FOLLOWING THE MOON
QIGONG · NEIGONG · MEDITATION
Return to the rhythms.
Traditional internal practices for cultivating energy, awareness and stillness.
EXPLORE FOLLOWING THE MOON
An Antidote to Modern Living
Over the years, I have worked with an incredibly diverse range of people, of different ages, professions, backgrounds, health circumstances and goals, wanting to get better at exercise, strength training, nutrition and lifestyle change.
Yet despite how different people can appear on the surface, many of the same challenges continually emerge.
All of these approaches matter. But over time, something became increasingly apparent: looking after the body from the outside is only part of the picture.
In the West, we have become very good at working out. We train our muscles, monitor our food, count our steps and measure our performance.
But culturally, we have far fewer practices for working in.
Practices that turn our attention towards our breath, thoughts, awareness, nervous system and what Eastern traditions have long described as Qi or vital energy.
Modern life continually pulls us in the opposite direction. More information. More stimulation. More thinking. More doing. Even when the body stops, the mind often doesn't.
And this internal world matters. Our state of mind and the energy available to us influence everything: how we feel, how we respond to life and whether we actually have the capacity to do the things we already know are good for us.
Developing greater internal awareness gives us a dashboard for what is happening inside.
Often, the simple act of noticing creates the opportunity for change. If you glance at the speedometer and realise you're driving too fast, you naturally slow down. If you notice your heart racing, your breath becoming shallow or tension building in your body, you can begin to respond.
Awareness gives us the dashboard. Energy gives us the fuel.
Learning to read the signals of the body while cultivating the energy available to us may be far more fundamental to our health, longevity and performance than we realise.
Perhaps the answer isn't always to add more.
Another workout. Another diet. Another routine. Another piece of information.
Sometimes we need to move in the opposite direction.
Less unnecessary movement. Less mental noise. More awareness. More available energy.
Following the Moon explores this internal landscape through Qigong, Neigong, meditation and breathwork.
Not as an escape from modern life, but as a way of meeting it from a different internal state.
Working out has its place. But so does working in.
THE PRACTICE
Movement into stillness.
Qigong occupies a unique space somewhere between physical exercise and meditation. Allowing us to recharge our scattered energy, and quieten the mind and nervous system which can become stressed, noisy and depleted by our busy lifestyles.
It allows us access to our internal world, to increase our energy and bring coherence to our body and mind.
Like a farmer tending the soil before planting a seed, we first prepare the conditions. We work with the body, breath and energy, releasing unnecessary tension and settling the system, creating more fertile ground for the mind to become quiet, and our dispersed energy to return.
We don't force the seed to grow. We create the conditions that allow it to happen.
The body moves.
The breath settles.
Attention turns inward.
Energy Increases.
The Mind Settles.
Through movement, posture, breath, awareness and stillness, we learn to release unnecessary tension, become more sensitive to the body and its energy field.
As practice develops, and our sensitivity and qi cultivation enhances, we can move deeper inside into the practices like Neigong and Neidan.
The Internal World
There is another world within us.
We spend enormous amounts of time exploring, organising and trying to change the world around us, while often knowing surprisingly little about the world within us.
Our breath. Our thoughts. Our emotions. Our organs. Our nervous system. Our awareness. Our energy.
So much of what determines how we experience life is happening beneath the surface.
Just as the Earth appears to us as solid ground while most of its surface is actually water, what is immediately visible is only part of the picture.
Traditional Eastern practices have long turned attention towards this inner landscape, seeing the human being as a microcosm of the wider natural world, with our own rhythms, cycles and movements between activity and rest.
Qigong, Neigong and meditation give us practical ways of exploring that landscape.
Not to reject the external world, but to recognise something easily forgotten:
The internal informs the external.
How we breathe, move, think and respond to life & people is influenced by our internal state and energy from which those things arise.
Change the internal conditions, and our experience of the external can begin to change with them.
Return to The Rhythms
Follow the rhythm, not the noise.
Following the Moon is rooted in Daoist philosophy and the rhythms of nature.
The moon waxes and wanes. The seasons change. Day becomes night. And circadian rhythms influence the body.
Nature moves through cycles, yet modern life can encourage us to behave as though we should always be moving in one direction.
Always doing. Always producing. Always consuming. Always becoming something more.
Following the Moon is a reminder that we are part of nature, not separate from it.
There are times to act and times to become still. Times to expend and times to cultivate. Times to grow and times to let go.
Through internal practice, we can become increasingly sensitive to these rhythms rather than continually being pulled along by the noise around us.
How much of life's unfolding is really within our control?
Perhaps wisdom isn't always found in imposing our will upon what happens next, but in knowing when to act and when to allow, when to shape events and when to simply observe their unfolding.
Sometimes relinquishing the need to control the process also means relinquishing the psychological burden of carrying it.
Not by giving up, but by letting go.
And Returning to the Rhythms.
EXPLORE FOLLOWING THE MOON
Where will your practice take you?
Following the Moon offers different ways to explore the internal arts, from individual practice to immersive retreats and deeper study.
01 — PRIVATE COACHING
Individual Qigong, Neigong, meditation and breathwork coaching, tailored around your experience and what you want to develop.
02 — TEACHER TRAINING
A one-to-two year Qigong Teacher Certification combining personal cultivation, traditional practices, theory and the skills to confidently teach others.
03 — RETREATS
Immersive days and weekends to step away from everyday noise, explore internal practice and develop greater awareness, energy and stillness.
ABOUT MILES
A lifetime of movement. A practice of stillness.
I'm Miles Kempton, a Qigong teacher and holistic transformation coach with a background spanning strength & conditioning, Qigong, Neigong, meditation, Tai Chi and breathwork.
My own journey began with the physical body, and an early introduction in qigong developed into a much deeper exploration of awareness, energy, the mind and the internal arts.
Today, my work brings these worlds together, combining traditional internal practices with a practical, individual and grounded approach.
