To ensure you have time to practice and digest each part of the curriculum, one new video will unlock each week. Consciousness (shén, 神) is much more difficult to access if you cannot access and control internal relationships and vital forces (qì, 氣). Vital forces are difficult to access and control if you are not aware of the layers composing the physical body (jīng, 精). One trains all three together in Eighteen Lohan, but the overall flow of training moves in a natural order from jīng to qì to shén.

Furthermore, since Chinese internal martial arts share body skills (the “Lohan body”) and refined martial forces (jìn) in common, Sifu Ripski draws on the full depth and breadth of his knowledge of Yang & Chen Taiji, Bagua, Xingyi, Zuichuan, Yichuan, and other internal arts to enrich the Online Eighteen Lohan program's training methods.

To help students develop their meditation skills, Dr Jones and Sifu Ripski have also integrated meditation training from Zen/Chan, Tibetan, Thai Forest, etc, to enhance the approach found in the Eighteen Lohan lineage.

LEVEL 1 - BODY

The body-level practices of Lohan Palm lead to martial skills, good health, longevity, strength, flexibility, and a body that is more comfortable for meditation. One develops internal skills and internal power (nèigōng, 内功) along with fighting applications, refined martial forces (jìn, 勁), and body skills (shenfa, 身法).

In terms of progressing down the meditative path, through standing in correct postures (zhàn zhuāng, 站桩), doing foundational exercises (jī běn gōng, 基本功), self-massage, and seated exercises, awareness begins to saturate the body.

Awareness soaks into even subtler layers with these and other practices:

• Small palms & Lotus palm - Guiding-and-pulling (dǎoyǐn, 導引)

• Patting methods (pāi fǎ, 拍法)

• Silk reeling (chán sī gōng, 缠丝功)

• Health Version - Eight silk brocades (bā duàn jǐn, 八段錦)

• Elasticity - Turtle breathing exercises (guī xī nèijiā, 龜息內家)

• Jīng 1 - Choreography of Standing Eighteen Lohan

• Jīng 1 - Choreography of Seated Eighteen Lohan

• Internal skill exercises (nèigōng, 内功)

• Dr Jones supporting meditation skills: (1) Intensive breath meditation, (2) body-scan meditation, (3) five-points meditation, (4) six directions of tactile sensation meditation (opening tactile gate), and (5) full-body meditation.

One then prepares for working with vital forces (qì, 功) through various methods, including:

• Projecting physical forces (fā lì, 發力 )

• The basics of projecting refined forces (fā jìn, 發氣)

• Jīng 2 - Feet/Basic Breath of Standing Eighteen Lohan

• Jīng 2 - Basic Breath Seated Eighteen Lohan

• Permeation of qi method (guàn qì fǎ, 灌气法)

• The supreme method (tài gōng, 太功)

• Iron body training (tiě bù gōng, 鐵布功)

• Martial Version - Eight silk brocades (bā duàn jǐn, 八段錦)

• Jīng Level - Dynamic Tension. Muscle-tendon changing (yì jīn jīng, 易筋经)

• Ma Family Shaolin Fighting Tactics

• Eighteen Lohan partner work & fighting applications (Part 1)

• Dr Chen's three supportive seated practices

• Dr Jones supporting meditation skills: Opening the external sense gates (mahāmudrā, महामुद्रा)

LEVEL 2 - VITAL FORCES

By first accessing the muscles, tendons, fascia, internal organs, bones, marrow, and so forth using tactile awareness, you also begin to detect relationships between systems of the body and other vital forces (qì, 功). This allows you to do these and other practices:

• Vase breathing (Dr Chen Qi Ming's lineage)

• Heavenly platform breathing (tiāntái,天台)

• Life-death qìgōng/Five gates breathing (xìngmìng guīzhǐ, 性命圭旨)

• Qì 1 - Reverse Breath of Standing Eighteen Lohan

• Qì 1- Reverse Breath Seated Eighteen Lohan

• Microcosmic Orbit (Ma Family Fire-Breathing qìgōng)

• Microcosmic Orbit (Dr Chen Qi Ming)

• Macrocosmic Orbit (Dr Chen Qi Ming)

• Meridians - Turtle breathing exercises (guī xī nèijiā, 龜息內家)

• Meridians - Eagle claw qìgōng (yīng zhǎo qìgōng, 鷹爪氣功)

• Adding Breath - Muscle-tendon changing (yì jīn jīng, 易筋经)

• Supplemental Jìns & Exercises from Yang Taiji, Chen Taiji, Yichuan, Bagua, Xingyi, Zuichuan, Heavy hands, and other internal arts.

• Qì 2 - Jìns on Meridians during Standing Eighteen Lohan Form

• Qì 2 - Jìns on Meridians during Seated Eighteen Lohan Form

• Eighteen Lohan partner work & fighting applications (Part 2)

• Shaolin internal power method (shàolín nèijìn gōng, 少林內勁功)

• Projecting qì (fā qì, 發氣)

• Qì Level - Muscle-tendon changing (yì jīn jīng, 易筋经)

• Bone-marrow washing (xǐ suǐ jīng, 洗髓经)

These practices add more health and life to the body-mind, and they also unlock new capabilities related to your body-level training: having more vitality changes how you stand, do foundational exercises, create refined martial forces, and so forth.

LEVEL 3 - CONSCIOUSNESS

Working with vital forces can also calm the mind and stabilize the emotions. One naturally begins to develop a mind that is more meditative, and so it improves the power and force of mental training:

• Meditation (dìng, 定)

• Dr Jones supporting meditation skills: Opening the mental sense gate (mahāmudrā, महामुद्रा)

• Budo mantra (Thai Forest tradition)

• Mental Intent -Turtle breathing exercises (guī xī nèijiā, 龜息內家)

• Mental skills (shén gōng, 神功)

• Projecting shén (fā shén, 發神)

• Grandmaster Xu's Tsunami & Tornado jìns

• Dr Chen's Lohan Crushing Emptiness jin

• Shén 1 - Extremely refined forces during Standing Eighteen Lohan Form

• Shén 1 - Extremely refined forces during Seated Eighteen Lohan Form

• Eighteen Lohan partner work & fighting applications (Part 3)

• Dr Jones supporting meditation skills: Rumination meditation

• Virtue - Ma Family Shaolin Tactics Revisited & Dharma talks

• Deep body-scanning & death meditation (Thai Forest)

• Formless concentrations (Thai Forest)

LEVELS 4 to 6 - REFINED TREASURES

Meditation training culminates with internal alchemy (nèidān, 內丹) and Sifu Ripski's mudra, mantra, and yidam practices from Shaolin Lohan Palm. As the Eighteen Lohan path progresses, the most refined parts of yourself become manifest:

• (Level 4) 真精 Zhēn Jīng, the subtlest physical-aspect of your being

• (Level 5) 真氣 Zhēn Qì, the subtlest vital-aspect of your being

• (Level 6) 真神 Zhēn Shen, the subtlest consciousness-aspect of your being

There will be much more on these as the course progresses, so there is not too much need to discuss them at great length here. If one so desires, they can use these aspects to make rapid progress toward the goals of Buddhist or Daoist practice. Being capable of accessing the subtlest aspects of your being, you could also enhance your Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Abrahamic, or other spiritual practices.