Malcolm Dean, a gold medalist at his craft, and his wife, Annie, teach Taiji and Qigong to students around the world from their Battle Ground home.
Taiji (Tai Chi) originated in a small village in China in the 1660s. Qigong, a way to practice and improve one’s Chi, a vital energy “your life energy and gong means to cultivate,” Malcolm Dean said.
He expressed the importance of channeling and improving Chi energy for health benefits. They start their first online class at 8 a.m. The early start is met by grogginess and stiffness, the couple said.
“I come in in the morning because our first class is at 8 and by the time I get through, everything’s lifting. My body feels good. It’s humming, it really does,” Annie Dean said.
Malcolm Dean added that practicing both forms they teach helps the spirits of participants.
“Otherwise, as you get a little older and you’re past retirement age, it’s really easy to just sit in the chair and watch TV,” he said. “And after a while, I think that has negative effects. If your biorhythm continues to go down, your spirit goes with it. So when your energy goes down, your mood goes down. And when you keep your energy up, your mood stays up. So that’s what it’s done for me.”
He said his particular interest in teaching Taiji and Qigong is in bringing awareness to people’s energy values.
Malcolm Dean added there is very little awareness of self energy values in the United States.
Malcolm Dean has been doing Taiji since 1986, starting in Portland.
After living together in Portland for over 20 years, the couple moved to the Bay Area of California for grad school where he found his master, Zhang Xuexin, in 1992. He became a lineage disciple in 1998 and continued to help others with their Chi. He earned a gold medal in Men’s Forms in Beijing in 2007. In 2011, he opened his San Francisco Tai Chi academy.
During their time in San Francisco, BBC featured their pre-COVID studio and many of their students in its “Super-agers” documentary. Super-agers, like the Dean pair, are those between 65 and over 100 who maintain extraordinary levels of vitality in body, mind and spirit.
Their time in San Francisco ended on a rough note, however.
“It spit us out about four years ago when COVID hit,” Annie Dean said.
Malcolm Dean said they needed to pivot, which brought them back to the Portland metro area where they have family. Landing in Battle Ground, they began their online academy, Luminous Ground, where students from the United States, including former students in San Francisco, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to France, tune into their livestream multiple times a week.
“Our online classes vary between mid-20s to mid-80s,” Malcolm Dean said. “They’re not just from one side or the other. They’re kind of a mix. There’s probably more women than men right now but it kind of goes back and forth.”
Each class is roughly 45 minutes, the most popular, they said, is their 8 a.m. class Monday through Friday teaching morning Qigong. From 9 to 10 a.m., they teach advanced Qigong. On the weekend, the pair offers their livestreamed classes on both beginning and advanced Taiji. They also offer private online sessions as well.
“It’s just about getting things moving and we focus a lot on the lymphatic system, which is to move all of the negative things out of your body and move your lymphatic system,” they said. “It’s kind of an internal massage. You’re working from the inside out.”
To learn more about Malcolm and Annie Dean and their Luminous Ground Taiji and Qigong virtual academy, visit luminousground.com.
