Master Li Junfeng, former head coach of China’s National Martial Arts Team, will be a guest teacher at Eastover Estate and Retreat from November 10 to 15, offering Sheng Zhen Healing Qigong and Ba Gua Zhang. More than 100 children won gold medals in martial arts under Li’s guidance. He also has directed and acted in several martial arts films.

Sheng Zhen Healing Qigong involves a series of movements designed to remove unwanted negative energy from the body and to collect instead the true and healing energy (qi) of the natural world, Li says. “The movements and contemplations offered with Sheng Zhen Gong help create the deep sense of inner peace akin to what many of us experienced as small children,” he notes. “Simplicity replaces complexity—the body softens, negative emotions are released, and one experiences a feeling of perfect harmony with the universe.”

Along with Tai Chi and Xing Yi, Ba Gua Zhang is considered one of the three major “internal” Chinese martial arts. “Of the three, Ba Gua is the most powerful because it is the most flexible and dynamic,” Li says. “It is based on the theory of continuously changing in response to the situation.” Dong Haichuan is thought to have created Ba Gua Zhang in the early 19th century, after having learned it from Daoist masters in the mountains of rural China. Originally designed as a type of meditation, Dong later combined it with martial arts he had mastered in his youth.

Eastover Estate and Retreat is located in Lenox, MA. For information, visit Eastover.com.