NEW: Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming interview by David Silver (Sept 2026)

If you’d like to submit your response, email us and the submissions will be added to the What YMAA Means To Me post!

“What does YMAA mean to you?”

YMAA is the pathway to so much knowledge about Tai Chi and Qigong and to meeting so many people who have become good friends and knowledgeable practice partners.
Roger Blough
Qi Elements – YMAA Metro-DC
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YMAA means family, tradition, and martial values.
Scott Tarbell
Wuxia Martial Arts Center – YMAA Wuxia
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YMAA is more than just forms, it’s a path to find ourselves and navigate through life. It’s a way to know ourselves and find inner peace.
Taruu Sahana
YMAA Venezuela
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YMAA is where the practice of movement becomes a way of knowing oneself.
Aryanmehr
Iran
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YMAA is a welcoming and nurturing second family for me. The instructors and students are a family that provides care and support for physical, emotional and spiritual growth and wellbeing. I’ve made life-long friends from being a part of this wonderful community. I cannot overstate the positive impact YMAA has had on my life! 
Heidi Butler
YMAA Boston & Wu An
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YMAA is a silk thread that bridges east and west.
Roger Whidden
Whidden School of Fitness (Massachusetts)
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To me, YMAA is a place for transmitting a very precious culture and knowledge, a legacy and a transmission.
Pierre Coppet
YMAA Vincennes
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YMAA has taught me that I always have room for improvement and I can push myself to get better a little bit every day.
Ben Warner
YMAA Boston
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YMAA is my home away from home.
Axie Breen
YMAA Boston
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Dr. Yang and other senior instructors like Ramel Rones taught me tools to understand and regulate my nervous system and control my energy.
David Silver
YMAA Cape Cod
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YMAA means a community of practitioners to study and grow with.
Phil Dunwoody
YMAA Huntingdon Tai Chi
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YMAA means an international community of friends dedicated to learning, sharing, and experiencing martial and internal arts to improve our physical health, mental well-being, and spiritual growth.
Daniel Chadud
Newendao YMAA Chile
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YMAA is a family and going anywhere in the world where there is a YMAA school means I can find a brother or a sister to welcome me.
Olivier Pardo
YMAA London
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It is more than a community, it is family, it is life. It is where you can go anywhere in the world and no matter the level of experience you have, you are treated with respect for who you are and where you are. We are humble enough to ask for help and everyone will step up to help you whether in training or in life. We are genuinely interested in reaching the depths of knowledge and not concerned with an ego of trophies. Everyone is also genuinely interested in helping each other to be better in their path. YMAA is the Dao.
David Grantham
Evolutionary Qigong
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YMAA is a group of people who became lifelong friends. It was the start of an adventure that I am still on today—an idea that has led me to seven countries across five continents. Most importantly, YMAA is where I met the woman who became my wife and the mother of my children.
Jeff Pratt
YMAA Boston
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YMAA in general, and the California Retreat Center training experience in particular, expanded my understanding of the journey I’ve undertaken to cultivate my physical, mental, emotional, and energetic Self in service to others’ journey to live optimally.
Robert J. Woodbine
Urban Qi FIT – YMAA
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YMAA is a platform formed by a network of hearts united with the purpose of growing, developing and being able to give the best of themselves to the world.
Jorge Sobrero
Córdoba Tai Chi – YMAA Argentina

Newendao YMAA – Chile Grand Opening

Dear Friends of the YMAA International Community,

With great joy and gratitude, we’re delighted to announce the Grand Opening of the Newendao YMAA Retreat Center on October 9th!

Located in Newendao Park, Pucón, Chile, the ceremony will be graced by the presence of our Grandmaster, Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming, alongside the YMAA Latin American Community — with members joining from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The opening of this retreat center carries forward the legacy of the YMAA Retreat Center in California, offering a new home for the practice of Qigong, Meditation, and Taijiquan.

Surrounded by native forest, lakes, hot springs and active volcanoes, this sanctuary is an amazing place for deep connection with pure nature.

LIVE Online Broadcast
Grand Opening — Newendao YMAA Retreat Center
Friday, October 9, 2026 · 3:30pm (Eastern Time)

Sign in here: https://forms.gle/57aAd8aMEAp857Fv8

We hope to see you there!

Best,
Daniel Chadud
Newendao YMAA – Chile

Dr. Yang’s Latest Release

Qigong for Health and Resilience

New streaming video and free ebook

As we celebrate YMAA’s 44th anniversary, Dr. Yang is marking the occasion with a brand-new release: Qigong for Health and Resilience, a streaming video course paired with a free companion ebook. Whether you’re looking to build a stronger immune system, recover from stress, or simply deepen your daily practice, this release brings Dr. Yang’s decades of teaching straight to your living room.

To celebrate the anniversary, the YMAA Publication Center is offering a special discount from October 1–7 — the perfect time to add this to your practice.

Learn more and get the discount

From our community

Chinese Herbal Formula of the Month

to prevent and/or treat common training injuries

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Your Autumn Self-Care Guide

Six things you can do this season to protect your lungs and your mood

Dr. Robert J. Woodbine, N.D., M.Ac.O.M., L.Ac.

Autumn is the season of the Lungs. In Chinese medicine, the Lungs distribute Wei Qi — your defensive energy, the barrier that keeps wind, cold, and dryness from getting into you. As fall begins, that barrier naturally contracts. This is why colds arrive when school starts, why old coughs return, and why grief and melancholy sit closer to the surface in October than they did in July.

None of that is a problem to be fixed. It is a predictable seasonal window, and predictable windows can be prepared for. Here is what I ask my students and patients to do.

1. Clean the air you sleep in
2. Lengthen your exhale

Continued in PDF

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Upcoming Events

View the YMAA International – America HQ main page for workshops and more!