In Taoist teachings, many people hear the phrase Laying the Foundation and assume it refers to “preparatory work.” Something you do before the real practice begins. In actuality, that assumption is entirely backward.

Laying the Foundation is not a stepping stone—it is the work. It is the stage that...

Stuart taught us that spiritual cultivation must always combine practice with study. He wasn’t saying theory matters so you can sound smart or explain things intellectually. He was saying that theory gives the practice its internal alignment. He often repeated the line:

“Theory without practice is ...

Stuart used to talk about the Laying the Foundation stage as men restoring Jing to the kidneys and women restoring or settling the Blood in the womb. This stage sounds simple on paper, but in practice it’s one of the hardest stages for people to truly enter. Many students hover around it for years, ...

Most people are first drawn to Taoist internal arts because something about the practices feels exciting or mysterious. They hear about energy cultivation, spiritual awakening, and immortality, and are curious, if not positively determined, to achieve such states. That curiosity and desire are good....

This begins a new series of reflections on what it means to be a cultivator, a sincere practitioner of Taoist and Buddhist philosophy, meditation, Taijiquan, and Qigong. Each article will explore the inner realities of practice, the living transmission of our lineage, and the art of integrating cult...

When I think about Stuart and everything we went through with him in his illness and death, what keeps coming up for me is the image of the lotus and the mud.

All our lives, we’re trained to look at the lotus in people—their greatness, their strength, their shining moments. We want to see them at t...

I met Stuart in 1992—more than thirty years ago. Like a lot of people, I wanted to learn Tai Chi. I had started studying with Jim Lodal, a student of Master Liang’s and Stuart’s in Duluth, MN.

Jim told me that Stuart, newly married to Lian Hua and with his son Lee, on the way, had just moved back t...