How does one practice Taoism ?

All I can offer is a perspective that may help you find your full uniting with the tao.

There a few levels of Taoism, and they aren't arranged in ascending or descending order - they're typically equal for specific things.

First thing to recognize I think is that raw taoism is simply being exactly what you are without the conditioning. In a sense it's similar to living in a state of liberation, rather than other paths which continuously make you work for it.

In taoism there is nothing to work for, that for me is the most profound and powerful message in taoism.

Later, however- there is added flourish and philsophy. inclusive of astrology, chinese medicine, qi gong, etc.

However, taoism is not about practicing a 'taoist tradition'. It is a manner of taking the world in the order in which it comes, day by day, moment by moment without contriving. This means being yourself, with the highest level of self integrity and a lack of self deception. Those who are not spiritually high levelled shouldn't even bother trying. 1 to 10. 1 = religious belief. 5 = spiritual beliefs (united with all religions) 10 = complete clarity of purpose and meaning. This is represented by the taoist sage, in taoism.

I'll tell a quick story I've heard which can give emphasis to where taoism can be understood. If you have the mind for it.

Lao Tzu had students, or rather used to take long walks up the mountain near where he lived often taking students with him. He would only take one at a time, and the only rule was that you must never speak a single word.

One day he took up one boy, who was eager to impress. He walked with lao tzu in silence, which was easy enough. But on reaching the summit, they looked out across to the horizon, and the boy welled up with emotion and appreciation, feeling the space and fully being in contact.

He felt so strongly that he could barely help himself. He said "perfect". Lao Tzu, turned and left..

When the student got back to his temple, he told his friends that lao tzu would no longer take him to the mountain, and he regretted deeply. One of these friends had a deep compassion in his heart, and so ran to Lao Tzu and said "He only said one word, maybe it's understandable. You should forgive him and overlook his mistake. What's so important about not saying a single word anyway?" he'd challenge. Lao Tzu replied "the moment his mind became fractured, while one part spoke and the other observed - he lost both the ability to speak and the ability to see."

the aim of a taoist is to practice through a state of liberation, where unconditioning yourself comes first - to a mind they call 'the single pointed mind'. In this state, all things come as effortless, and go as effortless. Mourning is not present, and neither is grief. Instead the being takes on a sudden transformational existence where he is at home here. This is something that one can only experience, and cannot compare to how they feel now until they have done so.

In a sense, every time you succesfully meditate, you are gaining single pointedness - and as you come back around and slowly drop down to your original levels, you lose it in juggling reality.

So in this way, the modern world does not really make space for the kind of person a 'true' taoist is. He percieves nothing as away from nature, and so the orange that grows on the tree outside is no different from the orange that has been pre-packaged, stamped, claimed and sold. He would easily enough pick it up and eat it wherever he found it, if he had not the awareness of social consequences. In this way, the taoist is the answer to all human problems (in their own way). as are genuinely enlightened individuals of other paths.

I suggest finding the group chuang tzu on facebook. spelt exactly that way, it is run by a group of people who focus on philosophical taoism which is the real taoism. The reason I can say it is the real taoism is because it is the base from where the other branches grow, and each of those branches exist solely for absorbing energy from human attention so that it may maintain presense in the world. By learning it you preserve it, and if you need to imagine energy balls and drinking the sun to do so, do it.

Prepare your mind to become a garden of flowers which bud wisdom and compassion, because this is what finding the tao becomes.

I ask a friend from China this question he said "we dont practice we live it"