Understanding Taoist Alchemy


Interpreting the Ancient Codes

Interpreting the ancient codes shrouding the esoteric Chinese arts is one of the great challenges facing any serious student of Taoist Nei Dan. Download the free paper now.

Chinese Rice Cake Recipe

Real Chinese food is excellent. Here is a recipe for sweet Chinese rice cakes from TCCII friend Monica Yu. Monica is an excellent chef who uses organic ingredients to create delicious Chinese and western dishes. She even used food to cure her cat of diabetes! Enjoy her rice cake recipe.

Ingredients 4 eggs 2 Tsp [...]

Happy Chinese New Year!

Xin Nian Kuai Le (新年快乐) or Happy New Year in Chinese.

Today is Chinese New Year, a celebration of the re-emergence of Yang energy, known as “Spring” in the West. This year is the year of the Rabbit. Even if rabbits aren’t your thing, you can still benefit from the changing of the seasons. Now [...]

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! May you find this year filled with prosperity and joy.

Fashion, Music and Poverty: Is China a Third World Nation?

Recently we had the opportunity to see a performance by a visiting Chinese culture troupe at the Bullis School in Potomac Maryland. The Bullis School is an elite private preparatory school for boys and girls from 3rd grade to high school.

The Chinese troupe featured performing artists from all over China who presented short acts [...]

Ignorant Peasants

One phrase you might occasionally hear in China is “Wu Zhi Nong Min” or “Ignorant Peasants”. This phrase has two meanings. The first and older one is used to refer those people, usually farmers, who have very little formal education and lack the inclination to view things in a larger perspective. They do not understand [...]

Visiting the World Expo in Shanghai

Our contacts in Shanghai secured a pair of tickets to the opening day at the Expo. The Expo was pretty impressive. The Chinese do things big, in part because big is better – an international event is a way to gain “face”. But they also build public things on a grand scale because they have so many people. [...]

Shanghai’s Temple Market

Today we did a little sightseeing. We visited Science and Technology Museum and then relaxed by drinking some excellent tea. Then we made our way across the river to the Temple Market area.

The Temple Market was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt as a tourist attraction. But tonight the crowd was mostly Chinese. Prices are [...]

R&R in Shanghai’s Pudong District

Today was a day to rest and relax after the leading the healing journey. We truly enjoyed the company of our students during this trip. It was a great honor to introduce them to Qigong, Tai Chi and Chinese culture in China!

We were invited to visit and tour a brand new hospital in the [...]

Black Dragon Pool and Dongba Priest in Lijiang

Our group began the day with our final Tai Chi and Qigong class. We closed with a lecture on Nature and Man as One. We covered a great deal of material in this journey: body opening Nei Gong, Eight Pieces of Silk Brocade, Qi Gathering and Replenishing Techniques, External Qi Healing, and medical Qigong. All [...]

Lijiang and the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

This morning we said goodbye to our hosts at the center. It was wonderful to stay and study Qigong and meditation in such a beautiful and peaceful setting.

Every Yin has its Yang, and that took the form of a crazy bus ride to Lijiang located in Yunnan, China. The bus driver was a very [...]