Essays on Taoist internal alchemy and a glossary of its terms.https://nathanbrine.com/en-cahttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/jing-qi-shen/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/jing-qi-shen/The three treasures internal alchemy works with.Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/qigong-neigong-neidan/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/qigong-neigong-neidan/Three words often used loosely, and how they differ.Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/the-dantian/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/the-dantian/What the dantian is, and where the three fields are.Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/what-is-internal-alchemy/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/what-is-internal-alchemy/What Taoist internal alchemy is, in brief.Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/who-is-wang-liping/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/who-is-wang-liping/Wang Liping, the current transmitter of the Dragon Gate lineage.Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/the-steps-of-yu/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/the-steps-of-yu/An article by Wang Liping on the Steps of Yu and Pacing the Big Dipper, with two methods of Seven Star Pacing. Translated by Nathan Brine.Wed, 10 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/no-problem/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/no-problem/The world around us reflects our inner state. A short note on turbid qi, resistance, and accepting what is.Mon, 01 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/moving-jing-to-change-into-qi/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/moving-jing-to-change-into-qi/A talk by Wang Liping on a method for restoring health from the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, written up by Hu Qiao and translated by Nathan Brine.Wed, 26 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/liuhebafa/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/liuhebafa/A rare internal martial art from the Huashan Taoist Chen Tuan, how Nathan came to it in 1997 and returned to it, and why it builds foundation for neidan.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/pore-breathing-book-excerpt/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/pore-breathing-book-excerpt/An excerpt from Volume One of The Taoist Alchemy of Wang Liping: the six aspects of pore breathing, the most useful foundational technique in the system.Thu, 28 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/the-barrier-of-sitting/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/the-barrier-of-sitting/Zuoguan, the barrier of sitting: the first major challenge of neidan practice, and how to get through it.Tue, 27 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/qigong-vs-internal-alchemy/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/qigong-vs-internal-alchemy/Qigong and internal alchemy are often confused. What each one does, how they differ, and where one leads into the other.Wed, 31 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/taoist-poetry-about-breathing/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/taoist-poetry-about-breathing/Classical Taoist verses on the breath, with translation and comment on what they describe in practice.Fri, 08 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/release-the-mind-feel-the-body/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/release-the-mind-feel-the-body/Why thinking about the practice gets in the way of it, and how to move attention out of the head and into the body.Fri, 01 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/heart-stabilizes-and-spirit-returns/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/heart-stabilizes-and-spirit-returns/On settling the heart-mind so that the spirit comes home to the body, and why this is the first benchmark of the practice.Mon, 29 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/taoist-walking-the-nature-qi-exchange-method/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/taoist-walking-the-nature-qi-exchange-method/A walking practice from Wang Liping's system for exchanging qi with the natural world, and how to do it.Thu, 19 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/taoist-practice-mothers-day/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/taoist-practice-mothers-day/A method for sorting through the parts of ourselves that come from our parents, on the way to finding the True Self. Written for Mother's Day.Sun, 13 May 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/taoist-perspective-on-health/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/taoist-perspective-on-health/How Taoist practice understands health and illness, and why internal alchemy treats the body as the place where the work begins.Thu, 11 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/seven-emotions-six-desires/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/seven-emotions-six-desires/Notes on qiqing liuyu, the seven emotions and six desires, from a 21-day fasting retreat with Wang Liping in 2014.Sat, 30 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/tuning-into-qi/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/tuning-into-qi/Learning to feel qi: what the sensations are, why they are subtle at first, and how to tune the body and awareness to pick them up.Wed, 18 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/burning-through-karma/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/burning-through-karma/How the alchemical fire works on the karmic material stored in the body, and what that feels like in practice.Thu, 21 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/activating-the-dantian/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/activating-the-dantian/Tips and tricks for finding the lower dantian and getting it working, from someone who had trouble finding his own.Thu, 20 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/stillness-neidan-practice/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/stillness-neidan-practice/Stillness (jing) as the foundation of the alchemical work: what it is, why it is needed, and how movement arises from it.Sat, 18 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/the-three-spaces/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/the-three-spaces/The three internal spaces of the body (abdomen, chest, head) and the three external spaces, and how the practice works with them.Fri, 15 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/reincarnation-energy/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/reincarnation-energy/Zhuanshi nengliang: the karmic material carried into this life, how it shows up in practice, and how neidan clears it.Sun, 12 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/purify-the-furnace/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/purify-the-furnace/Cleaning energetic and emotional sludge out of the body (qing lu) is the first job, and it comes before the alchemical work proper.Wed, 08 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/precelestial-and-postcelestial/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/precelestial-and-postcelestial/Xiantian and houtian: the two states of being that Taoist alchemy moves between, and what the precelestial state is like from the inside.Thu, 02 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/pain-access-neidan-practice/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/pain-access-neidan-practice/Physical discomfort in long sitting is not only an obstacle. Used properly it is a way into the body.Tue, 31 May 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/furnace-and-cauldron/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/furnace-and-cauldron/What the furnace and the cauldron are in internal alchemy, and why the body has to be prepared before anything can be cooked.Mon, 25 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/si-and-wang-taoist-perspective-on-death/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/si-and-wang-taoist-perspective-on-death/The modern word for death, siwang, is two classical words with two different meanings in Taoist practice.Thu, 31 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/xiu-and-lian-cultivation-and-training/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/xiu-and-lian-cultivation-and-training/Cultivation (xiu) and practice (lian) are two different things. The methods are tools; the real work is making ourselves better.Sun, 10 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://nathanbrine.com/writing/taoist-epistemology/https://nathanbrine.com/writing/taoist-epistemology/How Taoist practice knows what it knows: direct experience in the body, checked against teacher and tradition, rather than belief.Fri, 18 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT