About Grandmaster Mantak Chia

„Practice is the Key“ - Teaching is his Passion

All workshops with Mantak Chia are available online as video courses on demand. 

Master Mantak Chia is the creator of the Universal Healing Tao^® System. Since childhood he has been studying the Taoist approach to life. His mastery of this ancient knowledge, enhanced by his study of other disciplines, has resulted in the development of the Universal Healing Tao^® System which is now being taught throughout the world.

Mantak Chia was born in Thailand to Chinese parents in 1944. When he was six years old, Buddhist monks taught him how to sit and “still the mind”. While still a grammar school student, he learned traditional Thai boxing. He was then taught Tai Chi Chuan by Master Lu, who soon introduced him to Aikido, Yoga and broader levels of Tai Chi.
Years later, when he was a student in Hong Kong excelling in track and field events, a senior classmate named Cheng Sue-Sue introduced him to his first esoteric teacher and Taoist Master, Yi Eng (I Yun). He passed to Master Chia the six formulas which expanded to nine formulas and became a whole, very complete system of the Universal Healing Tao^®.

At this point, Master Chia began his studies of the Taoist way of life in earnest. He learned how to circulate energy through the Microcosmic Orbit and, through the practice of Fusion of the Five Elements, how to open the other Six Special Channels. As he studied Inner Alchemy further learning the Enlightenment of the Kan and Li, Sealing of the Five Senses, Congress of Heaven and Earth and Reunion of Heaven and Man. This laid down a very strong foundation for Master Chia to learn and understand many other esoteric practices. It was Master Yi Eng who authorized Master Chia to teach and heal as a Taoist Master.

50 Years of Teaching

When Mantak Chia was in his early twenties he studied with Master Meugi in Singapore, who taught him Kundalini, Taoist Yoga and the Buddha Palm. He was soon able to clear blockages to the flow of energy within his own body. He learned to pass the life force energy through his hands also, so that he could heal Master Meugi’s patients.

He then learned the technique of organ massage from Dr. Mui Yimwattana in Thailand and coined the term Chi Nei Tsang^®. A while later, he studied with Master Cheng Yao-Lun who taught him the Shao-Lin Method of Internal Power. He learned the closely guarded secret of the organs, glands and bone marrow exercise known as Bone Marrow Nei Kung and the exercise known as Strengthening and Renewal of the Tendons. Master Cheng Yao-Lun’s system combined Thai boxing and Kung Fu. Master Chia also studied at this time with Master Pan Yu, whose system combined Taoist, Buddhist and Zen teachings. Master Pan Yu taught him about the exchange of Yin and Yang power between men and women, and how to develop the Steel Body.

To understand the mechanisms behind healing energy better, Master Chia studied Western anatomy and medical science for two years at the university level. Using his knowledge of Taoism, and of the strong foundation practices of the nine levels combined with the other disciplines, Master Chia began teaching the Universal Healing Tao^® System. He eventually trained other instructors to communicate this knowledge.

Five years later, he decided to move to New York, where in 1979, he opened the Universal Healing Tao^® Center. During his years in America, Master Chia continued his studies in the Wu system of Tai Chi with Edward Yee in New York.

More than Two Thousand certified Universal Healing Tao^® Instructors Worldwide

Since then, Master Chia has taught tens of thousands of students throughout the world over the next forty years. He has trained and certified over 6,000 instructors and practitioners from all over the world. Universal Healing Tao^® Centers, Chi Nei Tsang^® Institutes, Cosmic Healing Forums and Immortal Tao Health and Wholistic Clinics have opened in many locations in North America, Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and Australia.

All Universal Healing Tao^®® Instructors around the world are organized in the Universal Tao Instructor database, www.universaltaoinstructors.com. Through this database anybody interested in the Universal Healing Tao^® can find a local Instructor near by.

Master Chia is a warm, friendly and helpful man who views himself primarily as a teacher. He presents the Universal Healing Tao^® System in a straightforward and practical manner, while always expanding his knowledge and approach to teaching.  

In June 1990, at a dinner in San Francisco, Master Chia was honored by the International Congress of Chinese Medicine and Qi Gong (Chi Kung), who named him the Chi Kung Master of the Year. He was the first recipient of this annual award.

In 2010 he was nominated and recognized by the World Medical Qi Gong Society.

In 2012 the publication “Mind Body Spirit” listed Master Chia number 14 out of the 100 most influential living spiritual masters.