ngs of col d, feel i ngs of itchi ness, feel i ngs of ful l ness and emptiness to feel i ngs of a gentl e
rel ease and then warmth, and fi nal ly a feel i ng that something larger surrounds your b ody as you
master the position . You stand there and let go, and your chi channels start to open . But fi rst you
i niti ally get al l these b ody j erks, and you feel energi es running al ong your nerves. Thi s has b een
expl ai ned as running wi nd or wi nd chi . Thi s i s a good sign when it occurs, but you must not cl i ng
to it. You must j u st remai n aware and return to watchfulnes s . The uncontrol l ed movements, the
heat, itching, ti ngl i ng etc . are al l j u st the chi channels trying to open up .

Our energy channel s are much l i ke a garden hose that has b een pi nched where the water i s then
b acked up and only a tri ckle wi l l come through . Once you open that pi nched area on the hose, the
water pre ssure seems to be ten ti mes l arger coming out for a mi nute . The chi channel s fi rst offer
j u st a tri ckl e of chi flow, so be prepared for when the dam breaks.

As a matter of fact so many thi ngs wi l l happen when the channel s open that you wi l l know from
thi s experi ence that the exi stence of chi is true, but you must never dwell on any of these
experi ence s but j u st l et them pass without cl i nging. The more you practi ce the more you wi ll l earn
to rel ax, the more you rel ax, the less fal se thoughts wi ll ari se and the greater wi l l be your abi l ities
to mai ntai n awarene s s . The b ody i s heal i ng itself; the chi i s starti ng to flow unob structed, thoughts
ri de the chi and where one thi nks so does the chi flow. Thi nking to put your chi in a certai n area at
thi s i niti al stage is a wrong practi ce, for as the Taoi sts alway s sai d, " natural sp ontaneity " is the Tao.
You j u st want the channel s to open and by l etting go, whi l e practicing ob servati on whi l e hol ding
the position, the channel s wi l l fi nal ly start to open .

In the earl i est stages of marti al arts practi ce, you j ust have to l et go of hol ding or pushing your chi ,
whi ch you're doing every day of your life . You are a bodi l e s s awareness, so if you try to b ecome
more l i ke that, that' s the one thing that you should take as the result of a path i nto the causal
mechani sm that you practi ce. However, don ' t try to bri ng expected chi movements i nto the causal
vehi cl e of your practi ce b ecause you don ' t real ly know what i s supposed to happen . The more you
try to be empty but aware, and j ust l et go, the more the b ody wi l l transform to its opti mum state of
health, whatever that i s for the conditi on of your b ody at your age and your phy si cal conditi on .

Thi s i s what a lot of people don't understand. There' s a phi l o sophy b ehind al l thi s . There' s sci ence
b ehind it. But a l ot of people l i ke doing these spinning vi sual izati ons of thei r chi energie s running
throughout thei r b ody b ecause they j u st want to b e doing something. It makes sense. If l j ust keep
vi sual izing it and try to push my energi es, I can defi nitely feel something after a whi l e . But that' s
b ecause you're feel i ng the wi nd sensati ons that you've created yourself, but it' s never the real chi of
the b ody . The real chi in the b ody comes up when your mind i s empty, whi ch i s when the real yang
chi ari ses. When you i magi ne energie s moving in the b ody, however, thi s only sti rs wi nd chi in the
b ody, or feel i ngs of i nternal wind .

Hence, when you do pranayama practi ces and you get to the stage of pausati on, whi ch i s cal l ed
kumbhaka, you are actual ly preparing for i nternal embryo breathing. When you're meditati ng your
real breathing wi l l often sl ow down and stop, and it frightens some people, but remai ning i n that
state of pausati on - on the outbreath - i s a fantasti c way to quickly transform your b ody . Your
breath wi ll j u st stop for 1 0 seconds or 20 seconds spontaneously . That' s when your real yang chi
can come up, and peopl e wi l l start feel i ng a pumping within their l ower b el l y . The Japanese cal l it
"hara," whi l e the C hi nese cal l it the danti en or your l ower belly, and you ' l l feel your real yang chi
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start pumping at thi s stage whi ch you can help prepare for by doing pranayama breath hol ding
practi ces .

It ari ses when you stop breathing natural ly because the root chakra and the sacral chakra are
starti ng to pum p . The pumping and chi ci rcul ati on are cal l ed embryo breathing and that' s the
b eginning of the i nternal stages. In effect, you practi ce pranayama as a preparatory exerci se so that
when thi s pausati on eventual ly happens you don't hold on to it and can maintain that state of
non-breathing for as l ong as possible without using strong effort. Your body ' s chi i s the only thing
that knows how to open up your body ' s channels, and it does it naturally when thi s non-breathi ng
commences, so you want to cultivate thi s stage. You can't figure out how to open the channel s
them selves j ust by vi sual izing chi movements within them . It' s l i ke going through pub erty - you
know the general stages but there' s no way you can make it happen faster, OK?

Jo h n : Right.

Bill : Your b ody knows what has to happen in what stage, which, and for everyb ody it' s a littl e
different. But it fol l ows the same sort of pattern, whi ch i s why I put the general outl ine in " The
Littl e B ook of Hercules, " and gave people the four or five practi ces they should use if they want to
cultivate thi s .

T h e big point i s that you can't gui de it. Al l you can do i s initiate the yang c h i i nto ari sing from your
marti al arts practi ce together with these other cultivati on practi ces that we would say are spi ritual .
And then it wi l l do al l the work itself. You can't speed it up .

Other than to know you shoul d b e cultivating these practi ces, once you start seeing effects you j u st
l eave the re sults to however l ong it take s . You l et the energi es rel eased j ust do what they want to do.
It' s j ust l i ke when your teacher tel l s y ou do the horse stance every day and y ou j ust hate it. He j u st
tel l s you to do it everyday for months, and a year or two years go by and three years go by and you
don't know what' s going on . He knows what' s supposed to happen but there ' s no way to speed up
the process except by j u st doing it, and surrenderi ng to the practi ce. That' s what I mean by deep
practi ce - you j u st have to do it and there' s no way to speed it up other than to do it correctly as
l ong as you can, i n the right way . You j ust surrender to the proce s s .

Jo h n : Right. And so it seem s l i ke the criti cal points are the practi ce methods, a n d then the yang chi
has to actual ly come up and it has to enter the central channel . And why is that fundamental ly
important, i n terms of opening up al l these other channel s to develop al l these ki nd of abi l ities?

Bill : It' s j ust that the phy si cal b ody has arteri es and veins, and we have a nervous sy stem, we have
a lymphati c sy stem, and these conduits are spread al l throughout our b ody . We al so have an i nner
subtl e b ody as wel l and thi s i nner chi b ody has its own structure of arteri es and veins and
di stributi on networks cal l ed the chi channel s . Why it has that parti cul ar structure, who knows? But
it j ust has that parti cul ar structure j ust as our physi cal b ody has its own i nternal structure, so you
take it as a given .

In term s of thi s structure, the du mai and the jen mai chi channel s start to open up b efore the
sushumna does, but after the sushumna real ly opens up you can compl ete the ful l opening of the
front and b ack channel s and fi nal ly feel a conti nuous ci rcul ati on of chi in thi s rotati onal orbit.
Opening the central channel is the key to higher attai nments b ecause it goes di rectly i nto the brai n

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and al ong that route are vari ous chakras. There' s the belly chakra, there' s the heart chakra, and
throat chakra and crown chakra, which are directly fed out of that parti cul ar channel . And there' s
enti re ci rcul ati ons within the b ody that can't be opened compl etely unti l that channel starts to open .

Once the central channel opens, the chi can start going up that channel and then hits the belly
chakra. Then it can go horizontal ly through al l those ci rcuits. And then it can go up higher to the
heart chakra, and throat chakra and go through al l those connected circuits. In order to open up al l
the circuits of the b ody, because you j ust have to open up al l the meridian s, the yang chi has to
open up all the channel s . And why it opens up that one fi rst versus another one, wel l , I don't know.
It' s j ust the b ody has its own i nternal structure that must neces sitate it, so it j u st has to open that
way . The yoga school even tel l s you that and of course Tib etan Buddhi sm say s that b ecause
Tib etan Buddhi sm has evolved as a combination of tantri c yoga and Buddhi st teachings from Indi a,
as well as Taoi st practi ces. So it passes al ong thi s i nformation, whi ch i s actual ly what occurs.

Other school s wi l l tel l you thi s, too . You can even find thi s in Western al chemy . The B i b l e has it in
the Song of S ol omon . So you can find it everywhere, and it's l i ke going through pub erty . Who
could have predi cted that the human b ody has something cal l ed pub erty? Wel l , who could predi ct
that it has these parti cul ar energy pathway s, or a natural sequence of channel openings that occur
in a certai n order and produce parti cul ar phenomena?

The big thing is that the opening of the channel s, whi ch makes the higher marti al arts possible, is a
nondenominati onal phenomenon . Everyb ody goes through it. It' s l i ke weightl ifting. If you're
Indi an, Arab , Chinese, Chri sti an, Musl i m , Buddhi st, Taoi st, . . . male, female, old, young - it
doesn't matter. If you lift weights, you're going to get bigger muscl es. Thi s is a nondenominati onal
result, and if you do the right practices you'll get the same nondenominati onal i nternal al chemy
results whi ch are the b asi s of the higher marti al arts. The topic i s complex, so I' m only fi l l i ng you
in on the general structure of the path, and supplying some of the exerci ses used to accompl i sh it.

As to how they wi l l ultimately manife st, that' s up to you . Wi l l you b e a marti al arti st who wants to
b e abl e to j ump real high or stri ke l i ke the wi nd or who can perform Dim Mak j u st by poi nti ng?
Whatever you decide to pursue, once you have your b asi s or foundati on l aid, it' s al l a matter of
your trai ning and practi ce.

Once again, certai n natural thi ngs are going to come out b ecause everyb ody has thei r own natural
ski l l s . But it' s whatever you trai ned for. And don't thi nk that what you can't trai n, that you don't
have a ski l l i n a certai n area. B ecause when you j u st l ook at the ordi nary p sy chol ogi cal literature
on sports performance, they'll alway s tal k ab out Olympic athl etes who had asthma and pol i o who
b ecame Olympic runners . Gol d medal athletes, you know? It stars with motivation, desire or
inspi rati on that is shackl ed to steady practi ce in the form of deep practi ce . So you can achieve
anythi ng, you j u st have to set up the deep practi ce schedul e and start at it.

Jo h n : Yeah .

Bill : Even if you have phy si cal prob l em s, you can devel op special ski l l s to compensate . I thi nk it
was B ruce Lee who had one l eg whi ch was a littl e bit shorter than the other. In order to compensate
he l earned to emphasize speci al nuances in hi s marti al art s . I don't remember if that' s true or not,
but that the whol e i dea of " The Tal ent C ode" i s don't l i mit yourself if you don't al ready have thi s
parti cul ar ability .

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Jo h n : Right.

Bill : And you can see ki ds, they have these speci al shoes now, spri ng b oard shoes, where they're
j umping and doing flips and al l that. And it' s wonderful , and they're devel oping al l sorts of tal ents
simply because they're practi cing day in and day out for hours a day . If you don't practi ce you'll
never get there, but if you do then you can eventual ly do wondrous thi ngs. S o that' s the big thi ng.

Jo h n : Right. Kind of l i ke that, what' s that art? Parkour. I see a l ot of street ki ds doing it. I mean,
they do j ust seemingly amazing thi ngs j u st by practi cing. The thi ngs ki ds are doi ng, once they see
it on Youtub e or TV now, are j u st remarkab l e, remarkab l e feats .

Bill : A t fi rst you s e e o n e guy doing somethi ng, and then you s e e 1 0 guy s, and then you s e e 1 00
guy s and then 1 00 0 . And you're l i ke, "Oh, it must be j u st the result of enough practi ce. It' s not
tal ent as much as it is practi ce to devel op tal ent or ski l l . " And it's the same with skateb oardi ng,
surfi ng or break dancing or anything in that the b est performance comes from a tremendous
number of i ndivi dual practice hours . Those tri cks are their own type of gong-fu .

Thi s i s one o f the other reasons why I real ly wanted t o do thi s b ook b ecause l i ke I sai d, I l ook at
America and there are ki ds that are out there in a cultural wastel and, especially in the Mi dwest i n
the heart o f footb al l territory, and you want them t o b e abl e t o have a phy si cal practi ce where they
can use all thei r energi es and devel op an athl eti c ski l l on thei r own . You want them to have some
area where they can work on improvi ng them selves and devel op a ski l l by themselves, with a ski l l
that' s going t o l ast the rest o f thei r life .

Natural ly you want them t o enter the road o f marti al arts b ecause it l eads t o devel oping i nternal
energi es, and then the spiritual mastery of the Tao whi ch i s the highest human achi evement. If they
don ' t have the road of marti al arts they might never encounter knowl edge of thi s path in any other
way . It' s the only field of athl eti c self-improvement that acquai nts you with the Tao other than
possibly yoga, whi ch I ' ve found to be much l e s s useful . It has al l sorts of b ehavi oral and mental
b enefits, to say the least. In any case, you want them to have some athl eti c ski l l they can master,
and mastery comes down to self-practi ce for a l arge number of hours, and then thi s rul e appl ies to
marti al arts.

You're not going to b e playing footb al l when you're age 60 or 7 0 . You might b e watchi ng it on TV
but you won ' t b e playing the rough sports, and that' s what' s wrong with our athl etic focus in
today ' s educati onal sy stem . But you can sti l l b e doing marti al arts your whol e life and as y ou get
ol der, and your ski l l s wi l l continue to get b etter, too . Furthermore, you can alway s be doing the
i nternal energy aspect to it that l eads to Tao-gong.

I wanted to put thi s path understanding i nto thi s real ly tiny b ook so that these young guy s know,
" Oh, my god . If l j ust start doing my marti al arts and do thi s stuff with a devoted practi ce schedule,
knowi ng ab out thi s 1 0, 000 hour thing, I'll start making progress and I'll get thi s worl d class
gong-fu . " If I was a young guy agai n I ' d real ly want to know thi s, but thi s i nformation wasn ' t
avai l ab l e when I was young so I wanted t o make i t avai l ab l e al ong with the i dea o f " deep practi ce"
and why it works.

What I real ly wanted to do i s offer that or i nterj ect thi s i nformati on i nto Ameri can or Western
culture or any place thi s might take hol d . B ecause after you have thi s information avai l able for 1 00

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or 200 or 3 00 years, wherei n people have b een practi cing it, then l ots of people wi l l be devel oping
school s on i nternal marti al arts, and you ' ll have new i ndivi dual s ari sing l i ke the Eight Immortal s of
Taoi sm, and you ' l l have laid a good foundati onal b asi s for the Tao to take hol d i n soci ety . It' s a sad
statement that people only tend to b el i eve thi ngs after they see superpowers and the l i ke .

It' s often the Esoteri c school that l ay s the foundation for higher Mind-Only cultivati on t o b e abl e
t o arrive i n a regi on simply b ecause it' s materi al i sti cally b ased, and people l i ke that and then can
b el i eve the cl ai m s of self-cultivati on because they can see the materi al i sti c results. If youngsters
can grow up in an area where you already have thi s rich tradition that has taken hol d, then they can
sti l l make progress according to the principles b ecause they're fi nal ly everywhere .

Jo h n : Right.

Bill : But the key today in marti al arts i s that students don ' t know thi s i dea of practice of 1 0, 000
hours i n depth, with the nuances, or thi s i dea that you don't initi ally need great tal ent to b ecome a
great marti al arti st. You j ust need the right effort, practi ce correctly according to a deep schedule,
and vi sual izati on hel p s . If you match your movement efforts with breathi ng, and when you start
feel i ng y our chi , that' s what that chi i nternal energy stuff i s al l ab out. That' s a whol e pathway, and
if you want to go there, you can do thi s . You can go and you can use these thi ngs, and then you can
get al l these speci al abi l ities if you work hard enough and make the break through . The key i s that
young guy s, who have the most virility and ti me to put i nto thi s, didn ' t have thi s i nformati on
previ ously, so I wanted to make it avai l ab l e .

I t sti ll takes trai ning and practi ce. And the key t o that whi ch i s the big thing that plague s most men,
not women, is the cel ib acy aspect, how to handl e sexual desire s and sti l l b ecome a great marti al
arti st whose channel s all open and whose chi puri fi e s . I had to menti on that b ecause you need to
know what can possibly defeat you al ong thi s route. If you're mi s si ng thi s i nformati on, if you're
mi ssing thi s one l i nk in the enti re chai n and the knowl edge on how to handl e it, you're going to b e
wonderi ng why i n the worl d it' s not worki ng for you .

B asically, there are a l ot o f thi ngs I hoped you l earned ab out from thi s short b ook. Fi rst there i s the
i dea of wai-gong, qi-gong, and then nei-gong and Tao-gong. The i dea is that your marti al arts
practi ce must proceed to the l evel of nei-gong, or i nternal energy cultivati on, rather than j u st
remain at a superfi ci al l evel of qi-gong, whi ch i s the way to break a plateau . There are many way s
to get to nei-gong, but the two most common routes i nvolve anapanaipranayama, and vi sual izati on
practi ces .

Vi sual izati on practi ces of movements can help you perfect your outward form, but the
vi sual izati on of stab l e i mage s is what cultivate s your chi . B asi cally when you cultivate an empty
mind of mental stabil ity, your yang chi wi l l ari se and start cl eari ng your chi channel s of
ob structi ons . Thi s i s wi l l produce marks and signs, known as gong-fu, and when you fi nal ly have
opened up the sushumna central channel s, and started the River Chari ot and ful l macrocosmi c and
macrocosmi c ci rcul ati ons, you are on the road to nei-gong. That' s when special abi l ities wi l l ari se .

As to the i dea of peak performance in marti al arts and getti ng to the l evel of worl d cl ass excel l ence,
you have to pick up the b ook "The Tal ent Code," and read what it has to say, and then use those
insights to help you schedul e your practi ce. I ' ve even menti oned the three movi es I real ly l ike

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young ki ds to see that hammer home thi s i dea of the neces sity of practi ce to b ecome a worl d cl ass
l evel expert . When you l ose motivati on, you can view them over and over agai n .

Natural ly you ' re going t o hurt yourself al ong the way, so I ' ve given some hints o f bodywork and
supplements that y ou usually don ' t find in marti al arts ci rcl es either, and some equipment you can
use to specifically cultivate your feet, whi ch i s real ly important b ecause it' s difficult to open up the
chi channel s i nto your feet. Al l these thi ngs are rel ated to a l arger topic of cultivating and
perfecti ng your phy si cal b ody, so they ' re appropri ate . As to suppl ements, I want you to thi nk of
thei r use in terms of detoxifi cati on rather than muscl e devel opment if you real ly want nei-gong.

Al l i n al l , I simply wanted people to have the i nformation I did not have when I was i n my twenti es
or teens, when thi s would have b een of the greatest use to me. But even if you ' re ol der, al l thi s
i nformati on can stil l help you, and I ' m hoping there are quite a few thi ngs you picked up to help
you excel i n your marti al arts practi ce and take it to the next l evel .

And if you want more i nformation, once agai n I suggest you go to Meditati onExpert . com and
downl oad many of our free materi al s on nei-gong, or l ook for our other b ooks on Amazon . com .

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