Michael Lee Belliveau found himself in China as he became an adult and by "fate" as his teacher puts it he met studied with and became a disciple of an amazing and ancient tradition and Master. Michael was hounded by his good friend to meet this TongBei master and study from him if he was interested in learning Chinese martial arts and finally after months of feet dragging went to meet him. His future master was not there that first day so Michael returned the next day where he met Master Wu. Michael began taking lessons with master Wu and studied hard, after 6 months of training Michael was told through a friend of his teachers that his teacher wanted him to "ketou" and take him as his Master, though he would still teach Michael if he did not as Michael was an interested and capable student. After some soul searching Michael felt a deep honor and did "ketou" in a ceremony shortly before his then Master would go overseas to instruct a series of seminars becoming one of two 16th Generation HeYiTongBei disciples along with Lu YingLiang.


Michael has a deep respect for the traditions his Master was making him a part of and opened himself to learning the essence of the lessons he was taught. This enabled Michael to make realizations and come to a level of Mastery of his art at a young age. Michael realized that though it takes as goes a Chinese saying "ten years of practice before you can show yourself in public" realization and mastery can come after just one year or not come in a thousand, it is about how in touch with the essence you are. The essence of internal arts is harmony and harmony is something needed in our lives and world today.

In Michael's words:

" I feel honored and lucky to have walked into the tradition I did. There truly are few teachers of this knowledge today, it has indeed always been rare and it is becoming rarer. At the same time I believe the world needs it more and more, as our lives and the pace of change accelerate it is very easy to loose harmony and even forget what harmony feels like!

The practices of internal arts like HeYiTongBei, Taiji, QiGong and TuiShou provide a tool that teaches what harmony is and how to foster it. When I met my teacher and began learning from him and watching him I was awestruck at his skills and ability even though in hindsight I barely understood what those skills really were or their significance. As I went further into training and began listening to my teachers life stories, many of which are almost beyond fathoming, the hardships and situations he faced in his life especially during the cultural revolution I realized the true value in what he practices and teaches. How would you react to a mob of several hundred people coming to get you in the middle of the cultural revolution, would you run or fight or sit there drinking water living the principles and following the processes of TuiShou like my teacher did? That mob left, my teacher stayed centered and fostered harmony.

I was impressed the first time I experienced my teachers ability to become one with you in TuiShou or overpower you in a way which was soothing at the same time it was scary. I see the joy in his smile when students of his get how to do those things and I find great joy is seeing my students do such things for the first time. But what really excites me is the possibility of my students taking what they have learned and living it, hopefully they will never be approached by a mob of hundreds out to get them but there are plenty of things that can shake our harmony and create difficulty for us in life. I have several students who have been able to apply the principles on QiGong, TuiShou and HeYiTongBei to their lives and work and do wonderful things with it.

There are more and more people practicing and teaching internal arts and that is great, I am really happy to see the interest but there never were very many skilled at these arts. Like in the case of HeYiTongBei a Master might teach one or two disciples to carry on the lineage and yes the Master might have other students but the teacher would not pass on the essential knowledge of the art nor the refinements that bring out its and their potential.

I don't want to cast judgment on  practitioners and teachers out in the world, they put a lot of positive energy into what they do they love it. Many just don't have a clear grasp and so it is hard to bring the real potential benefits of the internal into the world despite their growing popularity.

The truth is there are some things I cannot put on a podcast or video they could really be used to cause harm either intentionally or by mistake, for these things it is important to gain an idea of the students moral bearing and teach in person. Luckily this is not the case for the large majority of what is contained which is safe and can be taught with podcasts, other videos and writing.

I hope the internal connection serves as a medium bringing clarity and attainability of the internal skills to you!"