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Mimi Kuo-Deemer, MA, is the author of Qigong and the Tai Chi Axis: Nourishing Practices for Body, Mind and Spirit and Xiu Yang: The Ancient Chinese Art of Self-Cultivation. She teaches meditation, qigong, and internal martial arts (6th generation lineage holder in Baguazhang).
Born in the United States, Mimi lived in China for over 13 years, where she worked as a photojournalist before settling in the British countryside with her husband and their dog, three cats, 8 chickens and 60,000 bees. She champions the balance of playfulness and precision as the best way forward in life, and never underestimates how sitting, breathing, and conscious movement grant the steadiness and compassion needed to meet the joyful, messy, and unpredictable job of being human. |
The longer read...
Where it all started
The first time I practiced qigong was at the Shaolin Temple in 1984. I was 14 years old. I spent one week learning movements under the kind tutelage of a monk and loved it, but didn't remember a thing.
In 1995, I tried yoga for the first time, fumbling through the postures with my mother's photocopied yoga book from the 1970's. My mother, who put me into ballet school for walking with turned-in toes from the age of 4, knew I loved dance, and thought I'd like this movement-based health system she'd been doing on her own for years. She also recognised that I wasn't very well; I was an overworked, stressed-out, asthmatic photographer living and working in Beijing. The yoga poses I did started to reverse my compromised health, and I quickly began feeling stronger and more revitalised.
I often look back at the first time I practiced from that book; I didn't know it then, but yoga did more than give me my health back – it started putting things in perspective. Soon after I began regularly practising yoga, I began meditating. I also discovered qigong. By cultivating a type of mental, physical, energetic and intentional awareness that wasn't based on how I looked while doing it (like dance had trained me to think), I started to pay closer attention to my thoughts, emotions and sensations. I eventually discovered that meditation, yoga and qigong made me happier. It helped break down a lot of negative ideas I had about myself that simply weren't true. In other words, my practices made me feel more comfortable in my own skin.
These days I no longer photograph professionally, but I feel as though each of my practices, which have expanded to include the internal martial arts of Baguazhang, Xingyiquan and Taijiquan, help me feel more awake, alive and able to love.
Where it all started
The first time I practiced qigong was at the Shaolin Temple in 1984. I was 14 years old. I spent one week learning movements under the kind tutelage of a monk and loved it, but didn't remember a thing.
In 1995, I tried yoga for the first time, fumbling through the postures with my mother's photocopied yoga book from the 1970's. My mother, who put me into ballet school for walking with turned-in toes from the age of 4, knew I loved dance, and thought I'd like this movement-based health system she'd been doing on her own for years. She also recognised that I wasn't very well; I was an overworked, stressed-out, asthmatic photographer living and working in Beijing. The yoga poses I did started to reverse my compromised health, and I quickly began feeling stronger and more revitalised.
I often look back at the first time I practiced from that book; I didn't know it then, but yoga did more than give me my health back – it started putting things in perspective. Soon after I began regularly practising yoga, I began meditating. I also discovered qigong. By cultivating a type of mental, physical, energetic and intentional awareness that wasn't based on how I looked while doing it (like dance had trained me to think), I started to pay closer attention to my thoughts, emotions and sensations. I eventually discovered that meditation, yoga and qigong made me happier. It helped break down a lot of negative ideas I had about myself that simply weren't true. In other words, my practices made me feel more comfortable in my own skin.
These days I no longer photograph professionally, but I feel as though each of my practices, which have expanded to include the internal martial arts of Baguazhang, Xingyiquan and Taijiquan, help me feel more awake, alive and able to love.
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Deepening gratitude for my shifu and teachers
My teachers are the sources of deep inspiration and trust. These are a few who have and continue to foster and shape my love of learning and sharing my practices. Common to them all are depth of practice, humility, and a skill for making me laugh. Shifu Liu Xuyang: In the internal martial arts (neijiaquan) of Baguazhang and Xingyiquan, I am a disciple of Liu Xuyang, a 5th generation Baguazhang master. As a 6th generation lineage holder in the tradition of Liu Fengchun's Baguazhang, I am grateful to my shifu for sharing the longevity of a practice that has been passed on through so many generations. I also feel the blessing and responsibility of transmitting these teachings on to my students to the best of my ability. Martin Aylward: In meditation and Buddhist dharma (pali: dhamma) practice, Martin Aylward has granted me authorisation to teach Insight Meditation. My steady guide and dharma teacher for many years now, I thank Martin for his guidance, trust and down-to-earth teachings, which continue to guide me along a deeply transformative path of awakening. I am honoured to co-teach retreats with Martin at his retreat centre in France. Master Huang Ping: www.dreaming-dragon.co.uk/home.htmIn Taijiquan (Taichi Chuan), I am learning from Shifu Huang Ping – a former Chinese National Champion and member of the China National Wushu team, specialising in Taiji and Bagua. She brings a light-hearted approach to the discipline of form and technique that is truly inspiring. Sifu Matthew Cohen and Cameron Tukapua: I continue to draw inspiration fro my first qigong teachers, Sifu Matthew Cohen and Cameron Tukapua. In 2003 and 2004, they open the door to a world of movement, philosophy and Chinese medicine that has completely reshaped my health, life and practice. Erich Schiffmann and Donna Farhi: I will forever be grateful to my first yoga teachers, Erich Schiffmann and Donna Farhi, who imparted to me the ideas that teaching, meditation and one's own practice are some of the greatest gifts in life. They each taught me that the heart of yoga is about listening inwardly and being guided to trust what we find ourselves knowing. This foundation is the springboard from which I continue to explore this world. |
With my Baguazhang shifu, Liu Xuyang
With my dharma teacher, Martin Aylward
With my taichi teacher, Master Huang Ping
With my first yoga teacher, Erich Schiffmann
With my mentor and yoga teacher, Donna Farhi
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Meeting Benjia and his grandmother during a Glow Fund mission, China 2016
At home in Oxfordshire
Baozi and his feline family (his chances of getting his bed back from Peaches are not high!)
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Where life has brought me
I was born in upstate New York and grew up in Tucson, Arizona. After graduating from Stanford University with a degree in American Studies, I moved to Beijing, China, where I lived for 14 years. For most of my time in China, I worked as a documentary and portrait photographer, though for a short time, I also ran a wedding magazine! In 2002, I co-founded and co-directed Yoga Yard, Beijing’s first and leading yoga centre. In October 2009, I moved to London with my husband, Aaron, a Five Element Acupuncturist, co-founder of The Source Clinic, and documentary photographer. I finished a Masters in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation at SOAS, University of London in December, 2016, and for the last 15 years have been helping my husband run the Glow Fund, a charity that helps Chinese orphans and Tibetan children with severe disabilities receive life-changing orthopaedic surgeries. In 2018, I moved to the English countryside of Oxfordshire, where I balance my teaching and writing work with gardening, country walks and time with my animals. I am honoured to be represented by the literary agency, Madeleine Milburn. I have authored two books published through Orion Spring, UK: Qigong and the Tai Chi Axis: Nourishing Practices for Body, Mind and Spirit (2018) and Xiu Yang: Self-Cultivation for a Happier, Healthier and Balanced Life (2019). I am also honoured to share my work across many platforms including qigong practice videos and DVDs available on Amazon Prime, Commune, Yoga and Fitness TV, Movement for Modern Life, Vimeo, and YouTube. Credentials:
To Mr. Liu Xuyang,
By this recognition: As a master of the internal martial arts, your disciple has long admired your profound and unparalleled expertise in martial arts. With the gracious permission of Master, I have been accepted into your lineage. I pledge to follow the teachings of my Master, to unite with fellow disciples, to diligently practice and refine my skills, and to uphold the traditions of this art. With utmost sincerity, I undertake the disciple’s ceremony to honor my Master and to promote the cultural heritage of our people. This declaration is made respectfully. Master: Liu Xuyang, Disciple: Guo Yizhen/ Mimi Kuo-Deemer December 27, 2020, Beijing Dongyue Temple
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