Holding Yin, Embracing Yang: Three Taoist Classics on Meditation, Breath Regulation, Sexual Yoga, and the Circulation of Internal Energy

In Holding Yin, Embracing Yang, Eva Wong presents translations of three key texts containing the highest teachings of the Eastern and Western schools of Taoist internal alchemy—the discipline of cultivating health, longevity, and immortality by transforming the energetic structures of body and mind. The texts are primarily concerned with meditation, breathing practices, and sexual yoga with a partner—all as means for developing within ourselves the same life-giving energy that sustains and nourishes the universe.

The texts in this collection offer a clear view of the physical, mental, and spiritual methods of Taoist practice, showing why they are important and how these methods all can work together in the cultivation of mental peace, radiant health, and longevity. This collection will provide inspiration and the essential foundation necessary to begin Taoist practice under the guidance of a teacher.

The three classics translated here are: Treatise on the Mysterious Orifice by Xuanweilun (sixteenth century), Discussion on the Cavity of the Tao by Daojiaotan (nineteenth century), and Secret Teachings on the Three Wheels by Sanjubizhi (nineteenth century). Included is an introduction in which Wong discusses the various schools of internal alchemy, as well as their main practices.