The Five Elements of Chinese medicine are Water, Fire, Wood, Metal and Earth. These energies govern the manifest realm and indeed the whole body-mind-qi matrix.

Hey Everybody, I'm sharing this video with my teacher Bruce with good info for those of you who attended our Art of the Spiral: Embodying Twisting Neigong in Tai Chi & Bagua course or who watched my free webinar on the subject.

I hope you enjoy it! The seminar was profound to say the least, trans...

Thanks to everybody who joined the livestream last week. If you didn't get a chance to join us on this talk on twisting neigong and neigong weaves, you can check out the video recording here.

Wishing you all good practice,
Paul

In the West, we don't focus on contacting, let alone banking, the energy (or qi/chi) that we generate. Qigong, tai chi and bagua target qi development to heal body imbalances and traumas, restore health and vitality, and strengthen weaknesses. All of it is guided by the Taoist Principle of Thir...

Thanks to my friend, Chris Cinnamon, head instructor of Chicago Tai Chi, for reviewing my recent book, Taoism: A Journey Towards Unity. He offers an overview of what's included in the book as well as more on the context about the teachings that I think you might find interesting.

Read the review!...

A sinking action always creates a rising action.

By Paul Cavel

Everywhere I turn, I keep hearing, "You become what you think”. But if all we had to do is *think* our way through life, for a start, everybody would be super fit, rich and happy!

The Taoist sage Liu Hung Chieh said, "You become what you practise”.

Exercise the body, become stronger

By Paul Cavel

"Consistency without desire". Of all the wisdom shared within the Tao Te Ching, this line finds its way back to me time and again.

Students often share with me their goals for training. I can relate to the honest intent that underscores these aspirations, especially in regards to heali...

Foreword by Dr. Michael Mettner

“Metaphors, images and symbols are the language of our subconscious minds. They help to convey meaning to our consciousness and hence store in the memory quite easily and naturally. If they are chosen well, they are able to penetrate the deeper layers of our con...

Thanks to Morgan Freedude for the chat. I hope you guys all enjoy it. We discuss: *Taoism, Lao Tzu and the Oral Tradition of the Tao Te Ching *How to heal physical and emotional traumas *How to live a longer life of quality *How to transform the body and mind with millennia-old practices includin...

Wu wei is often translated literally, based on the Chinese characters. But Water Method practitioners have a much different understanding of the Taoist concept of wu wei. Following the principles of water, it starts with the physical body and goes through the Three Treasures, the Taoist path of a...

 By Paul Cavel

Most internal arts have a specific learning progression, which begins with a set of six or more movements in qigong, and up to 108 moves in tai chi. Then, as you practise the form over weeks, months and years, you sink into your body, mind and qi by adding layers of internal con...

In this video I discuss how to develop your awareness.

 By Paul Cavel

See Part 1

PART 2: What Is Wu Wei? 

Wu wei is often described as “doing without doing”, but what does that really mean? How can you do something without doing it? This misunderstanding is generally due to scholars outside the tradition translating Chinese characters into English,...

Following the Path of Least Resistance

Following the path of least resistance is how you can heal your body from imbalances, injury, illness and other traumas. Overtime, you can accomplish more by making consistent, small changes than going for gold and then experiencing setbacks in the form of ...

 By Paul Cavel

I began studying the Taoist Water tradition in the late 1980s and quickly dedicated myself to my training because of life-debilitating injuries I needed to address to maintain any decent quality of life. At that time, I felt as though I had looked everywhere for answers, but nothin...

By Paul Cavel

Part 1: Origins of the Water Method

The Water Method, first coined by Lao Tzu, author of the Tao Te Ching, twenty-five hundred years ago, comes from the teachings of the Taoist oral tradition and has existed for many millennia. For this reason, I like to refer to it as “Old Taoism...

By Paul Cavel

The goal of all Taoist movement arts is to move energy (qi) in the body, which can be done through direct or indirect methods.

• Direct movement of qi occurs when a practitioner's mind connects and merges with specific layers of energy within their flesh, and then mobilises that

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By Paul Cavel

In Part 1, we explored the peaks and plateaus in training both external and internal forms of exercises, and why you should not be discouraged when you recognize you have reached a plateau.

The Taoist Principle That Saves the Day

When you hit a plateau, that is the time when you m...

 By Paul Cavel

In the manifest realm of duality, if there is an action, there is an equal and opposite reaction: an opening is followed by a closing, and the cycle repeats ad infinitum. In Taoism, the directive of all closing phases – both during practice and in life in general – is to let go and...