Warrior Flow: Where Chan Meets Martial Practice — Zen Gong contains a section of dynamic Zen boxing. Why a meditation curriculum keeps strikes in it at all, and what changes when you practise them.
Reading a Posture Score: What 92 Actually Means — The number is a similarity measure against a reference frame, not a judgement of your practice. What it can see, and the four things it cannot.
Qi, Explained Without Mysticism — You do not have to believe in a subtle energy to practise seriously. What the word 氣 actually does inside the tradition, and how to hold it honestly.
Pa Ba Xu (拍八虛): Tapping the Eight Hollows — Percussion at the elbow, armpit, groin and knee. A five-minute practice that is unusually easy to do badly by hitting too hard.
Xi Sui Jing: The Marrow Washing Classic, Carefully — The companion text to Yi Jin Jing, far less well documented, and surrounded by more nonsense than any other item in the curriculum. What can and cannot be said about it.
Meditation vs Movement Meditation: What Changes — If sitting still has never worked for you, the problem may be the stillness rather than the meditation. What moving changes about the task.
Qigong for Desk Workers: Neck, Shoulders, Hips — Eight hours seated produces a predictable pattern of shortening. Three movements from the curriculum address it directly, and take four minutes.
Spring Practice: The Liver Season and Movement — Spring is associated with the liver, with the tendons, and with the quality of easy expansion. It is the season the classical texts say to stop restricting yourself.
Stance Work: Horse, Bow, and Empty Step — Three stances underpin nearly every standing movement in the curriculum. Getting the weight distribution right is most of the work.
Yi Jin Jing: The Muscle-Tendon Change Classic — The most famous text associated with Shaolin, the most frequently misattributed, and the most physically demanding thing in the curriculum.
A 30-Day Beginner Path Through Western Heaven — Four weeks, roughly ten minutes a day, from the morning set to the opening of the Zen Gong sequence. A schedule you can actually keep in January.
Winter Practice: Storing Rather Than Spending — The classical advice for winter is almost embarrassingly simple: do less, sleep more, keep the lower back warm. Here is what that means for a practice schedule.
Autumn Practice: The Lung Season in Chinese Medicine — Why the classical texts pair autumn with the lungs, with grief, and with gathering in — and what that suggests for how you practise between September and November.
Five Beginner Mistakes in Standing Practice — Locked knees, lifted shoulders, held breath, chased sensation, and skipped closing. Each one is common, each one is fixable in a session.
Xuán Dǐng (懸頂): The Suspended Crown, Explained — One instruction governs the spine in every seated and standing form in the curriculum. It is also the one most often taught badly in English.
Qigong vs Tai Chi vs Yoga: How They Actually Differ — Three traditions that look similar from outside and feel nothing alike from inside. A comparison by origin, structure, intensity and what each is good for.
The Morning Set: Six Movements to Start the Day — Head to foot, then stillness, then closing — a six-minute sequence you can do cold, without equipment, before the day starts asking for things.
What Is Qigong? A Plain-English Primer — Slow coordinated movement, deliberate breathing, and directed attention — what qigong actually is, stripped of both mysticism and marketing.
The Morning Set · 晨功六式 — Six movements, six minutes — the everyday warm-up you see in Chinese parks at dawn. Joints, breath, circulation. No experience, no equipment, no account needed.
Pa Ba Xu (Tapping) · 拍八虛 — Tapping the Eight Voids — eight points the tradition associates with the body's major joints. The gentlest entry point — start here.
Baduanjin: Learn the Movements · 八段錦 · 入門 — The same eight movements of Baduanjin, but introduced in skill order — easiest first. Complete this before the traditional sequence so each movement feels familiar.
Baduanjin (Eight Brocades) · 八段錦 — Eight elegant movements for health and longevity, in the traditional 900-year-old sequence. Best done after Baduanjin: Learn the Movements.
Liu Zi Jue (Six Healing Sounds) · 六字訣 — A 1,500-year-old Qigong practice pairing six vocal sounds — Xu, He, Hu, Si, Chui, Xi — with gentle movement and extended exhalation. Easy to learn and ideal as a calming warm-up or wind-down.
Zen Gong: Foundation · 西天大乘禪功 · 基礎 — The opening and closing of the Western Heaven Zen Gong — six movements (1-4, 13-14). Experience the form's quality without the martial intensity. The gateway to the full sequence.
Zen Gong: Expansion · 西天大乘禪功 · 開展 — Adds the four open, flowing movements (5, 8, 10, 11) to the foundation. Builds capacity without yet entering the Fa Jin strikes or Dynamic Zen Boxing.
Western Heaven Zen Gong (Complete) · 西天大乘禪功 — The complete 14-movement sequence from Songshan Shaolin Temple. Master Bodhidharma's original transmission — including Fa Jin palm strikes and the 2-minute Dynamic Zen Boxing climax.