From Form to Feeling

In Levels 1 and 2, much of the learning is concerned with understanding movement, structure, rooting, connection and Qi. Level 3 asks you to listen more deeply. Partner sensing and Push Hands become laboratories for this exploration. Rather than anticipating or imposing, you begin developing the qualities of listening, following and neutralizing. The same principles can then be explored beyond Push Hands.

• Can we listen before responding?

• Can we remain rooted without becoming rigid?

• Can we adapt without losing our centre?

• Can we meet change without immediately resisting it?

These are internal arts principles, but they are also practices for everyday life.

What You’ll Explore

• Living the Tao and bringing the principles of Qi Gong into everyday life

• Taoism as an embodied philosophy rather than something understood only intellectually

• Wu Wei — effortless action — and learning when to act, when to soften and when to allow

• Yin - Yang as changing qualities within our bodies, relationships, practice and daily lives

• The Five Elements — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water — and their relationships with seasons, organs, emotions and qualities of Qi

• Understanding the outer seasons of nature and recognizing our own inner seasons

• How seasonal changes can influence energy, movement, rest and practice

• Developing greater sensitivity to what your body and Qi need rather than always following a fixed practice

• Sequencing Qi Gong through the lens of the Five Elements

• The relationship between movement, mindfulness and everyday awareness

• Bringing the qualities of rooting, softness, connection and presence into ordinary moments

Inner & Outer Seasons

Nature does not ask spring to behave like winter. In the same way, our bodies, energy and lives move through changing cycles. Level 3 explores how Traditional Chinese Medicine understands the Five Elements and the seasons, and how these rhythms can inform the way we practice.

You’ll learn to create practices that respond to the qualities of each season while also developing the sensitivity to recognize your own inner season. Sometimes we need movement and expansion. Sometimes we need grounding. Sometimes we need to release. And sometimes the wisest practice is simply to rest.

Rather than asking, “What Qi Gong sequence should I do?” we begin asking: “What does this moment need?”

Teaching from Presence

As the practice deepens, teaching becomes less about delivering information and more about the quality of presence we bring into the room.

You’ll explore:

• Teaching from embodied experience rather than performance

• Cultivating presence before, during and after teaching

• Listening to the energy of the individual and the group

• Becoming comfortable with silence and spaciousness

• Allowing students time to feel rather than continually explaining

• Responding to what is happening rather than rigidly following a lesson plan

• Using mindful language and cueing with greater simplicity

• Creating Five Element and seasonal sequences with a clear energetic intention

• Recognizing when less instruction can create a deeper experience

• Continuing to develop your own authentic way of sharing Qi Gong

The teacher becomes part of the teaching. How we stand, listen, speak and respond can communicate as much as the movements themselves.

Mindfulness in Everyday Life

Level 3 deepens the relationship between Qi Gong and mindfulness through both formal and informal practice. Formal practice creates the conditions for awareness. Everyday life gives us the opportunity to live it.

We’ll explore meditation, mindful walking, mindful movement and simple everyday practices that help us notice how we breathe, move, react and relate to the world around us. The invitation is to gradually dissolve the boundary between “my practice” and “my life.”

Practices

Your Level 3 practice toolkit expands to include:

• Five Elements Qi Gong

• Five Animal Play (Wu Qin Xi)

• Seasonal Qi Gong sequences

• Organ cleansing practices

• Deeper Zhan Zhuang and standing meditation

• Walking Qi Gong

• Partner sensing and sensitivity practices

• 24-Form Beijing Tai Chi

• Push Hands — Listening, Following & Neutralizing

• Sitting meditation

• Formal and informal mindfulness practices