Who is Damo Mitchell?
Damo Mitchell
Damo Mitchell is the founder of Lotus Nei Gong International and has spent over four decades immersed in the internal arts. His path began in early childhood and has led him across China, Southeast Asia, India, and Europe, where he studied under respected masters of Nei Gong, martial arts, and Chinese medicine.
With roots in traditional lineages and a deep respect for classical teachings, Damoâs approach to internal cultivation is structured, accessible, and deeply transformative. His teaching covers Nei Gong, Taijiquan, Baguazhang, Daoist alchemy and meditative systems.
Students who train with Damo are guided through a clear and progressive processâstarting with the health and integrity of the physical body, followed by the awakening and regulation of Qi, and eventually into the depths of the mind and spirit. Whether for personal development, internal strength, or deep spiritual work, Damoâs teachings emphasize authenticity, precision, and grounded experience.
He is also the Director of the Xian Tian College of Chinese Medicine and the author of several widely respected books on internal arts, Daoism, and energetic cultivation.
Damo was born in the UK into a family immersed in martial arts. From an early age, he was introduced to both the discipline and philosophy of Eastern fighting systems. His early training focused on Japanese and Chinese martial arts, which cultivated not only a strong physical base but also a deep respect for the internal dimensions of these practices.
By his teenage years, Damo had expanded his studies to include various systems of Qi Gong, meditation, and the foundations of classical Chinese medicine. His curiosity led him into Yogic practices and the beginnings of inner alchemical work, laying the groundwork for a path that would later become all-consuming.
Inner Turmoil and a Turning Point
As a child and teenager, Damo experienced spontaneous altered states of consciousnessâfleeting moments of connection with something beyond ordinary perception. These experiences hinted at a deeper reality but faded as he grew older, leaving behind a sense of loss, confusion, and an intense inner restlessness.
He threw himself into martial training with increasing intensity, hoping to recapture what he had glimpsed. But despite external discipline, internally he was plagued by what he would come to call the âpoisonous fireââa mix of unresolved emotion, spiritual frustration, and a haunting sense of disconnection.
Everything began to shift when he met his first true internal arts teacherâsomeone who recognized the fire behind his eyes and the spiritual hunger masked as aggression. This teacher helped him begin the process of unraveling the emotional knots and energetic blockages that had been driving him. It was the first true step toward personal liberation.
A Search for Authentic Teachings
In his early twenties, Damo left the West and set out to find real instructionâteachers who had not only technical knowledge but genuine spiritual insight. What started as a brief journey turned into over two decades of dedicated study, travel, and immersion.
He sought out skilled masters across China, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Indiaâoften living in temples, mountain communities, or rural villages. Along the way, he studied with Daoist adepts, Buddhist monks, martial arts hermits, and Chinese medicine doctors. His path took him through the disciplines of Daoist alchemy, Chan (Zen) and Vajrayana Buddhism, Yogic pranayama, and the healing arts.
Much of his time was spent exploring various lineagesâfilling in the gaps where teachings had been lost or fragmentedâand cross-referencing systems from different cultures to uncover their shared internal mechanisms. This period was marked not only by deep learning but also by hardship, solitude, and a relentless search for the genuine amidst widespread imitation.
Founding Lotus Nei Gong
Upon returning to the West, Damo founded the Lotus Nei Gong School of Internal Arts. The goal was clear: to share the rare and authentic teachings he had uncovered, and to provide a clear structure for students to engage in real internal cultivation.
Lotus Nei Gong became a home for serious practitioners of Qi Gong, Nei Gong, Taijiquan, and later Baguazhangâsystems not just for physical health, but for emotional resolution, energetic development, and spiritual realization.
More than a school of technique, Lotus Nei Gong emphasizes inner change. Damo’s vision is to help students dismantle the inner noise of emotional reactivity and conditioned belief, guiding them toward stillness, presence, and personal freedom.
Todayâs Focus: A Life of Internal Cultivation
In recent years, Damo has stepped back from large public events and now devotes his time to a smaller circle of committed students. Based in Ubud, Bali, the Lotus Nei Gong headquarters has become a retreat-style training hub, offering in-depth instruction in the internal arts.
Students train five days a week in a structured and immersive environment designed to support deep transformation. The Bali school emphasizes not just physical refinement, but the subtle internal qualities of the artsâdeveloping âSongâ (release), âTingâ (listening/attentivenesss), and energetic coherence.
Outside of Bali, Damo continues to share his teachings globally through the Internal Arts Academyâan online platform that offers comprehensive instruction in Nei Gong, Baguazhang, and Taijiquan. These programs retain the depth and integrity of the teachings while making them accessible to students worldwide.
He also oversees a small number of senior instructors within Lotus Nei Gong, ensuring the quality of instruction remains high as the community grows.
Damoâs teachings are no longer bound by tradition for its own sake. Instead, he emphasizes direct experience, transformation, and inner truth. He views the internal arts not as relics of the past, but as evolving systems of awakeningâtools to peel back the layers of conditioned identity and encounter reality without distortion.
Leaving Tradition
Throughout his extensive studies, Damo had the privilege of training under many distinguished teachers, learning from masters of both internal and external Gong Fu, meditation experts, Chinese medical practitioners, and Yogic instructors. He was initiated into various Daoist, Buddhist, and other traditional lineages, receiving the arts in a deeply authentic manner. However, despite the wealth of teachings he encountered, Damo, as an Englishman, never felt a profound connection to the cultural and “lore” aspects of these ancient traditions. He came to believe that while these practices held essential truths, much of the surrounding cultural baggage served to obscure the core message. This message, in his view, is universal: all human beingsâregardless of race, nationality, or genderâare inherently capable, given the right guidance, of discovering the essence of who they are: the immortal being at the center of their existence, the Soul. As a result, those who have studied with Damo over the years have witnessed a gradual shift away from the divisive perspectives of “this tradition” versus “that tradition,” toward a more integrative approachâa central system of practice aimed at guiding individuals toward the realization of spiritual truth.
Whilst Damo and Lotus Nei Gong may still present traditional Chinese arts such as Taijiquan, Qigong or others, the underlying essence of Spiritual practice is really what the school is focused upon. All arts we teach are simply tools through which such work may be manifest in the dedicated and sincere practitioner.
- Director of the Lotus Nei Gong of Internal Arts
- Head of the Xian Tian College of Chinese Medicine
- Initiated into Long Men Daoism
- Initiated into Chan Buddhism
- Award-winning author of numerous books on the Chinese Inner Arts
- Keynote speaker and guest speaker at numerous conferences
- Speaker at the Bhutan Vajrayana Conference 2022
- Degree level education in Chinese Medicine
- Teacher of workshops and retreats worldwide
- Host of the Damo Mitchell and Scholar Sage podcasts