Internal
Martial Arts
The mixture of magic
and science, spirit and work.
- Joe Nelson
Internal Martial Arts
Tengu House’s Internal Martial Arts Program is designed for complete transformation, from the inside out. It is focused on energy development through posture, breath, meditation, and aligned movement. Our goal is to teach you how to meditate while still, and then while in motion, to achieve optimal health and win the battle for life.
Ohm’s law states if you decrease resistance, you increase current ~ cut the resistance in half and you double the current (Current = Voltage/Resistance). Martial artists through the centuries have understood this concept, developing practices to reduce resistance and increase the flow of energy through the body. We bring the best of these practices to you in simple, easy to learn forms and sets of martial movements.
Once you increase your energy or chi, we teach you how to move in alignment with this energy. We start our training with powerful Chi Kung practices, teaching you principles which have historically been kept secret by masters involving individual postures and movements to open your physical and energetic body. We further this practice with Tai Chi forms, energy drills, push hands, and meditation. This training improves your performance in all other physical endeavors – from your favorite activities to your favorite martial art. Training your internal energy system is the root, center, and apex of martial arts.
Chi Kung
The Art of All Arts.
Chi Kung is one of the best practices for increasing energy. It is a set of simple martial arts movements, often consisting of standing or sitting in a single posture and holding that posture while focusing on internal energy.
In many ways, Chi Kung is the art of all arts. Its simple postures allow you to understand the fundamentals of body mechanics that lead to decreased resistance. After helping you embody this perfect alignment, it teaches you how to circulate the energy through your body to increase function and form, bringing out your latent capabilities.
Tai Chi
Train All the Time.
We teach how to make Tai Chi the moving meditation that it was intended to be. One of the premier books on the Tengu states that, “Chi energy uses the mind as a vehicle to put form into use.” We focus on the meditative and energy generating qualities of Tai Chi in our practice.
We also understand that Tai Chi is not just the slow martial arts you see practiced in the park. Tai Chi is Kung Fu ~ the Grand Ultimate Fist. It is a martial arts that specializes in a balanced way of standing, fighting, and grappling.
Joe had the honor of training under Grandmaster Wei Lun Huang. Through Grandmaster Huang, Joe learned the martial application of the Tai Chi forms, as well as the internal and healing aspects. Because Joe was a healer and a martial artist, Grandmaster Huang stated that he wanted to pass to Joe the principles that give one the keys to unlock any move for any style. We teach these principles so that you can use them to better your health, energy, focus, and training in any other physical endeavor in life.
When asked how often he practiced Tai Chi, Grandmaster Wei Lun Huang would say, “I train all the time.” Our duty is to carry on this tradition by helping you develop practices that you can integrate into your everyday life, so that you can understand the importance and joy of moving from your true center.
Taoist Yoga
Energy Attunement. Spiritual Cultivation.
Taoist Yoga is a yoga developed and practiced by martial arts masters throughout Ancient China. Having martial arts as its foundation is what distinguishes it from other forms of yoga. It is a set of simple, yet profound exercises that awaken the body, strengthen and increase flexibility. Tengu House’s yoga program has its foundation in Taoist Yoga. We also integrate Yin Yoga into our program, for it has slower movements, focused on breath, and stimulation of the fascia tissue, where the meridians reside, aligns with and complements the principles of Taoist Yoga. Through these practices, you learn to preserve and channel your vital force energies and circulate them through your body.
The yoga program is taught by Malinda Angeline McClintock. Malinda earned her Chi Kung certification through Tengu House and has her RYT 500. She is also a Tengu House Kickboxing Instructor. Malinda has been teaching adults and children for over 20 years in America, the Netherlands, Nepal, and Taiwan.
Meditation
Train More Than Your Physical Body.
Science is just now catching up to what ancient masters knew long ago – meditation is a powerful tool to achieving health, purpose, direction, connection, focus, and longevity. Recent studies support the power of deep breathing and mediation.
In 2022, a Harvard University study by the Wyss Institute revealed that the act of breathing, the constant pattern of stretching and relaxing, generates immune responses against invading viruses. Using a process that mimicked the conditions of the human lung, it found that exposure to a breathing motion resulted in 50 percent less viral mRNA in alveolar channels and a significant reduction in inflammatory cytokine levels compared to the control group. The act of breathing suppressed replication of the influenza virus and activated immune responses.
In addition to the benefits of deep breathing, meditation has been shown that it can help reduce stress, control anxiety, promote emotional health, increase self-awareness, increase attention span, improve memory, decrease blood pressure, and control pain.
If you have struggled, like many, to quiet your mind to find deep states of meditation or are looking to gain more control of various stages of meditation, we have easy to learn techniques and practices to help. We teach how to unify the left and right sides of the brain, then how to consciously move through various phases of the meditative states. We do not teach belief systems, only processes and techniques so that you can find your own knowing. As best said by Bob Monroe, founder of the Monroe Institute, “We are more than our physical bodies.” Tengu House helps you train your non-physical self, as well as your physical body.
Tai Chi & Chi Kung
for Battling Parkinson's and other Movement Disorders
Master Joe’s Tai Chi & Chi Kung for Battling Parkinson’s and Other Movement Disorders Program is a hallmark of achievement in the fight against Parkinson’s and other degenerative diseases. After over 20 years, it remains the premier program in the field.
If you or a loved one is battling Parkinson’s Disease or another movement disorder, we are in this fight with you. We invite you to learn more about the benefits of Tai Chi and Chi Kung, for both patient and caregiver, and to try our renowned and scientifically proven program to aid you in your fight.
Lineage
Genara Holladay
M.D., D.A.O.M., Pharm. D., Ph.D.,
NCCAOM Board Certified Acupuncturist
Jim Nelson
Doctor of Naturopathy
Grandmaster Wei Lun Huang
Tai Chi, Chi Kung, Hsing Yi, Ba Gua, and Liu He Ba Fa