Bodymind Healing Qigong
~ Online Educational, Integral Healing & Training Programs ~
The circular diagram above shows the educational, integral healing, and training program of Bodymind Healing Qigong: Embodying Cross cultural Wisdom Traditions. (Perhaps the best known system of Qigong is Tai Chi.)
Please scroll down further on this page (or search /find *) to see the best way to approach the training program. *
What is Qigong?
Qigong is a many-thousand-year-old method of cultivating the energy of life through breath, movement, sound, touch, imagery, and awareness. It is one of the five branches of Chinese Medicine, and an age old longevity practice for living younger longer, (as is explored further in my book, Secrets to Living Younger Longer; The Self-healing Path of Qigong, Standing Meditation, and Tai Chi).Tai Chi is perhaps the best-known method of Qigong. Each tradition of Qigong may have different focuses including spiritual, medical, mind-body healing, martial, and psychological. For example, it has long been practiced to improve flexibility, balance, relaxation, center oneself, limber joints, and optimize energy flow. From a psychospiritual perspective it can help in cultivating equanimity, reversing sympathetic nervous system dysregulation, and establishing a cohesive center to help you stay grounded in the midst of the cross currents of life. {To see some of the research on how Qigong and Chinese Medicine can be of help with various diseases and disorders, please click the free research page on my website.}
What is Bodymind Healing Qigong?
BMHQ is an integral Qigong tradition developed from my 40 years of training with various Qigong masters. Though I was trained classically in many forms of Qigong, I integrate Qigong with his background in researching, writing and teaching about ancient wisdom traditions. Using story-telling, mythopoetic imagination and classical teachings participants will experience how Qigong and Tai Chi (the best-known system of Qigong) have four dimensions of purpose, self-healing, spiritual unfoldment, self-defense and changing one’s life stance psychologically.
What will I learn from Bodymind Healing Tai Chi/Qigong?
- You’ll expand your understanding of Qigong and the Integral Chuan Traditions (Tai Chi, Xing Yi, Bagua, and Yi Chuan) with associations from wider cross cultural wisdom traditions.
- You’ll be inspired by creative and Imaginal interpretations of movements.
- You’ll discover how each movement has Four Purposes: Self-healing, Spiritual Unfoldment, Self-defense, and Changing your Life Stance Psychologically.
For a deeper look into my work with psychotherapy please see our companion site: www.bodymindhealing.com.
Note: I presented the workshop on Bodymind Healing Qigong: Embodying Cross-Cultural Wisdom Traditions at the annual Eurotas Transpersonal Psychology Conference in Oaxaca, Mexico on October 22, 2025. Couldn’t make it to the conference? Here’s the video program of the teachings behind this presentation:-)
Integrating Psychological Methods & Tai Chi/Qigong: A Holistic Approach to Healing, American Tai Chi &Qigong Association, Feb. 23, 2024.
Start Your Qigong & Tai Chi
Journey Here:
The curricula of the video training programs includes:
I. Bodymind Healing Qigong: Extended Short Form
1 Video
Begin here your educational, integral healing, and training program: The eight sets of Bodymind Healing Qigong.
II. Bodymind Healing Qigong: Embodying Cross Cultural Wisdom Traditions
26 Video Series
An Educational, Integral Healing, and Training Program. A 26-session, on demand, downloadable program. First session free.
III. Tai Chi Chuan: Four Dimensions of Purpose
19 Video Series
A 19-session, Educational, Integral Healing and Training Program. On demand, downloadable. Four free introductory videos.
IV. Next Steps in the Integral Chuan Curricula
10 Video Series
A 10-session, Educational, Integral Healing and Training Program. On demand, downloadable. Four free introductory videos.
* How to approach the Training Program:
- The Bodymind Healing Qigong Video Training Program is set up so you can approach it in any order you choose.
- However, I’d recommend starting with the Bodymind Healing Qigong Extended Short Form Video. This is the same ritual Qigong practice that we do in our online class every Saturday, which you’re welcome to join. This set of Qigong I synthesized from many decades of training with some of the world’s most respected Qigong masters. It emphasizes, Standing Meditation Qigong( also called Standing like a Tree or Zhan Zhuang. and how all Qigong movement practices grow from the roots of that tree. If you feel so inclined, for a deeper immersion then you can continue with the 26 video series Bodymind Healing Qigong: Embodying Cross Cultural Wisdom traditions.
- The Integral Chuan Curricula.
A. Then before, after, or during the BMHQ 26 video series you can take the 19 video series: Tai Chi Chuan: Four Dimensions of Purpose.
B. After, or before, this video proceed to the Next Steps in the Integral Chuan Curricula (a 10 video series).
1. Yi Chuan Qigong (2 Videos) **
2. Xing YI Chuan (4 Videos)
3. Bagua Zhang (2 Videos)
4. Bonus Videos – Creative Energy of the Universe & The Integral Chuan Health Dance
** Yi Chuan was developed by Grandmaster Wang Xiangzhai, my Si Tai Gung. My Sifu, Master Ha believed that it was important to know and practice the Yi Chuan before learning Tai Chi; in fact he taught Tai Chi as if it was a Yi Chuan practice — practicing each movement as static Standing Meditation posture. After the Tai Chi video program you can begin the Xing Yi and Bagua videos. - Please don’t get overwhelmed by the extent of the program. This curricula is a many decade practice. It took me a lifetime to develop— or you can have the time of your life just doing one of the practices for a few minutes:-) I didn’t start my Bagua training until after forty years of training in the other facets of the Integral Chuan traditions. Many students just practice the Bodymind Healing Qigong portion of the program, or just the Tai Chi. Master Ha would always say, “just stand,” when us students were greedy for more. Qigong Master Ken Cohen (my friend and colleague) says “Standing Meditation is the million dollar secret of Qigong.” Or as Wang Xiangzhai puts it, “Standing Meditation, doing nothing and finding contentment in being alight.” However, after Standing one may want to “disperse stagnant chi” —thus the birth of various Qigong healing practices which grow out of the circle that arises from stillness. And so, from the roots developed from Standing Meditation…the branches of the Integral Chuan curricula grow.
- A note of eternal gratitude to sifu Grandmaster Fong Ha and all the other masters to whom I have deep appreciation for introducing me to the treasures of the Qigong (work with chi) traditions in their various forms. So I’m eternally grateful for intensive training with Grandmasters Sam Tam (Eagle Claw, Yi Chuan, and Taiji Quan), Han Xing Yuan (a first generation disciple of Wang Xiangzhai), Cai San Feng; and to Grandmasters Lam Kam Chuen (Yi Chuan Qigong), Han Jing Chen (Yi Chuan Qigong), and Dr. Alex Feng in the Five Animal Forms of Hua Tau.
- Also gratitude to my Tai Chi brothers and sisters for sharing the journey: my colleague/friend of Taoist scholar, master Ken Cohen; Sandy Rosenberg; Jan Diepersloot; Michlene Bogey; Scott Hamm; Bruce Wolf; Steve Blazewicz; Tim Muskawitch; Eric Olsen; Uma Bhatnagar; Aldo Magie; Lucy Lewis— and to those in the community who’ve I’ve forgotten to mention here.
Disclaimer: In all of the videos that follow I don’t represent that my curricula is a replica of my esteemed Sifus’ transmissions; rather I gratefully take their teachings and integrate their practices with my training as a psychologist and my research into cross-cultural wisdom traditions.
* Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor, nor am I claiming medical benefits from the practices. Please consult with your medical doctor before practicing the methods in the Integral Chuan video series as you are considering integrating them as a complement to your bodymind healing practices.
Qigong, one of the five branches of Chinese Medicine, is a well known longevity practice for “Living Younger Longer,” as is explored further in my book, Secrets to Living Younger Longer; The Self-healing Path of Qigong, Standing Meditation, and Tai Chi. Qigong and Tai Chi (the best known method of Qigong) can be a helpful psycho-spiritual healing pathway for relaxation, stress reduction, limbering joints, cultivating equanimity, reversing sympathetic nervous system dysregulation, and establishing a cohesive center to help you stay grounded in the midst of the cross currents of life. {To see some of the research on how Qigong and Chinese Medicine can be of help with various diseases and disorders, please click my free research page on my website.}
“The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi” (Wayne & Fuerst, 1991) says: “regular practice leads to more vigor and flexibility, better balance and mobility, and a sense of well-being. Cutting-edge research from Harvard Medical School also supports the long-standing claims that Tai Chi also has a beneficial impact on the health of the heart, bones, nerves and muscles, immune system, and the mind.”
So, in the Bodymind Healing Qigong video series you’ll be introduced to a lifetime training curriculum which may help you to live younger longer.. You’ll learn to actualize your bodymind health through various cross cultural healing practices using Qigong and the Chinese internal arts ( Tai Chi, Xing Yi and Bagua).For example, you’ll learn how Qigong energetic states can be used to “shape shift.”
“Human Beings, in our deepest essences, are “shape-shifters.” We are the elements of creation: fire, earth, metal, water and wood. We are empty space, as modern physics hows us. This book will show how we can change our life stances by becoming like a tree. We can move like a silk-worm reeling silk, and thereby transform our identities with a lightness of Being that can be as colorful as that of a butterfly. We can transform our linear bodies into the likeness of a ball of energy. And, if current research is accurate, when we shape-shift into the appropriate element for the occasion, and return to our primordial selves, natural health is restored and we live younger longer.” (Mayer, 2004, p. 6)
Throughout the Integral Chuan Curricula, you’ll learn how each posture in our series is a Standing Meditation postures which can bring you to a state specific state of consciousness which initiates us into the Integral Chuan curricula as a tradition of “postural initiation.” This tradition has roots in cross cultural indigenous ad shamanic lineages such as: the Native American Kivas where young initiates imitated animal movements to imbibe their primordial energies, the Animal Frolics of Hua Tau where early acupuncturists would prescribe healing animal movements, to the Temple of Aesclepius where the seeker of health would be prescribed a visit to the Dionesian theater to put on a mask of an animal or deity for healing, and the Bodhisattva Warrior tradition of early Buddhism where the initiate would hold postures to work through “klesas” (emotional blockages in the way of enlightenment).”
In this Bodymind Healing Qigong video set you’ll learn how Tai Chi and Qigong can be practiced as part of a wider cross-cultural/cross-temporal tradition of “postural initiation.” You’ll become initiated into how Tai Chi postures can be seen as a state- specific hieroglyphic alphabet of stances that can be used to embody the Western and Eastern mystery traditions. Emphasis is placed on the healing elements of the tradition, and how Standing Mediation Qigong (embedded in Tai Chi) connects one with wuji (the mother of chi) and weaves that connection like a Golden Silken thread throughout the set.
Each Tai Chi/Qigong posture can be seen as having four dimensions of purpose: self-healing, spiritual unfoldment, self-defense, and transforming one’s life stance psychologically. Each class begins with a Qigong warm up from Bodymind Healing Tai Chi/Qigong and then in each of nineteen classes of the Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan-Long Form about three Tai Chi Chuan movements are successively added in each class explaining how the four dimensions of purpose apply to each posture/movement.
Dr Michael takes his 40 years of research, training and teaching in ancient sacred wisdom traditions and uses the practices of Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong to transmit these teachings as a tradition of postural initiation. Michael did his doctoral work on the integration of ancient wisdom traditions with modern body-mind healing methods. His Mythic Journey Process, River of Life self-hypnosis method are examples of the clinical applications of this integration of Qigong and imaginal healing methods.
Dr. Michael trained graduate master of psychology students in the integration of ancient wisdom traditions at John F Kennedy University for 12 years (1978-1990). He pioneered the integration of Tai Chi/Qigong and psychotherapy, teaching the first accredited university course to doctoral students in that integration at the California Institute of Integral Studies (2007, 2009).
About Dr. Michael’s broader work in cross-cultural spiritual traditions: He won the world astrology prize for being the first person to integrate astrological symbols with depth psychotherapy in his Mystery of Personal Identity book and create a theoretical framework for astrology that is palatable even to skeptics (Mayer 1977, 2012). His most recent book, The Path of a Reluctant Metaphysician: Stories and Practices for Troubled Times, won a Ben Franklin award in the Mind-Body Spirit Category.
The practices in these videos are not a substitute for medical advice from your medical professionals. Though the practices in these videos can contribute to healing bodymind issues, one should always listen to their own body and the limits that it and your medical team suggests to adapt these practices to your unique circumstances. By doing the practices herein you are agreeing to be responsible to adhere to these caveats.
Any of the self-defense practices suggested in these videos should be viewed in light of being part of a system of holistic healing rather than getting inflated into thinking that you can apply these practices in life endangering situations. The best offense and defense is to avoid fights; and this is the ground of Taoist self-defense practice.
The practices in these videos, though rooted in classical training from Master Fong Ha and other Tai Chi Chuan masters, should not be taken as a direct representation of their teachings. Bodymind Healing Tai Chi Chuan branches out from those teachings to add: 1.) Creative and imaginal interpretations of movements 2.) Associations from wider cross-cultural wisdom traditions, which may not be part of classical Tai Chi teaching 3.) A focus on Four Purposes of each movement in the Tai Chi set that may not be part of traditional teaching.
Quotes from leaders in the field about Dr Michael’s teachings, books and products:
1970s Dr. Michael Mayer began his study of Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong with me. With continuous diligence, devotion, and skill he grows and ages with me as faithful student and friend. It delights my eyes and warms my heart to witness the masterful way Dr. Mayer creates a joining of hands between Eastern and Western spiritual traditions in this book.
Fong Ha, Internationally recognized grandmaster of Tai Chi Chuan and Yi Chuan Qigong.
{Note: This is not how Master Ha describes himself,
rather he describes himself on one of my book’s endorsements humbly as,
Fong Ha, One who practices Tai Chi & Qigong.}
“Michael Mayer’s practical synthesis and deep knowledge of Qigong and Tai Chi movement forms has greatly impressed me during my years administering the Esalen Institute Movement Arts Program. He stands out among the many teachers I’ve met and practiced with and has provided me with insights available from no other teacher
Rick Cannon, Esalen Institute, Coordinator, Movement Arts Program
About Michael’s Bodymind Healing Qigong DVD:
“I liked your Bodymind Healing Qigong DVD so much that in the course I taught we started with two or three sections of it every day. It simply is a wonderful DVD.”
– Bessel van der Kolk, MD Medical Director, the Trauma Center, Boston University School of Medicine
“I did not go out of our home during the daily terrorist attacks in Israel. I practiced Michael Mayer’s Bodymind Healing exercises regularly to regain my calm. They relieved my tight body and took my mind off of the stress and worries to be more present to others, to help them deal with their fears and find an oasis of tranquility in the middle of the war zone. I continue to use Bodymind Healing Qigong to ease everyday stresses and bring me back to my inner sanctuary of equanimity.”
Hana Matt,Teacher of World Religions, Graduate Theological Union
About Michael’s book, Secrets to Living Younger Longer: The Self-healing Path of Qigong, Standing Meditation and Tai Chi:
A wonderful guide for learning the ancient healing practice of Qigong. Full of clear and practical exercises.
Dr. Wayne Jonas, Former Director National Institute of Health, Office of Alternative Medicine
A splendid break-through which will certainly contribute a new slant to meditative practice.
Dr. Larry Dossey Author of Reinventing Medicine
About Dr Michael’s book Energy Psychology:
“Drawing upon over thirty years of his psychotherapy practice and personal training, Dr. Mayer has provided a seminal contribution to the field of mind-body interventions for a wide range of common disorders, as he offers us a treasure house of energy-based practices to cultivate our self-healing powers. His book is profound in its scope, evidence based, bridges Eastern and Western traditions, and provides practical insights and skills that can be of enormous value to both individuals and organizations seeking to attain optimal health.”
Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier, clinical professor of medicine, University of California, San Francisco,
and author of The Best Alternative Medicine: What Works? What Does Not?
“This scholarly and eminently readable book integrates Eastern and Western forms of self-healing techniques and examines the capacity of various approaches that put human beings at the center of their own self-care. I applaud Dr. Michael Mayer for his monumental work, which hopefully foreshadows the shape of body-mind approaches for years to come.”
Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Medical Director, the Trauma Center, Boston University School of Medicine,
and former professor of psychiatry, Harvard University
For more about Dr. Michael’s background in Tai Chi/Qigong please click here.
Note: Dr. Michael presented his workshop on Bodymind Healing Qigong: Embodying Cross-Cultural Wisdom Traditions
at the annual Eurotas Transpersonal Psychology Conference in Oaxaca, Mexico on October 22, 2025 (Scroll down for English).