The Chinese word Xi means break, or rest. Through a small pause during your breath, you can bathe in the void of consciousness and gain the ability to dive deep into meditation...

... to awaken your inner power and energize your three dantians (energy centers).

In this opening session, Robert will share the many benefits of breathing correctly.

He’ll introduce several types of breathing and explain his signature Xi Breathing practice, how it relates to his life-altering 100-day water fast, and how you can incorporate it into your own Qigong practice.

Robert will also share the foundations of the 8 Cycles Movement, a beautiful series to help your body flow with Qi — and guide you through its first movement.

In this module, you’ll explore:

• Ocean Whisper, a coherence breathing practice
• A simple, empowering Xi Breathing technique
• Nourishing Qi, a passive Qigong sequence
• The first 8 Cycles Movement, Stroking the Waterfall at Sunrise
• How to use yin palm and yang palm to collect earth and heaven Qi
• Ways to use the mixed universal Qi to activate and empower your 3 dantians

Robert will share the three energy centers of Wisdom, Love, and Vitality.

He’ll discuss the six types of energy structures, including the suffering that can come with each type.

Then, as he leads you through a Xi Breathing practice to empower your upper dantian wisdom center, you’ll learn to make the wisdom center void and fully open to your awareness.

You’ll discover how to empower the universal Qi so your decisions are blessed by the universe.

Robert will also share how to experience harmony through the central meridian — the energy channel that brings your awareness and body together with the center of the universe.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• Aung, a chant to activate the upper dantian
• A Xi Breathing practice to empower your upper dantian wisdom center — and clear the channels through dynamic breathing
• The second 8 Cycles Movement, Opening the Heart and Embracing the Day — as you’ll discover, this cycle involves opening your hands’ and arms’ yin and yang meridians... to feel the pulse of your Qi and place yourself in the cradle of the universal loving Qi
• The third 8 Cycles Movement, Dancing With the Universe, to regulate your central meridian to make you the center of the universe
• How to turn your head and rotate your waist to release the tensions of all the meridians — and adjust the automatic system, balancing yin and yang

Robert will walk you through the middle dantian, your loving center.

You’ll learn practices to extend the loving center and empower the energy you’ll find there...

He’ll share a Xi Breathing practice to empower your middle dantian and universal Qi so the universe blesses the love in your life.

You’ll discover how to become a calmer, more peaceful person with a more compassionate heart — someone who gives and receives love with ease.

In this module, you’ll explore:

• Ahhh, a chant to activate the middle dantian
• A dynamic Xi Breathing practice to empower the middle dantian — clearing the channels and making your loving center fully open to your awareness
• How to rock back and forth during the fourth 8 Cycles Movement, Turning the Wheel of Heaven — to open your heart and kidneys, move the big joints of your body, and cultivate energy for longevity
• How to massage the 5 elements of your body with Qi throughout the fifth 8 Cycles Movement, Stirring the 5 Elements — to activate your potential healing power and clear emotional and physical blockages

Robert will walk you through the lower dantian, your vitality center.

You’ll learn how to use your lower dantian to balance and center your emotions...

Robert will guide you to explore the extension of your vitality center and show you how to empower it to make yourself strong, charismatic, and firm with strong will.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• Hong, a chant to activate the lower dantian
• A dynamic Xi Breathing practice to empower your lower dantian and universal Qi so your actions are blessed by the universe
• How to create a Qi field between your palms with the seventh 8 Cycles Movement, Playing the Tai Chi Ball — this cycle allows your body, mind, and spirit to drift in a harmonious way, helping you feel nurtured

This week, Robert will walk you through the power of the central meridian...

As you’ll discover, your central meridian is your harmony center. It connects you to universal energy, resourcefulness, and abundant energy.

You’ll also receive a practice to empower your central meridian and universal Qi, so the universe will bless your life in its entirety...

In this module, you’ll move through:

• Aung-Ahh-Hong, a practice to resonate and activate your awareness of the whole body and mind
• A Xi Breathing practice to empower your central meridian and clear your channels through dynamic breathing, making this center fully open to your awareness
• The seventh 8 Cycles Movement, Rising Mist and Flowing Water, which works on your Sanjiao, the fascia that connects every part of ourselves so we all act in one organic piece
• The eighth 8 Cycles Movement, Touching Heaven and Earth, to balance the yin-yang of your own body and extensively balance the yin-yang with heaven and earth

When water flows freely, it’s pure and clean like a mountain stream. You can drink this water safely. It’s rich in minerals and tastes delicious. But if you blocked the flow and this same water stagnated, it would become murky and attract disease.

Similarly, when Qi flows smoothly through our bodies, our internal organs absorb this radiant force and they feel nourished and satisfied. When our internal organs are happy, we feel great.

In this module, you can experience this sensation as you move through all practices of the 8 Cycles Movement in the Flow Like Water sequence...

You’ll also learn to become auniversal person rather than someone trapped in a finite location.

Robert will share how your lifespan and quality of Qi is energetically determined by your stomach, heart, and kidney.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• How to make your life blessed with universal Qi
• How to fuse your body, mind, and wisdom for an integrative Xi Breathing practice
• The Flow Like Water sequence, the complete set of the 8 Cycles Movement
• How to work through the 3 Longevity Points to empower your stomach, heart, and kidney energy

In your final session, Robert will explain how to, through practice, awaken your awareness and upgrade your life.

You’ll discover how these practices can connect you more deeply with universal Qi.

Robert will guide you to arrange and personalize the practice you’ve learned during these seven weeks.

In this closing module, you’ll explore:

• How to awaken with a Taste of the Awareness meditation
• Wogu, a practice to protect yourself from ill or invasive Qi
• BuQiFa, a practice to organize both your own energy pattern and your property’s energy pattern
• Ways to arrange integrative Feng Shui through your awakened awareness
• How to cultivate your future practice plan

According to the wisdom of the Tao, we all have the capacity to live a long and healthy life... and it’s our unique responsibility to nurture our own vitality.

This process starts by turning inward and connecting with your internal Universe.

Through movement, breathwork, and meditation — and cultivating Qi in your spine, organs, and glands — you’ll gain mastery of your physical and emotional health.

In this opening module, you’ll begin this empowering process through what Grandmaster Chia calls “returning to body wisdom.”

In this opening session, you’ll:

• Be guided in a practice to activate the 7 pumps of the spine with cranio-sacral Qigong, enabling your energy to flow more freely
• Optimize your vagus nerve and increase vitality with the Inner Smile meditation — the best antidote to stress!
• Dramatically increase your energy with abdominal breathing and reverse breathing techniques
• Come to understand the Taoist creation cycle, or 5 Element Theory, and develop practical ways to care for the health of your organs

Most of us in today’s world routinely ensure that our electronic devices remain charged. But what about charging your own internal battery?

In Taoist understanding, our bio-battery is located in the lower tan tien (also known as the dantian, or lower energy center), and it’s the cornerstone of Taoist practice.

Once your connection to your internal Universe is well established, you can learn how to draw in energy from the external Universe.

In this session, you’ll discover how to harness energy from well beyond the physical realms. And, Grandmaster Chia will guide you in techniques to release emotions and stress with vibrational sound and Qigong movements.

During the second class, you’ll:

• Practice charging your bio-battery — the gateway to generating and storing large amounts of Qi
• Learn the importance of your second brain and its role in conserving your energy
• Activate the 3 Tan Tiens with tan tien fire, kidney fire, and heart fire
• Reactivate your internal electromagnetic circuits with embryonic breathing and draw in energy from the Universe
• Connect with the wisdom energy of the violet light and align with your inner North Star
• Release grief, loneliness, and depression from your lungs with the Six Healing Sounds meditation, replacing heavy emotions with courage and grace… calling on the element of metal
• Release fear and trauma from your kidneys with the Six Healing Sounds meditation by activating the element of water for gentleness, peace, and calm

In this module, you’ll start to learn one of the fundamental practices in Taoist inner alchemy tradition — the Microcosmic Orbit... a supreme energy cultivation technique.

Grandmaster Chia will share his profound wisdom about the Taoist worldview… how the microcosm (human nature) is a reflection of the macrocosm (the cosmos).

Once you understand that everything is in orbit — from the planets in the atmosphere to the electrons in your cells — this practice will make perfect sense. As a result of the refinement process inherent in it, people who practice the Microcosmic Orbit experience not just more, but a higher grade of energy.

The electromagnetic current of energy is channeled in pathways to nourish your organs and glands, with a highly regenerative effect.

In this session, you’ll also practice more healing sounds for optimal health and emotional balance.

You’ll also:

• Begin to open your Microcosmic Orbit — the energy superhighway of your body — starting with the Small Moon Orbit, the Turning the Water Wheel practice
• Activate the key points of the orbit pathway to aid the refinement process — your perineum, sacrum, ming men, and tan tien
• Release anger and frustration from your liver with ancient healing sounds that replace heavy emotions with generosity, kindness, and forgiveness (the element of wood)
• Release impatience and cruelty from your heart with ancient healing sounds that activate the element of fire for love, joy, happiness, and appreciation

By this time in the course, your energy centers are starting to activate. Using the power of the mind, eye, and heart, you’ll practice spiraling Qi at those centers. 

You’ll establish more deeply your connections to the Earth, the Universe, and your North Star... which give you access to the infinite resources of high-quality energy. 

You’ll also complete the final two sounds of the Six Healing Sounds meditation, with a focus on good quality sleep. 

In this session, you’ll also:

• Continue with the process of opening your Microcosmic Orbit, activating the Yang (or Governor) Channel
• Release worry, anxiety, and mistrust from your spleen with ancient healing sounds that activate the element of Earth for trust, fairness, and openness
• Harmonize the internal temperatures of your body with the final healing sound for the Triple Warmer, which is very effective in addressing insomnia

In this module, you’ll cultivate greater mastery of your emotions as you learn new techniques to tonify your organs — an advanced form of the Six Healing Sounds.

You’ll also complete the process of opening the Microcosmic Orbit, connecting on a cellular level to the patterns of the Universe so you can offer more energy and wisdom.

During the fifth week of class, you’ll:

• Continue with the process of opening your Microcosmic Orbit, activating the Yin (or Functional) Channel
• Discover the energy surge as you complete the Small Heavenly Orbit and the Great Heavenly Orbit processes, which prevent depletion of your natural essences
• Advance with the Six Healing Sounds meditation by adding a technique to tonify the organs and supercharge them

Most of us seem to have time to get sick, but how much time do you put into looking after your own health?

In this module, Grandmaster Chia will share his Super-Immunity Treasure Map — an empowering approach to preventative health and immunity. You’ll learn simple 5- to 10-minute-a-day techniques that can make a serious impact on your wellbeing.

Grandmaster Chia will also guide you in an energy practice that works with your glands and connects you to the master glands in the Crystal Palace at the center of your brain — nourishing your spirit with healing light.

In this session, you’ll discover:

• How to smile at your glands for deeper healing and mastery of your energy system
• The immune-boosting benefits of Laughing Qigong
• A technique to activate your thymus gland — your immune-system training camp
• How to detox your organs with Qi self-massage for increased energy flow and immunity

The secret of Taoist practice is to do the practice! This final module is all about integration and deepening into the teaching.

Grandmaster Chia will offer tips to integrate a daily routine of Taoist practices into your way of life. You’ll learn ways to heal specific conditions, allowing you to rely more and more on your inner pharmacy.

As the course closes, you’ll have everything you need to embrace the gems of Taoist wisdom for greater health, amplified energy, and long-lasting happiness.

In this final session, you’ll:

• Integrate the teachings as you review the key points of the practice
• Be inspired to develop a daily routine
• Find out ways to address specific conditions with Taoist practice — relying on your inner pharmacy to heal yourself
• Discover the Taoist meridian clock and how to use it for creating a healthier lifestyle

The practice of Tai Chi is the physical interpretation of the Tao philosophy.

In this opening session, Master Helen will introduce you to the Chinese concept of the Tao, or the Way of the Universe — the source of creation that encompasses everything.

Illness or trouble manifests in the world when something isn’t in harmony with the rhythm of the Tao.

As Helen will explain, you become one with the Tao when you achieve balance and harmony through the interactions of the two polarities of yin and yang.

Taiji practice elaborates on the principles of yin and yang, of change, and of balance.

Helen will walk you through the three harmonizations essential to Taiji practice — Tiao Shen, Tiao Xi, and Tiao Xin — as well as basic footwork to prepare you for the Taiji 8-Posture Form you’ll be building on each week.

In this first session, you’ll:

• Practice deep abdominal breathing to promote relaxation, activate your parasympathetic nervous system, and strengthen your internal organs
• Learn proper body alignment through Zhan Zhuang (Standing Posture) and important acupuncture points to boost the smooth circulation of Qi — so you can build your reservoir of energy
• Experience the energy of Peng — an outwardly expanding energy that underlies each and every movement of Taiji, acting as the fundamental structural support for your body
• Step gently and gracefully like a cat to train your leg strength, balance, and coordination
• Discover how the principle of yin and yang manifests through movements of the waist, hips, and arms
• Practice the first of the 8 postures — Reverse Reeling Forearms — which benefits and strengthens your heart and lungs

This week, you’ll move onto the second of the eight postures — Brush Knee Push, Left and Right.

Master Helen will share important Taiji principles, including upper and lower following one another, so you’ll better understand how to use your body in an integrated, connected way.

The Brush Knee movement involves turning your waist, stepping, distributing your body weight, extending and lowering your arms, and adjusting the positions of your feet… and as you’ll discover, it can only be perfected with an impeccable sense of timing.

As you practice the movement, you’ll become increasingly aware of the interactions between yin and yang — and how it feels when you’re approaching a physical limit or losing balance.

In the process, this movement teaches you how to apply the Taiji principle of not excessive or deficient to your life.

In this session, you’ll:

• Explore how the second posture — Brush Knee Push, Left and Right — builds strong yang Qi in the body through cultivating the yang meridians
• Deepen your understanding and practice of T Stance, Empty Stance, and Bow Stance to protect and strengthen your joints while improving stability and balance
• Coordinate upper- and lower-body movements as you practice Brush Knee Push, Left and Right, and learn how strength and power are best generated when the opposite arm and leg are both active
• Explore the classic Taiji notion of Wu Guo Bu Ji, which means not excessive or deficient — and experience it firsthand as you maintain balance by not overdoing or underdoing your movements
• Contemplate the notion of perfect timing during your practice — and explore how the whole universe is involved when something happens with perfect timing

This week, you’ll add the third posture to the form — Wild Horse Parts Mane, Left and Right — a movement noted for its open and expansive energy, like clouds of dust raised by the running of a wild horse.

As you twist and open your arms, energy is flowing, stretching out, rising, and expanding. As you round your arms, energy is condensing and contracting. This posture teaches the principles of contraction and expansion — inherent in every Taiji movement to demonstrate the play of Yin and Yang.

As Master Helen will explain, as you go through a Taiji form, your body goes from expansion to contraction to expansion and contraction — from Yang to Yin to Yang to Yin and back again.

This flow mirrors the cyclic nature of the Tao’s endless motion of coming and going, of expansion and contraction. You’ll experience how the concept of Yin and Yang is more than a philosophy — it’s a guideline for healthy living.

Helen will also introduce the essence of Taiji — Ba Men Wu Bu (Eight Gates and Five Steps). Also known as Taiji 13 Postures, it refers to the thirteen foundational skills that make up all of Taiji.

In this session, you’ll:

• Learn about the importance of your torso, including your dantian at the waist area, and mingmen at the back, which act as the pivot points through which every movement passes
• Practice shifting weight in the legs and understand the Taiji principle of distinguishing insubstantial and substantial by distinguishing solid (weight-bearing) and empty (non-weight-bearing)
• Understand how Yin and Yang are constantly changing and transforming into each other — and how your balance is maintained throughout the pulsing of Yin and Yang as you shift your weight
• Explore how contraction is a time for building energy, and expansion is a time for expressing energy, as you fluidly navigate through life’s ups and downs
• Discover 2 energetic skills as part of Ba Men Wu Bu — Peng (building strength in all aspects of your life), and Lie (finding the perfect leverage point in everything you do) — so you can succeed with the least effort

This week, you’ll add the next movement — Waving Hands Like Clouds — to the 8-Posture Form.

Waving Hands is a continuous circular, spiraling movement that promotes the free flow of Qi. You’ll feel how when one part of the body moves, all parts move — no part of the body moves independently from the rest.

Master Helen will guide you to practice this movement in a continuous, smooth, unbroken, and flowing fashion that promotes the healing flow of Qi throughout your body.

You’ll remove blockages, correct imbalances, and enter a contemplative state of wellbeing and mental calm as you nurture your awareness of your body and mind.

You’ll also learn about what it means to use Yi (calm, clear awareness) to direct your movements, instead of Li (a strained mind that manifests as stiffness in the body).

In this session, you’ll:

• Develop awareness of where movements come from and where their energy is going
• Explore the illusion that your arms are moving independently during the 8-Posture Form — and how instead, your legs, waist, and spine move your arms
• Learn the meaning of pulling silk, a phrase that describes Taiji’s slow, gentle, and continuous movements
• Discover how to use mental focus — instead of physical force — to move your body with a continuous motion, so you never break the thread of Qi
• Cultivate inner and outer flexibility so you can adapt to change and meet the challenges of the outside world
• Learn to use the mantra Song to remove tension and relax as you perform the gentle footwork and circular movements of the arms (you’ll receive a bonus video featuring the Song Exercise to enhance your practice)

In the Chinese martial arts traditions, birds are renowned and imitated for their ability to stand on one leg in perfect balance.

This week, Master Helen will introduce you to the fifth and sixth movements of the 8-Posture Form — Golden Rooster Standing on One Leg and Right and Left Heel Kick…. allowing you to explore the many elements that contribute to the maintenance of balance.

For example, as you take the shape of a golden rooster standing on one leg, you’ll explore the importance of maintaining both physical and internal balance.

Helen will explain how understanding and living out the philosophy of Taiji includes working with the dynamic interplay of Yin and Yang in any situation.

In this session, you’ll:

• Learn the principle of Elevate the Crown and Lift the Spirit — by lifting Bai Hui (the crown of the head), you align the cervical vertebrae and spine, promoting blood flow traveling in and out of the brain
• Learn to deeply relax your upper body and sink your bodyweight through your feet into the ground — to build leg strength, balance, flexibility, and coordination
• Become more aware of how to maintain physical balance through the interactions of Yin and Yang — for example, as you push forward (Yang), you round backward (Yin), and as you kick to the right (Yang), you push to the left (Yin)
• Cultivate focus, concentration, and present-moment awareness by keeping your mind on the Yong Quan point on the soles of your feet and perfect the posture of standing on one leg
• Explore how deep relaxation quiets your mind’s mental chatter, leading to deeper concentration and stillness within

This week, Master Helen will guide you to add the seventh movement to the form — Grasping the Sparrow’s Tail, Left and Right — one of the most important movements in all of Taiji.

Grasping the Sparrow’s Tail, Left and Right features four postures that demonstrate the Taoist principles of yielding, softness, centeredness, balance, and rootedness.

Helen will guide you to contemplate one of the profound teachings of Taiji philosophy, using softness to either yield or to overcome hardness. A classic example of this is water — the embodiment of softness, which is also capable of carving through solid stones and rocks.

You’ll explore how the weak and supple can overcome the strong and hard, as Helen helps you apply this principle to your daily life.

In this session, you’ll:

• Learn to direct your internal energy as you move through each posture, rather than just moving your limbs around your body
• Deepen your understanding of Ward-Off — the first and most important energy pattern (Jin) in Taiji
• Discover Lu (Roll Back), a downward and sideways energy used to yield and redirect your opponent’s attack
• Contemplate the principle of yielding as the way of the Tao — and learn to use it when confronted with opposition or attack
• Explore Ji (Press), a penetrative, squeezing energy technique that empowers you to accomplish more in your daily life
• Learn to cultivate peace and harmony with An (Push), a downward, upward, and forward form of energy based on the Taiji principle of Yin Jin Luo Kong

In this final class, you’ll learn the eighth movement, Cross Hands, and the closing posture.

Master Helen will then lead you through a grand review of every movement in the 8-Posture Form you’ve learned throughout your time in this course — as you practice the entire set alongside your (virtual) classmates.

As you’ll discover, the essential feature of flow in Taiji is to balance Yin and Yang — soft and hard energies must work in harmony with the body.

Helen will explain how, as a practitioner, you must be soft yet strong, display flexibility and solidity, and summon both relaxation and concentration.

At this point in the course, you’ll understand how to go with the flow and let the form play out through you — trusting your body\'s wisdom as you experience the unity of your body, mind, and spirit.

In this closing session, you’ll:

• Review every detail of the entire 8-Posture Form you’ve learned
• Explore new ways to enhance the joy of your practice
• Relieve tension in your limbs, muscles, and bones as you go through the entire 8-Posture Form
• Apply the mantra let go or relax to your everyday life, as you practice yielding and surrendering
• Weave together the essential features of Taiji, as you flow through the form
• Explore how you can move more gracefully, accomplish more with minimum effort, and maintain inner tranquility in your everyday life when you go with the flow in a state of Wu Wei