Qigong, Shen Gong, Neigong & Nei Dan: How the Practices Connect

A student recently told me after watching my latest class recording:

“Your teachings are going deeper and deeper.”

That stayed with me, because it points to something I’ve come to understand about this work. The longer you practise, the more you begin to see that Qigong sits within something much larger.

There are different practices, different ways of working and different aspects of cultivation. They overlap, but they aren’t all doing the same thing.

Where Qigong Took Me

Yang Sheng Fa, or Nurturing Life Practices, isn’t one thing. It’s a living tradition made up of many different practices and ways of cultivating life, the body, energy, mind and spirit.

Some people come into it through movement or breath. Others through stillness, contemplation or working with the inner landscape.

When I first started Qigong, I thought Qigong was simply gentle movement, and I loved it for that. It was gentle, calming, and felt good in my body. It gave me a way to slow down and feel.

Over time, I became much more sensitive to the aliveness in the body. I could feel something beneath the physical movement. I began to experience the body as something much more alive, responsive and energetic than I had previously understood.

For many years, this was how I understood Qigong and Qi. It was about developing a relationship with that sense of aliveness, learning to cultivate it and becoming more sensitive to it.

I always understood Qigong as an energy skill, but then another realisation arrived — there is a whole spectrum of energy.

When this landed I began to understand that the energy I had been working with was not simply one generic thing called Qi. There were different qualities, different frequencies and different dimensions of energy, and there was so much more to explore.

That changed the way I understood Qigong. A door opened, and there was a whole world on the other side.

How My Practice Has Unfolded

As my relationship with Qigong deepened, I became interested in Neigong — internal skill. I was drawn to the idea of developing the Dantian and the possibility of working with energy in a deeper and more refined way.

I worked with various practices and continued my study. At some point though, I realised something was missing.

It was the psychospiritual and contemplative work of Shen Gong. I came to understand that I couldn't go deeper into energetic practice without first peeling back some layers of myself and taking a very deep look inside. I needed to work consciously with HeartMind — my emotions, my beliefs and the constant internal dialogue that shapes how I experience myself and the world.

I needed to meet myself, not just the energy I was cultivating. It’s been some of the toughest and most freeing work I’ve done.

From there, my practice continued to unfold in ways I couldn't have planned. Nei Dan came into the picture and opened up another whole dimension of practice and understanding.

I don't see these practices as a neat progression anymore. They weave in and out of each other. Shen Gong has become an ongoing part of my cultivation. Nei Dan is interspersed throughout my practice. At some stage I’ll revisit and explore more of what Neigong has to reveal.

My understanding of Qigong has changed along the way too. I've come to understand that developing energy skill isn't simply about becoming more sensitive to what we already know as Qi. It's about refining our capacity to perceive, discern and work with energy at increasingly subtle levels.

In many ways, that brings me back to the realisation that opened the door in the first place: there is a whole spectrum of energy, and so much more available to us as we learn to perceive and work with it.

Understanding the Practices

My teachings continue to evolve as my own practice and understanding evolve. These days, I work across Qigong, Shen Gong, Neigong and Nei Dan.

They are different practices, but I don't see them as separate from one another. They overlap, inform each other and, depending on where we are in our own cultivation, different practices can become more relevant at different times.

Here's how I understand them now.

Qigong

Qigong is energy skill. Through movement, breath, presence, intention and, in some practices, stillness, we develop our capacity to work with energy. We learn to cultivate it, influence it and become more sensitive to its qualities and movement.

Qigong supports health, vitality and groundedness, but it is much more than physical movement or a way of regulating the nervous system. The physical forms are simply one way we develop the underlying skill.

Shen Gong

Shen Gong is the cultivation of Self. It includes working with HeartMind, consciousness, the astral field and mind substance. For me, this has involved a lot of psychospiritual and contemplative work, becoming more conscious of my emotions, beliefs and internal dialogue, while also developing greater awareness of the energetic and mental dimensions of the Self.

Shen Gong isn't something we complete and then move on from. As we become more aware, there is always more to see.

Neigong

Neigong means internal skill. It is a more focused way of developing internal energetic capacity, including working with the Dantian, energetic structure and congenital pathways. It asks for a different kind of attention and dedication. The emphasis is on developing what is happening internally rather than simply learning and performing an external form.

Nei Dan:

Nei Dan is a practice of internal alchemy and transformation. It works with Jing, Qi and Shen and with increasingly subtle aspects of energy and consciousness. There is a lot I could say about Nei Dan, but I don't think it can really be captured in a neat definition. Like the other practices, there comes a point where you have to practise it to understand it.

The Spiral of Practice

When we look at these four practices as a list, it's easy to assume there is a progression from Qigong to Shen Gong to Neigong to Nei Dan.

That’s not the case. There can be a deepening of practice, but it isn't a straight line. We move between these practices. We come back to things we thought we'd already understood. We discover that something we experienced one way has much more depth than we realised.

It's more like a spiral.

You might begin with Qigong and later discover Shen Gong. You might become interested in Neigong, move into Nei Dan, and then find yourself coming back to Qigong with a completely different understanding of what you're doing.

Shen Gong doesn't get completed and left behind. Neigong isn't something you graduate from. Nei Dan doesn't sit at the top of a hierarchy. Each practice develops different aspects of our cultivation, and over time they begin to inform and deepen one another.

I remember my teacher once telling me that she believed Nei Dan was the place to begin.

At the time, I didn't fully agree. It felt too vast and abstract, too far removed from the grounding and structure I felt were important at the beginning of practice.

I understand what she meant differently now. I can see how, for some people, it could work to begin there. That being said, I think there is enormous value in developing the qualities cultivated through foundational Qigong practices and doing the inner work of Shen Gong.

There is something valuable about building that foundation, meeting yourself along the way, and allowing the deeper practices to unfold from there.

It’s not really about where you start. It’s about being willing to keep exploring, keep circling back, and keep going deeper.

If you're interested in exploring how practice deepens through returning, refining and seeing familiar things differently, I share new writing and reflections by email.