Hello Friend.
At bottom, we are all fellow passengers on Spaceship Earth,
Thank you for your interest in our training programs. Here’s an overview and some further details about what Neidan Yoga can offer you.
Overall, the program is very practice-oriented but with online training and support. However, the first year (level 1) is more evenly weighted between theory, discussion and practice. This caters for folks just starting to explore advanced yoga. Neidan Yoga incorporates modern science and medicine but within the traditional framework of practice taught in three great yogic traditions—Hindu yoga, Tibetan Buddhism and Daoist yoga.
The year 1 curriculum essentially covers Neidan Yoga, levels 1 and 2, as it is presented on the website, https://neidanandyoga.com/. It also includes aspects of Neidan Yoga, levels 3 and 4a. To get a better sense for the type of practices involved, you can read the level 1 and 2 pages in the sādhana section of the website.
next training programs and workshops
The next, year-long, level 1 class is scheduled to begin in the late spring of 2026 (so, about two years ahead). Online classes and study/practice sessions are held at least once every two weeks during the term. Readings and homework practice are part of the course. The course is self-sufficient but folks can also just choose what to incorporate into their current spiritual practice.
Until then, I am still mentoring some folks individually. If 10 or more people are interested in working together, an informal study group can be formed online before the next level 1 class commences. The program uses remote neurofeedback and Jyotish astrology as maps for self-discovery and as a way to follow the spiritual path with rigor.
Neurofeedback reigns as the premier cutting edge tool for personal health and peak performance. Jyotish is an esoteric model for all of life handed down to us from higher levels of consciousness. This metaphysical science includes very fine detail about how to progress on the spiritual path. For instance, you can discern the differences and agreements of all religions and especially the three major yogic traditions. Having said that, we still aim to adhere to traditional dictums and guidance whenever possible.
Traditional Roots of Neidan Yoga
The main yogic traditions we follow are:
All the world’s a TORUS — best you learn how to synch with it and go with the real flow of life. This is why we practice expanding and sinking qi in the hatha yoga poses. Similar to the space meditations of Buddhists, this method offers you a fabulous and effective way to ground into the field of Light.
1) Hindu yoga — Swami Satyananda (also, all other teachers that stem from his teacher, Swami Sivananda); this entails the foundations of advanced yogic sādhana, such as prāṇāyāma and midline energy work. Āsanas find double duty as a vehicle for physical cultivation and energy cultivation (by incorporating expanding and sinking qigong into the practice).
2) Tibetan Buddhism — Dzogchen: Bön tradition (mainly Tenzin Rinpoche) and Nyingmapa tradition of Dudjom Lingpa (mainly Lama Alan Wallace); Vajrayana: Kagyu, Bön and all other Tibetan Buddhist traditions for generation and completion stage practices, especially phowa, tummo and 8 yogas of Naropa (Tulku Lobsang Rinpoche, Tenzin Rinpoche, Lama Zopa, Patrul Rinpoche and many others)
3) Daoist yoga — Chinese medicine (acupuncture and medical qigong) provide the foundation (for instance, Jerry Alan Johnson for medical qigong); Neidan (qigong for the central channel): Parting Clouds Daoist Education, a sect of Quanzhen Longmen, this Daoist community provides formal training toward ordination which includes neidan as part of the curriculum; and the Dragon Gate lineage as taught by Wang Liping (see Nathan Brine's books: The Taoist Alchemy of Wang Liping, volumes 1 and 2; Nathan is authorized to teach neidan by Master Wang Liping).
lineage and the genesis of neidan yoga
You might wonder, “Where did this guy come up with the structure of Neidan Yoga? Is it based solely on his personal experiences? Or, was he initiated into the underlying traditions?” Really good question! And, an important one to answer. Here’s the pith:
A serious practitioner of any of these traditions will realize that all these paths are solving the same problem with essentially the same techniques. The cultural trappings differ but the deeper goals and eventual realizations have much in common. Modern unified physics provides a rigorous framework for understanding yoga as a way to tune the body's energy fields in terms of toroidal dynamics. You can check out the following website, if you're not familiar with this concept: Universe might be shaped like a Doughnut.
So, the short answer is that the cards are on the table and out in the open for anyone to see these days. That is, modern science has gone one up on these hoary esoteric traditions and provided clear, demonstrable equations that utterly clarify the perennially fuzzy and wishful thinking surrounding spiritual practice: There is a goal (the quantum field with even finer levels of organization yet to come) and there is a path (yoga aided and abetted by snippets of modern science and health medicine).
So a comprehensive and timely modern model exists for advanced yogic practice. How’d it end up here? Fate, really. My spiritual teachers and personal karma conspired to kick me through all these different modern sciences and traditional mystical paths. I certainly had no desire to knit together the lot of them into a unified yoga. They all ended up in my lap and I scribed what was taught. Now, of course, I am a serious lifelong meditator, yogic practitioner, and do have legitimate transmissions in all these traditions. That helps. At present, I’m navigating through a five year plus formal education in Daoism and Daoist yoga. My goal? Traditional mountain hermit: Short on words but long on Light.
year 1 online foundations course
Requirements
Essentially, there are few requirements for this year-long online program. Still, you do need to understand that this training aims for personal and spiritual transformation so budget some time for practice each week. How much will depend upon you and your circumstances but at least half an hour most days of the week and an hour (or more) one day of the week is a minimum.
Goals
The first stage of any spiritual path involves personal transformation of attitudes, feelings and habits. For instance, the Vajrayana approach (of Tibetan Buddhism) is one way to achieve this. Neidan yoga incorporates modern body-oriented psychotherapy, qigong, mantra, basic meditation, hatha yoga, and Jyotish (Vedic astrology) to achieve the same outcomes.
Commitments
The year 1 Foundations course provides you with life-transforming skills in a way that can complement whatever practices and traditions you currently follow. You can continue with all your current spiritual commitments and techniques and just pick and choose from the Foundations course. Or, you can use what you learn here as a solid basis for further spiritual studies in Neidan Yoga. It’s entirely up to you. Neidan Yoga is complete as-is and sufficient to get the job done. But you can approach it as an a-la-carte offering and just take what appeals and resonates best.
further information
If you have any other questions, feel free to send a note. The News section of the website will be updated with further details about the course as they become available. Thank you.
Techniques and Stages of Neidan Yoga
Knitting these three streams together, and cobbling in a touch of modern best-practice (especially, from unified physics and the health sciences), illumines the important landmarks to be found as one progresses in Neidan Yoga:
1) Develop rudimentary skills according to all three traditions (especially breath retention and the ability to sense and manipulate qi).
2) Develop emotional self-awareness according to the most evolved western psychotherapies (all of which are body-oriented) and use Jyotish to deepen this.
3) Develop advanced awareness at the lower jiao (refer to Nathan's book for the xiatian breathing).
4) Use the energy and focus cultivated in step 3 to kindle the tummo fire (according to Tibetan Buddhist practice and Bön practice).
Whole-body movement - the essential link between the earth below and the heavens above. You start simply and evolve the moves only as your meditation improves—otherwise, it’s just Phys Ed … fun but not worth much. The real payoff yields magic and health and a happy balance of both earth and heaven.