To celebrate our upcoming Peaceful Warrior Qi Gong Workshop, we're putting together a collection of newsletters Lee wrote inspired by his conversations with his friend Dan Millman, the world-champion athlete turned author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior.
We've pulled the whole series together onto a single page so you can take it in as one continuous conversation rather than pieces scattered across separate emails. Our hope is that reading it this way lets these ideas build on one another, so the through-line comes into focus and you walk away with a felt sense of what this path actually asks of us: showing up, meeting the moment, and returning to the practice on the days we least feel like it.
One quick note before you dive in. These interviews with Dan were filmed nearly seven years ago, shot guerrilla style in a hotel lobby, so you'll notice a little extra character around the edges of some of the edits. We thought about polishing it all away, but we think you'll appreciate the realness of these moments. Dan's wisdom is simply too good not to share, and getting to hear it straight from him far outweighs a little roughness in the footage.
"Heroes and cowards feel exactly the same fear. They just respond differently."
Cus D’Amato, legendary boxing coach
(referenced by Dan in our discussion)
Dan Millman shared this line with me years ago, and it has stayed close ever since.
Cus D'Amato spent his life surrounded by fear. He trained Mike Tyson, as well as several other champions before him, and observed thousands of fighters facing that critical moment just before action. He noticed something that most people overlook: the hero and the coward experience the same feelings. They both feel a tightness in their chests, a shortening of breath, or sometimes that urge to step back. What sets them apart is not the feelings of fear themselves, but how they choose to respond next.
Most of us already know that Qi Gong is effective, and we trust it. However, we often struggle to trust ourselves to remain consistent in our practice.
As a result, we create negative stories about ourselves, labeling ourselves as lazy or broken. But none of this is true. We all experience the same feelings when faced with the choice to act or not. Sometimes, it’s fear that holds us back; other times, we can’t quite pinpoint why we fail to do what we know is best for our health and well-being.
What keeps coming back to me is the idea of embodied action.
We don't have much control over what we feel at any moment. Thoughts come on their own. Emotions come on their own. But there's a decision-maker within us, and it gets to choose how we respond to whatever appears. We can be careful about what we do in a way we can't be about what we feel.
So that's where I focus my attention - on the action I can truly choose.
That's why we start with the body. It’s the simplest action with the greatest impact. You don't need to feel ready to take a slow breath. You don't need to feel motivated to let your shoulders drop.
Embodied action removes the heavy lift. You move just a little, and the resistance disappears.
Pick a moment when you feel resistance, when you'd rather do anything but practice. It may show up as grabbing your phone, cleaning the kitchen, or restlessness that won’t go away.
Don't try to talk yourself into the mood first. Just stand up and take one slow breath. As you exhale, let your shoulders drop.
Then make a small movement, such as an arm circle or a slow neck roll. One movement is enough. You are responding to the resistance with a simple action.
Notice what happens after that first movement. Most days, the second one comes easier.
You don’t need to feel brave to start; you simply have to respond to the resistance with embodied action. That is the essence of the practice.
This page will keep growing until our live workshop on August 23. Each new newsletter in the series will be added here as we send it, so consider this a home you can keep coming back to. Bookmark it, check in whenever you like, and know there's more on the way.
If these conversations stir something in you, here's your chance to go beyond reading and actually practice it. On Saturday, August 23 at 1pm Pacific, Dan and I are coming together live for a workshop, Peaceful Heart Qi Gong, where we take these ideas off the page and put them into the body. Dan will share the heart of the peaceful warrior's path, how to meet the moment and show up when it's hard, and I'll help you feel it in your own breath and movement so it becomes something you can carry with you. Peace is something you train, not something you wait to feel, and this is where we train it together. We'd love to have you in the room. [Reserve your spot here.]
.jpg)