Mantak Chia

Mantak Chia is the leading teacher of Taoist chi kung (Inner Alchemy, Sexual Alchemy, chi energy meditations, tai chi, chi kung, etc.) in the West. The author of dozens of books, booklets, DVDs, and CDs describing the theory and methods of these practices, Mantak Chia has taught hundreds of thousands of eager students the principles of Taoist Inner Alchemy practice over the past forty-five years. He is the creator of the Universal Healing Tao System, which distills and clarifies the Taoist practices, and the director of the Tao Garden Health Spa and Resort in Thailand. Taught by over twelve hundred certified instructors and practitioners on every continent, the Universal Tao System provides access to a uniquely modern integration of traditional theory, method, and practice. The Universal Tao System is a practical system of self-cultivation and independent spiritual development. Mantak Chia created the system to effectively share the many ancient Chinese meditative and internal energy practices transmitted to him by a series of masters and teachers throughout Asia. His sincere wish is that every individual might have the opportunity to complete the harmonious evolution of body, mind, and Spirit. Through these practices, the student learns to take personal responsibility for his or her own physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Mantak Chia was born in Thailand to Chinese parents in 1944. Recognized very early as having great potential for spiritual development, he was initiated into meditation practices by Buddhist monks at the age of six. While studying in Hong Kong, he learned tai chi chuan, aikido, and kundalini yoga from a variety of teachers. His pursuit of Taoist teachings led him, at age fifteen, to meet Yi Eng (White Cloud Hermit), a Taoist master originally from central China, who was living at that time in the mountains not far from Hong Kong. Eventually Yi Eng was to become Mantak Chia's principal teacher. Over a period of ten years, Yi transmitted to Mantak Chia the most sacred and closely held Taoist practices, formulas, and methods of internal alchemy. Realizing that, as transmitted to him, these important practices could not easily be absorbed by Western students, Mantak Chia undertook to clarify and demystify them and to integrate them with his studies in Western human anatomy. Mantak Chia lived for fifteen years in New York before returning to Thailand in 1994. He now spends much of the year traveling in Europe, the United States, Asia, Africa, and South America, leading workshops and giving lectures. Currently, Universal Tao Centers exist in cities across the United States and in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, China, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, and South Africa. Visit Mantak Chia's website at www.universal-tao.com. Visit the Tao Garden Health Spa and Resort website at www.tao-garden.com.