The Kay Manby Podcast - Guided Meditations and Gentle Conversations
The Kay Manby Podcast
Stillness, Strength and Soulful Living
Welcome to a space where you can pause, breathe, and reconnect.
I’m Kay Manby - a yoga and qigong teacher, meditation guide, and mother living in North Yorkshire. After losing my husband, I turned to stillness as a way to heal.
Now I share the practices that helped me find peace amidst the chaos of life.
This podcast weaves together gentle conversations, reflections, and guided meditations.
Some episodes are quiet journeys inward. Others are soft spoken sharings about life, grief, healing and hope.
Whether you're navigating loss, stress or just craving a moment of peace, these episodes are here to ground you, soothe your nervous system, and remind you of your own quiet strength.
Settle in. You're safe here.
The Kay Manby Podcast - Guided Meditations and Gentle Conversations
15 - Mimi Kuo-Deemer - Practising Lightness, Lineage and Living Wisdom
Today, I’m joined by someone whose teachings have deeply shaped my own path — author, teacher and martial artist Mimi Kuo-Deemer. From Beijing rooftops to English meadows, from the Shaolin Temple to Zoom classes during lockdown, Mimi’s journey weaves together Qigong, Taiji, Buddhism and embodied philosophy with grace and authenticity.
We explore what it means to live a life of practice - one rooted in balance, humility, and connection. Mimi opens up about the loss of her mother, the medicine of movement, and the joy of learning from masters like Liu Xuyang, Matthew Cohen, and Martin Aylward. We talk about lineage, grief, creative expression, and what it means to show up with kindness for ourselves and others, even in the hardest seasons.
Mimi’s wisdom is deep, grounded and playful - an invitation to meet life fully.
In this conversation we touch on:
- How Qigong and internal martial arts became Mimi’s life’s work
- Lineage, destiny and finding the right teachers
- What the body remembers — and how we gently change it
- The dance between grief and growth
- Practising in rhythm with the seasons
- Why playfulness is the fastest route to nervous system change
- Mimi’s daily rituals and how she balances quiet with service
Mimi refers to:
Martin Aylward, Master Huang Ping, Shifu Liu Xuyang, and Sifu Matthew Cohen.
Connect with Mimi:
📘 Books: Qigong and the Tai Chi Axis (2018), Xiu Yang: Self-Cultivation for a Happier, Healthier and Balanced Life (2019)
🌐 Website: www.mkdeemer.com
📺 Online Classes: Amazon Prime, Commune, Movement for Modern Life, Yoga and Fitness TV, Vimeo, and YouTube
🧧 Lineage: 6th Generation Lineage Holder in the Liu Fengchun tradition of Baguazhang
🧘 MTI accredited teacher | Authorised Insight Meditation Teacher | SYT | E-RYT | YACEP
If you enjoy my podcasts, please do subscribe and share. Feel free to comment as feedback is always welcome. Finally I would really appreciate it if you could buy me a coffee using THIS LINK. This helps me fund the podcast and keep it going 🙏
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