Tao Institute

03/04/2026

A new article on the astrology of 2026 is now live on the Cosmic Weather Blog!

This is one of the most in-depth pieces I’ve ever worked on, and still there is so much more to say about this critical nexus point in the world.

In this analysis, I cover the essential topics for navigating 2026 and beyond — outlining the major configurations and energetic transitions from an Eastern & Western astrological perspective and following with practical guidance on how to manage and maintain your energy using Taoist principles throughout this very intense year.

Check out the link in the comments.

I hope that you find this work supportive along your journey.

Sincerely,

Mela


⭐ melaluna.net
☯ taoinstitute.org
☯ online.taoinstitute.org

12/07/2025

Happy Tao Anniversary!

Tomorrow, December 8, marks 50 years since the opening of Tao Institute.

Last month we celebrated in style with our precious community at Sifu's favorite waterfall. We are incredibly grateful to be surrounded by this wonderful group of people and for all of the gifts contributed by students to make the occasion special for Sifu, and for all of us together as a school. Thank you to everyone, near and far, for your kindness and well wishes to Sifu throughout the year.

Thank you, Sifu, for your dedication and invaluable contributions to the world of martial arts, and to all of our lives. Your work is an incredible gift.

To honor the day I have gathered together several recent articles & videos showing & discussing Sifu's life and legacy. These are listed below -- Please enjoy :)

May we continue to uplift each other together.

Sincerely,

Mela

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50 Years of Tao
https://bit.ly/50-years-of-tao

In Honor of Tao Style
https://bit.ly/in-honor-of-tao-style

Sifu Paolillo Tao Style & Freestyle Movement Collage
https://youtu.be/fcCLFo1CAz4

09/06/2025

Hello Everyone!

In this season of celebration honoring 50 years since the founding of Tao Institute, we also mark the milestone of 20 years since opening our current school location in Asheville, North Carolina. Though we don't usually make a post for this anniversary, this year we wanted to say a few words to commemorate the occasion.

Over the course of his career, Sifu had schools in both Massachusetts and Florida, where he previously lived. When he moved to the mountains of North Carolina it was his intention to focus exclusively on internal martial arts studies, and for the first three years of his stay, he lived the life of a hermit monk on the mountain teaching privately only, and deepening his spiritual work.

When Sifu decided to open a school, he wanted it to be the heart of Asheville. He envisioned a Downtown location with hardwood floors and brick exposure, and within two days this space appeared. On September 6, 2005, the day after Labor Day, Sifu held his first class at 9 West Walnut Street in Downtown Asheville, North Carolina.

In the years since Sifu’s opening of this location, our school has thrived with students of many backgrounds who are interested in studying Tao, spiritual integration and energy work. Tao Institute has made a true impact on the Asheville community, and it has been a joy to see how internal arts studies have influenced and transformed the lives of our students.

It is an honor to serve Western North Carolina with high quality, authentic Chinese internal martial arts instruction. We are grateful to the many students we have had the opportunity to work with, and hope to meet many more for years to come.

In the noise of the city, Tao Institute is a sanctuary for those seeking to cultivate the light. Thank you Sifu, for providing such a space and opportunity to learn. Your teachings are an invaluable resource.

Thank you to our students for your dedication. May we continue to walk together along the path.

Sincerely,

Sifu & Mela

08/19/2025

Hello everyone!

In celebration of Sifu's 78th birthday and the 50th year of the Tao Institute, I've written up this tribute to honor Sifu's work over the last five decades: "50 Years of Tao."

Please enjoy.

🙏☯

Sincerely,

Mela

2025 marks 50 years since the founding of the Tao Institute by Sifu F. J. Paolillo.  As I have reflected on this milestone for the school and for Sifu, I feel the legacy of the Tao Institute actually encompasses three major achievements.  First, is the establishment of the school i

06/29/2025

Hello everyone!

The video included here contains a simple demonstration of our Tai Chi Foundation Form. We are happy to share two important announcements regarding training for this form.

1. The Tai Chi Foundation Form video course is officially live on our online platform! We are very happy to share this with our members near and far as a complete resource for this form.

2. The Tai Chi Foundation Form is also going to be taught in our Wednesday Tai Chi class starting this week, July 2. This is a great opportunity for new students to learn this essential foundation form and get oriented in our Tai Chi curriculum. All levels are welcome.

Tai Chi classes are every Wednesday from 5:30-7:00PM at Tao Institute in Downtown Asheville, NC.


The Tai Chi Foundation form is a short Thirteen Methods form created by Sifu Paolillo. The Thirteen Methods in Tai Chi Ch'uan refer to Tai Chi's 8 primary hand techniques and 5 steps (footwork directions). This form contains these foundational Tai Chi movements, plus all of our basic stances, with flavors of Baguazhang.

A major emphasis of the Tai Chi Foundation Form is the energetics and subtlety of the technique. The short framework allows students to focus more on the inner aspects of the postures without being bogged down by an extensive movement set. This is also an excellent form for developing proper body mechanics, structure and Tai Chi Principle as we move fluidly through different stances.

Since this form has become a part of our curriculum it has quickly become an essential foundational training for all of our Tai Chi students. It is an excellent form for total beginners and also enhances the skills of long term practitioners. For this reason, we now recommend all students study this form prior to studying the traditional Chen Style Tai Chi Ch'uan long form. If you have already learned the long form, however, you will still find a lot of benefit in the Tai Chi Foundation form training.

To check out the video course, please visit Tao Institute Online:
☯ online.taoinstitute.org

Please visit our curriculum page to learn more about our in person classes:
☯ taoinstitute.org/curriculum

04/27/2025

Broadsword Qigong has now been added to our Online Resource Membership Library!

Broadsword Qigong is the second form in our Four Major Weapons series. This is a Tao Style short form that introduces the basic techniques of the Chinese Broadsword. This form is designed for both technical and energetic development and contains smooth, continuous and circular movements that feel natural to practice.

The Broadsword is associated with the element of Metal, and has the qualities of cutting and slashing. In contrast to the Chinese Straight Sword, whose technique is more surgical, the technique of the Broadsword is akin to that of a large knife. Its single edge and curved blade make it conducive to the circularity of Baguazhang footwork and energetic whole body connection.

At Tao Institute, weaponry training is oriented towards the further development of Qi and the cutting away of ego attachments. The weapon becomes an extension of the body and energy, and is trained for harmonization and unification of the body and the weapon. This helps us grow in awareness, sensitivity, and versatility, energetically as well as physically.

This video contains a series of clips of Broadsword Qigong from the fall of 2023, before the hurricane. The spring in Western North Carolina has already brought an energy of renewal to our forests as nature begins to transform yet again. Beyond loss is a deeper connection with life.

To learn more about the Broadsword Qigong Course, please visit:
https://online.taoinstitute.org/courses/broadswordqigong

☯ In Person Training: taoinstitute.org
☯ Online Training: online.taoinstitute.org

🎶 Sunday Coffee by Rebecca Mardal

03/29/2025

Hello Everyone,

A new article is out!

This new piece by Mela contains an in-depth analysis of a potent astrological configuration occurring this month. This will be part 1 of a series of articles covering different topics pertaining to the astrological transitions of 2025 & 2026. These transitions denote a significant portal of instability in our world.

In this article, Mela outlines some basic information about what these astrological alignments represent and discusses practical strategies, gleaned from her years of training in the Taoist arts, on how to work with change.

May this offering be of assistance to all as we navigate this period of transformation.

Check it out at the link below 🙏🌟☯

Hello everyone! Happy Spring! I apologize for not releasing my usual Lunar New Year article this year —  I have been working on writing for this extraordinarily potent year, but I have been delayed on all projects due to recovery from Hurricane Helene on my property. Fortunately, I came

01/29/2025

Happy Lunar New Year!

2025 is the year of the Wood Snake. It will be a year of incredible transformation and challenge. The Snake’s inner fire is a purifying force that digests the karmic material of the past in order to be reborn anew. We will find clarity through time spent in stillness and presence.

The Snake reveals the internal operations of change. Be flexible and adaptable to evolving conditions. Openness to new ideas and surrender to a higher process yields wisdom.

Change is an opportunity, equal to all. Remove rather than add — see what is beyond with unhindered vision.

May this year bring us all closer to spirit.

Wishing everyone peace and health.

…

A full length article on the astrology of 2025 is in the works. It will be shared once complete :)

🐍

01/06/2025

Hello everyone,

Happy New Year! We hope that your holidays were restful and that the year 2025 brings all of us into deeper presence and light. This year is Tao Institute's 50th year, and so is an exciting time for us. We are grateful and look forward to an excellent year of training and celebration for our school.

Starting tomorrow, January 6, we will return to classes and resume our regular routine. Winter is a good time for self cultivation as we naturally draw inward. In this season, it is important to build our internal energy and nourish our qi in preparation for the year to come.

This month our entry level classes will be focused on foundation building. Monday Qigong students will continue to review forms and deepen in circle walking practice. In Wednesday Tai Chi class, we will begin in-depth instruction on the Tai Chi Foundation form. New students are welcome to join us in either or both of these classes.

For online members, we are also working behind the scenes on further courses to be added to the platform. Our focus is currently on completing and posting the Broadsword Qigong course for Tier 2 members, and filming and posting the new Tai Chi Foundation form, followed by Chen Style Tai Chi Section 3. We are hoping that these new course materials will start to become available in the spring.

Thank you for taking the time to read these updates. Many blessings to all.

Sincerely,

Sifu and Mela

12/08/2024

Today marks 49 years since the founding of Tao Institute by Sifu Paolillo. This year also marks 19 years since Sifu opened our current location in Asheville, NC.

As I was searching through my photos for this post, I came across these mountain view images that I had taken over the years from Sifu’s back deck at the Mountain Sanctuary. He often says that when he was young growing up in the city, he used to look outside his window and envision mountains. Now he gets to live in the mountains — a dream he was not able to realize until he moved to the Asheville area in 2002. This mountain view brings him endless joy and peace, and he often talks of the hours he spends looking out at the mountains.

After the storm, when so much destruction was wrought around us, this mountain view remained unchanged. Appalachia changed, but unchanging.

The power of these mountains is amazing. Living in their midst shapes and transforms you. Everywhere is overflowing with life and creative process. At the center of it all, great stillness and constancy. Their wisdom is ancient and deep, profound and subtle. Having seen earth evolve from the beginning, they still remember the beginnings. All who live here long enough come to respect their authority.

It is the untamable abundance, the unending wellspring of renewal, and the undeniable potency of spiritual forces that makes these mountains such a special place for spiritual cultivation. No matter how violent the change, resurrection always awaits. The workings of Tao, in that sense, are easy to see here. It must be why the Taoist hermits and monks have always chosen mountains as the sites for their temples.

It was with the vision of a monk that Sifu chose to come to this area. His work since living here has continuously deepened, as the cosmic relationship of the old ways of immortals and ancient teachings of this land express uniquely through him — and open the way for so many others to access similar keys within ourselves. Sifu’s vision and efforts are a true foundation for integration and spiritual evolution in our current time and modern environment. We are fortunate to receive such instruction — as it is these methods which provide peace, solace, and healing in times of the greatest change, and prepare us, also, for future creation — aligned with the principles of nature.

Sifu said yesterday that when looking out at the mountains, he felt we live "in the cradle of heaven.”

This is the truth that endures.

Happy Anniversary, Sifu!

Much love to all.

- Mela

11/04/2024

Hello Everyone,

It has now been just over a month since Hurricane Helene. Our lives in Western North Carolina have been forever changed, and there is still so much work ahead for our area.

We wanted to express our heartfelt gratitude to all that reached out to us during this time and to share how happy we were to see many students in class again in October. The relationships we share as a community feel more important now than ever. It has been nourishing to reconnect, recenter and restabilize through practice together.

Through the deep sadness of this time, there has also been profound healing as people have united to help each other. It is humbling to witness such a reflection of heart and spirit, and how effortlessly it transcends barriers.

Each week since the storm, progress has been made on restoring the infrastructure in affected areas. As of late October, our Downtown Asheville location was able to return to normal operations. Our building is now fully open, with running water. The bathroom facilities are accessible for use, and Sifu and I have been bringing in potable water from our wells for drinking and handwashing.

Our school is a very simple operation and requires little, but we are nonetheless happy to see the return of modern amenities for everyone's comfort and convenience.

Classes and private lessons are now back to their full and usual schedule. I will also return to work on the online platform in the coming month.

Please be aware that both November and December are holiday months so we will have some holiday closures. In the month of November there will be no class on November 11 (Mela is traveling), November 27 & November 28 (Thanksgiving).

In December, we will also be closed for a holiday break from December 23 - January 3. We will share more information regarding December's schedule at the end of this month.

We hope that November brings more stability for all of us in our community as we continue to clean up and rebuild. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Peace to all.

Sincerely,

Sifu and Mela

10/07/2024

Hello Everyone,

We hope that you are recovering and starting to settle a little bit after all of the disaster related upheaval. Over the course of this week we have observed much progress here in WNC, but there is still much in chaos.

We had a chance over the weekend to visit the school and found everything to be in working order. The main highways and roads into town are OK for travel and Downtown Asheville is stable. The school has power, but no water, and we cannot use the toilets for the time being.

Factoring in everything, Sifu and I decided that we would return to group classes starting tonight (Monday, October 7), for those who would like to, and are able to, join us. Our amenities will be limited but we should be able to manage OK for our 90 minutes of training. Class times will remain the same, from 5:30-7:00PM.

Sifu and I will bring in water from his well so that we can have drinking water. We will have to make do without the toilet for now, though we are hopeful that this situation will have a solution soon. If you come, please plan accordingly.

Our priority above all else is to help everyone restabilize and recenter as we all process this extreme situation. We are grateful to be able to continue to serve our community in this way and look forward to seeing everyone when you are able to return.

Peace to all.

Sincerely,

Sifu & Mela