– The Internal Arts Academy –
Welcome to the home of the Internal Arts Academy, the online school of life-long practitioner of the Eastern Arts, Damo Mitchell.
Sign up today and join a worldwide community of dedicated practitioners of both martial and spiritual practice.
- Ongoing Nei Gong & Martial Arts Training
- Dedicated Library of Internal Arts Tuition
- Health, Well-Being, and Internal Growth
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Learn, Practice, Internalise
Members Area
Lotus Nei Gong School
Welcome to the Internal Arts Academy
The Results of a Lifetime of Study – 道可道非常道
Damo Mitchell began his training in the martial arts at the age of four. Born in the South of the UK, he spent his childhood and younger years immersed in the Japanese and Chinese combative systems. As he grew old enough to travel and explore deeper, he moved into the medicinal and a spiritual arts of the Far-East. These studies have taken him across China, India and South East Asia for over two decades in search of hidden lineages and authentic masters of the internal arts. For a more complete bio, please click here.
Damo is the director of the Lotus Nei Gong International School of Internal Arts as well as owner of the Xian Tian College of Chinese Medicine. He is the author of numerous books on the Daoist arts and a requested speaker on Podcasts and at events globally. The Internal Arts Academy is the Online branch of his teachings and here you will find step-by-step journeys into the arts of Asia that he has dedicated his life and energy to.
Please feel free to look around the site or join our online school to benefit from the fruits of Damo’s lifetime of study, exploration and practice.
The Nei Gong Program
The mainstay of the Internal Arts Academy online training is the Nei Gong Program. This is an ongoing, five-year-long program designed to guide you step-by-step into traditional Nei Gong and Qi Gong practice. The result of Damo’s lifetime study with masters across China and South-East Asia, this program takes students deep into the energetic and alchemical methods of the Daoists.
- Ongoing weekly lessons in Qi Gong, Nei Gong and Nei Dan
- Each lesson builds on previous instructions to ensure that students get the most out of their practice
- Join a dedicated forum where you receive guidance and corrections
The Taiji Quan Program
The Yang style Taiji Quan program leads students systematically and logically into a study of traditional Chinese martial arts. The program includes a full syllabus of foundation exercises and drills, forms, standing practice and pushing hands training for internal force. Over 5+ years, students of this program will develop a rounded and deep understanding of Yang style Taiji Quan training.
- Ongoing weekly lessons in Yang Taiji forms and drills, pushing hands and martial practices
- Study the Yang teachings as expressed by the different Yang family members and their disciples
- Join a dedicated forum where you receive guidance and corrections
The Bagua Zhang Program
As with the previous two programs, Bagua is taught over a number of years via ongoing weekly lessons. It is also structured in ‘phases’ with phase 1 being circle walking Nei Gong and phase 2 being the key 8 palms of Bagua Zhang practice. Alongside the Bagua, the fundamentals of Hebei Xingyi Quan are explored and so these two styles make one system.
- Ongoing weekly lessons in Cheng style Bagua Zhang
- Detailed instruction in the supprting methods of Hebei Xingyi Quan
- The energetics and often-lacking internal mechanics of Bagua and Xingyi are explored with an overall emphasis on going deep into the fundamental palm techniques rather than simply learning thousands of movements
-Bringing Eastern Arts to the West –
“The Internal Arts academy is providing the chance to study something not previously available to the western world. To be able to access the inner mechanics of neigong in a such a systematic and clear way is unprecedented, in my opinion. So much intention, attention, and detail has been put into this program, that if a student applies themself, they have a wealth of tools to move deep into these arts. I cannot recommend it enough!”
The Academy Library
Alongside his travels and studies, Damo has also been teaching the internal arts globally for many years. He has taught workshops across Europe and North America on subjects such as Taiji, Nei Gong and Daoist alchemy. A popular part of these workshops are the detailed theoretical talks he has given on these subjects so as to help illuminate the often obscure teachings of the past masters.
Within the academy, you will find the ‘library’, a vast collection of hundreds of hours of footage from past talks given by Damo and a few other teachers. These talks cover all kinds of topics and they are regularly updated as Damo teaches more events. You will also find free Zoom classes on sections of the academy material where we really go in depth and explore the trickier parts of training.
Even without the ongoing programs, this vast database of information has proved invaluable to many practitioners of the internal arts who may gain from Damo’s wide knowledge and experience.
Joining the Academy
The Internal Arts Academy is a subscription site and so you gain access to the training portal once you sign up and select either annual or monthly membership. You pay by the month of your membership and NOT by the amount of videos you watch.
We have a system set up to ensure that members of the Academy work step-by-step through the training programs. The process goes like this:
- Select the programs you wish to join. You may join 1-3 programs at no cost variation. So, it is the same price to join the Nei Gong program as it is to join the Nei Gong and Taiji Quan program or whatever. You pay by membership to the academy and not per program.
- You open your video lesson for the week which teaches you the skill you should be working on at this time.
- After watching your video, you press a button beneath it to show that it has been completed; it is very important to remember to do. Once you press this button, a timer begins and in just under a weeks time, the next lesson will unlock for you.
- Continue working through the programs in this manner until you become an expert in your selected system!
You also gain access to an extensive library of pre-recorded material taken from previous live events as well as the ability to sign up to actual in-person or Zoom events with Damo and other senior teachers within the Lotus Nei Gong School.
Also, dont forget to get the code from your membership portal so that you may join our dedicated Facebook group of Nei Gong enthusiasts from around the world that discusss Academy material daily as well as receiving feedback and corrections.
The Programs
- 3/4 videos per week minimum
- Ongoing tuition in Daoist Nei Gong
- Ongoing tuition in Yang style Taijiquan
- Ongoing tuition in Cheng style Baguazhang
- Regularly updated library of past events, lectures and talks on various aspects of the Asian Arts
- Exclusive Online Community Access
- Access to Online Live events on the internal arts
- Join with a global community of like-minded practitioners
Useful Links
gere are some links to asscoated websites and schools, some online training courses and more. The courses will give you an example of what sort of training is contained within the Academy.
Lotus Nei Gong
The International School of Lotus Nei Gong
The Microcosmic Orbit
A complete course in this aspect of Qi Gong
Qi Deviations
A detailed course in Qi Deviation sickness
Xian Tian College
Chinese Medical Training
Visit Bali
Train with Damo and others in Bali