Here are some words about the practices that we practice and teach at Monte da Vida. These practices inform how we live, work and engage with the world.

Definitions matter — so what actually is meditation?

Many calming practices – deep breathing, centring, or cultivating presence – are commonly labelled "meditation". People also include movement disciplines like ecstatic dance, Tai Chi, and Qi Gong under that umbrella.

Within traditional Taoism, however, these practices are not called meditation. Qi Gong literally means “energy cultivation". It demands high levels of awareness and presence to perform well, as does Tai Chi, yet neither is considered meditation.

The same goes for advanced breathing work. Taoist breathing or deep pranayama can induce profound altered states – similar to those produced by psychedelics – but an altered state alone is not meditation unless it is deliberately applied toward lasting self-liberation.

Meditation is defined as:

The trained ability to enter a state in which the self can be rapidly and permanently transformed toward freedom.

In the Taoist Water tradition we practise, this means systematically locating and releasing fixated or blocked places in the body-mind – permanently.

Let’s use a relatable example.

Imagine someone with an anger issue. They get intensely triggered whenever someone interrupts or cuts them off mid-sentence in conversation. The reaction feels disproportionate, but it keeps happening.

Over years of personal work, they develop enough awareness and self-control to notice the rising heat, excuse themselves, and go to another room to do calming breathwork or visualisation. That’s already a respectable level of maturity — they’re taking responsibility instead of exploding.

But when they return and face the same interrupting person, the trigger can still fire just as strongly.

Now imagine this same person spends six months on an intensive meditation retreat and truly learns to meditate. When they come home and encounter the same interrupter again, the other person can talk over them all day, and nothing arises.
The charge is gone. The pattern has been uprooted for good.

This permanent dissolution of a trigger when done systematically, as a learnable and transferable skill is meditation.

Relaxation techniques are valuable, but run  the old trigger, and the agitation can return just as fiercely. Meditation skill is the ability to have transformed, and ended the trigger in at its root within your own personality.

Within Taoism, there is no strong emphasis on “becoming enlightened.” The very idea of enlightenment often belongs to the unenlightened mind, - imagining something that has not yet been understood or realised. Striving for this separate and future-bound idea can quietly breed attachment to spiritual power and superiority, rather than working as a healthy spiritual goal.

The goal that roots and unifies Taoist arts is simply to be more alive.

Everyone, at every level of understanding, can resonate with this. No one wants to feel more dead, contracted, or numb — and everyone intuitively wants to feel more alive, open, and vibrant.

This is where Taoist practice begins. It is also where the concept of chi, your life force, finds its meaning: the amount of chi you embody is precisely the degree to which you are alive.

Our life here is meditation-based. This perspective guides all our activities on the land and helps us meet whatever challenges arise with steadiness.

Central to this is acceptance of what comes: holding an open, positive attitude toward whatever life brings. We meet reality as it is, and transform with it aiming to stay true to our individual integrity.

This ongoing process continually reveals our deeper nature. Life’s situations act as mirrors, and staying present through them uncovers who we really are.

(Practically, when something arises that feels “not OK,” we first allow it to be - “OK — this is what’s here.” We then remain present in meditation until clear insight emerges: how it is workable, what truth it holds, and what authentic response naturally arises.)

There is a great silence that can be accessed on the land and it can provide a powerful holding space for deep meditation practice.

To make the most of this gift, we will often align periods of silence with the earth’s natural cycles: solstices, equinoxes, and other key turning points in the seasonal rhythm.

Taoists have long observed that these moments of “changing cycle” - when one season yields to the next - open access to deeper energies of transformation and renewal. In the same way, the natural pause between the out-breath and the in-breath offers the deepest entry into presence and stillness.

By harmonising with these earthly turning points, we allow the greater forces of change to support our own inner transformation, making the process more effortless and profound.

At Monte da Vida, our core practice is Inner Dissolving - the meditation method of the Taoist Water tradition, as taught by Bruce K. Frantzis.

This precise, body-based method of permanently releasing inner blockages lies at the heart of our work.

We are also enriched by experience in other traditions and have studied with various teachers across Dzogchen, Vipassana, Advaita, and somatic lineages. These influences deepen our understanding without overshadowing the clarity and power of the Water method, which remains our root.

If you live locally and are interested in our Tai Chi training with Servan, get in touch to apply to join the group.

Join our mailing list to find out about classes and workshops in Qigong, Taoist breathing practices, or presence practices.