Inner Alchemy
The practices of Inner Alchemy are the core of Taoist meditation and enable profound processes of inner transformation. The term “Inner Alchemy” refers to a meditation system that has been developed over many centuries, influenced both by Shamanism and the Tantric schools of Mahayana Buddhism.
In contrast to “external alchemy”, which is described as “the scientific study of chemical substances, the focus of which is the transformation and refinement of substances”, in Taoism “Inner Alchemy” means the purification, harmonization and refinement of one’s life force through the power of the mind.
In ancient China, this “work with life energy” had the goal of developing a form of consciousness that is not bound to the physical body and the world of the five senses. Carsten Dohnke regularly teaches Inner Alchemy practices for health, for strengthening life energy and for preparing the mystical path of the Tao.
Strengthening life energy, compassion and consciousness
Inner alchemy” has far more relation to everyday life in today’s West than might be assumed at first glance.
Its main themes are: the transformation of negative emotions, the opening of the heart and the gradual development of compassion, the opening of the inner energy channels, the strengthening of the life force and the development of clarity and awareness.
For detailed descriptions of Inner Alchemy, see the article:
Taoism
The Universal Tao
As a first step, the practitioner learns to inwardly purify the various energies of the organs through the power of the mind and to condense them in 
the lower abdomen into a pearl, the “inner elixir”. This pearl corresponds to our own self on energetic energy and gives the practitioner a deep sense of inner centredness and presence.
This purified energy is then refined by circulation along the meridians and increased by new energy from nature and the universe. When the vibrational frequency of the whole organism is thus raised, an inner regeneration and self-healing process can be initiated from the cellular level.
A lofty goal, the layman might say. But this first step of inner alchemy is easier in practice than it seems.
practice is easier than it seems. And it leads to the establishment of a deep emotional and physical balance in the body – in a form that many people only know as a memory of carefree days of childhood. In the long term, it is also possible to dissolve deep old patterns of behaviour and thus heal the wounds of our past.
The most important practices of “inner alchemy” include the meditations of the “Fusion of Elements I-III” from the system of Healing Tao and the practice of “Kan and Li” – the union of “fire and water”, in which a marriage of the Yin and Yang energies of the body occurs and thus a kind of inner sexual intercourse. But also the basic practices of the Healing Tao (“The Small Energy Circuit”, “The Healing Sounds”, “The Inner Smile”) and “The Practices of “Healing Love” already contain many alchemical approaches.
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