15 Minutes with a Spiritual Leader

I’ll be honest and say I’d never heard of Toaism or Mantak Chia before last week. Considering that I now know him to be ranked number 18 out of 100 of the world’s top spiritual leaders, personally educating over 100,000 people across the globe in the Taoist faith, makes me feel a little foolish.

So when I came to have a conversation with him I was curious to be enlightened as to what I was missing out on…

Can you explain the key principles of Taoism to a beginner?

Taoism is a belief that everyone can benefit from. It is simply turning the negative forces in our lives into positive. Through meditation we can tap into our own energy – learning how to control and increase it.

A lot of our readers practice Western yoga – how does this differ from Taoist Yoga?
Tao Yoga is a combination of Indian and Chinese yoga which is designed to improve your physical, mental and spiritual well-being. It is a moving meditation like Tai Chi, which you can practice 5 – 20min per day to gain an increase in energy, in and around you.

How can the busy working woman incorporate Taoist principles into her daily life, to reduce stress/multitask etc?
Our internal organs store emotions and we hold a lot of these stresses if we do not detox. Practising Inner Smile Transformations is a powerful way to reduce stress and it’s really simple to do.

You start by standing in front of the mirror, smiling with your mouth and then your eyes. Once you really feel this happiness you need to turn it inwards, focusing that smile on your heart and internal organs. Turn this happiness to your liver, which is where we hold anger and resentment, then you can learn to release these tensions and start to detoxify yourself from negativity.

Do you have any tips for beginners to meditation?

Practising the Inner Smile and combining it with the Six Healing Sounds is really simple and if you do it every day it will eventually become part of your routine.

What happens at your retreat centre, Tao Garden in Chiang Mai in Thailand?
We hold Universal Healing Tao functions there, but it is also a health spa & resort. We offer a unique blend of traditional Eastern holistic healing systems with newest developments in Western medicine. Eastern Arts of Chinese Taoism, the ancient Five Element Chinese healing system, Ayurveda, Thai herbal massages and Acupuncture are combined with liver and kidney cleansing, colon hydrotherapy and weight loss programs. 99% of visitors are Western and there are over 150 staff working there.

Where can you practice Taosim in London/UK?

In many places, check here for your nearest centre. I have personally taught over 100,000 people and there are over 1000 qualified instructors on every continent.

You can learn more about Taoism, the Tao Health Spa and Mantak Chia here. Categories: Gifts & Leisure