Damo Mitchell - The Four Dragons: Clearing the Meridians and Awakening the Spine in Nei Gong

The Four Dragons

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The Four Dragons

Clearing the Meridians and Awakening the Spine in Nei Gong

DAMO MITCHELL

FOREWORD BY DR OLE SAETHER

LONDON AND PHILADELPHIA

First published in 2014

by Singing Dragon

an imprint of Jesscia Kingsley Publishers

73 Collier Street

London N1 9BE, UK

and

400 Market Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

www.singingdragon.com

Copyright Damien Mitchell 2014

Foreword copyright Ole Saether 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owners written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

Warning: The doing of an unauthorized act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Mitchell, Damo.

The four dragons : clearing the meridians and awakening the spine in nei gong / Damo Mitchell ;

foreword by Dr. Ole Saether.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-84819-226-3 (alk. paper)

1. Dao yin. 2. Qi gong. 3. Back exercises. I. Title.

RA781.85. M58 2014

613.71489--dc23

2014004432

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84819 226 3

eISBN 978 0 85701 173 2

To my parents and friends, Paul and Chris

C ONTENTS

F OREWORD

I first met Damo in Stockholm in March 2012, during one of his workshops on Daoist Nei Gong. What really struck me about Damo was his incredible flexibility and his speed of movement, as well as the ease with which he taught. Daoist theory just seemed to come to him very naturally and so did his explanations, his practical demonstrations and his Qi transmission. During the course, he went through different practices, including stretching, Zhan Zhuang (standing stake) and Qi Gong. He also helped us awaken our energy system.

I had decided to attend this workshop mainly for health reasons. Prior to training with Damo, I had trained in Yi Quan/Taikkiken and this had proven to be great for my health. My teacher had helped me out with the Zhan Zhuang posture, which I found rather tricky at first. This standing practice actually cured the chronic muscular pain from which I had been suffering for the previous twenty years. But then, all of a sudden, the training gave me pain in my lower back. The more I trained the more pain I experienced, especially at night when I wasnt moving.

I made all sorts of adjustments to my Yi Quan training but nothing helped, so I had to stop training. I went to see four different acupuncturists, to no avail unfortunately; the fourth one actually made it worse as he caused some psychological disturbances! The fifth acupuncturist I met was my TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) teacher. He was also a very good chiropractor and he found out that there was something wrong with my right sacro-iliac joint. Things improved after this adjustment. However, the tension in my lower back wouldnt go away, even after a few more acupuncture treatments.

Before receiving the treatment from my acupuncture teacher, I had been searching for workshops that could potentially help me. I had just finished reading Daoist Nei Gong Damos first book and, to my surprise, it turned out that Damo was about to visit Stockholm in March 2012. I didnt know what to expect when I went to that workshop; but I have been following Damos teachings since then and I feel very lucky that our paths crossed. I have learned various practices with Damo, including Ji Ben Qi Gong, Wu Xing Qi Gong and the Dragon Dao Yin exercises, as well as meditation. Although I have only studied the Dragon Dao Yin sequences for a year now, they have made my body much softer and more flexible.

Who may benefit from this book then? I would say that if you are following Damos teachings, the book is essential because it will speed up the understanding of the system and make the Dragon Dao Yin exercises come to life much faster. For those training in other systems like Qi Gong or yoga, it is also a very valuable book because it explains the difference between Qi Gong and Dao Yin exercises. The book goes through the Dao Yin sequences in detail. As an added benefit, the Dragon Dao Yin might be helpful to yoga practitioners, as they open the joints. Just as important, the book provides a comprehensive theoretical overview of Dao Yin and Qi Gong.

When it comes to this type of training, people often worry about a number of things. How much time should I spend on this training? Is there really something called Qi in the body? Is this good for my health? What is the purpose of this Daoist training? If we wish to understand what Damo teaches, it is required that we put some time into it.

Unlike Western medicine, Chinese medicine rests on the idea that everything is Qi. Damo teaches through the ancient Chinese way of looking at the world and understanding the energies that surround us. It isnt easy to find teachers who have such in-depth knowledge. It is also very hard to find someone who speaks English and is actually willing to teach Western people. For these reasons, Damos books are, in my opinion, as rare as they are unique.

While Nei Gong training is really good for your health, this is ultimately a by-product of the training. The meaning of the training is to try and understand Dao. But what Dao exactly is, no one knows. It is just a big question mark.

Welcome to a journey on the road into the unknown

Dr Ole Saether

Doctor of Western medicine, Chinese medicine practitioner and Nei Gong practitioner

Gothenburg, Sweden

A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

F irst and foremost, thank you to my good friend Spencer Hill for working so hard to create the amazing drawings used to demonstrate the movements of the Dragon Dao Yin exercises. Thanks also to Joe Andrews for the line drawings used elsewhere in the book. Much gratitude to the students featured in photographs in this book: Jason Smith and Tom Burrows. Thank you to Dr Ole Saether for kindly writing the foreword to this book. Thank you so much to Linda Griffiths who provided the photo of the dragon chasing the pearl for me. Last but not least, thanks once again to Jessica Kingsley and the staff at Singing Dragon for allowing my ramblings to make it into print once more.