Daoist Medicine offers us a wealth of practices for cultivating, nourishing and protecting our inner reserves of Qi, Essence and Spirit. In this training we focus on important tools and knowledge to enrich our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing.

As healthy human beings and developing dragons it is vital that we are able to work skillfully with energy, breath, intention and body awareness. Each day we will learn and practice Qigong, breathwork, meditation and metaphysics for grounding and centering, emotional regulation, building vitality and clearing stagnant energy. 

We incorporate Daoist sciences of cultivation including Yin Yang, seasonal attunement and the Five Elements to refine our clarity of awareness, promote health and reduce stress. By aligning ourselves with the rhythms of Nature and Dao, we may embody this living wisdom, more easily accessing states of inner peace and empowered purpose.

Qigong is an ancient alchemical art which unites the Body, Breath, and Spirit into a harmonious flow state. It is meditative medicine in motion and stillness, a bridge between the physical and energetic realms. Throughout the training, we will be working on developing our Dragon Bodies, gaining greater awareness, harmony and skill in how we orient and move through Life.

We will be learning powerful practices for healing, clearing, balancing and building vitality. Through profound stillness, intentional movement and dynamic stretching, Qigong allows us to open our meridian channels, activate our energetic fields, and awaken the abilities of the body to heal itself. These practices improve strength, flexibility, joint health and range of motion while simultaneously promoting relaxation, focus, inner peace and a feeling of flow that ripples into the rest of our lives.

We will participate in two daily Daoist Medical Qigong sessions, exploring practices and transmissions drawn from lineages including White Tiger Qigong, Dong Han Eastern Scholars, Shaolin Buddhism, and Lotus Neigong. We leave this training with a deepened centering of our life force energies and effective practices to integrate Qigong more fully into our daily lives.

Integrating ancient Daoist wisdom with modern scientific understanding, we will be learning about the physical and energetic circuitry of the body. Through theory and practice we will facilitate embodied awareness of how Qi flows through our Being. 

We will be sharing holistic frameworks to understand the interrelation between meridians, fascia, organs, emotions and health. Using Applied Channel Theory, we will foster deeper relationships with important acupuncture points and their functions. Through meridian massage, acupressure and Qigong practice we will feel the channels as part of the living landscape of our bodies.

By mapping meridians and points, both on paper and each other, we facilitate an embodied understanding of the channel system. Through feeling and experiencing how the channels work within us, we can effectively apply this knowledge to our own wellness and in our healing work with others.

The Path of the Golden Dragon moves us towards Mastery of Sound: the dynamic force of intention which influences all levels of Being - physical, mental, energetic and spiritual. 

From the dawn of humanity, all medicine people have used sacred song and vibrational tools as instruments for transformation and healing. The voice is the most powerful, versatile and dynamic instrument known; carrying vibration, emotion and intention directly from the Heart and Spirit. 

Through daily Voice Activation Ceremonies, we will explore and expand the creative and healing power of our voices. Using tones, mantras, words of power, light language, ancestral melody, shamanic song and free sound expression, we will harmonize our voices, access our resonant keys of vibration and connect with the spirits of Nature.

Drawing on Taoist and global shamanic traditions, we will explore many of the other vibrational healing instruments used in Shentara. Singing bowls, bells, chimes, drums, flutes and rattles will be explored in their capacity to realign disrupted frequencies within the body and energetic field, move blocked Qi and create profound shifts in consciousness.

The Ceremonial Arts are gateways to deeper wisdom, healing, and transformation. The Way of the Golden Dragon honors the Sacred in All Creation, offering this honoring to the Earth, Waters, and All Beings. 

Bridging the realms of the physical, mental and spiritual, the principles of ritual and ceremony provide us with powerful practices to access and empower our Highest Potential. 

The entire training unfolds as a ceremonial container of connection and learning. We will learn ways to align ourselves in ceremonial consciousness, gather and focus intention, set up spaces of healing and invoke allies for support and protection.

Each day begins with Daoist tea ceremony to sit in silent, flowing contemplation. The training includes meditation, breathwork, ceremonial cacao, sacred fire, song circles, dance, hot springs and voice activation ceremonies to expand our Beings and connect more deeply with ourselves, each other and the land. We will explore sacred smoke smudging, moxibustion and feathers for cleansing and invoking energy. 

The first six days orient us to the Six Directions and their associated Archangels, culminating in a Saturday evening ceremony with optional cacao, magic medicine mushrooms and Daoist Meridian Therapy - which includes acupuncture needles and moxibustion. The retreat concludes with a morning of silence into sacred spring immersion ceremony in the Mikvah of the Goddess Temple of Ashland, including initiation into the healing blessings of Quan Yin, Mother Goddess of Compassion.