Pedram Shojai - Inner Alchemy: The Urban Monk’s Guide to Happiness, Health, and Vitality

CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

INTRODUCTION

I have learned that there is no spirituality higher than our own enlightened humanity. The joys of the human experience, once we are awake, are the most incredible gifts we have been given, and this is what I am here to impart. Inner Alchemy tells the story of the incredible teachings of Taoist alchemy and the practice of energy work called qi gongand it does it in plain English.

In this book, you will learn how to read and clear your energy field, to open to the inner language of your body, and to access your subconscious mind. All of this will allow you to connect to and communicate with Source energy, which is already always flowing through you. This is how you turn the lead of your day-to-day life into gold so you can be healthier, happier, and, ultimately, of service to others and the planet.

I am the juxtaposition of many traditions and cultures, and I am here to hold the center. I found tai chi when I was in the pre-med program at the University of California, Los Angeles. From there, I learned kung fu and qi gong and eventually became a Taoist monk and a doctor of oriental medicine. While I was in the high Himalayas, I realized I needed to be back in the world. Now Im a householder with a wife and kids. Im the founder of well.org, I make movies, and I have a large business, The Urban Monk, which was born out of my follytrying to get busy, urban, working people to try the powerful alchemical stuff that has helped me. Unless you are living in a monastery, you dont have an hour and a half for yoga and then two hours to meditate, plus time for a salt bath soak; living as a traditional monk is a difficult yet privileged lifestyle that renounces the world. My focus for the past twenty years has been to bring what I learned on the mountain down to the city.

Although originally written prior to my book The Urban Monk, the content here complements and builds upon the concepts and practices there. This book was written when I was more monk and less urban. It covers the heavy stuff that is the basis of all the spiritual talk out there. My goal is to have this book serve as a gateway text that introduces alchemical principles and inspires you to develop a steadfast personal practice. In this book, I give you all the necessary tools you need in order to start. Ive taken out the fluff to offer a deep dive into the core teachings that have been lost by the mainstream. We cant throw the baby out with the bathwater, and this book is the baby.

My task at hand here is to demystify much of this information and bring it down to earth. I chose to study Taoism because it stands for balance. It teaches us to balance all aspects of our lives and to bring harmony to the material and the spiritual. It breaks up the division in our way of thinking, allowing us to become whole again.

My promise to you is that if you practice what you learn in this book, your life will change in ways you have never imagined. Let me be very clear about something, though: I am not the one doing this for you. I am not interested in being a guru or getting nailed to a cross. You are the only one who can wake yourself up. I am providing you with the tools and support. My interest is in your growth and your personal development. I know these techniques work because they have worked for me and for many thousands before me. They have helped me wake up, and they will do the same for you if you practice them.

In . In this part of the book, I have also laid out the baseline knowledge and tools you need in order to clean up and refine your energy. I get into the most profound work I have ever experienced in my years of training. This information is your birthright; deep down, you already know most of it. I am just here to remind you and to hold your hand until you are ready to shine like a star.

I constantly strive for balance in my life, and I have a pretty broad range; this is also true for my writing style. Sometimes you will get the monk; at other times, you will get the monkey. Both are me, and both are important. I am here to humanize this process and make it joyful. I will, at times, speak of things that seem very far out there and very strange, but Im not asking you to believe everything I have to sayyet. Actually, go ahead and read this book as fiction if youd like and just see where your mind takes you later. In fact, I dont expect anyone to believe anything. Put the principles you learn in this book into practice, try the exercises, and see for yourself. Only you can awaken you, and the experience of the Divine supersedes any belief in abstract concepts taught through ancient books.

Additionally, I find it important to note that you will be introduced to a variety of subjects in this book that draw from various traditions. Although I am a Taoist teacher primarily, I also have training in Western esotericism, Buddhism, Kabala, medicine, herbalism, and a whole host of self-help techniques from various schools. I regularly draw from what I find useful in order to make the content more accessible. If you are looking for the work of a Taoist purist, then this book may not be for you. I believe that we are living in a time of experimentalism and that the postmodern era has led us into the deconstruction of the cultural barriers of the past. You dont have to be Chinese to study kung fu and be good at it. Likewise, you dont need to wear a turban to practice yoga. As a matter of fact, please just be yourself and wake up. You are perfect just as you are!

You are about to embark on a journey. Along the way, you will learn a great many things and discover facets of yourself that have been hiding right under your nose. Theres a lot of heavy stuff here, but nothing is heavier than your own shadow. The hardest challenge youll face in this process is being honest with yourself and opening to the reality of your situation. This is the real spiritual work. You cannot refine lead until you pick it up and weigh it. You cannot talk about some far-off concept unless you have experienced it within your own flesh. In the course of this book, you are going to walk through a variety of topics and learn a great deal about yourself. Why should you do this? Whats in it for you? Everything! You are the only one who can liberate yourself from the prison of your perceived limitations. There is unlimited peace, power, freedom, money, love, and joy right on the other side of letting go of your stories and waking up to your true potential. There is no real darkness once you come home to yourself; there is no darkness to fear, and your higher self knows this. Tap into your Source energy and wake up to the adventure life has in store for you.

Enjoy the book and do the workyoull be happy you did!

In loving light,

Pedram Shojai

PART I

TAOIST ALCHEMICAL SCIENCE

THE FREE FLOW OF ENERGY

All the power that ever was or will be is here now.

HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, The Pattern on the Trestleboard

T he human mind is infinite. And because of the vastness of our comprehension, we all have certain blind spots in our awareness. They may manifest in the unconscious tone we take when our father rings on the phone or maybe in the rush to smoke a cigarette when we feel overwhelmed. Maybe they appear as the nervous things we say when put into a challenging situation, or perhaps they are what allow us to go through an entire workday and not know what happened, simply moving through the motions all day long. Most of us can also relate to getting lost in social media, not realizing what time it is and being late for something important. Regardless of the item, we have all faced things that rear their ugly heads out of our subconscious mind. We dont feel fully in control and can sense a powerful battery of stored-up emotions and grievances haunting us from our past. This has become the condition of most of us human beings every day of our lives. We struggle with our internal dialogue and push as best we can to get through our days and make our lives go around.