Qigong, Daoyin, and Neigong: Pathways to Internal Cultivation and Well-Being
By Roshi Teja Fudo Myoo Bell
The practice of QigongDharma introduces three foundational disciplines from Chinese wisdom traditions—Qigong, Daoyin, and Neigong—each representing a distinct approach to holistic cultivation and personal transformation. While these terms often overlap in practice, they illuminate distinct yet interconnected pathways toward health, vitality, meditative awareness, and wisdom insight.
Rather than rigid categories, these practices create an interwoven tapestry whose threads support a lifelong journey toward radiant well-being, inner harmony, and the profound realization of our True Nature.
QigongDharma weaves these ancient wisdom traditions with contemporary understanding, offering an inclusive path to personal transformation. Let us explore each practice individually to appreciate both its unique qualities and its essential unity.
Qigong (氣功): The Cultivation of Life Energy
Qigong (氣功) involves the intentional cultivation of Qi (氣)—the vital life energy that animates all existence—through coordinated movement, breath regulation and meditative focus. The term itself combines two characters:
- 氣 (Qi)— the universal life energy pervading all being
- 功 (Gong)— cultivated skill, practice, and dedicated effort
At its essence, Qigong is an art of self-regulation, refining how energy is cultivated, circulated, and stored within the body’s energetic landscape. It harmonizes body, breath, and mind through the integration of relaxation, visualization, and internal awareness.
A Note on Historical Usage: While the practices encompassed by Qigong extend back thousands of years through various lineages and traditions, the term “Qigong” itself is relatively modern, gaining widespread usage primarily in the mid-20th century. Earlier traditions used different names for similar practices—including Daoyin, Tuna (吐納, “expelling and drawing in breath”), Yangsheng (養生, “nourishing life”), and others. The consolidation under the umbrella term “Qigong” helped unify these diverse practices into a recognizable field, making these ancient arts more accessible to contemporary practitioners while honoring their deep historical roots.
The Three Treasures
Qigong practice strengthens the Three Treasures (San Bao, 三寶):
- Jing (精, Essence)— foundational vitality associated with cellular regeneration and longevity
- Qi (氣, Energy)— the dynamic force that animates and sustains life
- Shen (神, Spirit)— refined awareness that emerges through deepening meditative cultivation
By nurturing these Three Treasures, Qigong promotes radiant health, longevity, and inner balance, serving as both a preventive wellness system and a contemplative path for deepening self-awareness.
The Six Pillars of Qigong Practice
Qigong rests upon six interwoven principles that create harmonious and effective practice:
- Postural Alignment— Cultivating structural integrity and balance to optimize Qi flow, ensuring smooth energy circulation while reducing physical tension
- Coordinated Movement— Fluid, intentional sequences that express Qigong principles through circular, spiral, or wave-like patterns reflecting natural energetic rhythms
- Breath Synchronization— Using breath as a bridge between body and mind, regulating the nervous system and integrating body, mind, and spirit
- Intention and Purpose— The Yi (意, Intention) directs Qi, transforming mechanical movements into energetic transmission
- Mindful Awareness— Cultivating meditative presence that enhances internal perception of Qi movement, meridians, and energy centers
- Energetic Circulation— Directing Qi through the meridian system (Jing Luo, 經絡), energy centers (Dantians, 丹田), and organ networks to harmonize the entire energy field
These elements are not separate but interdependent, weaving together into a cohesive practice that enhances vitality, resilience, and spiritual insight.
Radiant Heart Qigong
Radiant Heart Qigong represents an evolved expression within QigongDharma, integrating Daoyin and Neigong principles and practices. Born from decades of research, direct experience, and teaching in Zen and Vipassana retreat settings, this system exemplifies the fusion of:
- Physical movement— expressing Qi’s intelligence in dynamic form
- Breath refinement— unlocking deeper layers of energy circulation
- Meditative insight— awakening awareness, compassion, and presence through energetic embodiment
Radiant Heart Qigong serves as both a self-healing practice and a meditative discipline, unifying somatic awareness, energy cultivation, and spiritual realization.
Breath moves through stillness
River of light moves within—
Life energy flows
Daoyin (導引): Leading and Guiding Qi
Daoyin translates as “leading and guiding”—Dao (導) meaning “to lead” and Yin (引) meaning “to guide” the flow of Qi. As one of the oldest forms of Chinese health exercises, with roots extending over 2,000 years, Daoyin can be understood as proto-Qigong, embodying the foundational principles of physical movement, breath regulation, and mental focus for Qi cultivation and purification.
Characteristics of Daoyin Practice
- Dynamic Stretching & Movement— Enhancing physical flexibility and energetic circulation
- Purification & Detoxification— Releasing blockages and stagnant energy
- Breath-Body Coordination— Using breath to amplify movement efficiency
- Foundational Training— Forming the essential basis for many Qigong, Neigong, and martial arts practices
Daoyin creates, supplements, and maintains bodily health while enhancing vitality and flexibility. On subtler levels, it releases and unblocks stagnant Qi, balancing and harmonizing energy flow throughout the body.
Daoyin often features more structured, rhythmic, and physically engaging movement patterns than other forms. In ancient Daoist and Buddhist traditions, it strengthened the body, boosted immune function, and harmonized energy flow. Many Daoyin lineages constitute complete systems that also provide excellent foundations for other Qigong, Neigong, and meditative practices.
Fluid Energy Spirals
Within QigongDharma, Fluid Energy Spirals represents a highly effective Daoyin practice originating from the XingYi (形意) tradition. This practice embodies the principles of circularity, fluid motion, and Qi-leading movement, promoting both physical health and meditative focus.
Stretch, spiral, release
Guiding flow through ancient forms—
Blocked channels open
Neigong (內功): Internal Skill and Deep Energy Cultivation
Neigong (內功) translates as “internal skill,” combining:
- 內 (Nei)— inner, internal
- 功 (Gong)— skill, cultivated effort
Neigong represents internal cultivation, refining the subtle energetics of Qi, breath, and meditative awareness. It emphasizes inner alchemy (Nèidān, 內丹)—the transformation of Qi and consciousness from within. While primarily still and contemplative, Neigong practices can integrate active forms of movement.
Neigong is not about controlling Qi, but rather about connecting with the intelligence of being that enables harmonious deepening of direct knowing.
These contemplative practices refine direct experiences of Qi and open realms of spiritual perception accessible only through such meditative endeavor.
Mindfulness meditation can serve as both a gateway and a Neigong process for deepening experience, though it differs from mindfulness as daily practice.
Key Features of Neigong Practice
- Stillness & Internal Awareness— Developing direct perception of Qi through meditation and inner vision
- Energetic Refinement— Transforming Qi into more refined, radiant states
- Deepening Meditative Absorption— Awakening profound inner stillness for insight and wisdom clarity
- Subtle Breath & Qi Mechanics— Accessing pranayama-like breath training and specific practices such as Microcosmic & Grand Circulation
In some traditions, Neigong serves as a gateway to higher-level internal practices, leading to profound realization of emptiness (Wu, 無), stillness (Jing, 靜), and flow (Liu, 流).
Embryonic Breathing and Grand Circulation
Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming’s teachings on Embryonic Breathing and Grand Circulation exemplify advanced Neigong. Embryonic Breathing refines Qi through deep breath absorption, energy storage, and transformation. Grand Circulation expands this practice to move Qi throughout the entire body. Both require a solid Qigong foundation, demonstrating how these practices build upon one another.
Stillness, spirit shines
Breath becomes so fine, so deep—
Spirit touches Source
The Unity of Practice: Distinctions and Interconnections
While Qigong, Daoyin, and Neigong each possess distinct qualities, they exist on a continuum of internal cultivation:
| Aspect | Qigong (氣功) | Daoyin (導引) | Neigong (內功) |
| Focus | Energy Cultivation | Physical & Energetic Training | Internal Refinement |
| Key Practice | Movement, Breath, Awareness | Guided Movements & Stretches | Stillness, Inner Work |
| Breathwork | Synchronized with Movement | Integrated into Motion | Subtle & Deep Refinement |
| Application | Healing, Vitality, Balance | Strength, Flexibility, Detoxification | Energy Transformation, Inner Wisdom |
| Depth of Engagement | Accessible to Advanced | Foundational Training | Advanced Inner Cultivation |
In QigongDharma, these practices are not separate but interwoven layers of a complete internal energy system. Qigong provides the foundation, Daoyin refines physical and energetic pathways, and Neigong deepens meditative insight—each reinforcing the others in an evolving spiral of development.
The flow of practice and engagement with Qigong, Daoyin, and Neigong is not necessarily linear or sequential. Rather, it evolves organically through the student-teacher relationship and the practitioner’s own deepening journey.
Whether through the graceful movements of Qigong, the energizing flows of Daoyin, or the profound depths of Neigong, each art offers a unique yet interconnected path toward vitality, mindfulness, and spiritual realization.
In QigongDharma, we recognize the inseparability of these disciplines, honoring their tradition, purpose, and evolutionary integration into a unified practice of well-being and awakening.
Ultimately, all these practices invite us into deeper communion with life itself, revealing the dynamic harmony of Qi, consciousness, and existence.
Three Paths, One Way
Movement teaches stillness,
Stillness discovers motion—
Breath between the worlds.
Three streams converge where ancient echoes sing,
Qi flows like moon-pulled tides at dawn.
Ancient hands stretch wide,
Making stagnant waters clear,
Channels run like springs.
Circles move that guide, stretch, and free.
Energy once bound—now light reborn.
Deep within, so deep,
The smallest breath sparks stars—
Being knows itself.
Hands guide heaven’s breath through limbs of grace,
Body, mind, and inner spark entwined.
Three rivers converge:
One flows through dancing muscle,
One through opened gates,
One through silent depths where light
Becomes awareness, awareness
Becomes the very pulse
That moves the hand, that guides the breath,
That stills the heart into such brightness
We remember—we were never
Separate from this flowing.
Guided by Daoyin’s rhythm, we embrace
The spiral dance of form, relaxed and kind.
Deep within stillness, Neigong’s secret heart
Direct knowing of formless flows—
Essence refined, intention set apart,
Spirit settling in the place it knows.
Qigong, Daoyin, Neigong—
Three names for coming home,
For discovering the intelligence
Already moving through us,
Already breathing us,
Already awake.
Here, in this body,
This breath, this single moment,
The ancient way opens—
Not three paths but one
Seamless recognition
Of what has always been—
Energy, awareness, life itself,
Practicing being fully alive.
Not separate, but a living woven whole,
Unfolding wisdom, practice drawn anew,
Qi’s vital current, radiant and soul-full—
Modern ways—ancient arts—harmonize and renew.