Thrive Guide

Mimi Kuo-Deemer

About

Mimi is an author and teacher of both students and other teachers of qigong, internal martial arts, mindfulness and yoga. She has been a lover of movement since a young age, when her mother put her in ballet school for walking with turned-in toes. She champions the balance of p...
Mimi is an author and teacher of both students and other teachers of qigong, internal martial arts, mindfulness and yoga. She has been a lover of movement since a young age, when her mother put her in ballet school for walking with turned-in toes. She champions the balance of playfulness and precision as the best way forward in life, and never underestimates how sitting, breathing and conscious movement can provide the clearest and most compassionate perspective on the messy, complex and often unpredictable job of being human.

Originally from Tucson, Arizona, Mimi lived in China for over 14 years. In 2002, she co-founded Yoga Yard, Beijing’s first and leading yoga studio, which she co-directed for seven years before moving to the UK. She now lives in the British countryside, and teaches workshops, immersions and retreats as well as online via Zoom and movementformodernlife.com.

Mimi is a graduate of Stanford University and SOAS, University of London, where she earned a masters with distinction in 2016 in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation. She has published a number of yoga and qigong DVDs/videos with New Shoot Pictures and is represented by the literary agency, Madeleine Milburn. She published her first book, Qigong and the Tai Chi Axis in December, 2018 (Orion Spring), and her second, Xiu Yang: Self-Cultivation for a Happier, Healthier and Balanced Life (Orion Spring), in June, 2019. In addition to teaching and writing, Mimi also helps run the Glow Fund charitable trust – a charity she and her husband established that helps disadvantaged Chinese and ethnically Tibetan children with severe orthopaedic conditions receive life-changing operations. ​
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When we take care of ourselves, we take care of this world. This is because we are nature, manifest in human form.
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Retreat Specialties

I include a mix of practices, including meditation/mindfulness; qigong; and restorative and dynamic yoga. I also put a lot of emphasis on building community and fun!

What are your favorite Retreat Venues around the world

La Locanda della Quercia Calante, Umbria, Italy: This is home away from home. I led my first retreat here in 2011 and have been back every year since, except for 2020. Centro Santillan, Costa del Sol, Spain: I have taught a number of retreats here, and love their location and grounds. Their yoga shala is also the most well-equipped and beautiful studios I have ever had the privilege to teach in! Poundon House, Oxfordshire, UK: I often book two retreats per year to teach here because their hospitality and attention to detail are superb.

What's your personal definition of what it means to thrive?

To have the conditions in your life to flourish and grow a heart that is kind, clear and compassionate

Who do you look up to ? Who has helped you the most along your teacher / retreat leader journey?

I credit Erich Schiffmann for inspiring me to teach yoga. I did my first training with him in 2002 and began teaching immediately afterwards. Erich imparted to me the ideas that teaching, meditation and one's own yoga practice are some of the greatest gifts in life. I thank him at the end of each of my yoga practices and appreciate the free-flow of love and goodness that emanates from him daily. In 2003, I met Donna Farhi. Studying with her granted insights to questions I had about my own practice and teaching. In January, 2012, after nearly a decade of studying with her around the world, I completed her Advanced Teacher Training in Christchurch, New Zealand. Today, the principles she has shared over the years continue to foster an intuitive and subtle approach to yoga that humbles me the more I learn. In 2015, I began to study mindfulness meditation under Martin Aylward and Mark Coleman. As highly respected Buddhist dharma teachers, they have an uncanny ability to share ancient teachings using articulate, contemporary language. Through them, I've begun to learn valuable skills and means to meet the challenges of being human. Since 2016, Martin has been my steady guide and dharma teacher. I thank him for his guidance in awakening greater compassion and insight into how I meet experience. Since 2019, I have been studying internal martial arts (Nei Jia Quan) with Liu Xuyang, a 5th generation Baguazhang master in Beijing. I am honoured to now be a sixth-generation lineage holder of his tradition, which is in Liu Fengchun's Baguazhang. I am grateful to have my Shifu sharing the longevity of a practice that has been passed on through so many generations, and feel the blessing and responsibility of transmitting these teachings on to my students to the best of my ability. Over the years, I've also drawn much inspiration from Max Strom, whom I assisted through his 200 hour Yoga Alliance teacher training, and Matthew Cohen, who first inspired me to integrate yoga and qigong. Most of all, however, I am grateful for the learning I gain each day from the community of teachers around me, my students and my self-practice.

Mimi Kuo-Deemer's Videos

8 Silk Brocades qigong practice
8 Silk Brocades qigong practice
A Little More Calm - why I practice and teach
A Little More Calm - why I practice and teach
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