The Nine Stages of Alchemy is a map created by the ancient Chinese Alchemists. The stages are a set of directions… telling you to go left here, right here, etc. I learned them from Dr. Jeffrey Yuen, an 88th generation Daoist priest, and then practiced them on myself and with others for many years in my clinic.

I like to think of the Nine Stages as a spiritual evolution roadmap to a destination with specific directions that say… “Turn right here. Turn left here.” It’s not the only way to get to the destination, but it works. It’s a proven way to get there. The ancient Chinese Alchemists put out all the signposts for us, so why not follow those signs instead of create our own? Buddha created his own path. And that’s fine. It’s not easy or everyone would have done it by now. But if Buddha did it, anyone can theoretically do it that way.

Me? I like the signposts. I like a little linearity. “First do this. Then next do this. Third do this.” These steps can be done in any order theoretically, but in this particular order, everything goes very smoothly.

The Stages of Alchemy have changed my life completely. It’s hard to explain without describing the whole process, but it’s an evolutionary process. It asks you to walk through doors fearlessly—doors that open up new worlds to you, but are difficult to explain or describe to anyone.