About Jeffrey

Baguadao 八卦刀 in Siwa Oasis of Egypt. Photo by Lisa Tse.

Jeffrey Reid (Daoist name Li Mao Zihe 李懋資和) is a 16th generation disciple of the Wudang Sanfeng Lineage 武當三丰派 of Daoism. At age 23, he dropped everything he knew in life and launched into the event horizon of a life in the Wudang Mountains of China, fulfilling an inexplicable inner yearning to devote his life to Daoist martial arts and inner cultivation practices. 

Jeff showed an unshakeable dedication to practice and upholding the teachings of the Daoist tradition and was soon taken as a disciple by his master, Yuan Xiugang 袁修剛. Deeply entrenched in his practice, Jeff would hardly depart from Wudang for 7 years. Leaving the mountains in 2014, he traveled the world as an itinerant teacher before taking root in Santa Cruz, California in 2018.

Some Wudang and Emei practices in South Carolina.

 Jeff grew up in Rhode Island and developed a strong interest in Eastern cultures at an early age. As a young artist, the beauty and power he saw expressed in Chinese martial arts, calligraphy, and architecture made an indelible impact on him. During his early years of high school, Jeff began developing a strong interest in the Daoist tradition after first encountering The Zhuangzi 【莊子】, a pivotal Daoist text from China’s Late Warring States period [476-221 BC]. Jeff’s Chinese martial arts training began in Providence, RI under Master Wu Wenqing 吳文慶, at the Way of the Dragon. Irrevocably enraptured and inspired by the depth and refinement of training, it soon became the dominating aspect of his life; an undeniable yearning which eventually led him to the Wudang and to his life on the Daoist path.

During those 7 intensive years in Wudang, Jeff was unwaveringly single-minded in his devotion to study and cultivation. He was chosen to captain the International Traditional Class in 2009, an intensive 5-year-long traditional training format for international students. Alongside countless hours training, Jeff also Daoist singing and chanting, scripture, philosophy, and medicine. His daily study of Mandarin also provided him with a penetrating insight to the texts and transmissions he received. 

Leaving Wudang in 2014, Jeff began his years of ‘cloud wandering’ 雲遊 as an itinerant Daoist teacher. With his exposure to different cultures and people, Jeff has gained great insights in relating the Daoist view and its practices in a grounded, personal, and accessible way for novitiates and experienced students alike. Holding that the Daoist tradition prospers when it is in conversation with modern ideology, Jeff takes a fresh and relatable approach to teaching to help his students establish a confident ground and verifiable embodied experience of the Daoist tradition. Well versed in the views and theories behind each practice, Jeff’s adaptive and creative teaching methods helps students access and establish their own informed approaches to their paths as practitioners. He encourages his students to be curious in their training. With both discipline and humor, he encourages students to explore their practice openly to uncover the depth of their own embodied experience of life. 

Jeff lives his life as his practice and is a true hype-man for the things he loves - whether that be music, books, movies, fine incense, pu er tea 普洱茶, or kungfu.