Nei kung is the internal circulation and refinement of chi using Taoist meditation formulas, quiet breathing, and slow motion movement. The first of the formulas is the smelting, or fusion, of the five agents which is the oldest recorded Taoist meditation formula. [The document is the Taiping Ching. A first version of the text was presented to the Emperor Cheng of the former Han in 32 B. C. E.] see Kohn

The basic visualization was of a cauldron at the center, just below the naval, where the female and male [yin and yang] energies of the body could be brought together and coupled. Yin and Yang are coupled in the cauldron and the resultant steam is the Original Chi. Through this method the Taoists were able to greatly improve their health by gaining some control over the involuntary body functions like blood flow, increased lymph function, and chi flow in the channels. The second formula is a more advanced form of water and fire fusion using the cauldron. In the meditation manual "Instructions for Xing and Ming" [from the 1600's reprinted by the Baiyun Quan] it puts this type of practice under the heading of "Practice of the Great Cinnibar Elixir nei-dan." The specific practice was called "Practice of the greater and lesser cauldron [ding] and furnace [lu]." The fire was placed beneath the cauldron in order to refine the impurities out of the energy further.

Cauldron meditation was the primary practice at places like Wudang Shan and Hua Shan and this was the aspect of Taoist practices that was combined with martial arts to create the famed "internal" martial arts of Tai-chi, Pa kua, and Hsing-i.

(Click here to see a related video on medical Chi Kung)

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