Water Method Blog

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...

Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body Qigong is the foundation of all Taoist meditation and energy arts practices, specifically developing the qualities of the Water Element. Water is all about clearing and cleansing the body and its qi, which ultimately affects the mind.

As an introductory q...

Creating Circular Forms

The specialty of Tai Chi Circling Hands is developing circularity.

Circularity is a big deal in the internal arts and it gets talked about a lot. But when you go to practise your form, there’s a lot of complexity involved — not just with the choreography, but also nei...

The Wu style is considered by many to be the deepest style of tai chi. Initially designed to become a form of moving meditation, the Wu style serves as a container for all 16 Taoist neigong. This small-frame style is capable of driving neigong deep into the body, but requires the body to be relat...

By Paul Cavel

In Part 1, we discussed how breaking the reciprocal-inhibition habit and using moderation are essential to healing. Now we’ll look at how consistency and personal factors also play key roles.

Healing Requires Consistency

Drilling down into the mechanics of how exactly you will app...

 By Paul Cavel

If I were to summarise the vast majority of enquiries I receive in a single question, it would be,“Can qigong heal X”? – you name it.

First, to answer the question, yes, generally qigong supports healing for a wide array of specific ailments and injuries, and has been doing so as ...

Heaven and Earth Qigong is a gift from the ancients, a self-healing practice that has a 3,000-year-old history. Traditionally being reserved only for disciples, this two-part exercise spans the first 12 of 16 internal (neigong) components.

Its many threads of internal (neigong) techniques are...

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

  ...

The most advanced of the Taoist neigong systems, Gods Playing in the Clouds Qigong is recommended for students who already have experience training the Taoist Neigong set, Dragon & Tiger Medical Qigong and/or Heaven & Earth Qigong. The Gods form can serve as a container that makes it possible to ...

By Anna Price

In this especially bleak midwinter, many of us will be hauling Christmas Trees into our living rooms and festooning them with lights and trinkets to help gladden our hearts. We all seem to love a bit of fir - its dark green and resinous smell closely associated with seasonal festi...

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...

By Paul Cavel

Soft living, which rejects the notion that life has to be work-centered and approached as a competition, is gaining traction worldwide. Primarily Millennial advocates have taken a good look around and decided self-sacrifice to overcome endless trials and tribulations doesn’t lead to...

By Paul Cavel

The Rule of Thirds is so fundamental to all Water Method training that it is one of the Five Primary Principles. However, it’s also by far the most elusive of all the principles to target because your intent, your aim, is always moving, absolutely requiring you to cultivate a good r...

By Paul Cavel

In my previous post, I introduced The Rule of Thirds — a primary principle of the Water Method that promotes the conservation of energy that leads to personal growth in body, mind and qi. Below I answer the question of why the Rule of Thirds is important to implement in our lives...

By Paul Cavel

Separate and Combine is a Taoist principle for deep learning that has been used for millennia. The principle states that once a basic movement, set or form has been absorbed or established, the practitioner seeks to tease out the individual components before moving on to study that...

By Paul Cavel

I don’t have to tell you that stress and tension have a way of building up during the day. In this age of Big Data, a lot of that tension gets stuck in our eyes and nervous system.

If your eyes are perpetually tensed or overloaded, if your subconscious mind is clogged with visuali...

 By Paul Cavel

Many events in life close people down in some way or another, especially because repetitive, micro-tasks on devices have become standard practice. They can leave your body and mind feeling condensed, hard and tense, especially at the end of the day.

Learning how to make space in y...

By Paul Cavel

See Part 1

Stress can lodge in various parts of the body, causing tensions that can eventually shape your daily routine and overall health. In this day-and-age, eye stress has become prominent due to the increase of screen time albeit for work or pleasure. This week we focus on ea...