When you set out to learn Taoist Energy Arts like Tai Chi, qigong, or meditation, you come across the lore of masters with supernatural abilities or techniques too deadly to teach openly.

Or more insidious, we grasp after images of unattainable perfection, always slightly beyond reach, unless we just find the right technique or are initiated into a secret practice.

And even if we’ve given up silly kung fu fantasies of flying through the bamboo reeds, on a subtle level we still chase ideas and dreams that only live in the mental realm.

The reality – and I’m not trying to disappoint you, but stay with me because the reality is deeply rewarding, meaningful, and rich too – is that Taoist Energy Arts must be lived-through and practiced-through to be truly discovered.

In this episode of Qigong Radio, Paul Cavel and I explore the disconnect you can sometimes feel in the day-to-day of your practice and the idea of where you ought to be in your practice – it’s not because you must be a chosen one or special to get it, but rather, because you can't directly perceive or experience energy when you operate solely on the mental realm.

We’ll give you some guidelines for how to recognize when you slip back into the mental realm of fantasy practice and talk about the struggles, as a student and as a teacher, of communicating your practice experience.

Paul also shares specific neigong techniques that will keep you present, engaged, and help you cultivate a direct experience of your natural internal energy, that can be applied to any energy practice.

Enjoy!