Zibin Guo: Wheelchair Tai Chi to the Department of Veterans Affairs

November 28th, 2018  |  49 mins 22 secs

acupuncture, adaptive tai chi, applied tai chi ji, carleena angwin, chattanooga, chinese medicine, department of veterans affairs, harvard medical school, hero's journey, hrsa, joseph campbell, medical anthropology, paralympic games, paralympics, tai chi, tai chi chuan, tai ji, the carleena show, utc, veteran, veterans, zibin guo

Dr. Zibin Guo is a medical anthropologist and internationally known Tai Chi Master. In today's episode, Dr. Guo describes his journey, which began as a young martial artist in China during an era of cultural revolution and uncertainty. With the encouragement of a couple students, Zibin left China in his twenties and travelled to the United States to begin a new life in academia. "I began teaching adaptive tai ji by accident," Dr. Guo says. "That was my moment of enlightenment." The chance encounter propelled him on a new course and within a few years, he developed wheelchair Tai Chi Chuan, which he debuted at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. Eight years later, Zibin received a major grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and began traveling to VA facilities across the country to train staff in wheelchair tai chi. Zibin details what medical anthropology and wheelchair tai chi have in common and how he incorporates the hero's journey in his program.

The Carleena Show Podcast https://carleena.net/ | Ordinary People Share Their Hero’s Journey | Hosted and Produced by Carleena Angwin | Watch episodes on YouTube: https://bit.ly/2AzCFib | Video Editing and Graphic Design by http://stevenllorca.com/ | Connect with Zibin Guo http://appliedtaiji.com/