Craig Mallett

25/05/2026

20/05/2026

I don't train Taiji (taichi). I use some principles and some drills from the art for my own purposes, but I'm not a "taichi" guy.

Pushhands is one practice I like a lot. It has multiple uses, but what I mainly explore is how the interaction gives me an opportunity to discover and connect with new experiences or perceptions. For me, it's not about winning or losing, keeping your structure integrated or not, or even having good release or not. I have my good days and bad days with these things and overall they tend to evolve in the way they do, apparently getting better slowly. The overarching idea I work with is to notice the discovery and the inherent joy or curiosity within that. Even discovering something difficult (a disconnection or blockage) is charged with this. "How interesting, I never noticed that before" or "I have never experienced it quite like this before". There's no end to what might be discovered a new or something forgotten rediscovered, but the process of discovery is what interests me.

To be in this mode, one must remain connected to the mystery, what you do not know, what is unknown. As Zen Master Seung Sahn says: "only don't know".

In my language this is part of the opening quality, releasing being linked to "letting what is discovered be as it already is and change however it will change" (the change is simply more discovery). Opening leads to discovery, releasing allows the discovery to change however it may. Both sides of this single process are always and already occurring, which becomes obvious when one stops trying to know.

Pushhands play here with the mighty Chris Radnedge who I believe was excommunicated from Instagram but is still releasing untold meme mastery over on Facebook. Recommend checking him out of you're in Canberra!

06/05/2026

A snippet from a recent workshop, on accepting the pressure of the partner to your centre. There are no external perceptions!

05/05/2026

When the releasing process is running through the body, the body does not move using conventional coordination. Instead, the release allows the body to organically reorganise itself around the position of the hands. As the hands are constantly moving, the body is constantly following.

As the body releases more deeply, it becomes more free in its reorganisational capacity, so the posture and alignment of the body becomes progressively less controlled by the mind. This freedom is also what allows the natural circulation of Qi in the system. Most of the practices in qigong are not there to govern the circulation but rather to free up the interior so the circulation can do its thing without governance.

27/04/2026

2026 Aware Relaxed Connected Internal Cultivation Retreat
September 2nd - 6th, Noosa Hinterland

The dates are set and the registrations have already started coming in. This year we will be once more diving deep into the process of internal cultivation that I teach.

5 days of incredible food, camping out away from the hustle and bustle of towns and cities, and learning a process that will connect ourselves to our depths, and to the depths of the world around us. I use a Daoist framework so the exercises tend to be in the guise of qigong or tai chi or martial arts or meditation, but all of them are used to point to one simple process:

The union of opening and releasing.

This process allows one to integrate seamlessly with oneself and the world and enter a deep cooperation with it rather than trying to control, manage and conquer.

We will learn:
- shen fa: body method for athletic and agile movement
- qi gong: the linking of the extremities with the centre through a dredging of the internal pathways.
- dan tian gong: the condensation of the lower centre to provide a deep anchor of stability for everything else.
- non dual meditation: coming into contact with the changeless reality that holds every and any moment in completeness.
- animism and the imaginal world: learning how the imagination is a sense tool used to interact with reality, and how to balance these practices with qi gong and physical practices.
- sensory exploration: learning to pass between the senses via the sense thresholds and how all the senses are an expression of a singularity of perception stuff.

All are welcome, space will be limited to 20 participants or so. You do not need any particular experience to attend.

Hope to see you there! Details and registrations at craigmallett.com/retreat - there is a link in my bio or you can just DM me.

24/04/2026

Each of the processes (opening and releasing) must be distinct and clear on its own while being able to run simultaneously to its opposite. When they can run in unison without interfering with each other, a profound union occurs that allows the processes to occur spontaneously in indescribable ways.

Clip from my recent workshop at .studio ... Shout out to .nishad for filming.

22/04/2026

Gotta be one of my favourite exercises! This particular clip was from a practice of the week a few weeks back, we were working on breathing and chest and lungs.

Moving towards winter (here in Oz) we will start working on the lower body, mainly the kua and abdominal cavity, then spring time we will be opening back up and out!

Feel like joining in? Go to https://patreon.craigmallett.com

20/04/2026

Pressure is a fact of life. The modern human spends enormous energy avoiding pressure, either by fighting against it or asking external agents not to put pressure on us. Both responses keep us in a state of sympathetic nervous system response; fight or flight. It's possible instead to learn to connect to and absorb the pressure to the centre, which changes it from an adversarial force to an ally, once that will help us connect to and discover the deeper potentials we all have.

18/04/2026

Just dropped a new article on my Patreon:

A Deeper Look at Opening and Releasing

The way I use these two terms has layers of understanding. At a crude level opening is simply the act of spreading out physical tissue and releasing is an act of allowing tension to melt out of these structures. We can remember the cardinal rules of these qualities too:

Opening without its opposite releasing leads to excessive force and tension

Releasing without its opposite opening leads to collapse of structure
However as these processes are understood in a more refined way they can be seen to have deeper implications.
Opening in its nature can be related to the opening of awareness: becoming aware of something that you weren't previously. In this act of opening a connection is formed between "me" and that which I am aware of. When I spread out my physical body I find the new sensations of stretching tissues appear in awareness, and at that moment I am connected to them already, and the new sensations also become connected to everything else in the field of awareness. This interconnectedness creates a structure through which forces can act. It is enough to simply be aware of something to be connected to it, and as this becomes more apparent for the practitioner, opening becomes something more like spreading awareness. There are always possibilities of opening to new experiences, whether it is in the deepening of one's craft or in the engagement with a new activity. Even a simple cue from someone with experience can open your awareness to some new aspect of your being. In the physical sense, as the awareness is spread throughout the body, every bodily sensation that appears can recognize itself as being part of a greater whole and begin reorganizing itself in relation to its new found context, should it not be restricted.
This is where the refined version of releasing appears. A modern mind has a habit of attempting to control and therefore restrict whatever is in awareness. If it cannot control it, it basically doesn't want to know about it. We of the modern world are kind of 'mystery-allergic' from...

(Full article on Patreon)

14/04/2026

Returning agency to the unconscious processes of the system. This was a small snippet from my recent workshop on the Sunshine Coast at .studio

Cheers to .nishad for filming!