Dragon & Tiger: From Medical Qigong to Taoist Neigong
By Paul Cavel
Part 5, see part 4
Dragon and Tiger, as a form of medical qigong, was originally designed to contact and develop the etheric field and the wei qi of the body. For this reason, it links very well with the meridian-line system used in acupuncture. The information covered in the last four articles on medical qigong encapsulates the original teachings of Dragon and Tiger. What comes next was incorporated by Taoist Sage, Liu Hong Jia, who upgraded the capacity of this efficient and effective health art by evolving it into a neigong practice.
First Focus on the Etheric Field & the Wei Qi
Master Liu directed his disciple, Bruce Frantzis, to learn Dragon and Tiger Qigong in order to help him to develop skill with key neigong, namely gaining control over and developing his etheric field and wei qi. These practices are actually a splinter or partial practice of Heaven and Earth Qigong, but can take longer to develop within that format due to the large quantity of neigong involved.
Once Bruce had completed his studies with Jiang Jia Hua, a doctor of Chinese medicine who taught more than 20,000 people Dragon and Tiger, Master Liu taught him how other neigong found in Heaven and Earth Qigong could be applied within the Dragon and Tiger form. Master Liu had a very special set of skills to be capable of such an undertaking as I have discussed in many of my videos (e.g. see my video from my Water Method series). Suffice to say, Master Liu had a vast knowledge of qigong and a deep understanding of how qi affects the body. He also knew how the various neigong threads weave together to create one coherent and balanced whole.
Evolving into a Neigong Practice
Included in Master Liu’s major upgrade to Dragon and Tiger are opening and closing techniques (within the joints and cavities), which allow the practitioner to increase their capacity to pull and push qi. Eventually this allows the practitioner to connect to the entirety of the qi inside of their body, or “inside the whole bag of skin”. Once you can grab all the qi inside of you, the increased flow starts to dramatically increase the quantity and density of qi within the etheric field, which naturally increases its size.
This process must be taught in very specific layers in order for the practitioner to gain the ability to manifest the vast quantity of qi required for higher-level energy practices. Note that in the Energy Arts System, the ability to pull and push qi is organised within Levels 4, 5 and 6 of Dragon and Tiger Qigong. Master Liu’s upgrades come into play at Level 7 and go on from there.
The first major goal of pulling and pushing qi through the whole bag of skin is to expand your ability to control all the qi outside of you spherically to a distance of 10 feet (3 metres) from the surface of your skin. This is no mean feat and requires hundreds of hours of dedicated practice to open up the qi of the body to this extent. The real issue is not jumping ahead before each step has been fully completed. You’re dealing with volume of qi rather than a step-by-step, ladder progression — to go from 1 to 2 feet off the body doesn't require you to double your qi, it takes much more:
1-inch cube is 1 × 1 × 1 = 1 cubic inch
2-inch cube is 2 x 2 x 2 = 8 cubic inches
3-inch cube is 3 x 3 x 3 = 27 cubic inches
The jump in terms of volume is huge!
You can see the challenge. You must continue filling up your field until it naturally wants to expand. But if you expand too quickly, your field will become very thin and break up, creating holes like in Swiss cheese. This can actually weaken your system, making you more susceptible to injury, illness and disease. This is one of the reasons why it’s so important to study under a competent teacher who has the experience to see when it’s time to advance versus stabilise key aspects of training.
A Sea of Qi
If you put in the time and effort to realise this profound level of qi work — achieved by only a small minority over the ages, because patience and consistency also require cultivation — you begin to experience the space around you as a sea of qi. You are firmly rooted and grounded into the planet, but you feel as though you are surrounded by and moving through a sea of qi. It's true that the qi you experience around you is not as dense as water, but it's denser than air.
More importantly, you experience how your movements and actions affect the qi around you and realise that you are connected — through that continuum of qi — to everything in your immediate environment. This experience has a profound effect on all of your practices and eventually can be incorporated into all qigong, tai chi and bagua forms. This is to say nothing about how practice alters your perceptions and opens your mind to possibilities not previously considered.
The other critical component to this, and all levels of qi practice for that matter, is the understanding that, ultimately, it is the mind that governs qi. All internal energy arts practices are ultimately about contacting, feeling and linking your mind to your qi, and then training your mind to stay connected to that qi throughout your practice.
Dragon and Tiger specifically helps develop the capacity of the mind like so:
Initially your mind will link to a part of your qi, like when your hand connects to the edge of your etheric field and you link to the qi in that area. I often called this the “leaf in the stream” as it's only part of the stream of qi, but linking to this part and staying connected to it will increase the flow in the whole stream or line of qi.
Next you can feel the whole stream or line of qi, and can link to and influence it.
More practice and you can link to and affect a whole sheet of qi that envelops the whole front, side or back of you.
As you progress, the connection to your qi becomes three-dimensional and you start to grab the bulk of the first layer of your etheric field. Over time that field can grow exponentially.
Eventually you can link with and manipulate your entire etheric field and all the qi within the whole bag of skin — together — in any given moment.
Back to the Here & Now
At the risk of sounding like a broken record (for those who remember them!), each layer relies upon the previous layers being concrete in order to become activated and fully alive. There are no shortcuts or clever ways to hack the system, which is why not many people reach the higher levels of energetic practice. It takes patience, tenacity, consistency, a bit of stubbornness even, with a healthy dose of honesty with yourself to make headway. But if you can be clear about where you’re at in the here and now, become satisfied with the fact of the matter and continue to practice diligently, the sky’s the limit…
DRAGON & TIGER QIGONG ENERGETICS
Online course now open:
All students welcome — this is an excellent introduction to qigong and qi-based movement arts