Taoism may be regarded as both philosophy or religion in its essence. At its core is understanding the energy of the world. The way of the Tao is “going with the flow” in accordance with the Tao (or Dao). The flow is a cosmic force that both binds all things and the universe and also lets them go.  

Taoism exerted a great influence during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) and the emperor Xuanzong (reigned 712-756 CE) decreed it a state religion, mandating that people keep Taoist writings in their home. Taoism declined with the Tang Dynasty and was replaced by  Confucianism  and  Buddhism.  

Today the way of the Tao is still practiced throughout China and other countries today.  

In this article we’ll explore the ancient art of Taoism including: 

• Benefits of Taoist meditation for anxiety 
• 5 Steps of harnessing your inner Tao 
• Balancing the Yin and Yang 

Benefits of Taoist Meditation for Anxiety

You may be surprised to hear the rise of an ancient philosophy of Taoism. Parallel to many meditation and mindfulness practices, the way of the Tao is rooted in Chinese philosophy and aligning the body to the earth and broader universe.

“Huang Di asked: ‘I’ve heard of people in ancient times, spoken of as the immortals, who knew the secrets of the universe and held the world in the palm of their hands. They extracted essence from nature and practiced Chi Kung and various stretching and breathing exercises, and visualizations, to integrate body, mind and spirit. They remained undisturbed and thus attained extraordinary levels of accomplishment. Can you tell me about them?’”

-The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine

Image: The inner alchemist is shown meditating in a chair, with the external alchemist fanning the fires of transformation

Taoist Inner Alchemy is the big payoff for the hard work of learning and practicing exercises of meditation, chi kung, and strengthening the body. The way I understand and teach inner alchemy is that it’s a process of absorbing a variety of energies from nature and blending those energies with our own.

The result is to grow closer to the pattern of nature itself. Nature has its ups and downs, its cycles, its violent upheavals, and quiet periods of seeming nothingness. However, in spite of these fluctuations, the Taoist philosophy is that nature is in balance overall.

As an example, of blending and absorbing different energies, Taoist astrology states that each of us has an individual disposition based on the time and place that we were born. The planets push and pull on us in different ways at different times of our lives. We have free will choices when faced with opportunities and threats from these fates, but ultimately, we must play the card we are dealt. Taoist inner alchemy helps you practically use these principles for meditation practice.

By inviting energy from the planets and seasons into our bodies and meditation processes, it adds to our weakness and softens our strengths to move us toward balance. Similarly, inviting the energies from the range of solar system and zodiac constellations into the body, mixing them with our individual essence, and storing that energy in our organs and bones gives us opportunities to heal with the Tao flow of nature.

Step 1: The 5 Natural Energies of Taoism 

Today you may refer to inner alchemy as meditation or mindfulness. You’d be surprised to know that Taoism describes its meditation practice in a step-by-step fashion.   

Internal Alchemy can buffer us from an “onslaught” of a particular type of energy that might challenge us.   

Inner Alchemy Map from Taoist Master Mantak Chia

To understand the map of Taoist alchemy, it is helpful to explain the sequence of practice.  At any level, it works with balancing yin and yang and harmonizing the five elements.   

The five Taoist elements are:  

1. Energy inside the body   
2. Energy of planet Earth.   
3. Energies at the level of the solar system 
4. Energy of the stars of our galaxy 
5. Energy of spirit and matter  

Finally merging with the Tao itself.  It is worth thinking of this process as climbing a sacred mountain or building a great cathedral.  It is done from the ground up and without skipping steps. 

For example: for those not born with a lot of the fire element, such as the planet Mars, we can slowly invite the energy of Mars into our body and energy field.  Additionally, we can invite the balancing energies into our process and they can help support us when that fiery, planetary energy knocks on our door. 

Step 2: How Taoism Guides the ‘Inner Smile’ and Harmony  

At the first level of inner alchemy, Taoism teaches the Fusion of the Five Elements.  The five elements inside the body correspond to the vital organs that were outlined in the explanation of the Inner Smile and the Six Healing Sounds.   

Fusion of the Five Elements

Fusion 1:

• Unites various aspects of our psychology and personality into balance and then merges them in the center.  The first part of the Fusion 1 practice encourages the energy to flow in a pattern called the Creation Cycle, where each element feeds the one that comes after it in the cycle.   

• Merging the various aspects of the personality into the center of the lower abdomen, at the level of the navel.  Before this practice, it is common for different aspects of our personality to want to go in different directions.  For instance, our heart or fire aspects may want to chase fame and excitement.   

This can sharply contrast with our kidneys or water aspects that want to settle into a groove and rest at home.  By practicing the Fusion 1 practice, our elements blend together, and we do not have the inner struggle we once had.   

Fusion 2 and 3:  

• Opening of the deep channels of our body, known as the Eight Extraordinary Channels.  When these are open and flowing like great rivers, the balanced energy of the Inner Smile and the Fusion 1 practice can nourish deeper aspects of our being. 

Step 3: How to Balance the Yin and Yang Energy and Tao Self-Healing 

Image: Taoism Alchemy of the 5 elements and how they balance Yin and Yang Energy.

In the next level of alchemy, that of Water and Fire, the Primal Fire and Primal Water or Inner Male (Yang) and Inner Female (Yin) are blended together in the lower abdomen.   

The imagery here is like that of a metal pot of boiling water above a fire, sitting on the earth.   

In this image, all five elements are involved. You can think of it in this sequence: 

1. Wood feeds 
2. Fire  
3. Metal holds 
4. Water 
5. All rest on the earth.   

This visualization meditation is the next level of the Fusion practice and the meditation is more dynamic.  The process creates a healing steam that can flow or be guided through the channels of the body to rejuvenate organs, glands, bones, and vessels. 

From the deep psyche of the physical body in Water and Fire Alchemy, the alchemist moves to the outer environment of the Earth.   

The five elements here become represented in different ways.   

• The alchemist breathes in the wood element by relating to forests and all things that grow. He resonates with the fire of lava and the passions of humans and animals, and the sun. 
• The planet Earth itself embodies the earth element at this level.  
• The metal element is represented by clouds, metals inside the earth, and the descending energy of waterfalls.  
• The water element is embodied by rivers, lakes, the oceans, and the deep memory of the collective chi field.  In Sun-Moon-Earth alchemy, yin and yang are symbolized by the sun and moon, and the impact of their cycles on the earth and its inhabitants. The imagery of the boiling pot of water becomes the sun and the moon joining in a loving embrace with the earth holding the center for their beautiful dance.  

The meditation moves from the navel and lower abdomen to the three-dimensional space of the solar plexus.  The Creation Cycle meditation from the Fusion 1 practice can still be done inside the physical body, but it can include the energies of the seasons transforming from one to the next in an endless cycle.   

Step 4: Tao Solar System Astronomy, and Alchemy of the Planets

As Tao meditation advances, from the Earth’s perspective, the alchemist then steps up to the relationship of yin/yang and the five elements at the level of the Solar System.  

From the Solar System’s perspective, the five elements are the inner planets, the ones that can be seen with the naked eye.   

As I understand it, Yin and Yang are the fire of the Inner Earth and the water of Polaris, the Pole Star.   

• Wood element is represented by the expansive planet Jupiter. 
• Fire element is embodied by the red planet, Mars.  
• The earth element is seen as the balanced planet Saturn, with its beautiful belt channel rings.  
• The metal element is represented by Venus, with the qualities of the goddess of beauty. 
• The water element shows its qualities through Mercury, as it dances through the sky, flowing forward and backward.   

The seat of this alchemy in the body is the heart, as the heart has the radiant qualities of the outer sun, but also the magnetic qualities of the inner sun. 

Step 5: Achieving Higher Consciousness with Tao Zodiac Alchemy 

From the heart and the center of the Solar System, the next stop for the alchemical process is the upper tan tien.  This is the three-dimensional space behind the third eye or pineal gland, and in the macrocosm, at the center of the galaxy.   

This level of alchemy is known as Star Alchemy, and blends the star quadrants of the north, south, east, and west with the center.  Psychologically, this process alludes to the functioning of time and timelessness.   

The stars move so slowly, compared to humans, that they are on an entirely different cycle of existence.  Similarly, the Big Dipper moves around the stationary North Star, marking out the seasons like a cosmic watch dial.   

The yang or fire element at this level is Polaris, the Pole Star.  The yin or water element is the star Vega, which is said to be the Earth’s once and future Pole Star. Vega takes turns with Polaris on cycles that are tens of thousands of years.  This level of the alchemical process also includes the “Sealing of the Five Senses,” where one energetically turns the sense organs inward to reverse the usual loss of energy.  This encourages the adept to look, listen, smell, taste, and feel the internal process of the body.  

Seeing the alchemical process outside helps to see it inside

Conclusion 

Taoism, and its practice of meditative alchemy, a practitioner learns a practice called The Congress of Heaven and Earth.  At this level, there is less to say and more to feel.  It is a merging of spirit and matter; feeling the energy of creation inside the body.  The merging of alchemy moves back to the heart and the center of the being.

When Heaven is experienced on Earth and Heaven knows the excitement, passion, and variety of life on Earth; the joy of merging polarities is experienced by everyone aware of the process. 

The end, or perhaps the beginning, of this spiritual path is the Union of Man and Tao.  The teachers on this path say that it can’t be taught; that is needs to be experienced from the Tao itself. 

I believe it is a returning to our original nature; therefore, we are all capable of it and once knew how to be it naturally.  It seems that the process is a stripping away of what is not us.  This can happen at the moment of death, but the adept hopes to experience it before then and enjoy the accompanying level of enlightenment.

-Adapted from The Alchemist’s Tao Te Ching: Transforming Your Lead into Gold, by Andrew McCart 

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